Jesus claims He is God John 5:17-29

Jesus Christ was confronted by the Jews, (a general term for the leaders of the Jews, likely made up of those in the Sanhedrin, lawyers, religious leaders, and scribes) because He had healed a lame man on the Sabbath. But when he was confronted, he did something much worse in the eyes of these Jews. He made Himself out to be equal with God. And here begins the public and verbal proclamation of Jesus Christ as to whom He was and what He came to do. Now the Jews, and we, must decide what Jesus is. Either he was a liar, a deceiver who had some sort of god complex, or a lunatic believing He was something and someone He was not, and had some sort of death wish, for in this culture to claim equality with God was blasphemy. The last option is that he was Lord; which would mean that He was exactly who he said he was. We must each make that decision for ourselves as we look into the scripture:

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working. 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but also he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 

The first claim of Jesus is made in conjunction with his healing of the paralytic, in answering the Jews as to why He would heal on the Sabbath. As we learned last week, the Sabbath command was for man, indeed even the Rabbis held that God’s work in maintaining and controlling the universe did not break the Sabbath command. Jesus said two things in relation to this: He called God his Father, observing that God is indeed working on the Sabbath, and he was doing the same. In this one sentence, Jesus claimed He was God’s Son, and as such, His work on the Sabbath was just a perfect reflection of what His Father God was doing. We observe the reaction of the Jews, and even if Jesus’ claim is not clear in the context of the scripture, the Jews’ reaction makes it clear. They recognized that He was calling God His father, and in doing so He was making Himself equal with God.

An observation here: Jesus Christ’s claims would not make such an impact if he did not speak with the authority of God. Indeed, another proof that He is God is that he survived this conversation. There were plenty of Jews around who knew the law who would pick up stones to immediately kill any blasphemer. This was multiplied by the fact that there was many more in Jerusalem and in the temple area that day due to the festival. What Jesus said was not said in a vacuum. What we must do as we look at this passage together is to decide if Jesus Christ’s claims were indeed true, or if they were just the ranting of another religious zealot or nut. That is what the people listening were doing; they were testing the Spirit so to speak to see if what Jesus was saying was true or false.

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. 

As my kids were growing up, I could see different ways in which they were trying to be like me. John would imitate me when I was shaving, to the point where I had to get him a fake razor so he would not cut himself. This translated into chores; as soon as John could reach the handle on the lawn mower, he wanted to come along and push it with dad. It wasn’t long after that he was doing it himself, only needing help to start the mower. When he was 4, he climbed up the countertop in the kitchen, and took down our van keys. He walked his little friend and my son Eddie out to the van, strapped Eddie into the car seat, climbed into the drivers seat, started the car, and put it in reverse with his little friend pushing down on the accelerator. Fortunately, the retaining wall stopped him before he hit anybody.

This is a similar picture, which Jesus gave. He was one in essence with the Father, but he had a different role or purpose within the Godhead. It was a picture that the Jews could relate to, indeed, that parents could relate to. But Jesus was more than just a son; he was co equal with God. While He was on this earth, He could see things that ordinary humans could not. He could see His Fathers work in the world. He could see what was behind the circumstances that many of us cannot explain or understand. Jesus could see God’s fingerprints, His providential activities that were going on in the events around Him. Indeed, as we have emphasized in this series, Jesus had a sense of His Father’s perfect timing in all things, and submitted to this timing, never doing anything arbitrary. The Fathers purpose is to save sinners, and, in doing so, bringing glory to Himself. Jesus brought the Father glory, and demonstrated Himself as equal with God by doing God’s work on this earth.

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 l also the Son gives life to whom he will

This verse reiterates that Jesus is fully God, and has an understanding of God’s plan and purpose in everything that He is doing. He also has insight like no man can into the greater works that God will do through Him. It seems, by verse 21 that Jesus is speaking about raising of the dead, something only God has the power to do. He may even be speaking of his own resurrection from the dead, which will be another proof that He is who He says He is. These greater works serve the purpose of glorifying God amazing those people who are following God, and will ultimately they will draw some men to Christ. But I believe the greatest miracle that Jesus is foreshadowing here is the actual raising of mankind from death to life not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. This great miracle that happens to this day is the truth that God has the power to impute His righteousness and His life to those who will place their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. In a very real way, the miracle of being born again, made a new creature in Christ, is the current display of the power and the glory of God that was purchased 2000 years ago. It is the current proof that Jesus Christ’s claims of equality with God were true.

 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 

Jesus Christ is equal with God because he has the power to judge, given Him by His Father! In the Old Testament, it is made very clear that it is God alone who has the power to judge:

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Genesis 18:25b)

In this prayer, Abraham was seeking God’s face to spare the city of Sodom from destruction. He acknowledges and understands that God is indeed the judge of all the earth. He pleads with God to spare the city if there are any righteous to be found there. He also proclaims God’s judgment to be just. This was the understanding of the Jews at the time, That God was a judge of all things, and had the right to judge. This was part of their root of morality, for they feared the Lord’s all Seeing Eye and his righteous judgment. Jesus Christ was clearly making another claim to deity and equality with God, because he was saying the role of judge and the power of ultimate judgment was His, as a gift from God.

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.

Here Jesus is stating that as the Father is worthy of worship, praise, adoration, and glory, Jesus is as well. This is a striking claim of deity, for only God is worthy of worship, indeed, the first and second commandment demand exclusive worship of God. Jesus was claiming that exclusive worship for Himself, proclaiming that He is God. To the Jews that were listening, this was clear blasphemy. If Jesus was not who he claims to be, he would be seen as a crazed lunatic to make such a claim. But to the extent that it is true, and I believe the evidence shows that it is, then all the religions and people who say that Jesus is simply a great prophet or a great moral teacher, and thus refuse to worship him and give Him honor due His name, then they are not worshipping God who sent Him. This means that these religions are false, and they worship a false god.

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. 

These verses are the most amazing and at the same time hard to understand phrases of this conversation with the Jews. These are statements of deity all over again, but also a statement of the quality and the timeline of eternal life. In verse 24, Jesus talks about the present reality of eternal life. Those who hear his words and believe in God who sent Jesus have passed from death to life. This means very simply that two things have happened: We have been justified, because we do not come into judgment. And what this means is that there is no judgment ever for any sin that we have or we will commit. When we sin as Christians, it is not time to beg forgiveness and wallow in guilt. That sin you have committed has been forgiven. It is time to confess and to repent and to return to the narrow road of eternal life that you have already found by the grace of God. We can also face the future judgment with confidence, because we have already been judged and declared not guilty. The second reality in verse 24 is that eternity is a now not yet. We experience a partial and joyful reality in the present that we have been born again, and Christ’s life by the Holy Spirit dwells in us. It is described as living water; our spiritual thirst is satisfied and we share with others so they can experience it as well. John says it like this in his first epistle, chapter 5:

11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Verse 25 says that an hour is coming and is now here that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God (the name, another claim to deity) signifies that we, prior to coming to Christ by faith, are dead in our sins. The resurrection of the dead did not happen at this point, Jesus was speaking about those around him and even those today who are dead in their trespasses and sins. When we hear Jesus’ word, through the Bible, through the proclamation of the Gospel, and we believe, we pass from death to life and we are made alive in Christ Jesus. As it says in John 1:4 in him was life and the life was the light of men. Jesus has life, as His Father has life. This is another claim to deity, for God the Father through God the Son created and gave life to all things in the beginning. This draws a spiritual parallel here, for in Jesus we can have eternal life if we will simply believe and obey the Gospel. The promise is that if we hear and obey, we will live.

27 And he a 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.

The reference here to Son of Man hearkens back to the book of Daniel, where God has given this eternal world ruler the authority to execute the final judgment of every human being. In this passage, Jesus has shown many convincing proofs that he is one with the Father, but Jesus is saying here that they should not be amazed at this final pronouncement. If He is truly God, as he has clearly stated he is, on the final day he will call the physically dead out of their tombs, they will come out, and they will be judged. Those who have looked to God by faith will rise to a resurrection of life; those who rejected God and thus did evil will rise to a resurrection of judgment.

The key is, in reality for us is what have we done with Jesus? The Jews and the people who were listening to Jesus in this passage had a clear choice, as we do. Is this man Jesus a liar, claiming to be someone He is not? Is he a lunatic, a crazed man with a god complex? Or is he Lord? If he is liar and lunatic, we can cast his words aside. If He is Lord, we must repent and believe the Gospel, placing our full trust in Him. If we will do that, He will grant us eternal life, even today, so that we can walk in the power of His resurrection life.