Judgment - John 5:30-47

The Lord makes a very interesting distinction between the way that He judges and the way that the world judges. He says “My judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” I think about what that means and what it would mean to seek your own will when judging. If I was a judge and seeking my own vindication then many factors would o into my judgment. For instance, if I had been insulted, I would want retribution for that, or if the person did something which was particularly abhorrent to me, I might be harsher with my decisions because I projected my own hurt feelings on to the situation. By looking at everyone as His Father’s child, there will be so much more compassion and leniency than if we were just viewed as His siblings.

Jesus seeks to do His Father’s will and the Father testifies of Jesus. Jesus invokes the law of witnesses when he says, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.” He cites John the Baptist as a witness of Him, but he also cites “the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hat sent me, hath borne witness of me.” I think that the word “finish” is interesting here, because it implies that the Lord has been engaged in work far longer than just what he’s done up to this point in his mortal ministry. It would be interesting to know at this point exactly how much knowledge of the pre-existence the Savior had and exactly what kind of work he was engaged in beforehand. I’m going to think about this. 

Besides John the Baptist and Heavenly Father, the Savior continues, “search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” The IM comments, “Many Jews of Jesus’s day studied the scriptures, believing that through this study they would have eternal life… The Savior tried to correct this false belief by teaching that the scriptures, which he Jews looked to as the final authority, testified that eternal life is found not in the scriptures but in following Jesus Christ. The Jews also failed to realize that the scriptures are the words of Christ and their purpose is to bring people to Christ, for He is the ultimate source of truth and lie. Peter acknowledged Jesus Christ as the source of eternal life when he declared: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’” This was the scriptures that kept playing in my head when I was contemplating leaving the church last week, after our family tragedy. I asked myself where I was going to go to find comfort and hope, what else was there that offered the joy and peace that I feel through the gospel. I decided that there was nothing else, no where else to go. I had to find peace and answers in the gospel because that’s where the peace and answers are.

The Lord continued by accusing the Pharisees “that ye have not the love of God in you.” He points out that they reject Him who comes in the name of God, but “if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek no the honour that cometh from God only?” The IM teaches, “The Savior’s question recorded in John 5:44 teaches that as long as we are focused on what other people think about us, rather than on what God things about us, the development of our faith will be hampered. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained why this is so: ‘Struggles for the honors of men keep men from believing in and centering their hearts upon Christ, and they therefore lose their salvation.’” I feel like this is a good example of what happened to Abinadi and others who stood before death with courage and refused to back down from their beliefs or their testimonies. Because they only cared what God thought about them, they could stand in the faceoff opposition and know that ultimately, they would be safe and protected, even if it was only in the eternal perspective.

The Pharisees are too busy trying to impress each other that they don’t even recognize the scriptures being fulfilled right in from of their eyes. The creator of the Mosaic law that they study and “adhere” to so strictly is standing right in front of them and they can’t even see it. But he makes an important distinction “do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” They had the scriptures and even though they spent hours in study, they missed the whole meaning and purpose behind them. The IM quotes Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching, “The scriptures are rich in history, doctrine, sermons, and testimonies, all of which ultimately focus on the eternal Christ and His physical and spiritual mission to Heavenly Father’s children… The first testament of Christ is the Bible’s Old Testament, which predicted and prophesied of the coming of the Savior, His transcendent life, and His liberation Atonement. The second Bible testament of Christ is the New Testament, which records His birth, His life, His ministry, His gospel, His church, His Atonement, and His Resurrection, as well as the testimonies of His apostles. The third testament of Christ is the Book of Mormon, which also foretells Christ’s coming, confirms the Bibles account of is saving Atonement, and then reveals the resurrected Lord’s visit to the earth’s other hemisphere. The subtitle of the Book of Mormon, the clarifying purpose statement printed on the cover of every copy, is ‘Another Testament of Jesus Christ.’ Each of these three testaments is a part of the great, indivisible whole of the Lord’s revealed word to His children. They contain the words of Christ.”