John Lesson 14

Introduction

Is Jesus equal with God the Father? The Jews were ready to stone him for making that claim. And there are those even today who deny that Jesus is God or that he is equal with the Father. It’d be a very interesting study, I’m sure, if you’ll open your Bibles with me to the reading in John chapter 5, where we’re continuing our study after Jesus had healed a man who had been infirm for some 38 years at the Pool of Bethesda in the city of Jerusalem. This program is called Let the Bible Speak. We’re trying to do a verse by verse study of the Gospel of John. We encourage you to study right along with us with an open Bible. And in fact, we would like to invite you to participate in a free Bible correspondence course, a study of the Gospel of John with us.

You will notice that there is a phone number you can call in or an address that you can write to us, and we’ll be happy to send it to you free of charge. We certainly do not ask for you to send any money. We’re not asking for your money to continue this program or for the correspondence course. We’re happy to bring it to you, and we hope that with an open Bible and an open mind that we can come to the unity of the faith, that indeed we can understand, as this book teaches, the greatest message ever given to man, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We were talking at the close of the lesson how that the Jews were acted with contempt that Jesus had healed a man and had told him on the Sabbath day to take up his bed and walk, rather than rejoicing that a man had been made whole, a man who had been ill for some thirty-eight years and was hopeless and helpless, no one dare to put him into the pool of Bethesda. Yet Jesus came and said, Take up thy bed and walk. And instead of rejoicing at that miracle and believing in Jesus as the Christ, because he could work such a sign, instead they tried to find some fault, and they did. People who have closed minds and who do not want to take anything different from what they’ve always believed, they can usually find some fault, and they can usually find some criticism and act with contempt.

The religious people of the day of the Lord who rejected him, crucified him, proved that they did not really love God. They did not really love the truth. That’s why they didn’t come to the understanding.

1. Sin No More Lest a Worse Thing Come

Let our religion not be filled with hypocrisy. But rather rather let there be a sincere attitude of Lord, we want to know what is true. Jesus told this man in verse 14, Behold thou art made whole, sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee. You know, just physical healing wasn’t itself all that the man needed. He needed some spiritual reconciliation with God. Jesus told him, Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing can happen to thee. Indeed, my dear friend, if you are not reconciled with God, if you’re not serving him faithfully, the worst thing that can happen to you is the loss of your soul. You need to be reconciled to him. In Mark chapter 9, verses 43 through 48, Jesus said, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off.

Why, it is better to go through life maimed and having two hands to be cast into the lake of fire, where the worm dieh not and the fire is not quenched. Hell is a horrible place, and a worse thing can befall thee than the troubles and strifes of this life. So let’s give heed, even as Jesus told this man to make to make reconciliation with God. I’m reading John 5, verses 15 and 16, where the scripture said the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. We also noted in our last study that they tried to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath law.

2. Jesus Did Not Break the Sabbath Law

But he replied that they were inconsistent with that. In fact we read a little bit later on in John chapter 7 out of about verses 21 through 24 Jesus said that that he had done this good work and ye all marvel but he said you break the law if Jesus broke the law then so have you broken it because a baby that is born and on the eighth day should be circumcised it didn’t matter to the Jews whether it was the Sabbath day or not they would circumcise a a male on the eighth day and even if it were the Sabbath. And also in other places like Matthew 12, 11 and 12, Jesus said if a sheep were to fall into a pit you’d pull him out of the pit.

There were some exceptions to the Sabbath day law. Jesus did not break the Sabbath day. He kept the Sabbath law you see Jesus was a Jew and he served under the law of Moses as a Jew. And as the scripture says about him he had no sin. He did not break the Sabbath law it was the tradition of the Jews the standard by which they were accusing him not by the standard of God’s word. So Jesus didn’t break that law. There are those today sometimes who say that that Christians who keep the first day of the week in observance and in worship of God are breaking God’s law. There are many who say that we ought to worship on the seventh day Sabbath. And they contend that the Ten Commandments are still binding, and since the the Sabbath day fell on the seventh day of the week, that that’s the only ordained day of God for which Christians should be worshiping.

Well, indeed, they confuse the Old Testament with the New Testament. Second Corinthians chapter 3 that we referred to illustrates and teaches the point that that law which was written and engraven in stones was abolished. In fact, it was done away in Christ Jesus. You see, Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses, Matthew 5, 17 and 18. He didn’t destroy it. He didn’t come and say, look, it’s of no value, God made a mistake, for God didn’t make a mistake with the law of Moses. But that law served a purpose. Its purpose was to lead us unto Christ. Galatians 3 23 through 27. And now that Christ is come, or faith in Christ, salvation by faith in him is come, then we’re no longer under that schoolmaster, that tutor, that teacher that was the leadest to him.

The law of Moses and the Ten Commandments that go with it have been done away in Christ. Nailing the cross is the expression in Colossians 2, verses 14 through 17. And so when people say we ought to keep the Sabbath day, they really show their ignorance of the Bible. They show that they’re failing to rightly divide the word of God, that under the in during the lifetime of Christ, indeed he and his disciples kept the Sabbath day, that’s certainly true. But when Christ died, and the gospel of Jesus Christ became a force, the new covenant comes a force, as described in Hebrews chapter 8, by verses 6 through 13. When that new covenant becomes a force, we’re to keep the law of Jesus Christ. And as we read in the book of Acts on through, how that the New Testament church worshiped God, we observe that they kept the first day of the week.

You see, it was the first day of the week on which Jesus arose from the grave. Luke chapter 24 establishes that it was a third day of the week, the first day of the week, the third day since Christ had been crucified. And it was on that day that he had arisen from the grave. And that’s why it was on the first day of the week that the disciples came together to break bread, Acts chapter 20 and verse 7. And not only does the Bible say that, but secular history also confirms that they met on a regular basis on the first day of the week, what we call Sunday. That was the day the disciples met in memorial of his death, burial, and resurrection, of his body and of his blood.

And it was the first day of the week, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 2, that disciples met to lay by in store, to give as God had prospered it. So there is much evidence in the New Testament worship of Christians that they met on the first day of the week. The Catholic Church didn’t change the Sabbath to Sunday. They didn’t have the authority and couldn’t do it. But rather the Bible teaches that the seventh-day Sabbath under the law of Moses came to an end. And that now Christians meet on the first day of the week. There are a lot of laws from the Old Testament that we do not keep today. Just like we do not keep the eating of a refusal of eating certain unclean meats.

That law concerning unclean meats had to do with the Old Testament law. It came to an end. Much confusion today exists when people fell to rightly divide the Word of God. And they’d want to make and mix together both the Old and New Testament, and really they make it a book of confusion. But when we come and put the scriptures in the proper perspective and rightly divide the scripture, we find there is no confusion in it. Indeed, God teaches us that the Lord’s day is the day on which the Lord arose from the grave, and a day which Christians now even worship him on the first day of the week. The Jews, however, were angry at Jesus, who worked this miracle, and they had to find some reason to accuse him.

3. Making Himself Equal With God

And so all they had was he did these things on the Sabbath day. But now you notice in verse 17, the scripture said, Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Now in verse 17, Jesus is saying, if you’re going to accuse me, you’re accusing the Father also. Because really what I’m doing is simply the work of the Father. Jesus was himself simply trying to do that which the God gave him power to do. He duplicated and continued the works of the Father. He was not doing something contrary to the Father’s will.

So he said, Look, if you’re accusing me of breaking the Sabbath, you’re accusing the Father of breaking the Sabbath. When Jesus said that, the Jews understood he was making a claim of a unique relationship with the Father. They understand the claim Jesus was making that some today do not understand. There are those today who would deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, or that he possessed the nature of Godhood. There are many today who say, Well, Jesus was a good man, but he was not nature of deity. But I tell you, my friends, he was not a good man if he told a lie. And in many ways and many times Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews understood that claim here in John chapter five.

And that’s why the scripture says that they sought the more to kill him. They knew what he was claiming. And under the law of Moses, blasphemy is worthy of death. It is to be punished by stoning. They sought the more to kill Jesus. There are those today who would say, Well, Jesus was a prophet of God. Our Muslim friends would say he was a prophet of God, but he was not the Son of God. He never possessed the nature of deity. They don’t understand the claim Jesus made, because he very clearly made a claim that the Jews understood was a relationship with the Father that made Jesus equal with the Father. Even our Jehovah’s Witness friends, who would deny that Jesus really was eternally with the Father, that he possessed the nature of deity.

They say that he was first created, and that even then he was created as an angel. And they do not understand the claim Jesus made when they deny the nature of deity. But Jesus not only in John 5 claimed or made himself equal with God. Look at John chapter 8. In John chapter 8 and verse 58, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. They took up stones to stone him because they understood it was blasphemous when he said, Before Abraham was, I am. The very term translated I am in the Greek egoeme, is identically in the same form in the Septuagint version.

That’s the Greek translation of the Hebrew of the Old Testament. Where in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 14, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, told him to take off his shoes. He was on holy ground. Moses was he identified himself to Moses as being that I am. That’s the terminology Jesus used in John 8 58. I am. Always have been and is now and shall be. He is the eternal one. Also in John chapter 10, verses 30 through 33, Jesus said, I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father, for which of these works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy.

And because that thou being a man makest thyself God. You see, they understood the claim Jesus was making, and they were ready to stone him because they knew he was making himself God. Do you believe Jesus is God? That he possesses the nature of Godhood. He is not the same as the Father, nor is he the Holy Spirit, but he is the Son, God the Son. He is God. And that’s the claim that he made in our text of John chapter 5, and that’s why the Jews sought to kill him. They were angered that he would say, I am simply doing the work my Father does. And they said he’s making himself equal with God. We certainly, in mortal mind, in our finite way, are not able to totally comprehend the nature of Godhood.

We’ve never seen God, and we really do not comprehend totally what an eternal one can be. Everything we know has beginning and ending. And yet there are some things that we can understand about Jesus Christ in this nature of Godhood. And to deny them is to deny his claim and to deny him as the Son of God. It is important, therefore, that we understand, even as this grand book begins in John chapter one, where where the claim is made in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. It’s a verse that refers to Jesus Christ.

He is the word of God. He was in the beginning, and the scripture said he was God. Do you believe that? That he existed first in the form of Godhood. In Colossians chapter one, the scripture says in verses 15 through 18, that in all things he had preeminence. That Jesus Christ is the one who himself was the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

It’s a verse that talks about the preeminence of Christ. And in fact, the very first one I read, verse 15, says, He is the firstborn of every creature. Now that word doesn’t mean he was the first one created, but rather it means that he is the one who is preeminent. Just like in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 22, Israel is called God’s firstborn. Well, they weren’t the first one created, but they were preeminent in his plan. Jeremiah 31 and verse 9 also says such. Even John the Baptist said in John 1 and verse 30, Jesus was preferred before him. And that’s what it means that Christ is a firstborn. He is the one preeminent of all creatures. But by him were all things created. You see, he was in the beginning with God, he was God, and all things were made by him.

4. He Was Never an Angel

But now, when he became man, he was made a little lower than the angels. And that’s the point that we need to establish that he was never an angel. Our Jehovah’s Witness friends say that he was first created as an angel. But in Hebrews chapter 1, verses 4 through 8, the scripture says he was made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten to the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. That’s a quotation from Psalm 45, verses 6 and 7. And Jesus is referred to as God. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. And the whole argument of that text is he was not an angel. Under which of the angels did he ever say such things? But to God. Now, as he becomes in the flesh the Son of God. He said to him, Thy throne, O God is forever and ever. Hebrews 1 and in verse 8. Oh, indeed, Jesus Christ, in Hebrews 2 and verse 16, the scripture says, took not upon him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

He was made a little lower than angels, Hebrews 2 and verse 9 says. And he was made in the form of man. Look at Philippians chapter 2. When the Jews understood that Jesus made himself God, they understood that he, or they saw him simply as a man, and they understood he was making a claim to being deity. But the scripture confirms us that he was man, but simply became as God with us. Matthew 1 and verse 23 is what the angel said, his name Emmanuel meant, God with us. And Philippians 2, verses 5 through 8 says, Let this man be anew which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

5. Equal in Nature, Not Equal in Authority

Jesus Christ was in the form of God. He thought it not a thing to be held on to, so he emptied himself. What did he do? He came in the form of man, God with us. Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Well, maybe we ought to explain something. If Jesus Christ came in the flesh, but the Jews were angry because he made himself equal with God, does that mean that Jesus claimed to be in the same position of authority with the Father? No. That’s not what it’s meant. In John chapter 5, all Jesus claimed was to possess the nature of Godhood, the nature of deity. He didn’t claim to be equal in authority with the Father. In fact in another place, Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, Jesus said, all authority hath been given unto me.

The Father had the authority and he gave it to Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, in fact, the text speaks how that he God hath put all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all. The Father is not subject to the authority of Christ. He’s the one who gave Christ the authority. There’s a sense in which I am equal with the President of the United States of America. I’m not equal in authority but I am equal as an individual one day we shall all stand before God in judgment.

We’re equal in one sense and not equal in another and I are equal in one sense we possess the same nature. We both are flesh. We’re human beings but there’s a difference in authority in the family. In Ephesians chapter 5 22 through 28 the scripture teaches that the wife is to be subject to the husband. One sense in which we’re equal, another sense in which we’re not. Jesus Christ is equal with the Father in the sense that he possesses the same nature as Godhood, but he is not equal in authority. And so when the Jews got upset at Jesus, they understood what he was claiming, that he was claiming to be of the authority or of the nature of Godhood. But Jesus Christ is not, as 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3 says, that there is a level of authority.

There is God, Christ subject to the Father. There is man, man subject to Christ. There is woman, woman subject to man. That’s the line of authority, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. But Jesus is equal in the sense that he possessed of Godhood. That’s an important and a very critical point. What do you believe about Jesus? You believe he was simply a mere prophet that walked on the face of the earth? You believe he was merely a man, a good man? If you believe Jesus, then you’ll have to accept his claim. He is God. He possessed the nature of Godhood. He is not the same as the Father. He is not the same as the Spirit, and those today who hold the doctrine of Jesus only doctrine, they confuse some passages too.

But you remember at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. There was the Son being baptized, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove lighting upon him. That’s two different personalities. And then there was the voice of the Father from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased. All three are presented at the baptism of Jesus. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They’re not one person. Any more than all believers are one person. Jesus prayed though in John 17, 20 and 21, that all who believe might be one. Many believers. One? How is that possible? Because we can be united. We can speak the same thing, be in the same mind in the same judgment.

6. Honor the Son Even as the Father

That’s how we can be one. Just as Jesus did the work of the Father, and they were united, they were one in aim and in purpose. They were not equal in authority. But they were equal in nature, and they were one in purpose or in work in unity. Well that’s an important text in John chapter 5, and I hope you’ll study with me and think very carefully about the things we’ve just said concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. But reading on verse 19, the scripture said, then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeeth the Father do. For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things that himself doeth.

And he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him you notice very carefully verse 23 and this is why it’s such a serious matter what you believe about Jesus Christ. The scripture said if you do not honor the Son then you do not honor the Father. Our good friends who may be Jewish in in in their belief but who deny Jesus to be the Son of God they cannot really honor the Father if they do not honor the Christ Jesus as the Christ.

John 8 and verse 24, Jesus said, Ye shall die in your sins. Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And in John 14 and verse 6, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father except by me. It’s so very important, therefore, what we believe about Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. What do you believe? Have you obeyed Him? Furthermore, in this text, Jesus said that there were better works than these. What are the greater works? Jesus is the one through whom is everlasting life. That’s a greater work than all the miracles on earth. Physical healing is not the greatest thing. The greatest thing is the spiritual life that comes through Christ Jesus.

Conclusion

That’s a greater work to make a man have everlasting life. And furthermore, a greater work is that he would be judging all the world. Judgment day’s coming. He will save those who have believed in him, but there will be condemnation of those who have rejected him. Serious thought. Will you stand under condemnation? Or do you expect everlasting life because you believed? In our study next time, we’re going to be in verse 24. And it talks about those who have everlasting life. It’s a very important study. We hope you’ll open with us and very carefully consider how important it is to believe in the Christ, the Son of God, and have everlasting life through Him.