He is risen!

Jesus’ resurrection is such good news John wove it through his entire gospel (book of good news). This isn’t a common Easter passage, but Jesus did discuss the life he gave and resurrection in these verses. John led into Jesus’ discussion about the Father and the Son with a brief explanation why the Jews persecuted Jesus.

Read John 5:16-18.

• The Jewish leaders committed repeated acts of hatred and hostility against Jesus.
• The persecution Jesus faced was their threats and attempts to kill Jesus, but John didn’t elaborate how they carried this out. He quickly returned to why.
• Darkness doesn’t like truth.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20).

• The Father and the Son absolutely worked to accomplish their will.
• The word John used for “breaking” the Sabbath means to loose or unbind.¹
• What an interesting way to think about Jesus’ opinion of the Sabbath.
• He broke the leaders’ Sabbath rules and healed, loosening that which binds people.
• He claimed God was his Father, saying he himself was also God.
• Jesus made himself equal in nature² with God.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8).

• What about the very first Sabbath?

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:2-3).

• Allen Arnold said God didn’t rest as a result of being burned out, overwhelmed, or weary. God is a joyful Creator who at the end savored his creation. Arnold interpreted this as God rejoicing in all he had made, an “active rest.”

*How does Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath loose that which binds?

*What does it mean to say Jesus is equal in nature with God?

*What do you think about Allen Arnold’s interpretation of God creating the Sabbath?

The verses that follow are all Jesus speaking. He spoke of the concrete and the abstract, the current day and eternity. John recorded sensory words: see, hear, and do.

Read John 5:19-23.

• Jesus gave “them” this answer regarding the Father’s plan to send the Son to bring eternal life to all who will believe. Jesus proclaimed his offer of eternal life first to an individual, Nicodemus, then to the Jewish leaders, then to the Gentiles, and into all the world.
• He said, “very truly.” Earlier we read how Zodhiates defined this word, ‘āmēn (Hebrew, transliterated), “I who am the Amen [Truth itself] tell you as a most certain infallible [incapable of error] truth.”³
• Jesus understood the Father’s actions, because they worked together.
• To follow Jesus and become more like him, we must look to what God is doing in this world.
• Jesus came to do the Father’s will, and his work perfectly coincides with the Father’s work.

“The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me … I and the Father are one” (John 10:25, 30).

• Throughout his gospel, John emphasized Jesus’ deity.
• The gospels proclaim Jesus is fully God, but also clearly show a love relationship between the Father and the Son.
• When Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John to view his transfiguration, The Lord spoke.

“… a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5).

• God openly included Jesus in his plan (Colossians 1:15-20).
• The Father showed the Son “all the kingdoms of the world”⁴ and the one, whole,⁵ work of God, and the Son agreed to carry out the full plan, for God’s glory.
• As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so Jesus gives life.
• Jesus gives life to those whom he wills. Why do we have so many words (will, wish, desire, please) to express this concept? Some use the word “volition.”⁶ The emphasis I observe is the Lord’s active
• The Father judges no one; God is love.
• The Father trusts Jesus to take care of judgment and bring all honor, reverence, and glory to the Father.
• The judgment entrusted to Jesus is “the judgment of the great day of God as judging the world through Christ.”⁷

*What is significant about Jesus being the “amen”?

*How can observing God’s work help us become more like Jesus?

*What is the importance of God’s active will in our lives?

Read John 5:24-30.

• Whoever hears Jesus’ word and believes in the Father has life.
• The word for “life” in verse 24 is eternal life, the same word we read in John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

• Jesus knows those who believe in him, and they will hear his voice.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).

• The Father gave the Son true life, and Jesus is the “source of all life.”⁸
• The Father gave the Son the ability to give to any other person for their benefit.⁹
• He also gave the Son power and authority not only to judge, but to forgive.¹⁰

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6).

• Jesus elaborated more in verses 28 and 29. Those who choose to live a good and virtuous, even righteous life (implied by what they receive) will live.
• We won’t dive deep into a long theology. According to Zodhiates, this rising to life refers to bodily resurrection for believers as a distinct inheritance.¹¹
• At some point, the dead will also rise and be judged, and the wicked who have committed evil, vile, and corrupt deeds will be condemned.
• Jesus’ judgment is one of justice and righteousness.
• Jesus seeks to please the Father, doing his will, “what God Himself does of His own good pleasure.”¹²
• Everything Jesus does, including judging, is rooted in the Father.

Jesus’ ultimate goal is to please and honor his Father.

A good example, as he has given us his very life that we also might live to give glory to God forever.

*How can we hear Jesus’ voice and receive the promises he offers?

*How are life and forgiveness connected in this passage?

*How does this passage help us better understand Jesus’ death and resurrection?

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study New Testament, King James Version (AMG Publishers, 1991), 931.
2. Zodhiates, 782.
3. Zodhiates, 135.
4. Zodhiates, 401
5. Zodhiates, 1125.
6. Zodhiates, 727.
7. Zodhiates, 889.
8. Zodhiates, 703.
9. Zodhiates, 452-453.
10. Zodhiates, 606-607.
11. Zodhiates, 160, 163.
12. Zodhiaates, 721.