1John 5:9 - THE Expert Witness

”If the witness of men we are receiving, the witness of God is greater.  Because this is the witness of God, that He has witnessed about His Son.”

-There is another witness.  John just told us that there are three who testify (the Spirit, the water and the blood), and that is plenty, but there is another (John 5.32) - the very Father Who sent Jesus in the first place (John 5.37).  He Himself testified at the Baptism about Who Jesus is (Matthew 3.17) - He literally spoke from heaven to an entire crowd and stated in no uncertain terms that Jesus is His Son.  Now what He has to say about Jesus and about anything, for that matter, is incontrovertible.  He is unimpeachable, faithful and true to the Nth degree.  He cannot lie.  But let us not underestimate the significance of that event, the Water, when Christ was baptized and came up out of the water and a voice out of the heavens declared, “This is My beloved Son...!”  Anytime God communicates, we would do well to listen, right?  You know how in a trial, when the lawyer produces an expert witness, whose testimony basically slams the door shut on the case?  No further questions, your honor?  Well, here we're talking about THE Expert Witness.  But this instance is noteworthy...

-Scripture records many instances of God speaking to individuals, through angels, in visions and dreams (Numbres 12.6), but it very rarely records any instances when God directly addresses a group.  Even today, there are believers who insist that they heard God tell them something, but essentially never does a group claim to hear God speaking audibly.  Out loud.  A public theophony - the voice of God.  Which He actually did not once but THREE times on behalf of Jesus (cf Matthew 17.5, John 12.28).  Three times means a point of emphasis (third time's the charm, right?).  Each time, the Father affirms for all to hear that Jesus is His Son.  This is no small thing.  He is clearly seriously intent on reinforcing this point, that Jesus IS His Son, in no uncertain terms.

-On the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re told that those who hear this voice of God are terrified and fall on their faces (Matthew 17.6).  Years later, Peter still recalls this as an incredibly moving experience (2Peter 1.16-18).  Majestic.  Holy.  Glorious.  We could reasonably expect that there would be a similar response at any such heavenly declaration.  Interestingly, in the scene in John 12, right on the heels of the triumphal entry, we do not read about such a response, only that it sounded like thunder.  No doubt the sheer size of the crowd and the commotion occasioned by Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, not to mention the very nature of the feast itself, would have created a general sense of chaos, making it difficult for most bystanders other than those in close proximity to Jesus to get a good read on what exactly did happen when God spoke.  Curiously, neither do we see a dramatic response to the public theophony at the Baptism, where things were certainly less chaotic than at that Jerusalem Feast.  There would have been no mistaking the voice of God in that setting by the river Jordan, and Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the same thing.  To be fair, Mark and Luke record that God spoke more directly to Jesus (i.e. “YOU are My Son”, as opposed to “THIS is My Son”), perhaps indicating that the crowd did not hear anything.  It is also quite possible that NT writers like Luke and Peter and John and Matthew were not at the baptism to experience the Voice and record the response of the crowd the way it is recorded for the Mount of Transfiguration - perhaps what we read about the baptism is limited to second-hand accounts, bare bones testimony which these authors merely gathered from eyewitnesses without much added detail?

-Nevertheless, God (the Father) spoke repeatedly, AUDIBLY, about the nature of His relationship with Jesus, His Son.  He sent His Son, His only begotten Son, into the world to be the Savior of the world, to pay the penalty for our sins and so that we might have eternal life in His name, in the name of His Son, Jesus.  So to all the naysayers, to those militant monotheists, to the skeptics, no less authority than almighty God Himself has testified that Jesus - Jesus of Nazareth - is in fact His Son.  There is no greater source, no higher authority than this - to Him we would do well to pay attention.  Listen to Him... (AND to His Son - Mark 9.7)!  Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart...  Will you believe, and confess/agree with what God has said about Jesus?