This is difficult material. It would be more gratifying perhaps to give a sermon that is more energizing, uplifting, or empowering rather than deep theology. But if our faith is going to really and truly be those things, if our faith is going to have any power, or any energy, or any ability to lift us up out of darkness, then it has to be grounded in truth. Jesus said in the previous chapter (4:23) that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. He would later declare that He was the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. So foundational to our theology then, Jesus has to be God in the flesh, or our faith is in vain, and our worship is worthless.
Now that is the crux of the difficulty that Jesus has found Himself in after healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. By what authority did Jesus do these things? Jesus had told the paralyzed man to get up, take up his pallet and walk. And so the man was immediately made well and obediently picked up his pallet and headed to the temple, presumably to give thanks to God for healing him. But the Jewish religious leaders see him coming and say, “You aren’t allowed to carry your pallet because it’s the Sabbath day.” But he said, ““He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”. Well of course they wanted to know who that was. But he didn’t know who had healed him. However, later Jesus discloses Himself to him in the temple and so afterwards he tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
The Jews then, it says in vs.16, began plotting to persecute Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. John reveals here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the reason these religious leaders persecuted Jesus was that He was disrupting their religious system. They had a system, and they had learned to manipulate that system to their advantage. Jesus would later accuse them of being hypocrites, because, according to Matt. 23:4, "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”
This is the thing about false religion or false doctrine that is so damning, and which I believe will justly bring the judgment of God upon it one day. And that is that men find a way to manipulate religion to serve their own interests, while at the same time keeping the naive under bondage. That’s why I get so angry over false teachers. Because they are manipulating what should be liberating, in order to feather their own nests, and at the expense of naive people. Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But when it’s not truth, then it leaves people in captivity. And so false teachers and false doctrine has to be exposed.
So in vs.17, Jesus has presumably been cornered somewhere in the temple by the religious leaders, and accused of breaking the Sabbath. And His response is to say, ““My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” The Jews knew that, of course. They knew that God’s work is to keep all things in existence, all things holding together, working together. Nothing exists outside of the power of God. If God shut down the power by which He holds the world, then it would be destroyed. God has to be working, or nothing works. What causes the earth to stay in it’s orbit? What keeps the sun in it’s course through the galaxy? What keeps the atoms spinning by which all life exists? It is the power of God.
1Cor. 8:6 says, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” So God is the Creator, through whom are all things, and yet He shares that responsibility with the Son, so that Jesus can say, God is working, and I too am working. Specifically, He is working as Col. 1:15-17 declares: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” So Jesus says, “My Father is working until now, and I myself am working.”
But notice how that really infuriates the Jews. Vs.18, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” Why does this infuriate them so? Was it because they honored God so much? Hardly. It was because if He was the Son of God, then He was equal with God, and therefore He had the authority to over rule their religion by which they had established their livelihood and power base in Israel. I believe there is evidence to support the idea that the Jews knew for certain by the time of the crucifixion, that Jesus was the Son of God. And they knew the full implications of that title, as evidenced by this verse. It meant that He was equal with God. For our western, modern minds the title Son of God seems to be a lessor title. But in their minds, in a patriarchal society where all the rights and privileges of the father were passed on to the son, they understood the full implication; that He was making Himself equal with God. And yet their response is to want to kill Him even more.
I mean, these aren’t “sincere, but sincerely wrong” kind of people here. Their response to the paralyzed man being healed shows that clearly. There is no interest in the man’s healing. There is no rejoicing that a man 38 years lying paralyzed has been restored fully to health. They obviously could care less about that. They are frothing at the mouth at Jesus in an insane desire to kill this man who could heal the sick. The only reason for that kind of hatred is that they were demonic, steeped in apostate religion that took advantage of people, and they wanted to protect their position and lifestyle at all costs. They could care less that people were being healed. You will see that attitude evidenced by the Pharisees again and again in the gospels.
So Jesus is going to use this as an opportunity to authoritatively declare His unity with God, even though He knows it will be just more fuel for their hatred, and eventually be used against Him in order to put Him to death. But in the process, we get one of the most comprehensive perspectives on the divinity of Christ, from Christ Himself.
So let’s just take Christ’s statements in order then and I’ll give a running commentary as needed. In vs.19, Jesus declares His unity with the Father. This is one of the greatest mysteries of the gospel. How Jesus could be fully God and fully man in one bodily form. It is a mystery that we cannot fully understand I think until we get to heaven. But though we can’t understand it, we can believe it, and in fact we must believe it in order to be saved. Saving faith is believing that Jesus was fully God in the flesh. John has already declared that in his opening prologue in chapter one. Jesus was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Unity and equality.
So Jesus says to that effect, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” Now what Jesus is saying is that this is proof that I am God, because I do what the Father does explicitly. I do the works of the Father. Jesus says this over and over again in His ministry; that His works, and His words, are of the Father and therefore offer proof that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. John 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”
Incidentally, that is how we know we are children of God, is it not? That we do the works of God. We are known by our fruit. Eph. 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Peter says that now that we are saved we are to follow in Christ’s footsteps, according to the pattern which He gave us through His own obedience.
So as we study the gospel, we need to remember that the key to the unlocking all of the treasures of this gospel, is that we are to be to Christ all that He was to his Father, and that Christ is willing to be to us all that his Father was to Him.
So Jesus is saying that He cannot, nor will not act independently of the Father. In some mysterious way, He was both separate, yet unified with the Father. I would suggest that in Spirit He was unified, but the separation was in HIs flesh. In HIs flesh He was a man, and yet He lived constantly, continuously in the Spirit in unison with the Father. And that is how we are designed to live now that we are saved. Though we are in the flesh, we walk by the Spirit and not according to the passions of the flesh. We put to death the lusts of the flesh, that we might do the works of God through the Spirit.
Now for us, it is never perfect while in this body, but progressive. But in Christ it is an absolute unity, something that could only occur in the life of an individual who was equal with the Father. He speaks about the fact that “He can do nothing of himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” That’s an expression of absolute unity. Later on he will say even more clearly, “I and the Father are one.” Meaning not simply one in will, but I and the Father are one in essence.” Literally, He says, we are one thing. So he’s talking about absolute unity only possible for those who are truly possessed of the same nature.
Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature.” That is the basis for their unity, and that unity is the basis for Christ’s deity. Now that perfect unity that Christ claimed an amazing thing for someone to profess. C.S. Lewis said, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic -- on the level with a man who says he’s a poached egg -- or else he’d be the devil of hell.” And J. B. Phillips said something similar, “You must take your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But don’t let us come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us.”
Now then in vs.20, Jesus said, “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.” The word Jesus uses there for love is interesting. Usually the word for love found in the NT is agape. But this time the Greek word is phileo. It’s the word we get brotherly love from. It speaks of a familial love, the love of family. Jesus loves His Father, and the Father loves HIs Son, and so the Father reveals all things that He is doing, so that the Son may do them. They are united not only in nature, but in love. This is perfect love. There is no independence, no contest, only a perfect mirror of activity because there is perfect love.
And note that He says that because the Father loves Him He will show Him even greater works than these. There is a progressive nature to Christ’s ministry. There is a progressive nature to the gospel and it’s revelation. And there is a progressive nature to our revelation by sanctification as we are obedient to what God shows us, and we do it, then He will show us greater works than these. And the same was true with Christ. He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and so God produced in Him ever more works, greater works, until the great work was finally accomplished in His resurrection.
But specifically these greater works that He speaks of are shown in vs.21-23, and they are the work of giving life, and the work of judgment. Vs.21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Now what Jesus is talking about there is that the Son of God is able to give life to whomever He wishes. Now He is not talking about just physical life to a dead person. He will do that with Lazarus and others. But He is talking primarily about giving life to spiritually dead people.
And we know that to be true because He elaborates on that principle in vs.24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” Now that is clearly talking about salvation. The dead He speaks of are not those in the grave. He will talk about them in a moment. But for now He is talking about spiritually dead. That He has the authority to give life to the dead, sight to the blind, ears to hear the word of God and that by hearing and believing in His word they might be saved. He says that explicitly in vs.34, “I say these things so that you may be saved.”
Notice that salvation, eternal life comes through hearing the word of God. This is such an important principle. Rom.10:17 says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” That’s why I put such an emphasis on preaching the word. It’s not that I can’t find some nice stories to tell, or that we can’t find a Christian themed movie to watch, or listen to some Christian singers give a concert. We could do all of those things, but we chose to preach the gospel because it is how God has ordained that men might be saved. 1Cor. 1:23-25 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1Cor. 1:18, 21 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ... 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” So we are saved by hearing the word of God.
Now what does it mean to be saved? Simply speaking, to be saved from judgment. From the wrath of God against sin. And that is the next work that God has given Christ. The work of judgment. Vs. 22, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
So Christ has the authority as the Son of God to give life to whom He wills, and that life results in deliverance from judgment. He has the authority to deliver from judgment because He also is the judge of the world. Christ has been given the authority as the Son of Man to judge the whole world. Vs.27 “and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” That is an interesting distinction of titles. Many times Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man because it is a title of humility, but also because it is a Messianic title. In the Old Testament it is used almost exclusively in the book of Ezekiel. It is a title used in conjunction with the judgment that was coming upon Israel for their rebellion. But I also think that in this case, it may be that Jesus switches from Son of God to Son of Man because as Son of God He is our Redeemer; only God could redeem mankind by His substitutionary death. But as the Son of Man He is qualified to be our judge, because He suffered in the flesh as we did, yet without sin. He knows our frame, He knows our weaknesses. Because He too was in the flesh, and so He is intimately acquainted with man and thus able to judge man justly. He says that in vs.30, “My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” His judgment is just, because He is righteous and lived righteously while in the flesh.
But what about that judgment that Jesus will render? Jesus describes it in vs. 28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” Now notice the difference between this verse and vs.25. Vs.25 says the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of God and be saved. That’s speaking of the spiritually dead. In the present time. The time that now is.
But vs. 28 speaks of the time to come. An hour is coming. It isn’t here now. It’s in the future, when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth. The tomb or the grave speaks of physical death. They are not literally in the tombs, of course. Their bodies are there, and as such they represent the person who lived in that body. But the spirits of men are either in Hades or in Paradise. Either of which I believe is taught clearly is in the heart of the earth. Jesus gave a very clear description of it in Luke 16. Between Hades and Paradise there is a great gulf fixed, Jesus said, which no man can cross. I believe this is where Jesus went for three days upon His death, as He told the believing thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And Paul, speaking in Ephesians about the resurrection of Jesus said, Eph. 4:9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?” And Peter, in 1Pe 3:18-20 says, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, (He was laid in the tomb) but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” He is speaking of the demonic angels in hell, in prison who were disobedient to God’s restrictions upon His creation, when the sons of God went into the daughters of men in Genesis 6.
Now I don’t say all of that to start a eschatological debate with anyone. But I say it to illustrate that the tomb or the grave speaks of the abode of the dead which was Hades. And Jesus says that one day everyone will hear His voice and come out of the tombs. Everyone. Christians and non Christians will be raised from the dead and will either go into the resurrection of life, or the resurrection of judgment under the supreme Judge of the earth, King Jesus.
Rev. 20:4-6 speaks of the resurrection of life, the resurrection from Paradise of the souls that are saved; “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”
And then it speaks of the second resurrection, which is called in this place the second death, which refers to those that are spiritually dead in Hades; Rev 20:11-14 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
And then finally in vs.30, Jesus basically recaps His unity and authority with God. "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” It’s amazing how Jesus can state authoritatively His unity with God, His authority as God to be the judge of the whole earth, the source of life for those who believe in Him, and at the same time express so eloquently His humility. And so once again Jesus expresses through His nature how we are to be unified to Him.
The best commentary on scripture is scripture. And so upon that note I will close by reading Phil. 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
May God give you the grace to walk after the example of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Amen.
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