January 19

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There is another who bears witness of Me…And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. John 5:32, 37

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🔊 At first sight, the ‘witness of the Father’ might seem to be much the same as the witness of Jesus, since He is the One telling us of the Father. But Jesus is here explaining something that comes to our hearts directly from God. When we hear the truth preached, when we hear the gospel of Christ, something stirs in our hearts and assures us that it is true. It is more than our own conscience, and Jesus tells us that this is the Father Himself, bearing witness to the Son. Later in John, Jesus says the Father’s activity is essential, since no-one can come to Him unless the Father draws them – John 6:44. These words open our understanding to the way the Holy Spirit works in stirring our hearts. The Father’s voice produces an inner assurance, perhaps describable as a tug on the heart. The Father is drawing us, which is more than our own conscience; this is the longing to know God, and to be in fellowship with the Son. In these verses Christ is speaking to us in the language of heaven. People speak of arguments, of methods and plans, of numbers and statistics. Christ speaks in terms of the indescribable and most wonderful touch of the Father in our hearts. We must learn to obey this prompting, as it makes sense of everything as we obey and follow the leading of that touch.