Jesus spoke these words (John 5:39) after healing a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Because the healing took place on the Sabbath, the religious leaders accused Jesus of breaking the law. Their concern was not simply a disagreement over rules; they were defending a way of reading Scripture that had become detached from the God who gave it. Jesus then answered them with a claim that still searches our hearts: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40).
Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not dismiss the Scriptures. He does not say, “Stop studying them.” Instead, He tells them they have missed their purpose. The Bible is not meant to be a collection of ideas we master, a source of religious status, or a set of rules we can manage on our own. It is God’s living testimony to His Son. The religious leaders knew the text, quoted it, memorised it, and built their lives around it—yet they refused the One to whom it pointed. Scripture was meant to lead them to Jesus; instead, they used it to resist Him.
Jesus then names Moses, the writer they respected most. “Do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:45–47). That is a searching statement. Moses had written of the promised Redeemer, the prophet God would raise up, and the blessing that would come through Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 3:15; 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:15). If they had truly received Moses’ words, they would have recognised Jesus. Their problem was not a lack of information. It was an unwillingness to come.
The rest of Scripture confirms this Christ-centred reading. After His resurrection, Jesus walked with two discouraged disciples and, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Later He told them, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). The whole Bible, in its own way and through its many voices, bears witness to Christ.
That does not mean every passage is a hidden code with Jesus’ name tucked inside it. It means the Bible’s grand story moves toward Him: creation finds its purpose in Him, the law reveals our need of Him, the sacrifices point to His once-for-all offering, the kings foreshadow His eternal reign, the prophets announce His coming, and the New Testament declares His finished work. Paul puts it plainly: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Scripture forms us, but it does so by first bringing us to Christ.
God has always intended His Word to shape everyday obedience. Before Joshua led Israel into the land, God commanded him to keep the Book of the Law on his lips and to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” (Joshua 1:8). Meditation was not empty thinking; it was slow, prayerful attention that moved into faithful action. David celebrated the same gift: “The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). God’s Word revives, instructs, rejoices, enlightens, warns, and rewards those who treasure it (Psalm 19:7–11).
Psalm 119 carries the same conviction. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD; blessed are those who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart (Psalm 119:1–2). The psalmist prays, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). Proverbs urges us to receive God’s words, treasure His commands, cry out for insight, and search for wisdom as for hidden treasure; then we will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1–5). This is the kind of Bible reading that changes a life: not hurried reading, but seeking, treasuring, obeying, and returning.
So how do we read the Bible in a way that leads us to Jesus rather than leaving us with information alone?
- Begin with prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, soften your heart, and show you Christ in the passage.
- Read slowly. Stay with a portion of Scripture long enough to notice its context, repeated words, promises, commands, and how it reveals God’s character.
- Ask where the passage points to Jesus. Is it exposing sin that He forgives? Is it showing a need only He can meet? Is it foreshadowing His saving work?
- Let it lead to response. Confession, trust, obedience, worship, encouragement, or service—Scripture is meant to move us toward God, not merely inform us about Him.
- Keep coming back. Like the “beavers for the Bible,” keep returning to the Word day after day, trusting that God uses it to deepen our knowledge of His Son.
The question Jesus raises in John 5 is not, “Do you read the Bible?” It is, “Will you come to Me?” We can possess much biblical knowledge and still keep Jesus at a distance. But when we open Scripture with a humble and expectant heart, the Word does what it was always meant to do: it leads us to the Saviour, and in Him we find life.
By: Grace Adler