Have you seen the Netflix account of “The Chicago Seven”? As I watched this movie based on real events, this kangaroo-type of court proceedings where the testimony from a material witness was disallowed and the judge was handing out charges of contempt like Halloween candy, my mind wandered to Scripture. Specifically, who qualifies our testimony.
John 1:19 says, “Now this was John’s testimony…” and John 1:32 states that “John gave this testimony…”
Who qualified John’s testimony? Who was John the Baptist that he would have a valid testimony?
John was a wild-looking man who had no power or position in the Jewish political system. A man who was judged by his appearance, unknown to the “schooled professionals” and yet he captured the curiosity and attention of the religious groups of the day.
Picture a man wearing clothes made of camel hair, a leather belt fastened around his waist, eating locusts and honey. People who are dressed like this would be considered the outcast of society and definitely not a person we would be drawn to. What kind of testimony can this guy give that we should stop and listen?
His look was different, his message refreshing, a message was one that encouraged people to change their behavior, to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. His teaching contradicted that of the Pharisees and Sadducee’s, who were more concerned about rituals and works, than in the heart of a person expressed through their behavior.
We can get caught up in acquiring knowledge that we lose sight of what it is all for. It is good and right to study the Scriptures. We need to know them if we are to live wholeheartedly for God. The difference is that groups like the Pharisees and Sadducee’s were so hyper-focused on the law they lost sight of what was going on around them and it would do us well to learn from their error.
We can read about works, the miracles that God has done through Scripture. We can memorize, study and recite Scripture (I’ll say it again – it is right to do so) but Jesus said, “IN them will not lead you to eternal life.” John 5:39
What good is it to know Scripture yet fail to or refuse to recognize God at work? Jesus was telling the Pharisees to look up from the scrolls, to lift their eyes off of the printed page and see the One you read about standing right in front of you!
I can hear Jesus saying, “For all of the knowledge you acquire and seek, you failed in application. You failed to recognize Me. You set your hope on the law of Moses, who FYI, wrote about Me!! But since your actions show you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
John the Baptist did not carry scrolls or books to show people where they were lacking. He came as a witness, sent by God, carrying the testimony about the long-anticipated arrival of Messiah.
In the following weeks, we will look at the reactions of the Pharisees to John’s testimony of Messiah. In the meantime, I want to leave you with the following thought.
In order to give a testimony in a court of law, one must first be a witness to the event. What do you think John the Baptist witnessed that his testimony would be credible and reliable?
