Digging Deeper

Last week we saw Jesus heal the crippled man and how that healed man did not seem to honor Jesus (or even get His name, for that matter). But after the man was healed and Jesus was confronted by the Jews concerning the law Jesus was breaking, we get to the reason why Jesus healed this man…to show that He was equal to God the Father.

This week, we pick up where that story left off. The Jews were now infuriated with Jesus. But unlike earlier, Jesus did not move to a different area to dodge the Jewish religious leaders as He did when they discovered that He (or rather His disciples) were baptizing more than John the Baptist was baptizing. Jesus had just revealed Himself as equal to the Father. Now begins Jesus’ response to the incensed Jews.

John 5:19:

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “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.

Jesus gave an answer to the Jews and what an answer it was. Jesus was about to explain why He and the Father are equal. For a mere mortal this would have been the greatest sin of all and would have warranted immediate death. However, for Jesus who is God, this is a statement of objective truth…one that we all need to pay close attention to.

Jesus begins with the familiar “Truly, truly…” phrase as He begins to speak. We will look at the first two (of three) “Truly, truly” phrases today (technically, these are “Truly, truly, I say to you…” phrases). We know that anytime Jesus says “Truly, truly…” we need to lean in and listen intently.

Jesus begins with the statement that assuredly He can do nothing by Himself or of His own accord. Jesus is honoring the Father by not doing anything of His own initiative. He is waiting for the Father to act. This is our perfect example of how we are to operate in our own personal and corporate ministries. We are to wait on the Lord, keep a watchful vigilance as to where He is working, and then we are to step into the ministry that He has prepared in advance. This is part of what Jesus is saying to us. However, there is more to this statement.

The text specifically says that Jesus is giving an answer to the Jews that were persecuting Him. Here He is explaining to them exactly who He is. Jesus is the One who does not act on His own, He acts exactly in step with what He sees the Father doing. At the end of verse 19, Jesus explains in an even more straightforward way. He says that whatever the Father is doing He will also do these same things. And He finishes verse 19 with the phrase, “in like manner”…meaning that Jesus does what the Father does in an equal way (i.e., likewise).

This single verse is paramount to understanding who Jesus is. Jesus is so close to the Father that there is no impediments or barriers between the Father and Son. Both understand and see each other perfectly and wholly. Next, we see that Jesus willfully and perfectly submits to the Father’s will. He only works where He sees the Father working. Finally, Jesus “does” the work that He sees His Father doing. This not only shows the perfect relationship between the Father and Son but also shows that Jesus is equal to God the Father. He is equal not only because He can do the same work (i.e., signs and wonders, not to mention His perfect teachings) as God but also because of their perfect relationship. There is no disunity or debating between them, they act as if they were one person…the person of the triune God.

How this must have put the proverbial bee in the bonnet of those Jews.

John 5:20–23:

²⁰“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.

²¹“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

²²“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,

²³so 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.

Notice as we read through verses 20-22 each one begins with the word “For…”. In fact, verse 19 even contains the first of these four “For”s. Each of these “For” verses dives ever more deeply into who Jesus is. When Jesus speaks of who He is He always ties it back to God the Father showing that He and the Father are inextricably tied together. It is impossible to disentangle both the Father and the Son (and we must not forget the Holy Spirit as well).

The first of these “For” statements in verse 20 ties together the work of both the Father and the Son. When Jesus entered this world as a man, He set aside His deity and became totally reliant on the Father. Jesus by intentionally setting aside His deity made the perfect statement that He would only follow the guidance of the Father and no one else.

This full reliance on the Father was made possible by one thing. That one thing is spelled out at the beginning of verse 20. It is the Father’s perfect love for the Son. Jesus knew of this perfect love so much so that He gave up everything: His deity (although not permanently as He would take it back once His work was done), His will, and even His life.

If we know of the love of Jesus then we too will see where the Father is working. If you don’t see where the Father is working right now, simply pray fervently that He will show you. But remember, once He shows you it is your responsibility to walk in that ministry fully giving yourself over to His leading.

We arrive at our next verse (v21) where Jesus talks of death and life. This verse can mean both physical death to physical life and spiritual death to spiritual life. Both the Father and Son have the ability to bring a person out of either physical death into life and/or spiritual death to everlasting life. But the emphasis here is not on either the physical or spiritualness of this act but on the fact that the Son has the ability to give both physical and spiritual life in an equal manner as the Father.

The final “For” verse (v22) is equality between the Father and Son regarding judgement. So why judgement? If the Father has given all things to Jesus, why such a focus on judgement? Notice that the Father gave ALL judgement to the Son. The Father would not have given Jesus all judgement if they were not of the same mind and equals. Judgement is a particularly difficult thing to get perfectly right. Think of how difficult it is to righteously judge a person in a human court of law. There are long drawn out court battles with deliberations lasting days, weeks, or even months and even then not all will agree as to a just sentence. But as God we know the Son judges in light of who He is: all knowing, all powerful, perfectly righteous, perfectly just.

Still, this shows us that Jesus is equal to the Father but why is He specifically talking about judgement? Well, our response to Jesus is the real reason that He alone judges us. We can say we believe in God; however, saying not only that we believe in Jesus but that Jesus is also God is another thing entirely. It’s easy for people to say they “believe” in God (even if it is just a purely academic belief…as in, belief that God exists and nothing else). But to say you believe and put your full trust in Jesus as God and man invites a specific and intense hatred from the world. For us to publicly declare that we put our faith in Jesus through our words, our actions, baptism (although not a requirement for salvation, but an outward expression of it), communion (taking the cup and the bread), our corporate worship, our personal worship, and our ministry to others is a sign to the world that we are Christ’s alone. As followers of Jesus, we are at peace with the triune God and our hope lies in a judgement to eternal life. However, the enemies of Jesus have nothing to look forward to but condemnation in judgement.

This is why Jesus was given all judgement by the Father. God loves the Son beyond what we can imagine and requires us to love Him and put our trust in Him as the beholden Lamb of God, the Savior of the world who has wiped away all our (true believers) debts to God (debts we could never pay) thus reconciling us to the Father. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus as our righteous and deserving judge will judge us correctly.

If you haven’t placed your trust in Jesus, now is the time. Take full advantage of His wonderful grace and mercy now. For we will all have to stand before Jesus as our final judge.

Verse 23 sums up this section. If you give honor to the Son you give honor to the One He is equal to…the Father. If you do not honor the Son then you do not honor the Father. Jesus will judge us on whether or not we honor Him. In other words, do we value Jesus? Do we hold Him up in the highest regards with our words, actions, and worship?

John 5:24:

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.

Verse 24 is the second of the “Truly, truly, I say to you…” sections. Here Jesus declares that those who hear His word and also believes in the Father (who did in fact send Him) will be saved. There is no more condemnation for us as it says in Romans 8:1:

¹Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

It is important to understand that in the Greek the verbs “hears” and “believes” are both present tense participles that are also in the active voice. This means that they are ongoing states of being for a person. I like to think of it in this way, “he who is a continual hearer of My word, and a continual believer of (i.e., truster in) Him who sent Me, has eternal life”. This is important because Jesus said it and said it with emphasis (i.e., “Truly, truly…”).

How many are there that are only hearers on Easter Sunday? How many are there that are only believers (i.e., trusters) when it is safe and when it is easy? Of course, there may be those who are experiencing a crisis of faith or have been entangled in sin and may have distanced themselves from the church. We should pray for their restoration. However, if it is a habitual ongoing practice for a person not to hear the word of God and not to fully believe/trust then we should be discerning but gracious to them and try to lead them to a real relationship with Jesus.

The Father perfectly loves the Son. The Father and Son work in perfect unison. The Son, like the Father, gives perfect and eternal life. The Father has already given all judgement to the Son who will judge perfectly. For these reasons we should honor, value, and revere the Son. For in doing so we also honor, value, and revere the Father. This results in no condemnation from our perfect judge Jesus Christ our Lord; in contrast, it results in eternal life for us, which is to be in the presence of Jesus for eternity!