A Glimpse Behind the Curtain - John 5:16-30

John 5:16-30

©Copyright January 3, 2021 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

One of the great iconic scenes of movie history is when Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion all stand before the great Wizard of Oz. Dorothy’s dog Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal the great wizard was really an ordinary man behind the controls. Of course, this was all a dream Dorothy had (or was it?) This morning we are going to pull back the curtain on something very real. We are going to pull back the curtain so to speak on Trinity.

As we start a New Year there is no better place to start than with the person of Jesus. You can be right on a bunch of things, but if you are wrong on Jesus, you are in big trouble. This morning’s text from John 5:16-30 is a difficult text because it tells us about things that frankly, stretch our minds. Hang on and let’s think deeply about our LORD. We are going to take the text one section at a time.

16 So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. 17 But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” 18 So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

The Sabbath Violation

If you remember, Jesus healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda. When He did so, it was on the Sabbath and Jesus was criticized for working on the Sabbath, thus, in their opinion, breaking the Law of God. The word used for “replied” is actually a much stronger word than merely giving an answer, it denotes a person who is making a defense (such as in court). So, Jesus is defending Himself with these arguments.

Jesus said God never stopped working on the Day of Rest. He is God! If He stopped working and sustaining and guiding, we would become a dreadful mess in a hurry. God rested from creating . . . but not sustaining and guiding. Was He breaking His own rule? No, only God is exempt from this because He is GOD!

Jesus says, I am doing the same thing! He was using the Sabbath to worship and honor the Lord and also to do the work the Father sent Him to do. If God alone is exempt from the Law of the Sabbath and Jesus claims He too is exempt from the Law, then, by extension, He is claiming to be God. But, this is just the beginning of His defense.

The Unity of the Trinity

19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. 21 For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. 22 In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, 23 so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

Anytime you read “I tell you the truth” (other versions have “Truly Truly” or “Verily Verily” you can be sure Jesus is saying something of note. You should pay attention to these statements! Also, you may want to circle the word “For” when it begins a sentence. It indicates additional points or reasons are being given. In these statements Jesus gives us a glimpse of what is happening “behind the curtain” of the Godhead. There are several things He says.

First, the members of the Godhead are inextricably related to each other. Jesus says He does not act on His own, He works only in concert with the Father (and by implication, the Spirit). In other words, there is never a time when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a disagreement or want to go in different directions on an issue. They are absolutely united!

The closest group of friends and even the most united marriage will not be in agreement all the time. However, between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there is never a wavering. They are in total, complete, and never wavering harmony. They truly are One God. Their relationship is beyond any unity we can imagine.

Second, there are various responsibilities in the Godhead. The Father, Son, and Spirit all work together in concert but they do different things. For example, while Jesus was the Son on the earth as a man, the Father was instructing Him. The Father shows the Son all that He is doing and is going to show Him how to do even greater things. Jesus did many things the prophets had done. There were at least three things He did however that were unique: 1) He gave His life as payment for our sin. 2) He personally rose from the dead. 3) He changes human hearts and saves them for eternity.

We also read the Father and the Son (the same could be said about the Holy Spirit) give life to people. They give life to people physically when we are born, and spiritually, when we are reborn.

Jesus says the Father Judges no one. That task has been delegated to Jesus, the Son of God. I am not going to pretend to grasp the complexity of what Jesus is saying. It appears each member of the Trinity has shared responsibility and primary responsibility on some things. At the same time there is complete unity in what is done. Jesus says He does not Judge on His own but according to what the will of the Father is. It sounds complicated, and is, we are seeing the complexity of the nature of God. We are loved by a God who is complex, unified, and efficient.

After Jesus says these things, you may begin to understand why the Pharisees and Sadducees thought Jesus was a very dangerous and deranged man. Of course, He is only deranged if these things are not true about Him. But there is more.

JESUS THE WAY OF SALVATION

What Jesus says next is powerful,

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

Jesus is saying quite plainly that His message (not the rules of the religious leaders) combined with a true belief in “the God who sent Him” (which means also believing God sent Jesus) have (present tense) eternal life. Jesus, then is the key to eternal life with God!

To stress this even further Jesus says, “They will NEVER be condemned for their sin and have ALREADY passed from death to life.”

When the President pardons someone it means the charges and sentence against them are erased. In other words, the pardon ends the punishment and blots out the existence of guilt (for the offense) so that in the eyes of the law, it is as if they are as innocent as if they had never committed the offense.

This is what Jesus says happens to us when we turn to Him and follow Him. We are completely pardoned! It is an incredible declaration! Once again, Jesus is claiming to be God and the only One who can provide salvation for us.

All these claims are bold. It was C.S. Lewis who said in this familiar quote,

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic … or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.… Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[1]

There are many people who want to dismiss these words of Jesus. They try to make Him merely a good teacher. Lewis points out that Jesus doesn’t leave that as an option. He claimed to be God so He is either the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. There is no in between.

A Glimpse of the Future

Jesus concludes His defense by going even further in His claims to be God. In doing so He gives is peek into what happens when we die.

25 “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. 26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. 27 And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, 29 and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. 30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.

Jesus gives a picture of what is ahead in the future. He says He is the One who will be the Judge on the last day. He is the One who will speak to the dead and bring them back to life! But even as He says this He returned to the truth that the Father, Son and Spirit are all in complete unity. Jesus is not acting of His own accord, He carries out the will of every member of the godhead. They are unified in purpose and will and have different roles.

This passage raises some questions about the future of those who die. What is clear in the passage is there is coming a day when everyone will stand before the Lord for judgement. There are no exceptions. You will be judged on whether or not you were truly transformed by true faith in Christ or whether it was just pretend.

This passage raises two very different beliefs about what happens to believers after they die. One group believes in what is commonly called “soul sleep.” They believe when you die you sleep until the second coming of Jesus. When He returns, all the dead are raised and stand before the Lord for judgment and the way is opened to Heaven and/or Hell. From our perspective it seems like we immediately go into the presence of the Lord (kind of like when you fall asleep and it seems only a second even though it was 8 hours).

The other view is that when we die, our souls go immediately into the presence of the Lord and our bodies wait until the day of Judgment to be raised.

The rule in Biblical interpretation is to interpret an abstract passage in light of a plain passage. Let’s look at some texts.

One of the clearest is also spoken by Jesus. It’s in John 11:23ff after the death of Lazarus. Jesus speaks to Martha.

Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” (the doctrine of soul sleep)

25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Martha believed in soul sleep! Jesus corrected her! I don’t believe Jesus is talking about immediately raising Lazarus from the dead. He is giving an important principle: death does not need to be feared because when we die we will be with the Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Paul wrote,

6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

Paul says being absent from the body (dead) is to be home with the Lord. It seems unequivical.

In Luke 23:43 Jesus told the thief on the cross: “Today (not someday), you will be with me in paradise? On the mount of transfiguration the disciples state a real Elijah and Moses were present. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus Jesus talks about real live persons waiting for the redemption of Christ.

Listen to Paul’s argument with himself in Philippians 1:21-24

21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

If Paul is not going to get to Jesus any sooner whether he lived or died the argument is meaningless. There would be no debate . . . live as long as you can since you won’t get to Heaven until Jesus returns.

One more argument. This is the argument from experience. Some have had near death experiences and report seeing Jesus. That’s not a powerful argument but it is a part of the argument. Others of you (like me) have witnessed people die in such a way that you knew they were going home to the Lord. They obviously saw, heard, or said something that indicated they were entering Heaven. As a result of these arguments, I believe Scripture teaches we go immediately into the presence of the Lord when we die.

The Westminster Confession of Faith states it this way

The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.[2]

This raises another question: If our bodies are raised what happens to those lost in war, who drowned in the sea, and even those who are cremated? Every body decays, and, if you will, turns to dust. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says, the body that is raised is not the same body we put in the ground. That body has decayed (or has been cremated or destroyed in some other way.) The new body will be incorruptible. Paul says the body that is raised is as different as the body that was buried as the difference between the seed and the plants that comes from that seed (1 Corinthians 15:37-45)

And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. . . 42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

This is why we do not think it is a sin to be cremated nor does it keep someone from going to Heaven. The God who created us from dust the first time can do it again.

Conclusions

In our passage this morning Jesus made powerful claims. He pulled back the curtain of the Trinity just enough for us to be awestruck. Any faith that purports to honor God but rejects Christ is actually dishonoring God. To reject Christ is to reject God. It is hard to know how much more plainly Jesus could have said this. There are some Lessons we can draw,

1. We stand in awe before the greatness of our God. Since our Lord is God and the Judge of all, we should serve Him with diligence and eagerness.

2. Since we are living now to live again, we should keep our eyes fixed on what is ahead rather than getting bogged down by the present difficulties.

3. We should not fret about those who die in the Lord. They walk immediately into the arms of their loving Savior. Likewise, we need not fear death because it means going home to paradise and eternal life.

These words are hard and not easy to grasp, but if we make the effort to wrestle with these things we end up with a bigger view of God and a more glorious view of what lies ahead. We will live more purposefully and try to honor the Lord in all that we do because we know the God behind the curtain is no little man . . . He is greater, more capable, and more glorious and wonderful than we ever could have imagined.

[1] Richard D. Phillips, John, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, 1st ed., vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 323.

[2] Ibid Reformed Expository Commentary, 321.