Get The Point

In John 5 Jesus has some harsh words for the Jews, who failed to acknowledge that He was sent by the Father.  Jesus says in John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (NKJV).

​Earlier in the gospel of John, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath who had been sick for 38 years.  The Jews sought to kill Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath and called God His Father, thus making Himself equal with God.  So Jesus addresses the issue of the authority and validity of His ministry.  He uses the witness of John, the testimony of His wonderful works and the witness of His Father to show that he is truly sent by God.
He then tells the Jews that they are reading the Word because they think that if they do what it says, they will have eternal life.  But what they don’t understand is that the words of the scriptures they are reading illuminate the path to Jesus, the living Word.  They got so caught up in looking at scripture to prove a point that they missed the point.  

There are times in our work of the Lord and in our lives when we seek the praise, prestige, honor and fame of men rather than the glory of God.  There are times when our desire to be deep and profound overshadows the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ.  There also are times when we diligently search, examine, investigate and study the scriptures, yet we miss Jesus. 

We must get the point that scripture points us to Jesus.  Jesus didn’t just fulfill scriptures, Jesus is the point of the scriptures.  Don’t miss the point looking for a point.  In our teaching and living, the name of Jesus must be lifted up.  It is easy to get so caught up in hermeneutics that we miss His holiness.  We can be so captivated by the question of which sea was the Red Sea that we fail to Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.   Some are so engrossed with what’s going on in the brotherhood that we fail to let brotherly love continue.  Many of us are so worried about the church that we forget it belongs to Christ.  We can get so caught up in our ministry that we forget it is the ministry of Christ.
Get the point.  The scriptures are life and they are light because Jesus is life and light. They are the power of God unto salvation because Jesus saves.  They are able to change the hearts of men because they testify and show the way to Jesus.