All About Him

All about Him

Read: John 5:31-47

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.”

John 5:31-32

“Of all the great sages and prophets throughout world history, Jesus alone claimed to be God-become- man.”

—Luis Palau

IN WORD Neither in Jesus’ culture nor in ours is someone well accepted who claims his own authority. Self- proclamation is not an admirable trait, unless it is solidly backed up by truth and humbly presented. Jesus tells His hearers that His own testimony is not valid enough to meet the standards of the law, so He offers others: John the Baptist, the works and miracles Jesus has done, the Father Himself, the Scriptures in general, and Moses in particular.

Jesus’ assertion is staggering. All that the Jews held to be reliable, He says, points to Him as the Messiah. Prophets and prophecies of Scripture, miracles of God, the story of the nation, the Mosaic law, everything—it is all about Him. We can add other witnesses, too. Paul says that even nature and history point to Jesus, and the Gospel writers tell us that the voice from heaven declared Jesus’ authority at His baptism and the Transfiguration. He is the centerpiece of the universe. The answers to the great philosophical questions— Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Where are we going?—are all wrapped up in Jesus.

IN DEED We who have expressed faith in Jesus as our Savior have little trouble accepting this. We believe Him to be God incarnate, the key to all understanding and the giver of life. By Him we interpret the world.

But if the entire universe, all history, all humanity, and every true revelation are about Jesus, what does that say about the direction of our lives? Shouldn’t we be entirely about Jesus as well? If we are not, we are swimming against the tide of all creation. We don’t fit the direction of history and the reality of transcendent truth. Test yourself: Does everything about you point to Him?