17 ¶ But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work. 18 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. 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the
Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him
greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son: 23
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He
that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God: and they that hear shall live. 26
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself; 27 And hath given
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming,
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation. 30 I can of
mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Jesus has given the Jews a second reason to wish His death
now. By calling God His Father He had
made Himself equal with God. Paul referred to the implications of this.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Jesus is the physical body of God. First, the word image is the physical appearance or
likeness of someone.
Genesis 1:26a And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness…
And Jesus is the ultimate image of God’s person.
Hebrews 1:3a Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person…
Colossians 1:15a Who is the image of the invisible God…
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Mankind was created based upon the form of the Lord Jesus
Christ, standing upright, two arms and hands, two legs, head and face. We have
the appearance of God as Genesis 1:26 reveals. Adam would have been the most like
Christ in appearance but with his sin and fall each generation after him would
have been genetically inferior to the original and while Adam was made in the
image of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, directly his offspring would have been
made in his image in that the deterioration caused by sin had its pernicious
effect.
Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years,
and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
A number of geneticists have questioned how mankind could
have survived has long as he has with all of the deleterious mutations that
mankind collects with each generation. This is even more evidence of how we
have not been on this earth for the hundreds of thousands of years they claim
in their theories. (8)
Jesus will soon declare that to see Him is to see the Father
and that He pre-existed Abraham referring to Himself with the name God ascribed
to Himself when first speaking to Moses, “I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Verse 19 begins to give us Christ’s mission on earth. He
obeyed the will of the Father who is the soul of God, the seat of self-identity
and will. Even though, as we were told in the first chapter of John He is that
very God, He as God in the flesh, fully man and fully God, subordinated Himself
to the will of the Father. Christ came to obey God the Father so that all men
would look to Him as an example and for salvation. There is no other way to
God.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.
Just as God did and will raise people from the dead Christ
gave eternal life to whomsoever He chose, a proof-text for Calvinism if read as
a standalone text and not in context with all the other verses on God’s will
and salvation being for all men and women. But, we must remember God’s desire;
1Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Christ will judge the world at His second coming. All men
and women must honor Christ, God in the flesh, as they do God the Father in
Heaven, so judgment is His.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
2Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom;
To believe in God and to obey Christ’s words and believe
what He said about Himself is the guarantee of eternal life. Christ was being
proclaimed to a dead world, whose consciences were seared and whose spirits did
not know God, and those that heard and obeyed His call would live.
In God’s infinite mercy He gave the authority to give life
and to execute judgment to Himself in the person of Jesus Christ because, as a
man and sharing in our struggle and suffering, He related to us. It is just that Christ exercises judgment on
man because at the same time He was God, He was also man. This is not some
highly elevated entity perched on Mount Olympus but someone who walked among
us; sweating, hungry, tired, and sore. This is someone who suffered death.
The dead will come forth from their graves and be judged by
Him. This is God’s will. In His humanity Christ did not seek the will or
knowledge or a man. This is not humanism. He suffered as a man but sought after
the will of God. This is our example, to bear the tempest and troubles of our
humanity but to seek the will of God, as clearly stated in the Bible, in all
things, to bear the judgments of God in all things, to declare the promises and
the commandments of God in all things, all the while submitting to God in our
mortal peril.
(8) Alexey S. Kondrashov, “Contamination of the Genome by
Very Slightly Deleterious Mutations: Why Have We Not Died 100 Times Over?” Journal of Theoretical Biology, (1995) 175,
pp. 583-594.
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