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This sermon was preached on Sunday 29/04/2001 Am, by Kevin Matthews.
‘For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him (John 5:21-23).’
We return this morning to consider this very important passage in the Gospel of John. Last week we saw that Jesus had been accused by the Jews of breaking the Sabbath, and that the defence He made for His work of mercy in healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda was to claim equality to the Father, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (5:17).’ If the Father works, than of course the Son also works. What applies to the Father also applies to the Son, for both are God.
The charge of Sabbath breaking then faded into the background, for now the Jewish leaders perceived blasphemy in what Jesus said, for He ‘said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God (5:18).’ By this charge of blasphemy, the Jews meant that Jesus was guilty of putting Himself up as another God alongside the Father, but this was not what Jesus meant at all.
In response to this misunderstanding of Jesus’ claims, Jesus sought to explain something of the relationship that exists within the Trinity between the Father and the Son. Jesus was not claiming independence from the Father, as though He was another God, but rather a distinction from the Father within the unity of God. In other words, within the One that the Jews knew as God, there were in fact more than One who is God.
From this Jesus went on to explain something of the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son within the Unity that is God, and what we discovered revealed to us by Scripture was what we called functional subordination - or if you like, differing roles within the Triune God. These are roles that in no way make the Son of lesser importance than the Father, or of lesser Divinity than the Father, or anything of that nature at all. They are roles that actually define the existence of God, the way God is, what He is, and how He relates within the Trinity.
In love the Father always shows the Son His plans, sends the Son, commands the Son, and so on. In love the Son always fulfils the plans of the Father, goes when the Father sends Him, obeys the Father’s will, and so on. This is how the relationship within the unity of God works; the Father leads and the Son follows - yet both are equally God.
The Jewish leaders may have been amazed at the claims of Jesus, surprised at a man making such claims, yet the healing by the Pool of Bethesda was proof enough of His Divine activity. Yet in the future they would see far greater examples of Jesus’ Divine activity then this, and it is to these that we now turn.
1. Jesus, the Life Giving God.
A sure mark of Divinity is the ability to give life to the dead, and this is something that the Father Himself does, for He ‘raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them (5:21).’ Giving life to the dead is a God thing, it is not a mere man thing. No man upon the face of the earth is able to do this sort of thing.
That God raises to life the physically dead is something we have no argument about. When Naaman was sent to Israel’s king in the time of Elisha the prophet and the king read the letter requesting the healing of Naaman from his leprosy, the king of Israel tore his clothes. Why did he do this? Because he acknowledged that this was something that he was not capable of doing, and he thought that the Syrians were simply seeking an excuse to attack Israel. ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:7)?’
And what do we see Jesus doing with Lazarus in the Gospels? He raises to life one who was in the grave for three days, and this ‘that they may believe that thou hast sent me (Jn 11:42).’ Surely here is proof enough of His Divinity, ‘that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (Jn 20:31).’ Surely this Jesus is who He said He was, even God Himself - I mean, who else can do such things?
To give people life is a God thing, it is not a man thing, yet we are expected to believe in this day and age that man can do it. There are many churches that profess to believe this sort of thing, and I don’t speak now of the physical realm, but of the spiritual.
Man is ‘dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1),’ spiritually dead outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14).’
The unbeliever is as spiritually dead as the physical body is physically dead and lying in a grave at Sandgate. Is the physical body able to be raised to life by any man, or indeed by itself? Of course not, yet many Christians expect us to believe that the spiritually dead are capable of doing that sort of thing, of giving themselves new life - but it is simply not possible. It is something they cannot do. Yes, man has a free will, but I don’t see that dead body at Sandgate being able to get up and walk, and it is the same spiritually. Being dead spiritually leaves a person incapable of choosing to live spiritually - it is a work that God must perform, and this is why sinners need new life from God, that which we call the new birth. Without being born again, no man will live spiritually, or if you like become a Christian.
‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (Jn 1:13,14).’
Every person who becomes a Christian does so only because ‘the Father raises the dead and gives life to them.’ This ability is something that is characteristic of the Divine, not of the human.
This then is yet another way that the Son manifests His Divinity, ‘For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will (5:21).’ As this is a work of God, and the Son is God, then obviously this is a work that the Son also does. He ‘gives life to whom He will.’
‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain (Jn 15:16).’ Though the Christian is the one who chose to believe in Christ, and the unbeliever the one who chose not to, it is actually the choosing of Jesus that makes the difference. Without Jesus choosing there would be no living, and with no living there would be no fruit. The reason then why one chooses Christ is because Christ first chose him.
Yet the reference here goes beyond what we have so far considered, for it also points forward to the resurrection of the dead on the Day of the Lord. Hear what Jesus has to say in John 6:44, ‘No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.’
Christians will be raised on the last day because Jesus will give them resurrected life. ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die (Jn 11:25,26).’ When a person is given new, spiritual life by Christ, and then exercises faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that person will never die, though the body does - and because Jesus is the source of resurrection life, you will one day be reunited with your bodies in glory.
Resurrected life of course includes both those who are saved and those who are unsaved, ‘Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (Jn 5:28,29).’
Those who have been drawn near to Jesus through the election of grace and by faith in Christ will be resurrected unto eternal life with the Lord, while those who have been passed by and left in their sin will perish eternally and justly in eternal punishment.
So we see that the ability to raise the dead includes not only the physically dead in the here and now context, but also the spiritually dead in the here and now context, as well as the dead at the last day to their respective eternal destinies.
As amazing as all those considerations are, there is yet one more amazing consideration in this area of raising the dead, even the raising of Himself. ‘estroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body (Jn 2:19-21).’ The Son will also show His Divinity through the raising of Himself from the dead. Did you realise that?
‘Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (Jn 10:17,18).’
So we see the Scriptures teach us that Jesus is indeed who He said He was, the Son of God, for He has the ability to ‘give life to whom He will.’ Yet there are still further demonstrations of His Divinity to come.
2. Jesus, the Judging God
When one thinks of the judgment to come, you think of this as being the work that belongs to God alone, and it does. How many times have you sought to palm of the assaults of your critics by taking refuge in the thought that God is your Judge and not they?
The idea of God being Judge is clearly the Bible’s position, and for those who have believed its writings, this has also been their position. Hear the words of Genesis 18:25, ‘That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’
It was also the position of the Jewish leaders that the work of judgment was God’s, and His alone. Can you imagine how shocked they were when they heard not only that Jesus was to judge, but that He was to be the sole Judge of the world?
‘For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son (5:22).’
What the passage is saying, is that the Father in His role as the one who plans and decrees, has given the task of judging the world to the Son, ‘Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:31).’
The work of judgment is very much God’s work, and Jesus is not in any way attempting to wrest from God a work that rightly belongs to Him alone. There are of course many people who would seek to take the right of judgment from God and assume it for themselves through their judging of others, but this is not what Jesus is doing here.
Though God’s work, at the last day it is to be the Son’s work alone, it is to be His distinct work, though very much in agreement with the Father’s will, for ‘The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do (5:19),’ ‘In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel (Rom 2:16).’ So what we actually see here is once again the principle of functional subordination in operation, the Son doing as the Father directs.
Yes it is God’s work to judge, and within the context of the Divine functional subordination, it is the Son who will do the judging at the last day. Jesus is God, very God of very God, equal in Divinity to the Father, there being more than one who is the one God.
Here is the Divine irony of the last day, for the One that the Jews rejected and condemned, will in fact be the One who rejects and condemns them at the last day. Then they will truly be amazed and bewildered, face to face with God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the case for all sinners who reject the Lord Jesus Christ in the here and the now. This very Jesus whom you write off is the very Jesus whom you must face for judgment when He comes to judge the living and the dead. He is the sovereign Lord of the universe, into whose hands the final judgment and destination of all men has been placed. You need to consider carefully how you will treat this Jesus, for you would be foolish to continue your rejection and ridicule of the One who will pass sentence upon you.
Therefore do not delay any longer, for you do not know when you will be swept into eternity to face your Maker. But you can know this, ‘And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb 9:27).’ When you die it will be too late, for in the state that you die, will be the state that you face Jesus the judging God.
3. Jesus, Honour Him As God
Why is it then that these further demonstrations of the Divinity of Christ will take place? Well, the passage before us gives us the answer.
‘That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him (Jn 5:23).’
All these things are true of the Son, they are not just a show. All these roles demonstrate the Divinity of the Son, they show us that He is in no way inferior to the Father. These are all things that are God things, and not creature things. He heals, He gives physical life, He gives spiritual life, He gives resurrected life, He gives Himself life, and He judges the world - these are all God works, not creature works.
Jesus is to be regarded as God, He is the Son of God, as much God as the Father is God. For many it is difficult to accept that this Jesus who came to earth is God Himself, yet this is clearly the testimony of Scripture.
All these things demonstrate equality to the Father, for what the Father does, the Son also does. What God alone can do the Son does. The role of judgment that belongs to God alone is a distinct work of the Son. He is God as the Father is God.
There is a unity of purpose operating within God, for the Son only does what the Father does, and though there are differing roles through this functional subordination within the Trinity, each Person is moving within the same direction and together, exercising confidence in the other fulfilling the role which they play within the Trinity.
There is no pulling this way and that way, one wanting to go here and the other there - this is the united Triune God. Our passage has shown as something of the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son, and it is one of unity.
What does this mean for you and I? It means that to honour the Father you must also honour the Son as God, and not to take away from Him at all. Our worship that is directed to the Father should also be directed to the Son as God. We ought to worship the Son in no lesser way than how we worship the Father, for both are the One God.
It is here that we must be so very careful. Man is so willing to take to Himself that which belongs to God alone. The new life that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ comes from the Son and we ought to honour Him for it. If we don’t, we give no honour to the Father either. Don’t take the honour that belongs to God and give it to yourself, for He is the giver of life, not you.
There are also many out there who like to claim the existence of God as being something they believe in, yet when it comes to resting in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation they become sceptics, and will not have it. By not honouring the Son, they do not honour the Father, and they will perish in their sins unless they repent.
‘Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also (1 Jn 2:23).’
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