Portraits of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Robert P. Lightner
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what He intended to do because, in fact, He and God the Father were and are of the same divine essence or nature. Verse 18 is key to understanding this portrait.
Jesus had an altogether unique relationship with God. He was the “only begotten,” the unique, the one and only of a kind, Son of God (3:16). Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Substitute for their sins become sons and daughters of God in His heavenly family. But Jesus’ Sonship does not mean He is merely in God’s family. It means He is totally equal in deity with the Father.
God the Father continues to work on the Sabbath as He has always done, Jesus said. Since He is equal in nature with God, He too is free to work the work of God whenever and wherever He chooses. What He chooses to do is always right and is always in harmony with God’s law whether or not it is in harmony with any of the traditions the Jews have added to that law.
Jesus’ claim to have God as His Father infuriated these Jews beyond description. This caused them to seek even more to kill Him. Why? Because they got His message. Indeed He was making Himself equal with God, v. 18).
Personal Applications
Jesus gave the people around Him every opportunity to believe in Him, to accept Him as God’s remedy for their sin. We have seen from every angle of this portrait examples of Him doing this. He healed the man who could not walk, not only to help him walk but to demonstrate to him and all around him that He was all He claimed to be.
Gazing at this portrait should cause us to think about whom we can help along life’s way. Do we run ahead of those less fortunate than we are? Do we who are not handicapped park in the spot for those who are handicapped? Often, we do not mean to do this but without thinking we fail to offer a hand to the needy. Why not start looking for opportunities to do this? It may open a door for telling someone about Jesus who though pursued by killers was compassionate and helpful.
Study Questions
1. What was the portrait of Jesus we looked at before this one?
2. How does this one we saw here compare with that one?
3. Why do you think Jesus chose to minister to the man who could not walk?
4. How did the Jews respond to the miracle Jesus performed?
5. What was the difference between the response of the healed man and that of the Jews to Jesus’ miracle?
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Equal with God
Portrait 7
John 5:19–47
A man who had not walked for thirty-eight long years was healed by Jesus. As we have seen in John’s sixth portrait, Jesus healed him on the Jewish Sabbath day. A group of Jews who were determined to not only oppose Him also wanted to kill Him. They thought they had caught Jesus in a trap. In their way of thinking Jesus had not only broken the Sabbath law, but He had also made Himself equal with God. For this reason, the Jews were emboldened to kill Jesus. Their law allowed them to do this to any mere human who claimed to be equal with God. Jesus, of course, was fully man, but He was also fully God. In the portrait before us we will see how He substantiated His claim to be equal with God.
Affirmations of Equality with God, vv. 19–24
God the Father ordained the plan He designed for His world. Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, humbled Himself to become one of us and willingly and lovingly submitted Himself to that plan. Everything he did in His life on earth and in his death on the cross was in perfect harmony with His Father’s plan (v. 19). Jesus was busy doing the work of God.
Jesus tried to assure His critics that God the Father loved Him and was very well pleased with what He was doing and would do. Always, Jesus was doing what His heavenly Father wanted Him to do and to say. Jesus the Son of God was all-powerful just as God the Father was. Both could do anything they chose to do which was in harmony with their nature.
As Jesus answered His critics, He told them that He, God’s Son, could give life to the dead; He could raise the dead just as surely as His Father could (v. 21). That claim must have stunned those accusing Him. They, of course, would have known about Elijah and Elisha to whom God gave power to raise the dead. In both of these Old Testament cases, however, the power came only after the answer to specific prayer (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:32–37). Jesus, by contrast, claimed to raise the dead when He chose to do so. He did this in fact three times during His sojourn here (Mark 6:41–42; Luke 7:14–15; John 11:43–44).
In addition to claiming all power as an affirmation of His being equal with God, Jesus also affirmed it by claiming to possess divine authority. The Father “has given all judgment to the Son,” Jesus said (v. 22 cf. v. 27). The reason this awesome authority was given to Jesus is so that all would honor Him with the same honor they give to God. And then reminding His critics who were not giving Him any honor but were in fact trying to kill Him, Jesus told them of the awful consequences of not honoring Him. He said, “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (v. 23). Furthermore, those who believe in Him have eternal life. Those who do not believe remain in a state of spiritual death and will face the judgment of God (v. 24). Here again He was claiming to be equal with God. Would those who pursued Him to kill Him ever believe Jesus was who He claimed to be? Did they ever have second thoughts about their evil intent?
Activities of Equality with God, vv. 25–29
The first activity Jesus referred to as He continued to answer His critics was that in the future the dead would hear His voice and live. Jesus gave spiritual life, eternal life, to all who received Him as their Savior. Also, He promised to raise the dead in the future. In both the physical and spiritual sense He claimed to be the Life-giver. They knew full well what Jesus was claiming by his assertions—He was equal with God. After all, they too believed only God could give life and raise the dead. The key verse to help us remember this portrait is verse 26.
Second, Jesus said He had been given authority to execute judgment upon mankind in the future. He had this right because He is equal with God in His divine nature.
The third, activity demonstrating Jesus’ equality with God was His ability to raise the dead. Some, He said, would be raised to a resurrection of life and others to a resurrection of judgment. Jesus was not teaching that both of these resurrections would occur at the same time. Rather, His point was that both believers and unbelievers would be raised and He would be involved in both of these resurrections. Both are, of course, still future certainties.
Acclamations of Equality with God, vv. 30–47
Can you imagine how these critics of Jesus might have responded to His affirmations and activities of equality with God? Surely, they would not have been silent as they heard all these things. They must have been grumbling and complaining to each other, perhaps even trying to interrupt Jesus, to show their total rejection of what He was saying. Based on what we know from the rest of Scripture, they went away the same as they came to Him—in unbelief.
Jesus expressed His complete reliance upon the One who had sent Him to this world. His own will was always in perfect accord with God the Father’s will. It was Jesus’ goal to always do the will of His heavenly Father.
In John 5:30–47 there are four testimonies, or we might call them acclamations, of Jesus’ equality with God. Before giving these four Jesus made what might be misunderstood as a strange and perplexing statement. He said, “If I alone bear witness Myself, My testimony is not true? (v. 31). He did not mean by this that His witness of Himself, His claims, were false. No, they were all perfectly valid.
Rather, what he did mean was, as He stood there in front of His critics, that contrary to a court of law where one’s personal testimony would be biased, His was totally unbiased. This was true because of all He had already told them. And, the four witnesses he was about to give verified and fully agreed with His claims.
John the Baptist gave clear testimony to Jesus’ equality with God (vv. 33–35). These very same Jews before Jesus had heard the Baptist’s call of the Jews to repentance and His declaration,