And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. ...
John 5:37
We will start again with the premise that Jesus claims about who He is must be examined carefully. As we have stated previously, when we look at what Jesus said, we must look at the logical argument that Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord of All.
In these next two days we will take a look at two of four witnesses that Jesus uses to substantiate His claim to be equal with God the Father. Today we will look at the Testimony of God the Father from the gospels. These are accounts of Jesus' life from different perspectives as directed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus declared that God the Father Himself testified of Jesus' identity. This account can be found in Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23 and John 1:29-34.
In the accounts above Jesus went to John the Baptist and was baptized by Him in the Jordan river. John tried to prevent Jesus from going through the baptism of repentance saying "I should be baptized by you." But Jesus was identifying with the people. However, after he was baptized two things happened: 1) The Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and 2) a voice came from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3: 16-17). Here we have evidence of the Triune Nature of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all manifest in one time and place.
That is a powerful testimony! The Jews, and especially the religious leaders, would have recognized the references from the Old Testament in those words from God the Father. In Isaiah 42:1, a Messianic prophecy, the Scripture reads, “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him ... " That prophecy was fulfilled by the God the Father at that very moment. Moreover, in the Book of Psalms the Scripture says, "You are My Beloved Son, ..." (Psalm 2:7) This is the testimony from God the Father given hundreds of years before Jesus ever came and this is exactly what the Father said of the Jesus. He testified in His Word and He testified in His presence!
This is yet another reason we can stand boldly as Christians in the faith. Jesus claims were backed up by the testimony of the God the Father! The final stamp of approval and authority on everything that Jesus claimed is His resurrection from the dead. This was again God saying that all the promises in Jesus Christ are "Yes!" and "Amen!" Let us be bold and confident that Jesus is exactly who He said He was: Lord of All.
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