J O H N  5  v18-end

Jesus, in these verses is asserting his own divine nature; and the dignity of His Office; this the place where He dwells fully on this subject with His unity with His Father.  Here we find the Lord handling the subject of His own person.

The Jews, as on many occasions, found fault when He cured a man on the Sabbath, who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. They said He had broken the fourth Commandment.

The reply of Jesus, was my Father works where I work also, He was meaning, whilst God rested on the seventh day, He would always attend to the merciful healing of someone. Jesus puts the claims of the Sabbath, of a proper understanding. The thing to be feared, is the possibility to treat the Sabbath loosely or not at all.

The dignity and greatness of Jesus was marked.  The Jews  tried to kill Jesus, because He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Jesus in reply on this special occasion, enters fully into the question of His own divinity. In reading His words, we are treading on holy grounds.

He sets His own unity with God the Father, knowing He can do nothing by Himself, only doing what He has seen what the Father does.  The Father loves the Son, and shows  Him all the things that he has done.  In other words, that in operation, knowledge and heart, and with the Father and Son are one, two persons, but one God.  We have to believe and accept.

Truths like this are hard to explain. Jesus states in the next place, His own divine power to give life, and heals who He pleases.

Jesus in the last place, gives His own authority to judge the world. God has given Him charge. All authority in heaven and earth is Jesus, and the world is committed to His hands. He is  King and Judge, and before Him every knee will bow and every name confess, that He is Lord. He who was despised and rejected, condemned and crucified, will one day judge the whole world. God will judge the sins on men, by Jesus Christ. If we desire salvation, we have to lean on Jesus, this mighty Savior.  Never be afraid, Christ is the rock of ages, and who that believes on Him, shall never be burdened in sickness or death on judgment day.

We see mighty truths. To the minds of Jews, who were familiar with the writings of Moses and Daniel, it would come home to them with peculiar power.  In the words of Jesus, they would not see final words of His claim to be received as the Messiah

We see that salvation of our souls, depends on hearing Christ. We are told it is the man who hears Christ’s words, and believes the Father sent Him to save sinners who has everlasting life. Such hearing of something, is more than just listening. It is the hearing of God, and we should never forget, it is just as needful as it was two thousand years ago.

These verses, show how rich and full are the privileges of a true heaven and believers. Such is one who enjoys a present salvation

The true believer has spiritual treasures in Jesus. It is one’s own the moment it is believed, already pardoned, forgiven and saved.  Sins are removed and blotted out by the blood of Christ, and can look to judgment without fear.

The last but not least, for a true Christian, is the entire change  of relationship with God.  there s a striking declaration of the power of Christ to give life to dead souls. Our Lord tells us, that the hour is when the dead shall hear the voice of God.  these verses were fulfilled during the Ministry of Jesus, after the day of Pentecost through the Ministry of the Apostles.

We see the solemn prophecy of the final resurrection of the dead. Our Lord tells the hour is coming, when the dead will rise from the grave, shall hear His voice, and come forth

.  All is not over when we die. None shall escape His call when we rise, it will not be the same condition.  There will be two classes. Not all will go to heaven; not all will be saved. Those who have done well, will rise to eternal life, and those who kept acting wrong, will rise to face judgment. Jesus said he judges as God tells Him,  Jesus puts honor on His faithful servants.

See how he speaks of John the Baptist, who was a shining light who was put to death by Herod.  Christ cares for all His believing people, and never forgets.  He knows where they dwell and what trials they have.  He knows what they do in this evil world.

The miracles of the Lord get far less attention than they should in this day world. The people openly say they don’t believe in the possibility of such things as miracles, and they should be taken out of the Bible.

Men in the Lord’s day had enormous response to the miracles, there were so many.  His enemies said they were the work of a Satanic agency.  Let the enemies of the Bible take our Lord’s last and greatest miracle, His own resurrections from the dead, and dispute it if they can. Let the friends of the Bible not be influenced by such objections.

We see the honor Christ put on the Scriptures. He refers to them as the great witnesses to Him.  Search the scriptures He says, for they testify to me. The Lord was referring to the Old Testament, and that shows the important truth, which many overlook.  Every part of the Bible is meant to teach us about Christ, not only the Gospels and Epistles. He is to be found directly and indirectly in the Law, the Psalms and Prophets. In the promises to  Adam, Abraham, Moses and Daniel. In the predictions of Isaiah and  other prophets.

There are so many people who know so little. Do not have wisdom or knowledge, but are keen not to believe in the mission of Christ. This is  proved to be misguided as there are witnesses to testify and confirm all Jesus stated.  The plain truth is the heart, so they stay unbelievers.

The Chapter concludes the defense of Jesus in divine mission. We see why souls are lost.  Jesus says to the unbelieving Jews, ‘you will not come to me so that you may have life.’ Jesus tells them they don’t have God’s love in them.  \they don’t honor God, but honor each other.

 A deep principle in the words of Jesus, are deserving of special attention. True faith is not depend on a person’s head, but rather their heart. But so long as people love something more than God, there is no  faith,

A person must declare they honestly and really desire the praise of God. It is the want of a honest heart that makes many stick fast to their religion. Some people claim they believe, but they really don’t. Every one has to ask themselves, am I honest?  Am I sincere? Do I really desire the praise of God?

Finally, we see the manner in which Jesus speaks of Moses.  He says to the Jews, if you had believed in Moses, you would have believed in me for he spoke of me.  Moses was the author of writings, ascribed to him.

Always avoid mishandling the Old Testament. The simple fact is, the writers of the New Testament continually referred to the Old, and spoke of the events, so true Christians in the 21st century are probably as able to be informed of Moses was as much as Jesus and the Apostles.  Obviously we cannot, so we should not doubt anything in the Old Testament, and treat it with reverence as New Testament, given by the inspiration of God.  

 

May God’s Word be an inspiration to our hearts

May God’s Holy Name be Praised