Jesus is God
“A. The Third Sign: Healing of the Impotent Man (John 5:1–9)
John 5:1 As chapter 5 opens, the time had come for one of the Jewish feasts. Many believe this was Passover, but it is impossible to be sure. Born into the world as a Jew, and obedient to the laws which God had made for the Jewish people, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the feast. As Jehovah of the OT, the Lord Jesus had been the One who instituted the Passover in the first place. Now as a Man, obedient to His Father, He obeyed the very laws which He had made.
John 5:2 In Jerusalem, there was a pool named Bethesda,12 meaning “house of mercy” or “house of pity.” This pool was located by the Sheep Gate. The exact location is now known and excavated (near the Crusader Church of St. Anne). Around the pool there were five porches or large open spaces capable of holding a number of people. Some Bible teachers think that these five porches represent the Law of Moses and speak of its inability to help man out of his deep troubles.
John 5:3 Apparently the pool of Bethesda was known as a place where miracles of healing occurred. Whether these miracles took place throughout the year, or only at certain times, such as on feast days, we do not know. Surrounding the pool were a large number of sick people who had come with the hope of being cured. Some were blind, others lame, and still others were paralyzed. These various types of infirmity picture sinful man in his helplessness, blindness, lameness, and uselessness.
These people, suffering from the effect of sin in their bodies, were waiting for the moving of the water. Their hearts were filled with longing to be freed from their sicknesses, and they earnestly desired to find healing. Says J. G. Bellett:
They lingered round that uncertain, disappointing water, though the Son of God was present…. Surely there is a lesson for us in this. The pool thickly populated, and Jesus passing by unheeded! What a witness of man’s religion! Ordinances, with all their complicated machinery, sought after, and the grace of God slighted.
John 5:4 The narrative here is not sufficient to satisfy our curiosity. We are simply told that an angel went down at a certain time and stirred up the water. The first one who was able to get into the water at that time was healed of his sickness. You can imagine what a pathetic sight it was to see so many people in need of help, struggling to get into the water, and yet only one being able to receive healing power.
While in many versions of the Bible, the latter part of verse 3 (beginning with the words “waiting for the moving of the water”) and all of verse 4 are missing, these words are in the majority of manuscripts. Also, the story makes little sense without an explanation of why these sick people were there.
John 5:5, 6 One of the men who was waiting by the pool had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. This means that he had been in this condition even before the Savior was born. The Lord Jesus had complete knowledge of everything. He had never met this man before. Yet He knew that he had been an invalid a long time.
In loving compassion, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” Jesus knew that this was the greatest longing of the man’s heart. But He also wanted to draw out from the man an admission of his own helplessness and of his desperate need for healing. It is much the same with salvation. The Lord knows that we desperately need to be saved, but He waits to hear the confession from our own lips that we are lost, that we need Him and accept Him as our Savior. We are not saved by our own will, yet the human will must be exercised before God saves a soul.
John 5:7 The answer of the sick man was rather pathetic. For years he had lain by the pool, waiting to get in, but every time the water was stirred up, there was no one to help him. Every time he would try to get in, someone else got there ahead of him. This reminds us how disappointed we are if we depend on our fellow men to save us from our sins.
John 5:8 The man’s bed was a pad or light mattress. Jesus told him to rise, carry his pad, and walk. The lesson here is that when we are saved, we are not only told to rise, but also to walk. The Lord Jesus gives us healing from the plague of sin, and then He expects us to walk in a manner worthy of Him.
John 5:9 The Savior never tells anyone to do a thing without giving the power to do it. Even as He spoke, new life and power flowed into the body of the invalid. He was healed immediately. It was not a gradual recovery. Limbs that had been useless or weak for years now throbbed with strength. Then there was immediate obedience to the word of the Lord. He took up his bed and walked. What a thrill it must have been for him to do this after thirty-eight years of sickness!
This miracle took place on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week—our Saturday. The Jewish people were forbidden to do any work on the Sabbath. This man was a Jew, and yet at the instruction of the Lord Jesus, he did not hesitate to carry his mattress despite Jewish traditions regarding the day.
B. The Opposition of the Jews (5:10–18)
John 5:10 When the Jews saw the man carrying his mattress on the Sabbath, they challenged him. These people were very strict and even cruel in carrying out their religious observances and clung rigidly to the letter of the law, but they themselves often did not show mercy and compassion to others.
John 5:11 The healed man gave a very simple answer. He said that the One who cured him told him to take up his bed and walk. Anyone who had the power to heal a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years ought to be obeyed, even if he instructed a person to carry his bed on the Sabbath! The healed man did not really know who the Lord Jesus was at this time. He spoke of Him in a very general way, and yet with real gratitude.
John 5:12 The Jews were anxious to find out who dared tell this man to break their Sabbath tradition, and so they asked him to identify the culprit. The Law of Moses decreed that one who broke the Sabbath should be stoned to death. The Jews cared little that a paralytic had been healed.
John 5:13 The healed man did not know who had cured him. And it was impossible to point Him out, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd that had gathered.
This incident marks one of the great turning points in the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He performed this miracle on the Sabbath, He stirred up the anger and hatred of the Jewish leaders. They began to pursue Him and to seek His life.
John 5:14 Some time later Jesus found the healed man in the temple, where doubtless he was thanking God for the wonderful miracle that had taken place in his life. The Lord reminded him that because he had been so highly favored, he was therefore under solemn obligation. Privilege always brings with it responsibility. “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” It seems clear that the man’s sickness had originally come to him as a result of some sin in his life. This is not true of all sickness. Many times illness in a person’s life has no direct connection with any sin he has committed. Infants, for instance, may be sick before they are old enough to sin knowingly.
"Sin no more," said Jesus, expressing God’s standard of holiness. If He had said, “Sin as little as possible,” He would not have been God. God cannot condone sin in any degree. Then the warning was added, “lest a worse thing come upon you.” The Lord did not indicate what He meant by a worse thing. However, He doubtless intended the man to understand that sin has far more terrible results than physical sickness. Those who die in their sins are condemned to eternal wrath and anguish.
It is a more serious thing to sin against grace than against law. Jesus had shown wonderful love and mercy to this man. Now it would be a poor response if he would go out and carry on in the same kind of sinful life which had originally led to his illness.
John 5:15 Like the woman of Samaria, this man desired to bear public witness to His Savior. He told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. He wanted to pay tribute to Jesus, though the Jews were not interested in such tribute. Their chief desire was to apprehend Jesus and punish Him.
John 5:16 Here is a terrible exposure of the wicked heart of man. The Savior had come and performed a great act of healing and these Jews were infuriated. They resented the fact that the miracle took place on the Sabbath. They were cold-blooded religionists, more interested in ceremonial observances than they were in the blessing and welfare of their fellow men. They did not realize that it was the very One who set apart the Sabbath in the first place who now performed an act of mercy on this day. The Lord Jesus had not broken the Sabbath. The law forbade menial work on that day, but it did not prohibit the performance of acts of necessity or of mercy.
John 5:17 Having finished the work of creation in six days, God had rested on the seventh day. This was the Sabbath. However, when sin entered the world, God’s rest was disturbed. He would now work ceaselessly to bring men and women back into fellowship with Himself. He would provide a means of redemption. He would send out the gospel message to every generation. Thus, from the time of Adam’s fall up to the present time, God has been working ceaselessly, and He is still working. The same was true of the Lord Jesus. He was engaged in His Father’s business, and His love and grace could not be confined to only six days of the week.
John 5:18 This verse is very important. It tells us that the Jews became more determined than ever to kill the Lord Jesus because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but had claimed equality with God! To their narrow minds, it seemed that the Lord had broken the Sabbath although it was not true. They did not realize that God never intended the Sabbath to impose a hardship on man. If a man could be cured of a disease on the Sabbath, God would not require that he should suffer one day longer.
When Jesus spoke of God as His Father, they realized that He was claiming to be equal with God. To them, this was terrible blasphemy. Actually, of course, it was only the truth.
Did the Lord Jesus really claim to be equal with God? If He had not intended this, then He would have explained it to the Jews. Instead of that, He stated in even more positive terms, in the verses that follow, that He was indeed one with the Father. As J. Sidlow Baxter puts it:
He claims equality in seven particulars: (1) Equal in working: “What things soever he (the Father) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (v. 19). (2) Equal in knowing: “For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth” (v. 20). (3) Equal in resurrecting: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead … so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (v. 21 with vv. 28, 29). (4) Equal in judging: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (v. 22 with v. 27). (5) Equal in honour: “That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father” (v. 23). (6) Equal in regenerating: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me … is passed from death unto life” (vv. 24, 25). (7) Equal in self-existence: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (. 26).
C. Jesus Defends His Claim to Be Equal with God (5:19–29)
John 5:19 The Savior was so vitally linked with God the Father that He could not act independently. He does not mean that He did not have the power to do anything by Himself, but that He was so closely united with God that He could only do the very things which He saw His Father doing. For while the Lord claimed equality with the Father, He did not claim independency too. He is not independent of although He is fully equal with Him.
The Lord Jesus clearly intended the Jews to think of Him as equal with God. It would be absurd for a mere man to claim to do the very things which God Himself does. Jesus claims to see what the Father is doing. In order to make such a claim, He must have continual access to the Father and complete knowledge of what is going on in heaven. Not only so, but Jesus claims to do the very things which He sees the Father do. This is certainly an assertion of His equality with God. He is omnipotent.
John 5:20 It is a special mark of the Father’s love for His Son that He shows Him all things that He Himself does. These things Jesus not only saw; He had the power to perform them as well. Then the Savior went on to say that God would show Him greater works than these, so that the people might marvel. Already they had seen the Lord Jesus performing miracles. They had just seen Him heal a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. But they would see greater marvels than this. The first such marvel would be the raising of the dead (v. 21). The second was the work of judging mankind (v. 22).
John 5:21 Here is another clear statement as to the equality of the Son with the Father. The Jews accused Jesus of making Himself equal with God. He did not deny the charge, but rather set forth these tremendous proofs of the fact that He and the Father are one. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. Could this ever be said of Him if He were a mere man? To ask the question is to answer it.
John 5:22 The NT teaches that God the Father … has committed all the work of judgment to the Son. In order for the Lord Jesus to do this work, He must, of course, have absolute knowledge and perfect righteousness. He must be able to discern the thoughts and motives of men’s hearts. How strange it was that the Judge of all the earth should stand before these Jews, asserting His authority, and yet they did not recognize Him!
John 5:23 Here we have the reason God has given authority to His Son to raise the dead and to judge the world. The reason is so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. This is a most important statement, and one of the clearest proofs in the Bible of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the Bible we are taught that God alone is to be worshiped. In the Ten Commandments, the people were forbidden to have any god but the one true God. Now we are taught that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The only conclusion we can come to from this verse is that Jesus Christ is God.
Many people claim to worship God, but deny that Jesus Christ is God. They say that He was a good man or more godlike than any other man who ever lived. But this verse puts Him on an absolute equality with God, and requires that men should give Him the same honor which they give to God the Father. If a person does not honor the Son, then he does not honor the Father. It is useless to claim a love for God if one does not have the same love for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have never realized before who Jesus Christ is, then ponder this verse carefully. Remember that it is the Word of God, and accept the glorious truth that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh.
John 5:24 In the preceding verses, we learned that the Lord Jesus had the power to give life and that, also, the work of judgment had been committed to Him. Now we learn how one may receive spiritual life from Him and escape judgment.
This is one of the favorite gospel verses in the Bible. Multitudes have become possessors of eternal life through its message. Doubtless the reason for its being so greatly loved is the manner in which it sets forth the way of salvation so clearly. The Lord Jesus began the verse with the words “Most assuredly,” drawing attention to the importance of what He was about to say. Then He added the very personal announcement, “I say to you.” The Son of God is speaking to us in a very personal and intimate way.
“He who hears My word.” To hear the word of Jesus means not only to listen to it, but also to receive it, to believe it, and to obey it. Many people hear the gospel preached, but do nothing about it. The Lord is saying here that a man must accept His teaching as divine, and believe that He is indeed the Savior of the world.
“And believes in Him who sent Me.” It is a matter of believing God. But does that mean that a person is saved simply by believing God? Many profess to believe in God, yet they have never been converted. No, the thought here is that one must believe God, who sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. What must he believe? He must believe that God sent the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. He must believe what God says about the Lord Jesus, namely, that He is the only Savior and that sins can only be put away through His work on Calvary.
“Has everlasting life.” Notice it does not say that he will have eternal life, but that he has it right now. Everlasting life is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only life that will go on forever, but it is a (higher) quality of life. It is the life of the Savior imparted to us who believe in Him. It is the spiritual life received when a man is born again, in contrast to the natural life which he received at his physical birth.
“And shall not come into judgment.” The thought here is that he is not condemned now and will never be condemned in the future. The one who believes on the Lord Jesus is free from judgment because Christ has paid the penalty for his sins on Calvary. God will not demand the payment of this penalty twice. Christ has paid it as our Substitute, and that is sufficient. He has finished the work, and nothing can be added to a finished work. The Christian will never be punished for his sins.
“But has passed from death into life.” The one who has trusted Christ has passed out of a state of spiritual death into one of spiritual life. Before conversion, he was dead in trespasses and in sins. He was dead as far as love for God or fellowship with the Lord was concerned. When he put his faith in Jesus Christ, he was indwelt by the Spirit of God and became a possessor of divine life.
John 5:25 This is the third time the Lord has used the expression most assuredly in chapter 5, and the seventh time so far in this Gospel. When the Lord said that the hour was coming and now is, He did not refer to a period of sixty minutes, but rather He was saying that the time was coming, and had already arrived. The time referred to was His coming onto the stage of history.
Who are the dead spoken of in this verse? Who are they who would hear the voice of the Son of God and live? This may refer of course to those people who were raised from the dead by the Lord during His public ministry. But the verse has a wider meaning than this. The dead referred to are those who are dead in trespasses in sins. They hear the voice of the Son of God when the gospel is preached. When they accept the message and receive the Savior, then they pass from death into life.
Supporting the idea that verse 25 refers to spiritual matters and not physical, we list the comparisons and contrasts between it and verses 28, 29:
“A. The Third Sign: Healing of the Impotent Man (John 5:1–9)
John 5:1 As chapter 5 opens, the time had come for one of the Jewish feasts. Many believe this was Passover, but it is impossible to be sure. Born into the world as a Jew, and obedient to the laws which God had made for the Jewish people, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the feast. As Jehovah of the OT, the Lord Jesus had been the One who instituted the Passover in the first place. Now as a Man, obedient to His Father, He obeyed the very laws which He had made.
John 5:2 In Jerusalem, there was a pool named Bethesda,12 meaning “house of mercy” or “house of pity.” This pool was located by the Sheep Gate. The exact location is now known and excavated (near the Crusader Church of St. Anne). Around the pool there were five porches or large open spaces capable of holding a number of people. Some Bible teachers think that these five porches represent the Law of Moses and speak of its inability to help man out of his deep troubles.
John 5:3 Apparently the pool of Bethesda was known as a place where miracles of healing occurred. Whether these miracles took place throughout the year, or only at certain times, such as on feast days, we do not know. Surrounding the pool were a large number of sick people who had come with the hope of being cured. Some were blind, others lame, and still others were paralyzed. These various types of infirmity picture sinful man in his helplessness, blindness, lameness, and uselessness.
These people, suffering from the effect of sin in their bodies, were waiting for the moving of the water. Their hearts were filled with longing to be freed from their sicknesses, and they earnestly desired to find healing. Says J. G. Bellett:
They lingered round that uncertain, disappointing water, though the Son of God was present…. Surely there is a lesson for us in this. The pool thickly populated, and Jesus passing by unheeded! What a witness of man’s religion! Ordinances, with all their complicated machinery, sought after, and the grace of God slighted.
John 5:4 The narrative here is not sufficient to satisfy our curiosity. We are simply told that an angel went down at a certain time and stirred up the water. The first one who was able to get into the water at that time was healed of his sickness. You can imagine what a pathetic sight it was to see so many people in need of help, struggling to get into the water, and yet only one being able to receive healing power.
While in many versions of the Bible, the latter part of verse 3 (beginning with the words “waiting for the moving of the water”) and all of verse 4 are missing, these words are in the majority of manuscripts. Also, the story makes little sense without an explanation of why these sick people were there.
John 5:5, 6 One of the men who was waiting by the pool had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. This means that he had been in this condition even before the Savior was born. The Lord Jesus had complete knowledge of everything. He had never met this man before. Yet He knew that he had been an invalid a long time.
In loving compassion, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” Jesus knew that this was the greatest longing of the man’s heart. But He also wanted to draw out from the man an admission of his own helplessness and of his desperate need for healing. It is much the same with salvation. The Lord knows that we desperately need to be saved, but He waits to hear the confession from our own lips that we are lost, that we need Him and accept Him as our Savior. We are not saved by our own will, yet the human will must be exercised before God saves a soul.
John 5:7 The answer of the sick man was rather pathetic. For years he had lain by the pool, waiting to get in, but every time the water was stirred up, there was no one to help him. Every time he would try to get in, someone else got there ahead of him. This reminds us how disappointed we are if we depend on our fellow men to save us from our sins.
John 5:8 The man’s bed was a pad or light mattress. Jesus told him to rise, carry his pad, and walk. The lesson here is that when we are saved, we are not only told to rise, but also to walk. The Lord Jesus gives us healing from the plague of sin, and then He expects us to walk in a manner worthy of Him.
John 5:9 The Savior never tells anyone to do a thing without giving the power to do it. Even as He spoke, new life and power flowed into the body of the invalid. He was healed immediately. It was not a gradual recovery. Limbs that had been useless or weak for years now throbbed with strength. Then there was immediate obedience to the word of the Lord. He took up his bed and walked. What a thrill it must have been for him to do this after thirty-eight years of sickness!
This miracle took place on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week—our Saturday. The Jewish people were forbidden to do any work on the Sabbath. This man was a Jew, and yet at the instruction of the Lord Jesus, he did not hesitate to carry his mattress despite Jewish traditions regarding the day.
B. The Opposition of the Jews (5:10–18)
John 5:10 When the Jews saw the man carrying his mattress on the Sabbath, they challenged him. These people were very strict and even cruel in carrying out their religious observances and clung rigidly to the letter of the law, but they themselves often did not show mercy and compassion to others.
John 5:11 The healed man gave a very simple answer. He said that the One who cured him told him to take up his bed and walk. Anyone who had the power to heal a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years ought to be obeyed, even if he instructed a person to carry his bed on the Sabbath! The healed man did not really know who the Lord Jesus was at this time. He spoke of Him in a very general way, and yet with real gratitude.
John 5:12 The Jews were anxious to find out who dared tell this man to break their Sabbath tradition, and so they asked him to identify the culprit. The Law of Moses decreed that one who broke the Sabbath should be stoned to death. The Jews cared little that a paralytic had been healed.
John 5:13 The healed man did not know who had cured him. And it was impossible to point Him out, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd that had gathered.
This incident marks one of the great turning points in the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He performed this miracle on the Sabbath, He stirred up the anger and hatred of the Jewish leaders. They began to pursue Him and to seek His life.
John 5:14 Some time later Jesus found the healed man in the temple, where doubtless he was thanking God for the wonderful miracle that had taken place in his life. The Lord reminded him that because he had been so highly favored, he was therefore under solemn obligation. Privilege always brings with it responsibility. “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” It seems clear that the man’s sickness had originally come to him as a result of some sin in his life. This is not true of all sickness. Many times illness in a person’s life has no direct connection with any sin he has committed. Infants, for instance, may be sick before they are old enough to sin knowingly.
"Sin no more," said Jesus, expressing God’s standard of holiness. If He had said, “Sin as little as possible,” He would not have been God. God cannot condone sin in any degree. Then the warning was added, “lest a worse thing come upon you.” The Lord did not indicate what He meant by a worse thing. However, He doubtless intended the man to understand that sin has far more terrible results than physical sickness. Those who die in their sins are condemned to eternal wrath and anguish.
It is a more serious thing to sin against grace than against law. Jesus had shown wonderful love and mercy to this man. Now it would be a poor response if he would go out and carry on in the same kind of sinful life which had originally led to his illness.
John 5:15 Like the woman of Samaria, this man desired to bear public witness to His Savior. He told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. He wanted to pay tribute to Jesus, though the Jews were not interested in such tribute. Their chief desire was to apprehend Jesus and punish Him.
John 5:16 Here is a terrible exposure of the wicked heart of man. The Savior had come and performed a great act of healing and these Jews were infuriated. They resented the fact that the miracle took place on the Sabbath. They were cold-blooded religionists, more interested in ceremonial observances than they were in the blessing and welfare of their fellow men. They did not realize that it was the very One who set apart the Sabbath in the first place who now performed an act of mercy on this day. The Lord Jesus had not broken the Sabbath. The law forbade menial work on that day, but it did not prohibit the performance of acts of necessity or of mercy.
John 5:17 Having finished the work of creation in six days, God had rested on the seventh day. This was the Sabbath. However, when sin entered the world, God’s rest was disturbed. He would now work ceaselessly to bring men and women back into fellowship with Himself. He would provide a means of redemption. He would send out the gospel message to every generation. Thus, from the time of Adam’s fall up to the present time, God has been working ceaselessly, and He is still working. The same was true of the Lord Jesus. He was engaged in His Father’s business, and His love and grace could not be confined to only six days of the week.
John 5:18 This verse is very important. It tells us that the Jews became more determined than ever to kill the Lord Jesus because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but had claimed equality with God! To their narrow minds, it seemed that the Lord had broken the Sabbath although it was not true. They did not realize that God never intended the Sabbath to impose a hardship on man. If a man could be cured of a disease on the Sabbath, God would not require that he should suffer one day longer.
When Jesus spoke of God as His Father, they realized that He was claiming to be equal with God. To them, this was terrible blasphemy. Actually, of course, it was only the truth.
Did the Lord Jesus really claim to be equal with God? If He had not intended this, then He would have explained it to the Jews. Instead of that, He stated in even more positive terms, in the verses that follow, that He was indeed one with the Father. As J. Sidlow Baxter puts it:
He claims equality in seven particulars: (1) Equal in working: “What things soever he (the Father) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (v. 19). (2) Equal in knowing: “For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth” (v. 20). (3) Equal in resurrecting: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead … so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (v. 21 with vv. 28, 29). (4) Equal in judging: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (v. 22 with v. 27). (5) Equal in honour: “That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father” (v. 23). (6) Equal in regenerating: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me … is passed from death unto life” (vv. 24, 25). (7) Equal in self-existence: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (. 26).
C. Jesus Defends His Claim to Be Equal with God (5:19–29)
John 5:19 The Savior was so vitally linked with God the Father that He could not act independently. He does not mean that He did not have the power to do anything by Himself, but that He was so closely united with God that He could only do the very things which He saw His Father doing. For while the Lord claimed equality with the Father, He did not claim independency too. He is not independent of although He is fully equal with Him.
The Lord Jesus clearly intended the Jews to think of Him as equal with God. It would be absurd for a mere man to claim to do the very things which God Himself does. Jesus claims to see what the Father is doing. In order to make such a claim, He must have continual access to the Father and complete knowledge of what is going on in heaven. Not only so, but Jesus claims to do the very things which He sees the Father do. This is certainly an assertion of His equality with God. He is omnipotent.
John 5:20 It is a special mark of the Father’s love for His Son that He shows Him all things that He Himself does. These things Jesus not only saw; He had the power to perform them as well. Then the Savior went on to say that God would show Him greater works than these, so that the people might marvel. Already they had seen the Lord Jesus performing miracles. They had just seen Him heal a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. But they would see greater marvels than this. The first such marvel would be the raising of the dead (v. 21). The second was the work of judging mankind (v. 22).
John 5:21 Here is another clear statement as to the equality of the Son with the Father. The Jews accused Jesus of making Himself equal with God. He did not deny the charge, but rather set forth these tremendous proofs of the fact that He and the Father are one. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. Could this ever be said of Him if He were a mere man? To ask the question is to answer it.
John 5:22 The NT teaches that God the Father … has committed all the work of judgment to the Son. In order for the Lord Jesus to do this work, He must, of course, have absolute knowledge and perfect righteousness. He must be able to discern the thoughts and motives of men’s hearts. How strange it was that the Judge of all the earth should stand before these Jews, asserting His authority, and yet they did not recognize Him!
John 5:23 Here we have the reason God has given authority to His Son to raise the dead and to judge the world. The reason is so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. This is a most important statement, and one of the clearest proofs in the Bible of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the Bible we are taught that God alone is to be worshiped. In the Ten Commandments, the people were forbidden to have any god but the one true God. Now we are taught that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The only conclusion we can come to from this verse is that Jesus Christ is God.
Many people claim to worship God, but deny that Jesus Christ is God. They say that He was a good man or more godlike than any other man who ever lived. But this verse puts Him on an absolute equality with God, and requires that men should give Him the same honor which they give to God the Father. If a person does not honor the Son, then he does not honor the Father. It is useless to claim a love for God if one does not have the same love for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have never realized before who Jesus Christ is, then ponder this verse carefully. Remember that it is the Word of God, and accept the glorious truth that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh.
John 5:24 In the preceding verses, we learned that the Lord Jesus had the power to give life and that, also, the work of judgment had been committed to Him. Now we learn how one may receive spiritual life from Him and escape judgment.
This is one of the favorite gospel verses in the Bible. Multitudes have become possessors of eternal life through its message. Doubtless the reason for its being so greatly loved is the manner in which it sets forth the way of salvation so clearly. The Lord Jesus began the verse with the words “Most assuredly,” drawing attention to the importance of what He was about to say. Then He added the very personal announcement, “I say to you.” The Son of God is speaking to us in a very personal and intimate way.
“He who hears My word.” To hear the word of Jesus means not only to listen to it, but also to receive it, to believe it, and to obey it. Many people hear the gospel preached, but do nothing about it. The Lord is saying here that a man must accept His teaching as divine, and believe that He is indeed the Savior of the world.
“And believes in Him who sent Me.” It is a matter of believing God. But does that mean that a person is saved simply by believing God? Many profess to believe in God, yet they have never been converted. No, the thought here is that one must believe God, who sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. What must he believe? He must believe that God sent the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. He must believe what God says about the Lord Jesus, namely, that He is the only Savior and that sins can only be put away through His work on Calvary.
“Has everlasting life.” Notice it does not say that he will have eternal life, but that he has it right now. Everlasting life is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only life that will go on forever, but it is a (higher) quality of life. It is the life of the Savior imparted to us who believe in Him. It is the spiritual life received when a man is born again, in contrast to the natural life which he received at his physical birth.
“And shall not come into judgment.” The thought here is that he is not condemned now and will never be condemned in the future. The one who believes on the Lord Jesus is free from judgment because Christ has paid the penalty for his sins on Calvary. God will not demand the payment of this penalty twice. Christ has paid it as our Substitute, and that is sufficient. He has finished the work, and nothing can be added to a finished work. The Christian will never be punished for his sins.
“But has passed from death into life.” The one who has trusted Christ has passed out of a state of spiritual death into one of spiritual life. Before conversion, he was dead in trespasses and in sins. He was dead as far as love for God or fellowship with the Lord was concerned. When he put his faith in Jesus Christ, he was indwelt by the Spirit of God and became a possessor of divine life.
John 5:25 This is the third time the Lord has used the expression most assuredly in chapter 5, and the seventh time so far in this Gospel. When the Lord said that the hour was coming and now is, He did not refer to a period of sixty minutes, but rather He was saying that the time was coming, and had already arrived. The time referred to was His coming onto the stage of history.
Who are the dead spoken of in this verse? Who are they who would hear the voice of the Son of God and live? This may refer of course to those people who were raised from the dead by the Lord during His public ministry. But the verse has a wider meaning than this. The dead referred to are those who are dead in trespasses in sins. They hear the voice of the Son of God when the gospel is preached. When they accept the message and receive the Savior, then they pass from death into life.
Supporting the idea that verse 25 refers to spiritual matters and not physical, we list the comparisons and contrasts between it and verses 28, 29:
V. 25--Life from Death
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Vv. 28, 29--Life after Death
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The hour is coming and now is
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The hour is coming
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the dead
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all who are in the graves
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will hear the voice
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will hear His voice
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those who hear will live
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and come forth
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John 5:26 This verse explains how a person can receive life from the Lord Jesus. Just as the Father is the Source and Giver of life, so He has decreed that the Son, too, should have life in Himself and should be able to give it to others. This again is a distinct statement as to the deity of Christ and as to His equality with the Father. It cannot be said of any man that he has life in himself. Life was given to each one of us, but it was never given to the Father or to the Lord Jesus. From all eternity, They have had life dwelling in Them. That life never had a beginning. It never had a source apart from Them.
John 5:27 Not only has God decreed that the Son should have life in Himself, but He also has given Him authority to be Judge of the world. The power to judge has been given to Jesus because He is the Son of Man. The Lord is called both Son of God and Son of Man. The title Son of God is a reminder to us that the Lord Jesus is one of the Members of the holy Trinity, one of the Persons of the Godhead. As Son of God, He is equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, and as Son of God, He gives life. But He is also the Son of Man. He came into this world as a Man, lived here among men, and died on the cross as a Substitute for men and women. He was rejected and crucified when He came into the world as a Man. When He comes again, He will come to judge His enemies and to be honored in this same world where He was once so cruelly treated. Because He is both God and Man, He is perfectly qualified to be Judge.
John 5:28 Doubtless as Christ was making these strong claims as to His equality with God the Father, the Jews who were listening were amazed. He realized, of course, the thoughts that were going through their minds, and so He here told them that they should not marvel at these things. Then He went on to reveal to them some even more startling truth. In a time yet future, all of those whose bodies are lying in the graves will hear His voice. How foolish it would be for anyone who was not God to predict that bodies lying in the grave would one day hear His voice! Only God could ever support such a statement.
John 5:29 All the dead will one day be raised. Some will be raised to life, and others to condemnation. What a solemn truth it is that every person who has ever lived or will ever live falls into one of these two classes!16
Verse 29 does not teach that people who have done good will be saved because of their good deeds, and those who have done evil will be condemned because of their wicked lives. A person is not saved by doing good, but he does good because he has been saved. Good works are not the root of salvation but rather the fruit. They are not the cause, but the effect. The expression those who have done evil describes those who have never put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, and consequently whose lives have been evil in the sight of God. These will be raised to stand before God and to be sentenced to eternal doom.
D. Four Witnesses to Jesus as the Son of God (5:30–47)
John 5:30 At first, “I can of Myself do nothing” seems to say that the Lord Jesus did not have the power to do anything by Himself. However, that was not the case. The thought is that He is so closely united with God the Father that He could not act by Himself. He could not do anything on His own authority. There was no trace of willfulness in the Savior. He acted in perfect obedience to His Father and always in fullest fellowship and harmony with Him.
This verse has often been used by false teachers to support their claim that Jesus Christ was not God. They say that because He could not do anything of His own self, therefore He was just a man. But the verse proves the very opposite. Men can do the things they want, whether they are in accordance with the will of God or not. But because of who He was, the Lord Jesus could not so act. It was not a physical impossibility, but a moral impossibility. He had the physical power to do all things, but He could not do anything that was wrong: and it would have been wrong for Him to have done anything that was not the will of God the Father for Him. This statement sets the Lord Jesus apart from every other man who ever lived.
As the Lord Jesus listened to His Father and daily received instructions from Him, so He thought, taught, and acted. The word judge does not here have the sense of deciding on legal matters but rather of deciding what was proper for Him to do and say.
Because the Savior had no selfish motives, He could decide matters fairly and impartially. His one ambition was to please His Father and to do His will. Nothing was allowed to stand in the way of this. Therefore, His judgment of matters was not influenced by what would be for His own best advantage. Our opinions and teachings are generally affected by what we want to do and what we want to believe. But it was not so with the Son of God. His opinions or judgments were not biased in His own favor. He was without prejudice.
John 5:31 In the remaining verses of this chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ described the various witnesses to His deity. There was the witness of John the Baptist (vv. 32–35); the witness of His works (v. 36); the witness of the Father (vv. 37, 38); and the witness of the OT Scriptures (vv. 39–47).
First, Jesus made a general statement on the subject of witnessing. He said, “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” This did not mean for a moment that the Lord Jesus could ever say anything that was not true. Rather, He was simply stating a general fact that the witness of a single person was not considered sufficient evidence in a court of law. God’s divine decree was that at least two or three witnesses were required before a valid judgment could be formed. And so the Lord Jesus was about to give not two or three, but four witnesses to His deity.
John 5:32 There is a question as to whether this verse refers to John the Baptist, God the Father, or the Holy Spirit. Some believe that the word another describes John the Baptist and that this verse is linked with the three that follow. Others believe that the Lord here was speaking about the witness which the Holy Spirit bears concerning Him. We believe that He was referring to the witness of the Father (the capitalized He shows the NKJV translators see a reference to Deity).
John 5:33 Having introduced the greatest of all witnesses, His Father, the Lord then turned to the testimony of John. He reminded the unbelieving Jews that they sent men to John to hear what he had to say, and John’s testimony was all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of pointing men to himself, he pointed them to the Savior. He bore witness to the One who is the truth.
John 5:34 The Lord Jesus reminded His listeners that His claim to be equal with God was not based simply on the testimony of human beings. If that was all He had, then His case would indeed be a weak one. But He introduced the testimony of John the Baptist since he was a man sent from God and since he testified that the Lord Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Then He added, “But I say these things that you may be saved.” Why was the Lord Jesus speaking to the Jews at such great length? Was He simply trying to show that He was right and that they were wrong? On the contrary, He was bringing before them these wonderful truths in order that they might realize who He was and accept Him as the promised Savior. This verse gives us a clear view of the loving and tender heart of the Lord Jesus. He spoke to those who hated Him and who would soon be seeking in every possible way to take His life. But there was no hatred in His heart toward them. He could only love them.
John 5:35 Here the Lord paid tribute to John the Baptist as a burning and shining lamp. This meant that he was a very zealous man, one who had a ministry that brought light to others, and one who was consumed in the process of pointing people to Jesus. At first, the Jewish people had flocked to John the Baptist. He was something of a novelty, a strange figure who had come into their lives, and they went out to listen to him. For a time, they accepted him as a popular religious teacher.
Why then, after accepting John so warmly, would they not accept the One of whom John preached? They rejoiced temporarily, but there was no repentance. They were inconsistent. They received the forerunner, but would not receive the King! Jesus paid high tribute to John. For any servant of Christ to be called a burning and shining lamp is true praise from the Son of God. May each of us who loves the Lord Jesus desire that we, too, may be flames of fire for Him, burning ourselves out but bringing light to the world in the process.
John 5:36 The testimony of John was not Christ’s greatest proof of His deity. The miracles which the Father gave Him to do bore witness of Him, that the Father had truly sent Him. Miracles in themselves are not a proof of deity. In the Bible, we read of men who were given the power to perform miracles, and we even read of evil beings with the power to do supernatural wonders. But the miracles of the Lord Jesus were different from all others. First of all, He had the power in Himself to do these mighty works, whereas others were given the power. Other men have performed miracles, but they could not confer the power to perform miracles on others. The Lord Jesus not only performed miracles Himself, but He gave His apostles the authority to do likewise. Furthermore, the works performed by the Savior were the very ones which were prophesied in the OT concerning the Messiah. Finally, the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed were unique in character, scope, and number.
John 5:37, 38 Again the Lord spoke of the witness which the Father had borne to Him. Perhaps this referred to the time when the Lord Jesus was baptized. Then the voice of God the Father was heard from heaven stating that Jesus was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. But it should be added that in the life, ministry, and miracles of the Lord Jesus, the Father also bore witness to the fact that He was the very Son of God.
The unbelieving Jews had neither heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen His form. This was because they did not have His word abiding in them. God speaks to men through His Word, the Bible. These Jews had the OT Scriptures, but they did not allow God to speak to them through the Scriptures. Their hearts were hardened, and their ears were dull of hearing.
They had never seen God’s Form or Person because they did not believe on the One whom God had sent. God the Father does not have a Form or Shape that is visible to mortal eyes. He is Spirit and therefore invisible. But God has revealed Himself to men in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a very real way, those who believed on Christ saw the Form of God. Unbelievers merely looked upon Him as another man like themselves.
John 5:39 The first part of this verse may be understood17 in two ways. First of all, the Lord Jesus may be telling the Jews to search the Scriptures. Or He may be simply stating the fact that they did search the Scriptures because they thought that in the mere possession of the Scriptures, they had eternal life. Either interpretation of the verse is possible. Probably the Lord Jesus was simply stating the fact that the Jews searched the Scriptures and thought that in doing so they were receiving eternal life. They did not realize that the OT Scriptures telling of the coming Messiah were actually telling about Jesus. It is terrible to think that men with the Scriptures in their hands could be so blind. But it was even more inexcusable that after the Lord Jesus spoke to them in this way, they still refused to accept Him. Notice the latter part of this verse carefully. “These are they which testify of Me.” This simply means that the main subject subject of the OT was the coming of Christ. If anyone misses that in studying the OT, he misses the most important part of it.
John 5:40 The Jews were not willing to come to Christ that they might have life. The real reason people do not accept the Savior is not because they cannot understand the gospel, or find it impossible to believe on Jesus. There is nothing about the Lord Jesus that makes it impossible for them to trust Him. The real fault lies in man’s own will. He loves his sins more than he loves the Savior. He does not want to give up his wicked ways.
John 5:41 In condemning the Jews for their failure to receive Him, the Lord did not want them to think that He was hurt because they had not given Him honor. He did not come into the world for the purpose of being praised by the men of this world. He was not dependent on their praise, but rather sought the praise of His Father. Even if men rejected Him, that did not detract from His glory.
John 5:42 Man’s failure to receive the Son of God is here traced back to its cause. These men did not have the love of God in them, that is, they loved themselves rather than God. If they had loved God, they would have received the One whom God had sent. By their rejection of the Lord Jesus, they showed their utter lack of love for His Father.
John 5:43 The Lord Jesus came in His Father’s name, that is, He came to do His Father’s will, to bring glory to His Father, and to obey His Father in all things. If men had really loved God, they would have loved the One who sought to please God in all He said and did.
Jesus now predicted that another would come in his own name and that the Jews would receive him. Perhaps in one sense He was referring to many false teachers who arose after Him and sought to be honored by the nation. Perhaps He was referring to leaders of false cults down through the centuries who have claimed to be the Christ. But more probably He was referring here to the Antichrist. In a coming day, a self-appointed ruler will rise among the Jewish people and demand to be worshiped as God (2 Thess. 2:8–10). The majority of the Jewish nation will accept this Antichrist as their ruler, and as a result they will come under severe judgment from God (1 Jn. 2:18).
John 5:44 Here the Lord gave another reason for the failure of the Jewish people to accept Him. They were more interested in the approval of their fellow men than they were in God’s approval. They were afraid of what their friends would say if they left Judaism. They were not willing to endure the reproach and suffering which would be heaped upon them if they became followers of the Lord Jesus. As long as a person is afraid of what others will say or do, he cannot be saved. In order to believe on the Lord Jesus, one must desire God’s approval more than anyone else’s. He must seek the honor that comes from the only God.
John 5:45 The Lord would not need to accuse these Jews to the Father. Of course, there were many charges He could bring against them. But there would be no need for Him to do it, because the writings of Moses would be sufficient to accuse them. These Jews took great pride in the OT and especially in the five books written by Moses, the Torah. They were proud that these Scriptures were given to Israel. But the trouble was that they did not obey the words of Moses, as verse 46 shows.
John 5:46 The Lord Jesus put the writings of Moses on the same level of authority as His own words. We are reminded that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Whether we read the OT or the New, we are reading the very Word of God. If the Jews had believed the words of Moses, they would have believed the Lord Jesus Christ also, because Moses wrote about the coming of Christ. An example of this is found in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18:
The Lord Your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all I command Him.
In these verses Moses predicted the coming of Christ, and told the Jewish people to listen to Him and obey Him when He came. Now the Lord Jesus had come, but the Jews failed to receive Him. Thus He said that Moses would accuse them to the Father because they pretended to believe in Moses and yet they did not do what Moses commanded. The words he wrote about Me are a clear statement by our Lord that the OT Scriptures contain prophecies about Him. Augustine stated this concisely: “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”
John 5:47 If the Jews would not believe the writings of Moses, it was not likely that they would believe the words of Jesus. There is a very close connection between the OT and the New. If a man doubts the inspiration of the OT Scriptures, it is not likely that he will accept the words of the Lord Jesus as being inspired. If people attack certain parts of the Bible, it won’t be long before they cast doubt on the rest of the Book as well. King states:
The Lord’s allusion is, of course, to the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses—the portion of the Bible that has been more savagely attacked than any other; and, strangely enough, the portion which, so far as our records go, the Master quoted more than any other. As if, long before the attacks began, He would set His own imprimatur upon them.
IV. THE SON OF GOD’S THIRD YEAR OF MINISTRY: GALILEE (Chap. 6)
A. The Fourth Sign: Feeding of the Five Thousand (6:1–15)
John 6:1 The expression after these things means that a period of time had elapsed since the events in chapter 5 took place. Just how much time we do not know, but we do know that Jesus had traveled from the area around Jerusalem up to the Sea of Galilee. When it says that He crossed the sea, it probably means that He went from the northwestern shore to the northeastern side. The Sea of Galilee was also known as the Sea of Tiberias, because the city of Tiberias
John 5:27 Not only has God decreed that the Son should have life in Himself, but He also has given Him authority to be Judge of the world. The power to judge has been given to Jesus because He is the Son of Man. The Lord is called both Son of God and Son of Man. The title Son of God is a reminder to us that the Lord Jesus is one of the Members of the holy Trinity, one of the Persons of the Godhead. As Son of God, He is equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, and as Son of God, He gives life. But He is also the Son of Man. He came into this world as a Man, lived here among men, and died on the cross as a Substitute for men and women. He was rejected and crucified when He came into the world as a Man. When He comes again, He will come to judge His enemies and to be honored in this same world where He was once so cruelly treated. Because He is both God and Man, He is perfectly qualified to be Judge.
John 5:28 Doubtless as Christ was making these strong claims as to His equality with God the Father, the Jews who were listening were amazed. He realized, of course, the thoughts that were going through their minds, and so He here told them that they should not marvel at these things. Then He went on to reveal to them some even more startling truth. In a time yet future, all of those whose bodies are lying in the graves will hear His voice. How foolish it would be for anyone who was not God to predict that bodies lying in the grave would one day hear His voice! Only God could ever support such a statement.
John 5:29 All the dead will one day be raised. Some will be raised to life, and others to condemnation. What a solemn truth it is that every person who has ever lived or will ever live falls into one of these two classes!16
Verse 29 does not teach that people who have done good will be saved because of their good deeds, and those who have done evil will be condemned because of their wicked lives. A person is not saved by doing good, but he does good because he has been saved. Good works are not the root of salvation but rather the fruit. They are not the cause, but the effect. The expression those who have done evil describes those who have never put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, and consequently whose lives have been evil in the sight of God. These will be raised to stand before God and to be sentenced to eternal doom.
D. Four Witnesses to Jesus as the Son of God (5:30–47)
John 5:30 At first, “I can of Myself do nothing” seems to say that the Lord Jesus did not have the power to do anything by Himself. However, that was not the case. The thought is that He is so closely united with God the Father that He could not act by Himself. He could not do anything on His own authority. There was no trace of willfulness in the Savior. He acted in perfect obedience to His Father and always in fullest fellowship and harmony with Him.
This verse has often been used by false teachers to support their claim that Jesus Christ was not God. They say that because He could not do anything of His own self, therefore He was just a man. But the verse proves the very opposite. Men can do the things they want, whether they are in accordance with the will of God or not. But because of who He was, the Lord Jesus could not so act. It was not a physical impossibility, but a moral impossibility. He had the physical power to do all things, but He could not do anything that was wrong: and it would have been wrong for Him to have done anything that was not the will of God the Father for Him. This statement sets the Lord Jesus apart from every other man who ever lived.
As the Lord Jesus listened to His Father and daily received instructions from Him, so He thought, taught, and acted. The word judge does not here have the sense of deciding on legal matters but rather of deciding what was proper for Him to do and say.
Because the Savior had no selfish motives, He could decide matters fairly and impartially. His one ambition was to please His Father and to do His will. Nothing was allowed to stand in the way of this. Therefore, His judgment of matters was not influenced by what would be for His own best advantage. Our opinions and teachings are generally affected by what we want to do and what we want to believe. But it was not so with the Son of God. His opinions or judgments were not biased in His own favor. He was without prejudice.
John 5:31 In the remaining verses of this chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ described the various witnesses to His deity. There was the witness of John the Baptist (vv. 32–35); the witness of His works (v. 36); the witness of the Father (vv. 37, 38); and the witness of the OT Scriptures (vv. 39–47).
First, Jesus made a general statement on the subject of witnessing. He said, “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” This did not mean for a moment that the Lord Jesus could ever say anything that was not true. Rather, He was simply stating a general fact that the witness of a single person was not considered sufficient evidence in a court of law. God’s divine decree was that at least two or three witnesses were required before a valid judgment could be formed. And so the Lord Jesus was about to give not two or three, but four witnesses to His deity.
John 5:32 There is a question as to whether this verse refers to John the Baptist, God the Father, or the Holy Spirit. Some believe that the word another describes John the Baptist and that this verse is linked with the three that follow. Others believe that the Lord here was speaking about the witness which the Holy Spirit bears concerning Him. We believe that He was referring to the witness of the Father (the capitalized He shows the NKJV translators see a reference to Deity).
John 5:33 Having introduced the greatest of all witnesses, His Father, the Lord then turned to the testimony of John. He reminded the unbelieving Jews that they sent men to John to hear what he had to say, and John’s testimony was all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of pointing men to himself, he pointed them to the Savior. He bore witness to the One who is the truth.
John 5:34 The Lord Jesus reminded His listeners that His claim to be equal with God was not based simply on the testimony of human beings. If that was all He had, then His case would indeed be a weak one. But He introduced the testimony of John the Baptist since he was a man sent from God and since he testified that the Lord Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Then He added, “But I say these things that you may be saved.” Why was the Lord Jesus speaking to the Jews at such great length? Was He simply trying to show that He was right and that they were wrong? On the contrary, He was bringing before them these wonderful truths in order that they might realize who He was and accept Him as the promised Savior. This verse gives us a clear view of the loving and tender heart of the Lord Jesus. He spoke to those who hated Him and who would soon be seeking in every possible way to take His life. But there was no hatred in His heart toward them. He could only love them.
John 5:35 Here the Lord paid tribute to John the Baptist as a burning and shining lamp. This meant that he was a very zealous man, one who had a ministry that brought light to others, and one who was consumed in the process of pointing people to Jesus. At first, the Jewish people had flocked to John the Baptist. He was something of a novelty, a strange figure who had come into their lives, and they went out to listen to him. For a time, they accepted him as a popular religious teacher.
Why then, after accepting John so warmly, would they not accept the One of whom John preached? They rejoiced temporarily, but there was no repentance. They were inconsistent. They received the forerunner, but would not receive the King! Jesus paid high tribute to John. For any servant of Christ to be called a burning and shining lamp is true praise from the Son of God. May each of us who loves the Lord Jesus desire that we, too, may be flames of fire for Him, burning ourselves out but bringing light to the world in the process.
John 5:36 The testimony of John was not Christ’s greatest proof of His deity. The miracles which the Father gave Him to do bore witness of Him, that the Father had truly sent Him. Miracles in themselves are not a proof of deity. In the Bible, we read of men who were given the power to perform miracles, and we even read of evil beings with the power to do supernatural wonders. But the miracles of the Lord Jesus were different from all others. First of all, He had the power in Himself to do these mighty works, whereas others were given the power. Other men have performed miracles, but they could not confer the power to perform miracles on others. The Lord Jesus not only performed miracles Himself, but He gave His apostles the authority to do likewise. Furthermore, the works performed by the Savior were the very ones which were prophesied in the OT concerning the Messiah. Finally, the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed were unique in character, scope, and number.
John 5:37, 38 Again the Lord spoke of the witness which the Father had borne to Him. Perhaps this referred to the time when the Lord Jesus was baptized. Then the voice of God the Father was heard from heaven stating that Jesus was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. But it should be added that in the life, ministry, and miracles of the Lord Jesus, the Father also bore witness to the fact that He was the very Son of God.
The unbelieving Jews had neither heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen His form. This was because they did not have His word abiding in them. God speaks to men through His Word, the Bible. These Jews had the OT Scriptures, but they did not allow God to speak to them through the Scriptures. Their hearts were hardened, and their ears were dull of hearing.
They had never seen God’s Form or Person because they did not believe on the One whom God had sent. God the Father does not have a Form or Shape that is visible to mortal eyes. He is Spirit and therefore invisible. But God has revealed Himself to men in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a very real way, those who believed on Christ saw the Form of God. Unbelievers merely looked upon Him as another man like themselves.
John 5:39 The first part of this verse may be understood17 in two ways. First of all, the Lord Jesus may be telling the Jews to search the Scriptures. Or He may be simply stating the fact that they did search the Scriptures because they thought that in the mere possession of the Scriptures, they had eternal life. Either interpretation of the verse is possible. Probably the Lord Jesus was simply stating the fact that the Jews searched the Scriptures and thought that in doing so they were receiving eternal life. They did not realize that the OT Scriptures telling of the coming Messiah were actually telling about Jesus. It is terrible to think that men with the Scriptures in their hands could be so blind. But it was even more inexcusable that after the Lord Jesus spoke to them in this way, they still refused to accept Him. Notice the latter part of this verse carefully. “These are they which testify of Me.” This simply means that the main subject subject of the OT was the coming of Christ. If anyone misses that in studying the OT, he misses the most important part of it.
John 5:40 The Jews were not willing to come to Christ that they might have life. The real reason people do not accept the Savior is not because they cannot understand the gospel, or find it impossible to believe on Jesus. There is nothing about the Lord Jesus that makes it impossible for them to trust Him. The real fault lies in man’s own will. He loves his sins more than he loves the Savior. He does not want to give up his wicked ways.
John 5:41 In condemning the Jews for their failure to receive Him, the Lord did not want them to think that He was hurt because they had not given Him honor. He did not come into the world for the purpose of being praised by the men of this world. He was not dependent on their praise, but rather sought the praise of His Father. Even if men rejected Him, that did not detract from His glory.
John 5:42 Man’s failure to receive the Son of God is here traced back to its cause. These men did not have the love of God in them, that is, they loved themselves rather than God. If they had loved God, they would have received the One whom God had sent. By their rejection of the Lord Jesus, they showed their utter lack of love for His Father.
John 5:43 The Lord Jesus came in His Father’s name, that is, He came to do His Father’s will, to bring glory to His Father, and to obey His Father in all things. If men had really loved God, they would have loved the One who sought to please God in all He said and did.
Jesus now predicted that another would come in his own name and that the Jews would receive him. Perhaps in one sense He was referring to many false teachers who arose after Him and sought to be honored by the nation. Perhaps He was referring to leaders of false cults down through the centuries who have claimed to be the Christ. But more probably He was referring here to the Antichrist. In a coming day, a self-appointed ruler will rise among the Jewish people and demand to be worshiped as God (2 Thess. 2:8–10). The majority of the Jewish nation will accept this Antichrist as their ruler, and as a result they will come under severe judgment from God (1 Jn. 2:18).
John 5:44 Here the Lord gave another reason for the failure of the Jewish people to accept Him. They were more interested in the approval of their fellow men than they were in God’s approval. They were afraid of what their friends would say if they left Judaism. They were not willing to endure the reproach and suffering which would be heaped upon them if they became followers of the Lord Jesus. As long as a person is afraid of what others will say or do, he cannot be saved. In order to believe on the Lord Jesus, one must desire God’s approval more than anyone else’s. He must seek the honor that comes from the only God.
John 5:45 The Lord would not need to accuse these Jews to the Father. Of course, there were many charges He could bring against them. But there would be no need for Him to do it, because the writings of Moses would be sufficient to accuse them. These Jews took great pride in the OT and especially in the five books written by Moses, the Torah. They were proud that these Scriptures were given to Israel. But the trouble was that they did not obey the words of Moses, as verse 46 shows.
John 5:46 The Lord Jesus put the writings of Moses on the same level of authority as His own words. We are reminded that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Whether we read the OT or the New, we are reading the very Word of God. If the Jews had believed the words of Moses, they would have believed the Lord Jesus Christ also, because Moses wrote about the coming of Christ. An example of this is found in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18:
The Lord Your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all I command Him.
In these verses Moses predicted the coming of Christ, and told the Jewish people to listen to Him and obey Him when He came. Now the Lord Jesus had come, but the Jews failed to receive Him. Thus He said that Moses would accuse them to the Father because they pretended to believe in Moses and yet they did not do what Moses commanded. The words he wrote about Me are a clear statement by our Lord that the OT Scriptures contain prophecies about Him. Augustine stated this concisely: “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”
John 5:47 If the Jews would not believe the writings of Moses, it was not likely that they would believe the words of Jesus. There is a very close connection between the OT and the New. If a man doubts the inspiration of the OT Scriptures, it is not likely that he will accept the words of the Lord Jesus as being inspired. If people attack certain parts of the Bible, it won’t be long before they cast doubt on the rest of the Book as well. King states:
The Lord’s allusion is, of course, to the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses—the portion of the Bible that has been more savagely attacked than any other; and, strangely enough, the portion which, so far as our records go, the Master quoted more than any other. As if, long before the attacks began, He would set His own imprimatur upon them.
IV. THE SON OF GOD’S THIRD YEAR OF MINISTRY: GALILEE (Chap. 6)
A. The Fourth Sign: Feeding of the Five Thousand (6:1–15)
John 6:1 The expression after these things means that a period of time had elapsed since the events in chapter 5 took place. Just how much time we do not know, but we do know that Jesus had traveled from the area around Jerusalem up to the Sea of Galilee. When it says that He crossed the sea, it probably means that He went from the northwestern shore to the northeastern side. The Sea of Galilee was also known as the Sea of Tiberias, because the city of Tiberias