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The Witnesses to Jesus' Divinity - John 5:19 - 47

 Monday, October 26 –

Welcome to a new week.  We continue reading the New Testament in a year.  Today our reading continues in the Gospel of John, and we read from John 5:19-47.  Please read the passage and come back after that to walk through it together.


John had given us a number of pictures of Jesus.  He is the word that was with God in the beginning.  He is the word that became flesh – incarnate – as the Son of God.  Jesus began to show who he was in signs.  He turned water into wine, healed an official’s son who was twenty miles away, and also a man who was lame at the Temple.  He had a conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus and a woman who was unnamed at a well.  While there had been questions from the Pharisees, there had been no open conflict – that is until now.  Over the next few readings Jesus is going to make it clear – he is the Son of God, and He and the Father, are one – this the Jews cannot comprehend, nor believe in. 

The beginning of this happened in the Temple after the lame man was healed.  Jesus had done the healing on the Sabbath, and the Temple authorities confronted him (5:16).   When Jesus told them that “my father is working until now, and I myself am working. 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” (5:17-18).

Jesus had shown by signs that he was no ordinary human.  He had shown in the miracles that God’s power was at work in him, but he had not yet made it clear what was his relationship to the Father.  The religious authorities had challenged him concerning his work on the Sabbath, and now Jesus addresses their charge by telling them He made the rules for the Sabbath.  In doing so, Jesus begins to explain in six specific ways, why – as the Messiah – he was equal to God. 

First, he explains that the Father and He were united as one in the work that they are seeing: “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel” (5:19-20).
As Bruce Milne wrote – “Jesus places no limit on his dependence on the Father. ‘The Father is God sending and commanding, the Son is God sent and obedient.’’’[1]  The uniqueness of Jesus is the interrelationship with the Father, as Jesus reveals and works according to their mutual will.  The Father doesn’t order the Son, and the Son does not work on his own.  They share a mutuality of their own love and in a Trinitarian way, Jesus is equally in sync with what the Father wills.

Second, Jesus mentioned, “greater works than these he will show…”  He begins by saying that at the end of the age, the Son will raise the dead and judge all people.  “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.  The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (5:21-22). Again, only God can judge, since he is both creator and sustainer of all life.  Jesus makes it clear, that this prerogative has been given to him by the Father.  A few verses later, Jesus says this again in even more clear statements – “And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.  “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (5:27-30).  Jesus’ use of the name “Son of Man” refers to Daniel 7, and the heavenly vision of the Son of Man approaching God’s throne as Judgement is rendered. 

Jesus’ words must have struck them as bold, even audacious.  Going back to how he began, he adds that He is the source of God’s life for all who believe.  “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will” (5:21).  Only  God the creator can speak life into existence, and so also, only Jesus gives life that leads to eternal life to those he chooses.  Jesus can promise this life because he and the Father are one in their will. To emphasize this, he says “amen” twice, meaning, “listen very carefully for I’m telling you the truth: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (5:24).  How does life come to those who inherit eternal life?  They “hear Jesus’ words and believe in him”.  Chuck Swindoll speaks about Jesus’ dual authority: “Jesus validated His qualification to be the judge of all humanity because He is both the Son of God, who can give life, and the Son of Man, who experienced life as a human, yet without sin.”[2]

 Now Jesus shifts his argument in the remaining verses, to the religious leaders by calling forth a series of witnesses to give proof of his divinity.  First, he disavows any unilateral authority – “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true” (5:30-31).  Jesus’ authority is derived from his relationship to the Father.  He adds: “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true” ( 5:30-31).  and a little later adds, I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (5:43).

The various witnesses that add to Jesus’ argument follow.  John the Baptist (5:33-35), is a human testimonial.  He is reminding them that they were wondering at the time of John’s ministry whether he was the Messiah, and he told them he was not, but one was going to follow him.  John spoke the “truth”, which is all any human testimony can, and should do.  Witnessing of Jesus is not a job, but, as the old saying goes – “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”. 

The various miracles also bear witness to Jesus’ divinity – “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me” (5:36).  The Father sent Jesus to save the world through his death, but in the meantime, he gave back life to all sorts of people who suffered. 

The next of the witnesses was the Scriptures – the Word of God.  In a scathing indictment of their unbelief, Jesus reminds them the word of God bears witness to who he is: “and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.  I do not receive glory from people.  But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.  I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (5:38-43).  They were students of Scripture, but they kept missing the point of the Scriptures – namely, that God was preparing the way for His Son – “the Scriptures bear witness of him (5:39), and they refuse to come to him (5:40).

The last witness to Jesus is Moses himself.  It was Moses who had said, prophesied, Jesus coming as the Messiah (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  While they had twisted the Law into their own rules of religion, they failed to see that the Law was meant to prepare them for a Savior to come.  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (5:45-47). It was their pride and unbelief that caused them to reject Jesus.

Jesus’ divinity is the key to understanding Jesus’ incarnation.  Despite his appeals, they stubbornly resisted.  They debated, but not with a willingness to understand.  I never argue with people who want to debate, because they prove in their arguing that their hearts are already hardened to want to see the truth.  Pray for them – even silently – and let them talk, but find a time to bless them and let it go.  The curious are different.  They will listen, even welcome learning something they didn’t know.  They may ask questions, but it’s because they are after the truth.  When they discover the real Jesus, they will believe, receive him, and walk in his life.

Peace



[1] Bruce Milne, The Message of John, The Bible Speaks Today series, IVP, page 98

[2] Chuck Swindoll, John, Living Insights Commentary, Tyndale, page 122

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