Unleashing the Power of Bible Study: Search the Scriptures

John 5:37-40 “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

In the scriptures that you, just read, you'll understand that the Father’s voice had been heard by the disciples, so this word was spoken to the doubting Jews here. The Father on two occasions said from heaven “This is my beloved Son”. The apostles Peter, James, and John heard His voice. John the Baptist heard the voice of God from heaven at the baptism of Jesus. The Father God witnessed, from heaven as well, as we see here. The Word in the prophecies of the Old Testament was a witness as well. There are over thirty times Jesus (Messiah), was prophesied. Has anyone actually seen God? Who, how, when, what part. In (Exodus 33:18), we find some of the answers to that question.

This is saying “You self-righteous religious people who claim to know the Word of God, you don’t know anything. You didn’t believe the prophets, and you didn’t believe John the Baptist.” The verb “search” could also be understood as a command (i.e. search the Scriptures). Most prefer the translation as an indicative. The verb implies diligent scrutiny in investigating the Scriptures to find “eternal life.” However, Jesus points out that with all their fastidious effort, they miserably failed in their understanding of the true way to eternal life through the Son (Jesus). Here is another reprimand. Jesus says “You claim to know the Scriptures, but you better go back and study them all over again”. He’s telling them that they don’t know what they're saying. You are just reading words and you do not know what they mean. You think you have eternal life, but look again. You have overlooked the one who can give you eternal life”, Jesus Christ. There is no eternal life without Jesus Christ. Christ is the main theme of Scripture. In the scriptures here, they searched for eternal life, but were not willing to trust its only source, JESUS!