John 5:45-47, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
Jesus was talking to the Jews. They (and it seems like many today) were quick to believe everything and anything except for the truth, God and the Bible.
In an earlier verse, Jesus even said that they were willing to believe someone who came in his own name—that is one who promoted himself rather than God. Today we see ministries where people promote themselves over God. These false teachers have a great following.
The group Jesus is talking about in these last verses of the chapter are those who pass themselves off as religious and holy. They claim to follow Moses, but Jesus is saying they have deceived themselves either through their ignorance or on purpose. Because if they were as true to Moses as they claim, they would know that Moses spoke about Jesus.
Deuteronomy 18:15, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken…”
If they were true to Moses as they claimed, not only would they know of this statement by Moses, but they would have to have given it some thought. What does he mean?
Then they would have to compare Moses and Jesus to see if Jesus fit the description Moses spoke about.
- When both Moses and Jesus were babies there was a decree to kill the babies.
- Moses was hidden in Pharaoh’s own house as a child and Jesus was hidden in Egypt till Herod died.
- Moses’ job when of age was to save his people and deliver them and Jesus when he came of age was to also save and deliver his people.
- Moses taught all the people the sacrifices of the Law beginning with the Passover and Jesus fulfilled those typical sacrifices beginning with the Passover as the Lamb of God.
Their own words condemned them, because they were not honest. Moses condemned them because they didn’t know what Moses taught like they claimed they did.