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The Gospel of John, The Period of Controversy, The Claims of Jesus Christ, Part I, John 5:19-23 - Lesson 31
Read Verses 5:19-27
Last week in verse 19 we heard Jesus say that "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
He is saying here that it is impossible for the Son to act apart from the Father.
Every person of the trinity might speak like this.
The Father can do nothing without the Son, the Holy Spirit can do nothing without the Son, the Father can do nothing without the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit can do nothing without the Father, and the Son can do nothing without the Father, and the Son can do nothing without the Holy Spirit.
In other words, the relationship of the three persons in the Godhead is such that none can act apart from the other.
What ever the Holy Spirit does, he does it in full fellowship with the Son and the Father.
What forms this bond?
Love, Almighty Love as we see in verse 20.
Verse 5:20, For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Jesus tells the Jews, you haven't seen anything yet.
You may wonder at this work of healing on the sabbath, but watch me now because the Father is going to show me greater works than the healing of this man.
You will marvel at my coming works.
Jesus is saying here that the love that the Father had for the Son, enabled the Son to see things no one else could see.
The love between the Father and the Son permits the Father to show the Son all things and the Father holds back nothing.
There is perfect intimacy between them.
The Father has no secrets from the Son.
Jesus looked at the man at the pool of Bethesda and then he looked at the Father.
The Father looked at the Son and then looked at the man.
The Son sees the Father's approval, sabbath or not, and knows that the Father approves of the healing and Jesus, by his word, heals the man in accord with the Father's will.
This astonishes the Jews.
What boldness to heal on the sabbath!
But Jesus reminds them, they would soon see greater wonders.
And he touches on these wonders in the next verse.
Verse 5:21, For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
The Father is sovereign and so is the Son.
Jesus in this verse claims absolute equality with the Father in giving life to whom he will.
He does not claim to be simply an instrument in God's hand for restoring the dead to life, as Elijah and Elisha were or as Paul and Peter.
He states he quickens the same way the Father does.
He did not heal all the impotent folk at the pool of Bethesda; he healed only one.
He choose the one to heal based upon his sovereignty, based upon his will.
This verse says he quickens whom he will.
To impart life is divine and this verse tells us that both the Father and the Son impart life.
This astounding statement was another nail in the hands of the Jews.
To claim parallel ability or power with the Father to quicken those Jesus chose to quicken, caused in the heart of an orthodox Jew, an intense zeal and desire to destroy, in the name of God, anyone making such a claim.
It is easy to see that Jesus, by claiming lordship over the dead, claimed to be God.
Jesus made it very plain to the Jews that he was God.
Remember that they said before Pilate, "He made himself the Son of God."
He was open and honest to the Jews but they did not believe.
Jesus said in verse 19 that he does the same things that the Father does.
Here he amplifies that message.
The Father raises the dead and so does the Son.
This is also an introduction of the "greater works" than the healing of the impotent man at the pool.
He said the Jews would marvel.
He is getting them ready for his raising of Lazarus from the dead.
Verse 5:22,23, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Here in this verse Jesus claims authority as the final judge of all.
God the Father commits all judgment to Jesus Christ and he tells us here that the Father will judge no man.
You and I are accountable to one, and one alone, Jesus Christ the Son of Man, Jesus Christ the Word of God.
He is the one, and the only one, you have to satisfy.
We know that one day, at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
In Acts 17:31, we read, "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained..."
If you are not in Christ, you will appear before the Great White Throne of judgment and you will find yourself looking into the face of a Man.
You will see at that throne the Lord Jesus Christ, the man who went to the cross for you.
The man who you rejected as not sufficient for you.
You will give an account of yourself and he will pronounce the sentence of judgment perfectly suited to your case.
He will not be the Savior at that throne. He will be the judge.
The Father has committed all judgment to the Son of Man because the Son is Man.
The Lord is not going to judge mankind as God but as man.
He will judge as a man who has entered human life with its joys and sorrows, its hopes and fears, its trials and temptations, its ups and its downs.
This man who will judge is not some alien being who is not touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
Jesus has been here.
He knows what it is like to be a boy.
He knows what it is to be reared in a poor man's home, to work at a carpenter's bench.
He knows what it is to be tired, hungry, thirsty and in pain.
The Son of man has experienced all tests and trials of life as a man.
He knows what it is to suffer and to be tempted.
He was tested in all points as we are, yet without sin.
He does not need to be told what it is like to be human, subject to human limitations.
As the God-Man he is perfectly equipped to judge.
Jesus Christ has perfect knowledge of the countless human beings that lived in all ages of history.
He is acquainted with all circumstances of each, he knows the character of every human being that came into, and will come into this world.
He knows their motives, their opportunities, their thoughts, their desires, their passions, their words and their acts.
He knows all the laws of God by which to judge righteously.
He has the absolute right to pass eternal sentence, with no court of appeal to question his judgment.
No case will slip through his court.
His clerk of courts keeps perfect records.
In perfect wisdom the Father commits all judgment to the Son.
We learn here in this verse that the purpose of the Father in committing judgment to the Son, is so that the honour the Son receives, is equal to the honour that the Father receives.
This thought is anathema to the Jewish mind. The Jewish mind remembers the words of Isaiah, I am God, and there is none else...to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. |