As we pick up in John 5 we come to a teaching moment in the ministry of Jesus. The teaching follows the miracle that Jesus performed at the Pool of Bethesda in which He healed a man who had been a paralytic for 38 years. REMEMBER — John calls these miracles “SIGNS.” He uses that word because a sign points to something beyond itself. (John 20:30-31) This particular sign was intended to point to Jesus as being the Son of God, equal in nature and power with God the Father. John 5:8-9 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. We were careful to note the authority and power of Jesus to heal instantaneously — by the power of His own Word — “At once the man was healed.” In healing this man Jesus exercised the same power that He exercised when He spoke the universe into existence John 1:3; Genesis 1). In verse 10 the religious leaders accused this man of breaking their man made regulations regarding work on the Sabbath. They looked at this guy and they were more concerned about the burden he was carrying than the burden that God had lifted from him. John 5:11-12 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” In theory — it was the responsibility of the Sanhedrin (the 70 men who ruled over the religious life of Israel) to scrutinize any new preacher or teacher who came on the scene to protect the flock of God from false prophets who could lead the descendants of Abraham away from the True and Living God, and away from the Law of God. We saw them in action in Chapter 1 when they sent a team of men to question John the Baptizer. And now they were scrutinizing the ministry of Jesus.

John 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” Jesus informs us that in this particular case the man’s physical condition was directly linked to his sin — But by healing this man on the Sabbath we get a tremendous insight into the nature of the Sabbath and the continuing work of God to save man from sin and it’s consequences. John 5:15-17 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

FIRST — An insight into the Sabbath. If healing a man on the Sabbath was a sin, then the Father was to blame! Jesus tells them that God was working on the Sabbath. Genesis tells us that God rested on the 7th day from the work of creation. It was not because He was tired! Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; The Bible clearly says that God doesn’t need sleep or rest. Psalm 121:4 He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The fact that God rested on the seventh day was for man’s benefit, demonstrating a pattern of rest necessary for man’s well being. Jesus would say — “The Sabbath was made for man…(Mark 2:27)”. But God has never ceased working in affairs of man. QUOTE: J.C. Ryle. Jesus is saying — ”Though my Father rested on the seventh day from His work of creation, He has never rested for a moment from His providential government of the world, and from His merciful work of supplying the daily needs of all His creatures. MOST IMPORTANTLY — from the Fall of Man in Genesis 3 — God has never been inactive in the work of redeeming man from the power and penalty of sin; from the work of bringing the Redeemer into the world. Ever since the fall of man, God has been seeking lost sinners and saving them. POINT — The men who were supposed to be most clear on the nature and work of God were totally in the dark about the HEART of God and the WORK of God in the world. They only thought of the work that man must or must not do — and when man must or must not do it —in order to reach God. Here is the core of the Gospel — The Gospel is about the WORK of God to save man. Jesus is God who became man — God among us — WORKING to save men from the power and penalty of sin — God among us SEEKING TO SAVE that which was lost!

SECOND — Jesus is claiming to be God! Jesus said My Father instead of the usual “our Father,” used by the Jews. QUOTE: Alexander Maclaren. They fastened on one point in that great saying, namely, that it claimed Sonship in a special sense, 18This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

There are so many people today who are totally in the dark about the person and nature of Jesus — “He’s just a good guy” – a “good teacher” – “perhaps a prophet.” They say that Jesus never made claims to be the God of the Bible. Would you note with me that the Jews fully understood that Jesus was a man claiming to be God; not just one pagan deity out of a pantheon of pagan gods; or some vague new age concept of God. They understood that Jesus was claiming to equal in nature and power with the God of Israel. QUOTE: Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) One of the leading thinkers of the western world, “Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand.” INSIGHT: There are contemporary expressions of the Arian heresy — denying the deity of Jesus. The Jews understood Jesus much better than the other groups who would make Jesus something less than God. (For further study on the subject of the Trinity and the Nature of Jesus reference OPEN’s Credo Study, TRINITY: God is, which deals with the subject of the Trinity and the major heresies concerning the Trinity and the nature of Jesus).

The Jewish religious leaders understood perfectly what Jesus was saying. These guys were more than upset when Jesus declared that God was His Father! They sought to kill Jesus because he was constantly making himself equal with God. 19So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, We find Jesus saying this more than twenty times in John’s Gospel. Remember, Jesus is the Truth Teller. He always tells the truth because He IS the truth — He is full of grace and TRUTH. When Jesus says, “Truly, truly,” He is challenging us to believe His word over and above any other teacher or teaching. DON’T MISS THIS — These religious leaders want to kill Him because He’s making himself equal with God — and Jesus doesn’t try to butter them up — or say that they’ve misunderstood Him. Instead of denying their accusation, or clarifying a misunderstanding — He reasserts His relationship with the God of Israel — Truly, truly I say to you! By making such claims we are only left with three possibilities concerning Jesus — He is a liar, a lunatic — or He really is God who became man. So Jesus makes His case for being the man who is God! 19 …the Son can do nothing of his own accord, Jesus, God the Son, does nothing independently. He is fully submitted to the Father’s will. This submission is not by coercion nor does it flow from an inferior nature. There is equality and deferance within the Trinity. 19 …but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. The tenses of the verbs here are really important in understanding this clash and these claims. The son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what he is seeing the Father do. This is what I am seeing My Father doing today —ON THE SABBATH — and that’s what I am doing. The reason this man picked up his bed and walked is because that’s what the Father was doing at that very moment. For what things the Father is doing — these also the son is doing likewise. On the night before Jesus died He would say to His disciples — Phillip said — show us the Father and it will suffice, Jesus said if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9). It is not that Jesus IS the Father — or that the Father IS the Son (That is the heresy known as Modalism). Jesus is God the Son, doing what He sees the Father doing. So if we want to know what the heart of the Father looks like, what the Father is up to, look at Jesus.

As we see the hatred of the religious leaders for Jesus we want to bear in mind the fact that among these religious leaders is Nicodemus — his heart has been deeply touched by Jesus back in Chapter 3. He will jeopardize his life and reputation to take the body of Christ and put it in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph of Arimathea is among this group. He was one of the counselors of Israel, there were only 14 of those men in Israel and he is was of them. So, there are those listening, who’s hearts are being touched. BUT the vast majority of those religious leaders say, “We want to kill you because you’re making yourself equal with the Father.” Jesus replies, “To tell you the truth, I don’t do anything unless its something I am seeing My Father doing today and whatever My Father is doing, that’s what I’m doing.” 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. The Father is presently showing the son all things that he himself is presently doing. QUOTE: C.S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters p.75-77 INTERESTING — The father loves the son. Much is said and written about the love that God has for man! And there could never be enough books written, words spoken, songs sung that speak of it — make us think about it — worship Him for it. We ought to be undone by the very thought of God loving man! But the LOVE of God the Father for God the Son is a concept that is little considered — But it is the love of God the Father for God that Son that alone can define the greatness of God’s love for us! It is ONLY in the light of that love that we have a reference for all other love! When we read — The father loves the son — we would think that the greek word used for love would be a form of the word “Agape” — the word used to in John 3:16. But the word used here is “phileo.” Jesus says — The Father is fond of the son. What an amazing thing. The mighty God of Israel has a personal and paternal love for Jesus. There is this paternal affection and fondness. The first three Gospels open with the Father declaring His love for His Son — This is my BELOVED Son.

HUGE CONCEPT — The only TRUE reference for love comes from this father son relationship. The first time we find the word ‘love’ in the Bible is in Genesis 22 in reference to a father’s love for his only son. (See Study on Genesis 22 dated May 31, 2004) God said to Abraham – take now your son, your only son, whom you love to a mountain that I will show you. It’s an awesome chapter — It is a chapter of FIRSTS. It is the first time we find the word LAMB. It is the first time we find the term WORSHIP. It is the first time we find the word LOVE.

We read in the book of Revelation, Revelation 13:8 KJV — ….. the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Somewhere in eternity past — before the worlds were ever created — the Father decided to send the Son — And the Son agreed to come and live and die and rise. All love that exists — whether it’s the love of a father for a daughter, or a husband for a wife, or a brother for a sister — came into existence and was born out of that love between the God the Father and Jesus, His unique and only begotten son. So it is remarkable that Jesus looks at these men who want to kill Him and he says, “I’m not doing anything except that which I am seeing the father do right now, and what He is doing, that’s what I am doing. The father loves me. He’s crazy about me. He’s fond of me. Loves me.” REMARKABLE! 20For 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. You aint seen nothing yet! The man, Jesus of Nazareth, is now going to reassert His claim to be God. He will do it by claiming to have the authority and power that the monotheistic Jew knew to belong to God alone!