The fourfold witness to Christ

Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

 

      In the Law of Moses, at least two reliable witnesses were required to convict a man of a crime. Jesus Christ was charged with blaspheme when He claimed to be the unique Son of God (Matt 26:65). They passed sentence upon Him because of His answer to their questions because the witnesses against Him could not agree on their testimony (Mk 14:56-59). They condemned Jesus to death because of His claim to be the Son of God, however there were four witnesses to the fact that He was/is the Son of God.

 

John the Baptist:

      The first of the witnesses to the claim of Jesus was John the Baptist (Jn 1:34). This was the reason that John was called of God and separated unto the work of preparing the way for Christ (Jn 1:8-9; Matt 3:1-3). John knew his mission and that he(John the Baptist)  was not the Messiah (Jn 1:19-23).

            God gave John a witness when he baptized Jesus (Mk 1:9-11). Speaking out and also witnessing with the descending dove.

 

Mighty works:

      A second and more potent witness of Christ’s claim were His mighty works (Jn 5:36). Christ performed many miracles that people confessed they had never seen done before (Jn 9:30). One of the reasons the enemies of Christ took Jesus at night was so that they could do it without interference from the many that respected and saw what He had done. They had to discredit Jesus before the people knew what was happening.

      When Nicodemas came to Jesus he had to admit that Jesus did things that he could only attribute to God (Jn 3:1-2). The mighty works that Jesus did were a witness to His Son-ship (Jn 11:41-42).

      When the disciples of John came to Jesus with a message from John asking if He were the Messiah or not, Jesus answered with the witness of His works (Lu 7:22).

 

God:

      The third testimony to Christ’s claim was the direct testimony of God from heaven (Jn 5:37). John the Baptist heard the voice at Jesus’ baptism and Peter, James and John heard it on the mount of transfiguration (Matt 17:5; 2 Pet 1:17). Others were present but it may have sounded like thunder to them (Jn 12:28-29).

 

The Bible:

      Most importantly, there is the witness of Scripture (Jn 5:39). We no longer have John the Baptist with us as a witness, nor do we have Jesus in bodily presence performing His miracles and we do not hear God’s voice as they did. But, we still have the words of Scripture that record all these and still speak to us today. We would do well to heed these four witnesses to Christ and surrender our life to Him.