Passage: John 5:31-47
The Big Idea
The most religious people in Israel trusted Moses. But Jesus told them Moses was the very one who accused them, because they missed his point. The Law was never a ladder to climb up to God. It was a bar set impossibly high, an arrow pointing to the One who was coming. Hidden inside the Law of Moses is the best news in the world: the Gospel according to Moses.
A Bar in the Clouds
Have you ever watched Mondo Duplantis pole vault? He’s the greatest pole vaulter who ever lived. He keeps breaking his own world record, a little at a time, and he’s now clearing well over twenty feet. That’s like jumping onto the roof of a two-story house with a stick.
Now imagine the officials walk out and raise the bar. Not one more centimeter. They raise it all the way to the clouds. “This is the standard. Clear it, and you win.”
Mondo would laugh. Every athlete in the stadium would laugh. Nobody clears that bar. Not the best in the world. Not even with a rocket. Nobody.
That’s what the Law of Moses does. A lot of people think the Ten Commandments are a bar you can clear if you just try hard enough. Go to church. Be a decent person. Don’t do anything too terrible. And God will be pleased with your effort.
But when you actually read what Moses wrote, the bar isn’t set at “decent.” It’s set at God. Be holy, as God is holy. Love perfectly, as God loves. Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
In this passage, Jesus is talking to the most religious people in Israel. They knew Moses. They quoted Moses. They trusted Moses. And Jesus says something that must have shocked them: “Moses is the one who accuses you.”
Why? Because they missed the whole point. They thought Moses was handing them a ladder to climb up to God. But Moses was actually holding up a sign: “You can’t get there from here. Look for the One who is coming.”
The Law was never the way to God. It was the arrow pointing to Jesus.
The Witnesses (John 5:31-40)
Jesus had just claimed to be equal with the Father, the Giver of life and the Judge of all. So He calls His witnesses. If He testified only about Himself, they could dismiss it. But there are other witnesses:
- John the Baptist testified to the truth. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while they were glad to enjoy his light (verses 33-35).
- Jesus’ works, the very works the Father gave Him to finish, testify that the Father sent Him (verse 36).
- The Father Himself has testified about Him (verse 37), as He did at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17).
- The Scriptures. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. But these are the very Scriptures that testify about Me. And yet you refuse to come to Me so that you may have life” (verses 39-40).
You can study the Bible your whole life and miss the point, if you don’t come to the Person it’s all about.
Jesus adds that He doesn’t seek human praise. But they did. They received honor from one another and didn’t seek the honor that comes from the only God. That’s why they couldn’t believe (verses 41-44). Pride and approval-seeking always get in the way of faith.
“Moses Accuses You” (John 5:45-47)
Jesus said, “Don’t think I’ll be the one to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, the one you’ve put your hope in. If you really believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
Jesus is speaking to people who appeal to Moses and the Scriptures as the basis of their confidence, yet reject the very Messiah those Scriptures point to.
- Religious people.
- People who think their performance on the Ten Commandments is what God is looking for and measuring.
So what is the Law for? Why did God give it? It can be so confusing.
“Moses accuses you” means Moses’ own writings expose the problem. They claimed to follow Moses and the Ten Commandments, but they missed the point of all of it. Because the Law speaks of Someone else.
The Law Points to Christ
Paul asks: is the Law against God’s promises? Absolutely not. If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness really would come by the Law (Galatians 3:21).
- The Old Testament isn’t at odds with the New.
- The Law actually serves the mission of the Messiah. It helps.
How? Scripture has locked everyone up under sin, so that the promise could be given, by faith in Jesus Christ, to those who believe (Galatians 3:22).
This is the gospel promise hidden in the Old Testament. Moses himself wrote about Jesus:
- A prophet like Moses. Moses told Israel that God would raise up a prophet like him, and they must listen to Him (Deuteronomy 18:15). The apostles applied this to Jesus (Acts 3:22).
- The bronze serpent. Moses lifted up a bronze serpent so that whoever looked at it would live. Jesus said this pictured His being lifted up so that believers could have eternal life (Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14-15).
- The manna. Moses gave Israel bread in the wilderness, but Jesus said He is the true bread from heaven who gives life (Exodus 16:4; John 6:32-35).
- And many, many more.
Scripture always had a plan for salvation through Jesus by grace, from Adam all the way down to Moses and beyond. And salvation is promised by God to everyone who believes in Jesus. Given, by grace. That grace came before the Law and the Ten Commandments (Galatians 3:17-18).
So why did God give the Law?
The Law as Tutor
Before faith came, we were held in custody under the Law, locked up until faith would be revealed. So the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we’re no longer under the tutor (Galatians 3:23-25).
- Every person needs the Law to bring them to Christ.
- The Law shows us how bad we are and that we need a Savior. It never shows anyone how good they are. It measures how far short we fall.
- And it points us to Jesus. It drives us to Him.
- Then we come to faith: no confidence in self or flesh, but complete confidence in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. One hundred percent not me.
“All that the Lord has spoken, we will do”
How does the Law drive us? When Moses laid God’s words before the people, they all answered together: “We’ll do everything the Lord has said!” (Exodus 19:7-8).
“We promise. We’ll do it. We’ll be good.”
That kind of pride is exactly what the Law is designed to demolish, if you actually listen to it. But many in Israel avoided that. They kept the Law outwardly, sort of, but not from the heart. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount exposed this: “You have heard it said… but I tell you…” (Matthew 5:21-48). They were missing the point. The Law revealed sin all the way down in the heart.
What the Law Really Says
Be holy
God told Moses to tell all Israel: be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:1-2). Peter repeats it: as the One who called you is holy, be holy in all you do (1 Peter 1:15-16).
How holy? As holy as God. No flexibility. No mercy.
Be loving
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). And love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).
Jesus agreed: those are the two greatest commandments, and all the Law and the Prophets hang on them (Matthew 22:36-40).
How loving? As loving as God. Jesus agrees with the Law perfectly, and that is not good news for us.
Be perfect
Jesus takes it even further: be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
How perfect? As perfect as God.
So that’s the message of the Law, the message of Moses: be holy, loving and perfect. And that drives us to Jesus, because we can’t do it. We don’t live holy, loving or perfect lives.
What the Law Couldn’t Do
What the Law couldn’t do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the Law would be fulfilled in us, who don’t walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).
- When we admit we can’t keep the Law in our own strength, we can finally come to Jesus in faith.
- Faith in His life and His sacrifice for us washes away our sin.
- And He gives us His Spirit, so we can walk in everything God calls us to.
- We don’t keep the Law by trying. We walk in the Spirit.
Back to the Stadium
The bar is in the clouds. Be holy as God is holy. Love as God loves. Be perfect as God is perfect.
And here’s the honest truth: none of us has ever cleared it. Not once. That’s exactly what the Law was designed to show us. It doesn’t measure how good we are. It measures how far we fall short.
That sounds like bad news. But it’s actually the doorway to the best news. Because the moment you stop trying to jump, you’re finally ready to look up and see Jesus.
Jesus didn’t lower the bar. He cleared it. He lived the holy, loving, perfect life the Law demanded. Then He went to the cross and took the penalty for every time we fell short. And He rose again so His life could become our life.
The Law was the tutor. It walked us right up to Jesus and said, “Here He is. This is who I was talking about the whole time.” And once faith has come, we’re no longer under the tutor (Galatians 3:25).
You don’t live the Christian life by trying harder to clear the bar. You live it by trusting the One who already cleared it, and letting His Spirit live through you. The righteous requirement of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk by the Spirit (Romans 8:4). Not by us. In us. That’s grace.
So maybe you’ve been trying to impress God with your effort. Maybe you’ve been carrying guilt because you keep falling short. Hear Moses. Hear Jesus. Stop jumping. Come to Him.
Jesus said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.”
The whole Bible has been pointing to one Person. Will you trust Him?
Grace Takeaway
The Law set the bar at God’s own perfection so we would stop jumping and look for a Savior. Jesus cleared the bar for us, paid for every miss, and gives us His Spirit. Moses was pointing to Him all along.