JOHN
CHAPTER 5.
The discourse or the sermon that Jesus gave in this chapter
had its occasion in a miracle of healing or sign that Jesus had done. The Lord had healed a sick man who had been
confined to his bed for 38 years, but at the command of Jesus he arose, took up
his bed and walked. But it was the
Sabbath Day and such a thing was forbidden. (Jer.17:21-22). So the Jews took him to task for carrying his
bed on the Sabbath. The man defended
himself by declaring that the man who had cured him told him to do so. The man discerned in his healer one greater
than the Sabbath. He was amazed at the
authority of the one who cured and had by his word caused him to walk. He saw in this unknown benefactor a higher
law - a greater law and authority than the Sabbath. However, who it was that healed him the man
did not know.
The Lord found the man again, this time in the Temple. This suggests to us that the man realized
that he had been healed by Divine power and that it was proper he should appear
in the Temple
to praise God. He came into the Temple to acknowledge the
goodness of God. The Lord found the man
and spoke to him and told the man to sin no more. In his case sin may have been the cause of
his long illness. The man now realized
who it was that healed him and so reported it to the Jews.
Now this was in the eyes of the Jews a great offence and the
Greek tense suggests that it had become the practice of Jesus to do these things on the Sabbath
Day. In the eyes of the Jews this was a
sin worthy of death, and so they began to persecute Jesus and attempted to kill
him. The Jews kept the letter of the
Law, but lost its true intention and spirit. The Sabbath was made for man, to
minister to man's good and blessing. But
the Jews made men the slaves of the Sabbath.
The Lord defended his action, he justified what he had done,
and in so doing he disclosed his true relationship to God. He makes known the continual activity of the
Father, with whom there is no Sabbath of rest, and whose work never
ceases. So likewise, the activity of the
Son cannot cease. The Lord was aware of
the intimate fellowship that was his with the ever-working and ever-revealing
Father. The great truth that the Lord
dwells upon is His Sonship. He is the
Son. I would suggest that there are
three main ideas in this unfolding of His Sonship:
1/ His intimate union
with the Father.
a. The basis if this
union on the Father's side is shown to be love, which holds nothing back from
the Son, but shows him all things that He himself doeth.
b. The basis of the
union on the Son's side is said (5:19) to be absolute dependence which
expresses itself in obedience. The Son was
controlled - His whole life was controlled by an awareness of dependence and
conviction that He was an instrument in the hands of the Father. The essence of this union with the Father was
His dependence and a dependence - an authority not his own, he represented the
Father, for it is through the Son that the Father's activity is expressed. He came to do the Father's will and to finish
His work. It was this that took him all
the way to the Cross.
2/ His life-giving
mission. (5:21). It is the great thought of this Gospel that the Son came to
give life. This passage shows us
something of the scope of His life-giving power. It makes know His sovereign power of life
over death. It is manifested in two
ways:
a. He gives life to
men dead spiritually and morally. In
verse 25 we read that the dead shall hear his voice. This does not mean in the future only, but in
the present time. It is possible to be
spiritually dead, i.e. without life to God.
Only the Son can give us life. He
gives life to the dead - to men dead in sin.
But it is possible to have life - the life he so freely gives. The Father has life in himself, even so, He
has given to the Son to have life in himself, so that the Son may possess the
sovereign fountain and power of life, and the authority to give to whom he
wills. Verse 24 tells us how we may
possess this eternal life.
b. He is the raiser
of the dead. In this he is the great
Executive of God. His power is absolute
over the dead. Resurrection reveals his
great power and authority. The authority
of the Son extends to all the dead, and the day shall come, when He shall speak
with all the majesty and authority of the Judge - then those in the graves
shall hear his voice, some to life, and some to judgment.
3/ His mission of judgment. The mission of the Son is twofold, it is
life-giving, saving, and it is one of judgment.
These two things are distinct - judgment is the opposite of life, and
yet the two things are closely involved in the mission of the Son. He could not be the Saviour unless He is the
Judge.
In chapter 3:17 we learn that His mission was not judgment,
but salvation. But in chapter 9:39 Jesus
said, "For judgment I came into the world." How can these two things be reconciled? They are not contradictions, but two sides of
every transaction.
The Son came to save men.
His mission was one of salvation.
The mission of Christ confronts men with a crisis. No one can ever treat it as of no
significance. His Cross demands from men
a decision, a decision no man can escape.
The Son speaking of His Cross could say, "Now, is the judgment of
this world." The world stands
condemned under the Cross of Jesus. It
is the Cross that determines your relationship to God, and determines where you
stand. It is Jesus Christ and His Cross
that makes the issue for us, one of life or one of judgment.
But we need to stand under judgment, so that we may have
life. Here we see the place of
believing. The believer is under
judgment. His relationship is one of
life now and hereafter. But the
unbeliever - his relationship is one of death and judgment, both now and
hereafter. They that have practiced evil
unto the resurrection of judgment. The mission of the Son faced men with an
issue, a decision, and faith expresses the means by which men make the right
decision, and unbelief involves a wrong decision.
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