The High-Stakes Invitation
At the end of John 3, we see another instance of John the Evangelist interjecting his own commentary into the narrative.
After the John the Baptist’s fadeout scene in verses 27–30, John (the writer) gives a reflective explanation of how we should think of Jesus in comparison to John the Baptist. In verses 31–36, he tells us seven things about Jesus:
Jesus is above all (v. 31)
Jesus has seen and heard from God the Father (v. 32)
Jesus utters the words of God the Father (v. 34a)
Jesus has been given the Spirit without measure by God the Father (v. 34b)
Jesus is loved by God the Father (v. 35a)
Jesus has been given all things by God the Father (v. 35b)
Jesus, therefore, elicits a consequential response (vv. 33, 36)
Each point has a subtext that confirms “Jesus is more than a prophet.” I’ll mention these on Sunday, focusing especially on one, but the verse I won’t explain is verse 33:
Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.
That is to say, whoever receives Jesus — whoever believes him and takes him at his word in all that he reveals about God — that person verifies, as it were, that God is true.
In essence, to believe in Jesus is to receive Jesus as the one sent by God the Father to make him known. Our faith says, Yes, he is just as the Father sent him to be.
The corollary, then, must also stand. To receive Jesus says that God is true. To reject Jesus says that God is a liar. But mere logic doesn’t only make the point — the apostle John himself makes this point in his first letter!
In 1 John 5:10, John writes,
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.
To reject Jesus is to reject everything that he stands for and came here to do. To reject him calls God a liar! — which is horrific.
As in his Gospel, John in his letter wraps up this truth with a straightforward, high-stakes invitation — which might sound familiar. 1 John 5:11–12,
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
