After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (more…)
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Our heavenly Father, we again come to you in praise and rejoicing that we are again able to meet in person. May you bless our time in your word. May our lives be transformed by the truth of your scripture. May we point to Christ. Lord, we continue to pray for our peace in our nation. There has been so much violence and destruction in recent weeks. May we continue to grow in grace and love.
Lord, may we shine with a light that is evident to all of those whom we meet. May we have a burden that we are your ambassadors in the world. That how we talk, and act, and treat people, and love people is all meant to be a reflection of the great God whom we serve. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Text: John 5:37-47
37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people.
42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 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. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 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. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
We’re finishing up John 5 today.
The last time we were in John, two weeks ago, Jesus was talking of those who bore witness to him. And we talked about three witnesses to Christ: John the Baptist, the works of Christ, and God the Father. In our passage today, we see a fourth witness to Christ. The scriptures themselves witness to the truth of who Jesus is.
I will say up front that I LOVE this passage. Jesus is making the concluding remarks of a speech to the Pharisees which began in verse 19. Last time we were in John, we quoted part of verse 37. Jesus was talking of God as a witness to his messianic identity.
And that’s where we’ll start this morning. And this is my plan for us today. We’re going to talk about the passage and the end of the section will lead into some closing remarks on the scriptures and how they point to Christ.
First point I want to make from our section.
Misunderstanding the Bible
Quoting from verses 37-38:And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
Once again, a couple weeks ago, I talked about how God bears witness to Christ, and our passage this morning points to how the scripture bears witness to Christ, but Jesus will talk of God to lead into the scriptures as a witness to his Messianic identity.
Jesus begins in our passage by saying that God has sent him and that God bears witness to him. And then Jesus tells the pharisees that they have never heard the voice of God, nor seen God, nor do they have the word of God dwelling in them. Saying the true thing is not always the popular thing. And Jesus, once again, does not mince words with the pharisees. He says that they have never heard the voice of God.
Keep in mind the context of what he’s saying. He’s talking to the experts of the Old Testament. The Pharisees. God had given his word to the Jewish people. It was a point of pride.
And they have Jesus speaking to them. Jesus is God incarnate, speaking the words of God. In 3:34, Jesus says: he whom God has sent utters the words of God.
Also remember how John’s Gospel begins. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God(John 1:1).
Jesus is the Word of God whom the pharisees don’t hear. There’s the irony that the pharisees are listening to God speak to them and they don’t hear what he’s saying. Moses had heard the literal voice of God in the Old Testament. And an idea that will come up at the end of this passage is that if the pharisees had been true followers of Moses, they would have recognized Jesus for who he was.
It’s also true that the pharisees often missed the heart of God’s teachings. It can be easy to know a lot about the Bible but to not have it truly changing your heart. I remember when I was in seminary and we’d pray before classes. A common refrain was that we would ask God to grow in heart knowledge, not just head knowledge.
As James prays: that we would be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22). Let’s consider for just a moment that confrontation which inspired this entire speech which the Lord Jesus has been giving. It began with Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, which the pharisees had considered a violation of the law, because they had such a restrictive view of what it meant to follow the Sabbath. Jesus says that they have never seen God’s form. Again, there’s irony in that they have God incarnate telling them that. They’re actually looking at Jesus who is God on earth and they don’t see him for who he is. But it’s also true that Jesus has seen the Father and they have not.
In verse 38, he’s already told them that they’ve never truly heard from God, and here he’s saying God’s word is not abiding in them. When Jesus says that they do not believe in the one whom the Lord has sent, Jesus is obviously referring to himself.
Jesus continues his harangue against the pharisees.
2. the scriptures bear witness to Christ
Verses 39-40: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Jesus acknowledges that the pharisees do study the scriptures, but as D.A. Carson says “there is nothing intrinsically life-giving about studying the scriptures.” At least, there’s not if you miss the ultimate meaning and purpose of the scriptures in pointing to the glorious and gracious God who has made a way for fallen man to be redeemed. Plenty of people value the moral teachings of the Bible, even many non-Christians would affirm that. But that is not the soul-saving point of God’s Holy Word.
People can study the scriptures. A person can know the Bible backwards and forwards. But if you don’t understand that it is Christ to whom the scriptures bear witness, you’ve missed the whole point of the Bible.
When I was in seminary, in one of my preaching classes we had to do a sermon, but before doing the sermon, we had another long list of things to do. We had to translate the passage from the original language, give grammatical comments on the text, give a grammatical outline, a sermon outline, on and on and on.
It was a lot of work. And then you had to actually write the sermon. And it was a hard sermon to write because after spending time doing all of that, I didn’t truly understand the heart of the passage. My point is that you can spend lots and lots and lots of time studying the Bible and miss what it’s saying.
Similarly, a person can have long sections of scripture memorized. That’s fine. But are those verses impacting you? Are they impacting your life? Are they impacting how you look at God? Are they impacting your trust in Christ? Jesus says at the end of verse 39 that it is the scriptures which bear witness about him. It’s not the first time, nor is it the last time in this gospel that it talks of the scriptures as pointing to Jesus.
Put another way, Jesus is here speaking with the Pharisees and he’s telling them that they don’t truly know the scriptures, because they don’t know Jesus, and it is the scriptures which point to Jesus.
They had the attestation of the prophet who came before, John the Baptist. They saw the signs Jesus was doing. They had his teaching. They had reason to believe but did not. It’s not that they should have had a perfectly worked out theology of who Jesus was during his lifetime. The disciples didn’t even have that. But as the disciples saw the ministry of Jesus unfolding, they were drawn to this man and had a growing knowledge of who he was. When Phillip was called to be a follower of Jesus at the beginning of this gospel, he points to the scriptures.
John 1:45: Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
When Jesus does his first sign, where he turns water into wine, John notes that this helped make sense of his entire ministry later on.
John 2:22: When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
And then you have Jesus interacting with Nicodemus. Another of the pharisees, the teacher of Israel. An expert in the Law. John 3:10: “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
But the pharisees instead hated Jesus, plotted against Jesus, and ultimately set their actions towards crucifying Jesus. While it’s true that we have the whole story and the pharisees didn’t, they also had the chance to see, hear, and experience the ministry of Christ. So the pharisees are judged on account of their failure to recognize the scriptures as pointing to Christ.
Jesus continues speaking to the pharisees. He’s talked about the witness of the scripture. And now he comes back to a verdict against the pharisees.
Verses 41-42: I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
Jesus says he doesn’t receive glory from people. He’s pointed to the witnesses of his works, of God, of the scriptures to his divine identity. Jesus is glorious because of who he is. The glory of Christ is not contingent upon the adulation of humanity. The earth revolves around the sun, regardless of if a person wanted to accept that or not.
Borrowing again from D.A. Carson: if Jesus primarily cared about receiving glory from men, he could pander to the pharisees. He could say what they wanted to hear. But then, what kind of a Messiah would he be? He came to do the will of the Father, not the will of men.
Verses 43-44: 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. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Verse 43, Jesus points to God, in whose name has has come.
Jesus says that if another comes in his own name, they would receive him. It follows from the fact that they’re mistaken and blind to the true Messiah, that they therefore are going to be susceptible to following a false messiah. And historically, we know that there were many first century false Messiahs who came after Christ.
Instead, the leaders receive glory from one another. They’re looking for the Messiah, but for the wrong reasons. Not out of love for God, not out of a desire for truth, not to know salvation. The people wanted a Messiah, but not the Messiah who Jesus was. Not the Messiah who points out their sin, points out the flaws in their system, who wouldn’t do what they wanted him to do.
Our world can be just as susceptible to this. That’s part of why it’s important to come to Jesus, to come to the word of God in humility. If you’re never challenged by what Jesus is saying, you might simply be following a Messiah in your own making. We are sinful, and therefore there is a constant reformation of the human heart in encountering the person and teachings of Christ. Our default is sin, not righteousness.
3. The indictment of the pharisees
45 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. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Jesus is likely referring to the entire Old Testament and Mosaic Covenant. Moses is the accuser of the pharisees. It’s symbolic. It’s not to say that Moses is the divine judge. Obviously, Moses is just a man. But Jesus is saying to the Pharisees “you want to put so much stock in the Old Testament, you want to put so much stock in the Law of Moses, well if you really understood that, you would believe because Moses’ writings are all about me.”
Again, this is an indictment from Jesus to the pharisees. To truly believe in the writings of Moses is to believe in Jesus. And this is the point to which we’ve been building up this morning and where we will be spending the rest of our time.
In verses 39-40, Jesus said: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
And here at the end of the passage: If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
The Bible is a book about Jesus.
First. You have prophecies which are fulfilled in Christ.
It’s amazing. You have some very specific prophecies about Jesus which are fulfilled in the New Testament. Think about it for a moment. You have where he’d be born and that his ministry would be preceded by a forerunner. He’d be born of a virgin. Hosea said that he’d travel to Egypt. We see this early in Matthew. Psalm 40 predicted that he would preach repentance to Israel. Psalm 78 predicted that he would teach in parables.
Isaiah 6:9 predicted that people would not listen to his teaching: “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Other prophecies fulfilled in Christ. He would have a miraculous ministry. Isaiah 35:5-6: the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
The Old Testament mentions that he would minister in Galilee and draw gentiles to himself. The Old Testament mentions that he would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, be plotted against, be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
You have prophecies that say he would be forsaken by God. Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Psalm 22:16 says that he would be pierced. This is often taken to be a prophecy referring to his crucifixion, in spite of the fact that crucifixion didn’t even exist at the time. Dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
The Old Testament says that lots would be cast for his clothing and that those closest to him would abandon him. Psalm 41:9: Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
The Messiah would usher in a new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31: the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah
I realize that with some of these fulfilled prophecies, the Pharisees weren’t aware of them yet. Not to mention that we have the family he’d be born into. The tribe of Judah, a descendant of David. You don’t have control over where you’re born, or from what family you’d be born. You don’t have control over all of the events that happen in your lifetime. But we have all of these prophecies that point us to what would happen during Christ’s ministry.
A skeptical person could look at all of these and try to explain it away “well what if the writers of the New Testament just read through their Old Testament, pulled out these little details and reverse engineered the Jesus story.”
The answer is that that makes no sense when you recall that the apostles were persecuted and died for their faith. Why would they make up a story and then die for something they knew wasn’t true?
Well what if it’s a coincidence?
The idea that a person coincidentally had all of the Old Testament prophecies pointing is a bigger leap of faith that believing that Jesus is who he says he is. Perhaps some of you have heard this illustration.
A mathematician and astronomer named Peter Stoner calculated the odds of just 8 of the prophecies of Jesus coincidentally being fulfilled coming true. He said that the odds were 1×10 to the 17th power. Or 1 in 100 quadrillion.
Put more seriously, the odds of something that’s 1 in 100 quadrillion is as if you were to take silver dollars and cover the entire state of Texas 2 feet deep in the coins. You put a red dot on just 1 of those coins, you take a person and blindfold them and tell them they can walk wherever they want but that they need to pick up just one coin. The odds of that person walking all across Texas and picking up the one marked coin are about the same chances as Jesus fulfilling 8 prophecies.
But he fulfilled many more than that. The argument that it’s a coincidence is absurd. The scriptures literally point to Jesus. But prophecy is not the only way in which the scriptures point to Jesus. You have patterns, sometimes called ‘types’ of Christ throughout the Old Testament.
The lamb led to slaughter in Isaiah 53 is a type pointing us to Christ the greater lamb who was led to slaughter.
Isaac was a type for Christ in that he was the promised Son of Abraham. He was the Son who Abraham was asked to sacrifice, but at the pivotal moment, God said that he himself would provide the sacrifice.
Joseph was a type for Christ in that he suffered unjustly and was then exalted to save his people. What men meant for evil, God used for good.
Moses was a type for Christ in that he was a mediator between God and the people, but in Jesus, we see the greater mediator. Moses had to cover his face when speaking to God, Jesus is the one who has seen God. Moses was given the Ten Commandments on a mountain, Jesus spoke with authority in his Sermon on the Mount.
Joshua was a type for Christ in that he led Israel into the land, and Jesus leads his people into the greater land: the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the new earth.
David, the great King of Israel who was the man after God’s own heart is a type for Christ, the greater king.
Jonah was a type for Christ as one who spent 3 days in the fish, Jesus spent 3 days in the tomb.
And there are many more people. And there are many other themes which show types or themes for Christ and what he’d fulfill.
Very briefly, we’ve talked about these themes before. Sonship is a theme in the Old Testament where Israel and the Davidic kings are called the Son of God. Jesus is the true Son of God who allows us to be adopted as God’s children.
In the Old Testament, priests offered sacrifices at the temple. Jesus is the great high priest, who is able to approach God and offers himself as a sacrifice so that we could be redeemed to God. As the temple is the presence of God in the world, Jesus is literally God in the world and the true temple.
Other themes. Sabbath. Faith in Jesus is what brings the true Sabbath, as we enter into God’s rest. You have the covenants of the Old Testament but Jesus both fulfills the Old Covenant and ushers in the New Covenant. You have creation, Jesus brings new creation. You have wisdom. Jesus is the perfect personification of wisdom. Jesus is the truer Israel who follows the law perfectly.
It all points to Christ. It’s all about Christ. The Old Testament feasts are all about Jesus. His crucifixion happened at the time of Passover. Passover was the celebration of God redeeming Israel from slavery in Egypt. It was commemorated by sacrificing a lamb. Jesus is the true Passover lamb who redeems sinful people from sin.
You have the Old Testament holy day of Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement. They took two goats. One was sacrificed for sins. Again, symbolic of Jesus paying the ultimate price for sin. The other goat was sent out of the camp, which was a symbol of our sins being taken away from us.
Everything in the Old Testament is about Jesus. The New Testament writers certainly thought that. They point to the presence of Christ in the Old Testament.
The writer of Hebrews talked of Moses’ trust in Christ.
Hebrews 11:24-26:By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
The Apostle Paul talks of Jesus’ presence with the Israelites in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10:2-4: All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Jude pointed to Jesus as the one who had redeemed the Israelites from Egypt: Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt (Jude 5).
This is debated, but I would even argue that Jesus is the fourth man in the fire furnace in Daniel, the heavenly figure with whom Jacob wrestled, and the king and priest, Melchizedek to whom Abraham gave homage.
If you read the Old Testament, you have all of these genealogies. Maybe it’s tempting to want to skip those or think they don’t matter. The genealogies form links in a chain which leads to Christ.
From Luke 24:26-27: Jesus is walking on the Road to Emmaus and he interacts with the two travelers. They don’t know that the Lord Jesus is in their midst and that he has risen. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
The scriptures were explained from Moses and the prophets as pointing to Jesus.
Jesus is the key that unlocks the Bible. I truly hope that understanding this is something that is edifying and encouraging. That these are not just legends or stories. It’s the Word of God, written by different people in different cultures, in different centuries from fisherman to kings and from tax collectors to doctors. But it has a unified message from start to finish of pointing us to Jesus and his gospel.
The Bible is a challenging book. But it’s an impossible book if you don’t understand that it’s about Jesus.
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
The scriptures point to Christ. Therefore the scriptures point to life.
Thanks so much for watching! Don’t forget to share and subscribe.
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Text 24 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.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
We again come to you in a Spirit of thanksgiving as we praise your holy name. May we marvel at your majesty over your creation. We praise you for the gift of everlasting life which is available to all through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgive us our sins Lord, as we are fallen people in a fallen world. We struggle with our areas of selfishness, our failings, our instances of pride, the times when we choose sin over you.
Lord, may we come to you on our own in confession of our sins. Lord, may you strengthen us to repent and to more and more live for you. May we be daily sanctified through your word and by the power of your Spirit. May we be transformed from one degree of glory to another.
I pray for each of us that we trust in Jesus, that we know him personally, that we know the salvation that he promises, that we believe in the life that he invites us into, that we have placed our hope for eternity onto his work, and that we might look to him as the greater priest who offered the final sacrifice, as the greater Son who makes us worthy to be your children, and as the greater sacrifice who gave his life for us so we could be forgiven.
May we all trust in that Lord. For any of us who are hanging onto any vestiges of self-justification or trusting in our own goodness as what will make us right with you, may we turn away from that and trust in Jesus. It is entirely by his work of a perfect life and his abounding grace that sinful people are forgiven. We praise you as the everlasting and eternal God. Would you grant us ears to hear as we study your most Holy Word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Introduction – we love justice
Our society LOVES justice.
6 of the top 20 highest grossing movies of all time are Marvel super hero movies in a story line where good defeats evil. Other movies with themes of good and evil pervade the rest of the top 20: Star Wars, Avatar, the Lion King.
Many of our most popular television shows are in the legal sphere: Blue Bloods, Law and Order SVU, Chicago PD, FBI, SWAT, Seal Team, the new Hawaii 5-0, the new Magnum P.I, NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Los Angeles, just to name a few. The most popular DVR’d television show in America last year? Live PD. When there’s a high profile criminal case, cable news networks will follow the smallest details around the clock. You have entire TV channels that are dedicated to crime. You have Court TV, Investigation Discovery which is basically the true crime channel. You have Headline News which is basically the Forensic Files channel.
Our love of justice carries over into other domains. In sports, if a consequential call is botched by a referee, there is outrage among fans. Even if it’s a team that people aren’t fans of. We like seeing the right thing happen. We like seeing the person wins who deserves it.
It’s what’s right. We love justice.
But justice so often doesn’t happen on the timetable that we want.
We’ve seen despotic dictators who led nations in misery and oppression live to ripe, old ages. We’ve seen scoundrels cheat to get ahead in business. We’ve seen crimes go unsolved and the culprits get away with it. It grates against our sensibilities and our sense of justice, of right and wrong.
But here today, we come to our passage as we continue in the Gospel of John. And we learn that judgment belongs to Christ.
Study If you recall last week, we made a couple of important affirmations which will again be relevant today. Jesus has the power of God.
From verse 19, we learned: For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
We learned that Jesus has the power over life. From verse 21: as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
We also learned that Jesus is a judge. From verse 22: the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son
And our passage today carries over the idea of the judgment that comes from Jesus which is a direct result of our relationship with Jesus.
Beginning in verse 24: 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.
Beginning of this verse, Jesus says truly, truly. The Greek word for truly here is “amen,” from which we get our word amen. It’s the second time he’s used it in this chapter. Jesus does it to emphasize the importance of what follows.
Based on verse 24, what does Jesus say is the way to eternal life? Jesus says: whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
The word which Jesus is speaking of here is the fullness of Jesus’ teaching and gospel which he has revealed. And the true hearing of this word isn’t merely about some sound waves entering your ear canal. It’s hearing his word and responding to it. Truly hearing it. Living by it.
Whoever hears this word and also believes in him who sent him.
In this overarching section of John 5, Jesus keeps making these statements that show us the profound unity between him and the Father, and also showing the distinction between them as two persons within the Trinity. And what Jesus is saying here is that to truly believe in God is to accept Jesus.
Jesus says that the person who believes has eternal life. And in the Greek, the form for “has” is in the present tense. It’s not that you will have eternal life. It’s that when you believe in Jesus’ word and in the God who sent him, you HAVE eternal life.
Jesus says: He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Just as we have eternal life when we believe, it is also a present reality that we withstand the final divine judgment on account of what Christ has done for us. The person who does not believe is already in judgment. We are born in sin. Our default human setting is condemnation and judgment unless someone has heard the Word of Christ and believes the one who sent him.
The one who does believe has passed from eternal death to eternal life.
Verse 25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
This verse once again begins “truly, truly.”
an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
A paradoxical statement.
There is a future time when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. There is a future time when all will stand in judgment before the Lord. All will be resurrected, no matter how righteous or unrighteous, no matter how good or evil, everyone will stand before Christ.
Philippians 2:9-11 says: 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That time is coming.
Justice is coming. There will be a day of reckoning.
Judges and hunger
And the judgment will be perfect and righteous. We are often not good judges of character. Have you ever thought someone was really a stand up person, only to discover they were anything but? Have you ever disliked someone unfairly, only to discover that they were solid?
In our legal system, which strives to be just and fair, human judges are still just people and therefore still imperfect. In 2010, three researchers from the U.S. and Israel tracked parole rulings of eight judges over a ten month period. These were not new judges to the bench. On average, they had been judges for 22 years.
In reviewing 1,100 parole board hearings, the researchers found that people had a 65% higher chance of being given parole first thing in the morning. Then the likelihood dwindled lower and lower until the time of a mid-morning break or lunch where likelihood of being granted parole spiked again.
Jesus is the righteous, divine judge while being a little bit hungry and swaying a human judge.
Jesus judges perfectly and the judgment is based on our faith in him. Everyone will stand before Christ. But in our passage, Jesus says that hour is already here as well.
So we have this tension between what is here and what is coming.
How is it that the time is also already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God?
What Jesus is saying is that by his presence in the world, those who are Spiritually dead, those who are dead and sin but who hear the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ are given eternal life.
We will all stand before Christ in the future, but Jesus also ushered in the time through his word for people responding to the truth of the gospel and who he is.
Where is your hope? Where is your justification? Is it in yourself and being a good person? Being good enough? Doing a little more nice than bad? Or is it in the Lord Jesus? The one who is the judge who promises everlasting life because he himself bore our punishment?
Jesus is not saying “believe what you want.” He’s saying “believe in me!”
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.
Verse 26: For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Another loaded statement. This might be the most difficult verse we’ve seen so far in our study of John. I think a lot of pastors wouldn’t even respect the intelligence of their congregations enough to tackle this verse, but give me just a moment.
The first part is simple enough. God has life in himself. God is self-existent. That’s a clearly attested Biblical affirmation.
But the verse says that the father has granted the Son also to have life in himself. We have already seen the homage from the Son to the Father.
Quoting again from 5:19: the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing
There is a submission between the Son and the Father. I mentioned last week that Jesus is subordinate to the Father during his lifetime. And I said last week that I believe this subordination began at the incarnation as Jesus was fully God and man.
A point I did not make last week is that Jesus is also eternally the Son of God. And for that, think of sonship somewhat like a title. The Father is eternally the Father. Jesus is eternally the Son.
What that is not saying is that Jesus is created. Once again, to quote from the opening of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1).
John 1:4, speaking of Jesus goes on to say: In him was life
Back in our passage. This a very technical idea, but I take it that Jesus is eternally existent and eternally God. And in the relationship within the Trinity, Jesus is eternally the Son of God.
Throughout John, we see the closeness of relationship between the Father and the Son. We see a very giving relationship between the two. We see them both honoring each other.
Again, I realize it’s a very complicated idea. But it’s worth exploring because it’s in God’s Word. And there is another very important point that verse 26 makes and that is that the Son has life in himself, and the fact that Jesus has life in himself speaks to his divinity.
That’s not something I can say. That’s not something you can say. We’re finite and frail.
I think of all of the measures that are being taken against coronavirus. There’s a lot of fear in our society. Human life is fragile. It can be over in an instant. Everyday, all over the world, healthy people wake up and it’s their last day in this life. It’s just the reality. We never know when our time is over.
But with Jesus? He has life in himself.
And it is because he has life in himself that he can give eternal life. It’s because he has life in himself that we can have the confidence in his promises.
Verse 27: And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
That is reminiscent of something which Jesus has already said. From our passage last week, and quoted at the beginning this morning. 5:22 says: the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son
Jesus is the one who judges.
2 Corinthians 5:10: we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 2:16: on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the one who will judge all men. He is the one to whom we will give an account.
The reason why God has given Jesus authority to judge is because Jesus is the Son of Man. This is a reference to the Book of Daniel.
Daniel 7:13-14 talks of a divine figure called the “Son of Man”
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
But then verse 14 begins to talk about the power of this “Son of Man.”
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Son of Man is the title which Jesus most often uses when referring to himself in the gospels.The Son of Man has these qualities which speak to his divinity but the title used here for Jesus “son of man” can also refer to a person.
So you have in the Old Testament, qualities of this divine and human figure who has dominion and glory of an eternal kingdom.
And what John is saying is that Jesus is this person, and that is why he is able to judge.
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
Jesus is the judge of the world. There are certainly many scriptures which talk of God also being a judge, and certainly any adjudication would be perfectly agreed upon between the persons of the Trinity.
Once again, this goes against any sort of idea that it doesn’t really matter what you believe, or that all religions believe the same thing.
Other leading religious figures do not personally claim to raise everyone to life. But that’s exactly what Jesus states in this verse.
Again, this gospel confronts you.
That’s either true or it’s not.
Not all religions believe that the Lord Jesus is both Lord and judge.
Think of all of the billions of people who have come and gone before us. Every single one of them will one day stand in the presence of Christ. And that same is true for all of us and all who will follow until Christ returns.
Everyone will be raised by Christ, either to everlasting life in glory of everlasting judgment. Hitler will be raised and so will Martin Luther. Gengis Kahn will be raised and so will Billy Graham. Ted Bundy will be raised and so will C.S. Lewis. Napoleon will be raised and so will the Apostle John.
And so will I. And so will you.
Jesus is the judge. He is the standard by which people are either reconciled to the Father or condemned to eternal torment in their sins.
Verse 29: and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Verse 29, once again, might give us pause.
Wait a minute. Isn’t this all about faith and believing in Jesus. How is it that those who have done good are brought to resurrection life and those who have done evil are brought to a resurrection of judgment?
Good works in John ultimately culminate in believing in Jesus.
John 1:12 says: to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
And again in John 3:21: whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
And then the result of that true faith in Jesus is a life that is transformed and bears fruit. So it is not saying that we are judged based on works based righteousness.
Jesus judges based on our response to him. He is the one who has life in himself and has the power to give life. He is the judge who judges righteously.The faith must be genuine. The belief in Jesus must be real. He is the one who knows and who judges.
What do you believe?
Is he the eternal Lord who came into a sinful world and died to give everlasting life? Than our only response is to believe in the judge who came into the world and took our penalty for us on the cross.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
19 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. 20 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. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 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.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
We praise you that you invite us into a relationship and that you have made yourself known. The heavens declare your glory, and you have revealed yourself through your son.
Lord, may we be growing in this time as your followers and disciples.
Lord, as we discuss matters today relating to your divine nature and the relationship with your Son who came into our world, I pray that you guard the words I say as being faithful to your scripture and honoring to you, O Lord.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Lord, on Mother’s Day, I want to pray for the mother’s in the church.
We pray for the young mothers who still have children at home and I pray for you to lead and guide them in the monumental task that they have of raising children. (more…)
