One Will, One Power, One Life

John 5:19ff 

In our last sermon, we saw the controversy begin between Jesus and the Jews. It started with a Sabbath violation, and came to a climax in Jesus claiming equality with the Father. Remember, it was not forbidden to do a work of mercy on the Sabbath. It was not forbidden to do a work of neccessity on the Sabbath. But instead of take them to task on these things, Jesus proclaims his identity to them as the Son of the Father. He said “my Father”, “my Father” is working, and I myself am working. We do the same work on the Sabbath, because we are One as we’ll see further demonstrated today.

We’ll see that Jesus has will, life, and power, even resurrection power are one with the Father.

The basis of the substantial unity of the Father and Son is the Fathers eternal gift of unbounded life to the Son. Out of this unbounded divine life, the Son wills, acts, and judges with the authority of God. 

One in will and action

Verse 19

“Truly, Truly, I say to you”

Listen up. Give careful attention. Take what I’m about to say to you to the bank. The Truth himself is speaking to you, you can accept it and embrace it with great assurance and comfort.

“the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

Its not that he will not act apart from the Father or that he does not, it is the fact that He cannot act apart from the Father. And don’t think of it as the Son imitating the Father. The sameness of nature means the sameness of work 

One comm:

"The union, therefore, is absolute. It is not, for instance, as though the Son reveals the Father in certain particular ways or in certain remarkable actions; no moment of His life, and no action of His, but is the expression of the life and action of the Father"

^ this is why he is in so much trouble. But at the same time why he is so glorious and beautiful to us. In Jesus, you see none other than God walking and talking and acting amongst fallen image bearers. 

When I check my credit score it often tells me how much borrowing power i have. You have 53,000 of borrowing power today.

Some would think that Jesus just has unlimited borrowing power. But thats not the case, he need not borrow anything because it is his by nature. He acts in a way and with a power and authority proper to himself.

Verse 20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”

How does the Father love the Son? He loves him by communication or communion. By sharing. This love discloses itself. The lover doesn’t hold anything back from the One loved. Its inmost secrets. Its plans. The Father’s love for the Son is being face to face with him in eternal fellowship. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God…. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Not only has he seen God, he has explained God, because he is God from God. There are no secrets. All of the will and mind and life and goodness of God is shared in love between Father and Son. Pertinent to the preceding argument. If the Father loves the Son in this intimate way, then it’s impossible for the Son to break the Sabbath. Impossible for him to do something displeasing to the Father. The Son who is loved by the Father, is explaining the Father in his works. Therefore, they must be pleasing to him. Somethings off with the Jewish system, not Jesus.

And to the love of the Father again. Brothers and sisters when God the Father loves us, he does so by putting us face to face with his Son. That we might see the exact representation of the Father in him. The one who is face to face with the Son brings us face to face with the same Son so that we would see the Fathers smiling face. So that we would know and believe his very will and love for us. In the Son, the Father discloses his mind, his will, his love to us. We are let in on the deepest secrets of his counsels, that were hidden but now revealed. God’s love for his people is his determination to bring them into his own eternal fellowship. And he does it through Christ. The glory of God in the face of Christ. If you've seen me you've seen the Father Jesus later says.

Perhaps some of you have thought that passage in Ex 34 and thought, wow, what Moses saw must have been amazing…….listen, if, by the Spirit, you’ve seen the love of the Father for you in the beauty of Jesus person and work, then what moses saw does not even compare with the glory that you’ve seen. To turn it around, Moses longed to see what you see……What he saw was not even close. Where does the mercy , lovingkindness, grace, justice, and so forth, shine most brightly? In Jesus Christ. The law came  through Moses, grace and truth…..

What a glorious gospel account. This is the gospel of the beloved disciple who reclined at Jesus breast. Do you see that. Jesus made things known to John that he didn’t to the other disciples. Which is why we have this rich and high and broad and deep account of the mystery and glory of Jesus person and work. Which helps us further understand why he is able to accomplish salvation. Why we can trust in him for eternal life. 

Pause.

“And shows him all things he is doing”

Augustine following a similar trajectory of thought that we did in verse 19 says:

The Father therefore does not show the Son what He does by doing it, but by showing does it, through the Son. The Son sees, and the Father shows, before a thing is made, and from the showing of the Father, and the seeing of the Son, that is made which is made; made by the Father, through the Son. But you will say, I show my Son what I wish him to make, and he makes it, and I make it through him. True; but before you do any thing, you show it to your son, that he may do it from your example, and you by him; but you speak to your son words which are not yourself; whereas the Son Himself is the Word of the Father; and could He speak by the Word to the Word?

In other words; the showing and seeing are eternal. Jesus words are demonstrating substantial unity with the Father. They are of the same substance, and hence they act and will the same. Only distinguished by their relation to each other.

“And will show Him greater works”

What are the greater works. Raising of Lazarus from the dead. His own resurrection.

Notice how Jesus is not the one marveling, you will marvel. Emphasis on “you”. Marvel is not to be equated with faith. Many have already marveled at his works but only demonstrated an interest or marvel in his power to perform, yet have no interest in the way he might change and save them.

You will marvel, and most of you will marvel in unbelief. Your marvel will not lead to adoration and faith. But anger and hatred. But some of you will marvel and by faith take hold of me.

Here is the declaration of the greater works.

Life giving Judge

Verse 21

“21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

Jesus is speaking to monotheists. And these are prerogatives that belong to God alone. The Scriptures teach this. 

Deuteronomy 32:39 “39 ‘See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”

1 Samuel 2:6 “6 “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.”

2 Kings 5:7 “7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.””

Giving life, and raising the dead, are clearly in the Jewish mind only things God does.

“For Just as the Father gives life and raises” 

They have no objection thus far.

“ So also” the Son does. 

Houston we have a problem.

He has called God his own Father and now has claimed an explicitly divine prerogative, which the Jews no doubt have caught. And the life here certainly talks about eschatological life, future eternal life, to raise to life at the last day. The next verses bear that out. But what’s being communicated in these verses is that the life dispensing and declaring judgement, is a now reality. Even now he is granting life, and pronouncing judgement(not judgement in an ultimate sense). But having the authority to declare your spiritual status.  

And “He gives To whom he wishes.” 

The Son, just like the Father, is sovereign in dispensing life both physical and spiritual. He can call the dead to life by his voice like Lazarus, like Jairus’s daughter. With his voice he restores life like our last to healings. And he can call the spiritually dead to life as he pleases. A divine prerogative, later on ascribed to the Father, which demonstrates both his divinity and His unity with the Father.

Such an often quoted evangelistic ploy that has no Scriptural basis, is, “Hey, would you invite Jesus into your heart.” Nowhere even close do we find this in Scripture. The condemning wrath of God even now rests upon all unbelievers. You are commanded to believe, you must believe, you must flee from the wrath to come, because the wrath of God abides on you. Repent and believe.

You do not invite the Sovereign Lord of the universe into your heart. Call upon him. Lord, I want to believe, help my unbelief. Give me a new heart. “It’s those who hear that live!(v 25)” Lord, let me be one who hears you.”

Children, learn how to pray this way. Pray that the Lord would grant that you would hear. Pray that he would give you a new heart in place of your heart of stone. Pray that he would grant you life that only he through the Father can give.

It’s through the preaching of the word that God calls his elect to himself, this is how the Son is heard. Those who hear will live.

Verse 22,23 follows the same logic of v19. The Father will judge through the Son. Their work of judging is the same work. 

Why the emphasis though? Why say it as though the Father just passes it off? So that the Son would receive the same honor and glory and might that are his right by nature. That’s what the language is communicating. The outward acts of the Trinity are undivided. You notice how he goes from “not even the Father judges anyone………to….. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father…….” Same work, same honor.

Verse 24

Again, listen closely. God is speaking. God says, “ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Whoever hears what I came to declare about my person and work. Whoever hears  my message. 

Notice the unity of the object of faith. Whoever hears  “my word” and you would think “and believes “me”. But he doesn’t say that. Whoever hears my words and believes Him(Father) who sent me. There is no separation between the two. One God. Distinguished by their peculiar properties. 

Who is the object of Faith? Is it the Father or the Son. The answer is yes. Because why? you tell me? They are one in will, one in power, and one in authority, one God and Lord, And one in their own unbounded life!

The point of this unusual statement is I believe to provoke the fact that the Jews never really believed the Father to begin with. They don’t, because as we’ll learn, if they did believe the Father, they would obviously believe his Son. Because the Scriptures and moses, spoke and wrote about Jesus.

While the one who believes already possesses life, The judgement is here and now for the one not believing. The judgement is unbelief and darkness. To believe is at the present to have light and life eternal. Not far off, but now. To have a saving knowledge of God in Christ is to have eternal life right now and forever. You have life now. It is a present state, and you will not come under judgement later. There is no greater privilege and blessing to possess this life and nothing you should make more of an urgent matter of if you do not possess it . Because you already stand under judgement and condemnation if you don’t. Unbelievers are now under the condemning wrath of God, and it will be pronounced and acted upon later with no escape. This is the trade with which we busy ourselves as Christians in gospel proclamation. The gates of heaven are swung open and all who here and believe the Fathers will and love in the Son will enter in and have it. For those who don’t they are slammed shut. And one day, if unbelief persists, they will stay shut. Judgement and condemnation will remain. 

What will you do? This is the call. 

Again what Jesus is saying is I have the power and authority to dispense with life and render judgement in and of myself. It will be clearly demonstrated that I am able to do it with the raising of Lazarus, but ultimately when I raise myself up, the temple you destroy, I will raise it up and come up victorious with the keys of death and hades. Which will guarantee your final resurrection to life and to the judgement for unbelief.

Verse 25

And we are assured once again that the eschatological age has already broken in. That has come up several times in this gospel. The Kingdom of God has broken in their is a new race( Christian) a new land( heavenly zion) a new temple( church), and new resurrected creatures. The time is now when the dead will hear and live, now, today. 

Verse 26 

And it is so because he of himself is the same infinite source of life. He has life in and of himself just as the Father. 

He makes all things, sustains all things and fills all things because he is the fountain of life himself. He is identical with life, with existence. To exist for the Son is to live and to be the inexhaustible fountain of being. He can and will render just judgement and he can and will give unending life and blessedness to his people. [[On that great day of judgement. Of rendering each his due. He will be doing the rendering]]]

If this is not the case, then how could he cash in on his promises? If he is not so united and one with his father in unbounded life, then how can he give you the Spirit to cause you to be born again? How can he give you live rivers of living water welling up to eternal life? How can he raise you up from the dead furthermore ? If he is not as lofty, as he is described here, that is God from God of the same substance as the father equal in power and glory then he cannot do any of these things, but he is such a one and he can do these things. He can and he will do them for those who have fled to him for life and refuge. 

And it says the Father gives it. He gives it not at the incarnation because In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and was God….and all things came into being through him. In him(the Word) was life( ie life in himself). In eternity, in him was life. Not derived. Not given at a point in time, but eternally given. So the Father gave him(when?), eternally, to have life in himself. This is where we get the indispensable doctrine of eternal generation. Which the heritics dont like. One of the phrases the arians didn’t like in the Nicene creed was homo ousios. Of the same substance as the Father. They preferred homoi ousisos. Of like substance of the Father. But a like substance is not desrving of our worship, only one who is of the same substance as God ought to be worshipped. But one other point in the creed, that perhaps perturbed them more is the statement that has closeness to our text. The creed says begotten of the Father before all ages……..begotten, not made

The Son is eternally begotten, not made. We affirm it because the Scriptures teach it. We cannot say how he is eternally begotten or what it is, but that it is. A mystery of the faith. The problem for the arians, is that they wouldn’t let the NT data “disrupt” their monotheism. While the early Christians understood they must. That Jesus of Nazereth is the same God of the old testament, and his Father is the same God of the Scriptures, and the Spirit is the same God of the Scriptures, and yet there are not three Gods or three Lords but one God and on Lord. They became trinitarian monotheists. Which is what we are. And interestingly enough, much of their spade work for demonstrating the doctrine of the trinity was done in the OT Scriptures.

But I digress. So the Son has his unbounded life from the Father.

Verse 27  says he gave him authority to execute judgement becasue he is the Son of Man

Why all this? To evoke the heavenly figure of Daniel 7:14 . To further prod the Jews to consider their own Scriptures

Your Scriptures point to the fact that such a one would come and be endowed with such authority. One who would not only judge but would be given dignity and honor and worship. 

Verse 28,29

Don’t marvel at this. An hour comes where at my very voice all the dead will rise and come before me to give an account. My voice is the same Word that all things came into being through. My voice still upholds. This same Word will do all this. This is it. The event and  one who we celebrate today, like we ought to every Sunday, the one who conquered the grave is the one who himself, from the Father raise us up and all the elect from death and condemnation to eternal life, and at his second coming to take on the likeness of his glorified body. To dwell with him for all eternity. In and of himself he is willing and able to do it, because his Father is willing and able, and he is none other than the eternal Word of the Father. God from God equal in power and glory. God sent none other than God to resurrect fallen image bearers. Only God could do it. He’s done it and will do it. That is our hope and anticipation.

Lets pray.

Even now come Lord Jesus, usher in the consummation. bring in your elect by your powerful word , call to yourself our children and loved ones, and bring us to yourself. Until then, grant dear Lord that we would walk our weary pilgrim journey by faith in the power of your Spirit. 

Amen