Witnesses to the Identity of the Lord Jesus

Can you imagine what it must have been like to listen in on this conversation? The Jewish leaders heard the Lord Jesus make His claim that He was co-equal with the Father but not competing with Him. They had to wonder, "How can He make such claims? Where is the evidence of what He is saying?"

Jesus proceeded to show the Jews why they needed to believe "that God was His Father, making Him equal with God" (v. 18). So, in verse 31 we read, "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true." Under Jewish law everything had to be established by two or three witnesses. Our Lord here lays the groundwork for the three witnesses He called to testify to His identity. The three witnesses are:
I. Witness One – John the Baptist (v. 33-35)
II. Witness Two – The works that Jesus did (v. 36)
III. Witness Three – God the Father, Himself (v. 32, 37-40)