John • The passed-over passages 6 • Jesus confronts His critics

Steve Schott
2 days ago
10 min read

► Previously in John we looked at the 7 signs recorded, and referenced in John 20:30-31, where it says

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

► We also explored the 7 "I AM" statements that do not always correspond to the signs, but also add definition to the nature and purposes of Jesus.

► Links to all of these posts can be found at the end of this posting

► Now I'm going to turn my attention to what I call the "passed-over" passages, Those passages from chapter 1 to chapter 12 which I haven't previously dealt with.

► After that we'll deal with chapters 13 to 19, which I call "the end of it all". These chapters deal with a single 24-hour period, that starts with the last supper in the upper room, and takes us all the way to the cross and the tomb.

► And then we'll end with chapters 20 and 21 that I call "the new beginning".

► Jesus has lead a significant number of Samaritans to belief. Then, after moving farther north, He's healed the Nobleman's son, from about 25 miles away. Then in the beginning of chapter 5, Jesus returns to Jerusalem, and when He arrives there, He heals the lame man, suffering with his condition for 38 years, who had been waiting at the pool of Bethesda in hopes of a miraculous healing. It wasn't the water in the pool that saved him, but rather, the healing came from the Person who was the source of "living water", the same One who commanded him to "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk" (John 5:8). ON THE SABBATH!! Of course, Jesus did this intentionally to provoke the locals into having to decide who Jesus really is. Their response was not one of belief, but rather one of intent to kill Him. To give them credit, I suspect that their motivation would have been to kill Jesus because they thought Him to be guilty of blasphemy - equating Himself with God. John 5:18 → "¹⁸ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

Jesus confronts His critics → John 5:19-47

Equality with God

John 5:19-24 → ¹⁹ Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

► This is a loaded section, where Jesus, in a nutshell, is saying that He is equal with God. Really, more than that, He is saying that He is God. He explains how He has a unique relationship with the "Father". One that has Jesus going God's works, such as raising the dead (which will be demonstrated in John's gospel in chapter 11 (which we've already covered here)), and eventually He will execute "all judgement". Jesus finishes this part of His dialogue, by stating that if you want to have "eternal life", and avoid judgment, one must listen to Jesus' "word"(s), "AND BELIEVE HIM"! (emphasis mine)

Two Resurrections

John 5:25-32 → ²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; ²⁷ and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹ and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

³⁰ “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

³¹ “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. ³² There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

► While Jesus is here comparing (in verse 29) a "resurrection of life", with a "resurrection of judgment", Jesus is also stating that He Himself has the power to effect those resurrections. And by implication from verse 25, where He says "an hour is coming AND NOW IS" (emphasis mine), that we won't have to wait until the end times to see Him do this very thing. While verse 29 is more specific about the final resurrections (to life or judgment), I believe (based on verse 25) that He is also talking about the ability to perform temporal resurrections, and what I mean by that is raising someone back to life in our current pre-end times status. As He will do with Lazarus in chapter 11.

► Don't be confused when Jesus talks about the allocation of life or judgment based on "good deeds" or "evil deeds". We are all already condemned. We are all already set for judgment. From the start, in Genesis 3, we have been separated from God. Our bad deeds got us into this mess, but do not be confused. Our good deeds can't fix the problem. The only good deed that fixes our problem is the one Jesus performed on our behalf when He died on the cross, taking our punishment on Himself, so that we might avoid judgment by coming to Him in faith, and accepting His substitutionary work for us.

► Jesus ends this section stating "there is another who testifies of Me...". To add credibility to what He has been saying about Himself, He actually adds four other "witnesses" to His list of credentials.

Witness of John

John 5:33-35 → ³³ “You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

► Jesus started with John the Baptist. More than likely, most people would have at least heard of JTB, if not having seen or heard him for themselves. John clearly was preparing people for the coming Messiah, baptizing them for/because of repentance, the change of heart that leads to a change in behavior. He wasn't baptizing them to save them, but for them to be ready to embrace the Messiah when He would come to save them. JTB would acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, and would provide salvation. John 1:29 → "²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Witness of Works

John 5:36 → ³⁶ “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

► When Jesus mentions "the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish", ultimately that work was to save us. But how He went about making that happen were also (in my opinion) part of those works. The things He said and did during the 3 years prior to His death on the cross were significant in preparing us for just that - Jesus death AND resurrection.

► John (the gospel writer, not JTB) lists 7 specific signs that Jesus performed, and 7 specific "I Am" statements, that all show Jesus to be Divine. That was John's purpose in writing "that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31). John specifically listed all of those things as a witness that Jesus is God. All of these events have been dealt with in other blog postings, and are referenced below.

Witness of the Father

John 5:37-38 → ³⁷ “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. ³⁸ You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

► I think it's somewhat ironic that while John talks about the Father's witness, he (for whatever reason) neglected to include probably the most significant event in Jesus human life when the Father clearly stated for all to hear that Jesus is His Son...

• Matt 3:17 → "¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”"

• Mark 1:11 → "¹¹ and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”"

• Luke 3:22 → "²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”"

Witness of the Scripture

John 5:39-47 → ³⁹ “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; ⁴⁰ and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. ⁴¹ I do not receive glory from men; ⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

► Jesus lastly talks about how the Scriptures themselves, which at that time would have been only the Old Testament, have given testimony about the coming Messiah. He confronts them on their misunderstanding that they apparently thought that the act of studying the Scriptures would actually get them a seat at the wedding feast. He redirects their thinking to make sure they understand that the only way the Scriptures can "save" them is by pointing them to the source of salvation - Himself. And He concludes by stating that Moses himself, in what he wrote (the first 5 books of the Bible) actually accuse them rather than defend them, because they couldn't (or wouldn't) see that "he wrote about Me."

So what?

► It can be easy to be critical of the Jews in these verses, because of what may seem so obvious to us today, but keep in mind, when Jesus was saying these things, He was in essence turning their entire world upside-down.

► I think it's probably equally hard today, even though Christianity (in it's various forms) has been around for so long, for people to consider the claims of Christ and choose to believe in Him. I don't believe that any amount of theological debate, or evangelistic programs, or well-meaning compassionate services to the community will save anyone.

► A person must be ready and willing to confront their own sin, and be challenged by the Scriptures to confess those sins as such, and accept by faith that what Jesus did on the cross was sufficient to remove the punishment for those sins. Those other things might be used by God to open their eyes, and maybe their hearts, but in the end, each person must choose on their own to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The Signs

► Sign 1, Water to Wine, Jesus is the master of the ELEMENTS → John 2:1-12

► Sign 2, Nobleman's Son, Jesus is the master over DISTANCE → John 4:46-54

► Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME → John 5:1-18

► Sign 4, Feeding of 5,000+, Jesus is the master over DIMENSION → John 6:1-15

► Sign 5, Jesus walks on water, Jesus is the master over NATURE → John 6:15-21

► Sign 6, The Man Born Blind, Jesus is the master over HISTORY → John 9:1-41

► Sign 7, The Raising of Lazarus, Jesus is the master over DEATH → John 11:1-46

The "I AM" Statements

► I AM #1 • I AM the Bread of Life - Jesus ELIMINATES HUNGER → John 6:26-58

► I AM #2 • I AM the Light of the World - Jesus ELIMINATES DARKNESS → John 8:12-9:5

► I AM #3 • I AM the Door of the Sheep - Jesus ELIMINATES DEATH & DESTRUCTION → John 10:1-10