Witness stand to testify: Jesus is God

The 1947 classic film, Miracle on 34th Street, is a courtroom-drama-meets-Christmas-story. The protagonist, Kris Kringle, is the resident Santa Claus at Macy’s department store, where he brings yuletide cheer to customers.

Through a complicated turn of events, he ends up labelled as insane for claiming that he is the real Santa Claus. The judge presiding over his case won’t rule that there is no such thing as Santa, as he worries that his own political aspirations will be negatively affected by popular backlash. Who wants to be the judge who declares Santa to be mythical? So, he humours Kringle’s defence attorney, Fred Gailey, by allowing the case and he assumes that since there is no way to win the case the blame will fall on Fred and not himself.

In order to build a case, Fred calls witnesses to testify that they believe Kringle is Santa. The prosecuting attorney demands that Fred further prove that Kringle is the one and only true Santa on the basis of a competent authority, not just faith. And this is where things get interesting.

The man sorting mail at the post office looks at the thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus clogging up the mailroom and decides to get rid of them by sending them all to his favourite Santa, Kris Kringle. Fred dumps all 21 bags of letters in plain sight in the courtroom. The judge wades through the heaps of overwhelming evidence and declares that since the United States Postal Service recognizes Kringle as the real Santa Claus, his court won’t dispute it.

ANOTHER COURTROOM DRAMA

There’s another courtroom-drama-meets-Christmas-story, wherein a supernatural claim is proven by mountains of evidence, furnished by a competent authority. I am of course talking about the gospel of John.

In John chapter 1, the evangelist calls three witnesses on three consecutive days to corroborate Jesus’ claim of deity. On day 1, we hear from John the Baptist, on day 2, the Trinity presents, and on day 3, the disciples. Today we call our first witness.

THE 1st WITNESS TO CORROBORATE CHRIST’S CREDIBILITY: JOHN BAPTIZER

1. JOHN’S IDENTITY

John 1:19 And this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

John the evangelist introduces John the Baptist’s identity through an interrogation by priests from Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s Pharisees were self-appointed gate-keepers of ministry to the Jews, so they came to check up on this backwater upstart. They do so with a loaded question: “Who are you?”

They’re gearing for a fight but John takes the wind out their sails by agreeing with them.

John 1:20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

So they keep poking: John 1:21-22 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”  So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

So why do they ask about Elijah?  Because the last verses of the Old Testament predicted that before the Christ comes, the prophet Elijah would return (Malachi 4:5). (What people didn’t know was that the Christ would come twice, and this prophesy refers to his second coming).

But John is a foreshadowing of Elijah, as the angel told Zechariah about his future son:

Luke 1: 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

But on the record, John is not Elijah, so they ask, “Are you the Prophet?”

The Prophet was also someone the Jews knew would come in the future in the spirit of Moses.

Deuteronomy 18:18–19 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

But John denies this too: 21…And he answered, “No.”

So, who are you then buddy?

John 1:23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John is citing Isaiah 40:3 which predicted that before the Lord came to earth there would be a forerunner to get the people ready.

This is the identity of John the Baptist: he was the forerunner sent to get the nation spiritually ready for the coming of their King. To give each Jew a chance to consider his ways, clean-up his act, and repent of his sin. Why? Because only true believers would recognize and receive their Messiah.

And how would John accomplish this spiritual advance team preparation?

By his particular ministry…

2. JOHN’S MINISTRY

John 1:25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

The priests aren’t sure what to do with his denial of being the Christ. So they ask—why are you baptizing?  But why was this baptism such a big deal?

Baptism was a ritual done when a Gentile converted to Judaism. The baptism called the 'tevilah' was the ceremonial bath in running water that symbolized washing away the old life of a Gentile and being re-born into Judaism.

But John wasn’t having a revival tent outreach event trying to get Gentiles to convert to Judaism, he was telling Jews that they were as bad as Gentiles and needed to admit their guilt and be baptized to convert to true Judaism before the Messiah arrived.

A Jew being baptized was unheard of, but for some reason, this message resonated with so many people, so John moved his shop to a river.

And the priests from Jerusalem didn’t know what to do with it…so… John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26-27).

Essentially John is saying that his ministry will make sense when the King comes, so they should wait; his ministry was about to be validated by the arrival of the Christ.

We see John’s consummate humility and a clear understanding of his role. John knew this mega-church success was nothing in the kingdom compared to what was about to happen: the King was about to arrive. John only cared about one thing: not his fame, not his possessions, not his reputation – just his King.

CONCLUSION

How about you?  Do you believe that Jesus is God, the One whom God promised to send, the  King? Do you believe he lived the perfect life and died on the cross in your place and rose again for the forgiveness of your sins? Then don’t go another day without living for the purpose God called you—not to be rich and famous and self-actualized, but to be a light in the darkness, a voice crying out the truth of God’s word to a needy world.

Author: Cripplegate