ADULT STS LESSON 140 THE DEITY OF CHRIST
MEMORY VERSE: “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:23).
TEXT: John 5:1-47
The deity of Christ as the second Person of the Trinity resonates through the whole Scripture. The profound truth about His equality with the Father is an essential tenet of the Christian faith. Christ speaks of God as uniquely His Father and claims equality with Him in nature; though distinctly separate in person, yet submissive in duties. “…My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). The Scripture affirms: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). The incontrovertible truth is that Christ is God. In our text, Christ went up to the Passover in Jerusalem as a mark of obedience to His Father’s command (Deuteronomy 16:16). This is reckoned as the second Passover since the Lord started His public ministry. Not only did He show His obedience to the law by attending these feasts, He also seized the opportunity to preach the gospel to multitudes that gathered in Jerusalem for the same purpose. Christ had cured a man who suffered for thirty-eight years of infirmity on the Sabbath day. His action or exercise of mercy on the helpless, impotent man drew the ire of the Jews who reproached and reviled Him as a Sabbath breaker and destroyer of the law. Thus, they did not only persecute Him but also sought to slay Him. It was on this occasion that Christ, in response to their accusations, asserted His authority as Messiah and showed from the testimony of the Father, the Scriptures, John the Baptist and His works, that He came from heaven to save the world. He also used the opportunity to reprove the Jews for their obstinacy (verse 40), lack of love for God (verses 41,42), rejection of His divine commission (verse 43) and disobedience to their own law (verses 45-47).
TRAVAILS OF MANKIND AND THE GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE OF THE IMPOTENT MAN (John 5:1- 13; Romans 8:22,23; Deuteronomy 28:15-29; John 8:36; Isaiah 53:4,5; 1 Peter 2:24)
The consequences of sin for the human race cannot be over-stated. It has been a great yoke from which man is unable to extricate himself. Lamenting, Prophet Jeremiah says, “The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall… from whom I am not able to rise up” (Lamentations 1:14). A look at our society paints a grim picture of the Bethesda experience where the halt, the blind, the paralysed and the maimed look helplessly for cure in their own “house of mercy”. The infirmities of the people at the pool of Bethesda had no human remedy. therefore, it took the intervention of an angel who “went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water” (verse 4) to bring healing to the sick. Through this divine gesture, many of the sick were relieved of their infirmities. The pitiable condition of one of the sick people at the pool caught the attention of our Lord Jesus. By divine knowledge, He knew that the man had been sick for thirty-eight years. He asked him if he would be made whole.
The Lord wanted to first stir up his faith and kindle in him a desire for the upcoming favour.
Second, He intended to reveal Himself as the expected Messiah.
Third, it was an avenue to preach the gospel of God’s grace.
Fourth, it was also to know if he was fed up with his present condition and wanted immediate healing. Jesus, with power and authority, commanded the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years to “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk” (verse 8). And instantaneously, the man’s strength returned and he was able to rise and walk. Although he had been long disabled, he was ushered into the glorious liberty and full state of health. Here, Christ demonstrated His power over sicknesses and diseases and confirmed one of His major ministries on earth (Matthew 8:16, 17). The deliverance of this man from impotency took place on the Sabbath and therefore, was unlawful, according to the Jewish tradition. But Jesus wanted them to know that He was Lord of the Sabbath and what had been unlawful without His command became lawful by it. Neither was Jesus’ action against the sense of the law. The law only prohibited civil labour and carrying of burdens for wages and trading for profit. It did not forbid works of goodness, mercy and charity towards a needy neighbour (Matthew 12:10-12). As believers, we should seek every occasion to bring sinners to the saving knowledge of Christ and disabuse their minds from religious falsehood and misinterpretation of Scripture.
WARNING AGAINST SINFUL LIVING (John 5:14-18; 8:11; Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26; Titus 2:11-14)
“Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple…” (John 5:14). As soon as he was healed, the impotent man went straight to the house of God. Perhaps, he has not been there for thirty-eight years because of his infirmity or probably, he went there to give thanks to God for His mercy. Whatever the reasons, it behooves all those who have received God’s favour to return to Him and give thanks (Luke 17:15-18). As soon as Jesus saw the man that was healed in the temple, He “said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (verse 14). Christ’s statement reveals that sin is the cause of diseases in many cases of human affliction. Hence, the man was warned to steer clear of sin to avoid a more grievous consequence. Sin exposes us to the attacks of the devil and demonic forces. The Jews persecuted Christ when they heard that He healed the impotent man and sought to slay Him. “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (verse 17). Christ maintained that He had not violated the law because His work was divine and humane. He insisted that the holy rest, which was enjoined by the Law of Moses is not violated when we do God’s work on the Sabbath. He declared that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). He wanted them to know that He was not only equal with God, who daily sustains the perfect working of the universe, but was also Lord of the Sabbath (Philippians 2:6; Matthew 12:8). He also wanted them to know that He is the Messiah, the Author of life and Saviour of the world.
DIVINITY, AUTHORITY AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE MESSIAH (John 5:19-30; 3:27-36; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10,11,20; Matthew 11:27; Proverbs 8:22-31)
The healing power Christ manifested on the impotent man proved Him to be the Son of God who worked with His Father. Besides, the fact that He could do nothing of Himself reveals eternal intimacy, unity and co- existence with the Father. He does everything in conjunction with Him as He possesses the same power, will and nature with Him (John 10:30). “For the Father loveth the Son…”, He loved Him when He appeared in human nature to atone for the sin of man, and more than once declared by a voice from heaven that Christ was His “beloved Son”. Christ’s Deity is revealed as God who created all things. Here in the text, He testifies to the Jewish accusers how He is equal with God.
First, He is equal with God in power and works. “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.” Whether in the work of creation, recreation, redemption, preservation of humans and all living things, the Trinity work together with equal power as partners.
Second, He is equal with God in raising and quickening the dead. He did it in the cases of Lazarus (John 11:43,44); the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11- 15); and Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:35-42). He does quicken and make alive from the grip of sin all who come to Him (Ephesians 2:1). He quickens those who repent of their sins and are washed in His blood.
Third, He claimed equality with God in judgment of the world. God will judge the world through Christ (John 5:22; 12:48; Acts 17:31).
Fourth, He claimed equality with God the Father in honour. He is to be honoured as the Father is honoured (John 5:23; Hebrews 2:7-9; Philippians 2:9-11).
Fifth, He is equal with the Father as the Source of eternal life. Like God the Father, He has life in Himself and can give to those who exercise faith in Him (John 5:24-27; Ephesians 2:5-9; John 10:10b).
Sixth, He testified that He is equal with God over death and eternal destiny of man. He declared, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28,29). Jesus, in His personal testimony revealed that there are two resurrections and two eternal destinies. There shall be the resurrection of the just down the ages to eternal life with God in heaven. This is the first resurrection. After this will be the resurrection of the unjust and all those who spurned the way of salvation and eventually died in their sins. They shall be brought face to face before the Judge of the whole earth at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). The Messiah is the One the Father hath appointed as Judge, both of the living and the dead. He will judge the whole world in righteousness on the last day as all judgments have been committed into His hand by the Father (John 5:27; Acts 17:31). Suffice to say that those who reject Christ do, by their actions, reject God and the hope of eternal life (Luke 10:16; 1 John 5:11-13).
CHRIST’S APPEAL TO POTENT WITNESSES (John 5:31-40; 1:29; 7:28; 8:18,26; Matthew 3:17; 17:5; John 8:28; 12:49; 3:27-36; 10:31-38; 8:17; 14:10,11)
Jesus is “…the faithful and true witness”. His personal testimony would have been enough to prove His deity before the Jews. However, in conformity with the Law, which prescribes hearing from two or three witnesses for any matter to be established, He had to appeal to four witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6). Jesus declared, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true” (John 5:31). The Lord’s first witness is God the Father who declared Him as His beloved Son twice during His earthly ministry (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). He told the Jews that they had not heard God’s voice nor had His word abiding in them. This was the main cause of their problem of unbelief in Christ. John the Baptist was His second witness. The Jews respected and accepted his ministry. He presented the Lord to them as the Messiah, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b), but not many believed in Him. Third, the Lord appealed to His many works. He had performed many miracles, signs and wonders, which are necessary credentials to prove that He is the Messiah. The fourth authority Christ appealed to was the Scriptures (John 5:39-42). If the Jews had searched the Scriptures, they would have known Him through the writings of Moses and other prophets (Luke 24:27, 44).
REBUKE AND CONDEMNATION FOR UNBELIEF (John 5:40-47; 1:11,12; Luke 16:29,31; Hebrews 3:7- 10)
The Lord who knows all things looked beyond His rejection by the Jews to their acceptance of the Antichrist who would come in his own name. He taught that there would be many false teachers and antichrists but in verse 43, He refers to the Antichrist who would rule the world during the period of the Great Tribulation. Israel as a nation, He predicted, would enter into covenant with Him (Daniel 9:27). Those who would not allow God to rule them will be ruled and ruined by the Devil. Seeking earthly fame and honour at the expense of one’s relationship with the Lord is damnable. Seek to worship and honour God acceptably through repentance from sin, faith in Christ and obedience to His word.
Questions for review:
- Mention the various areas the devil afflicts people.
- How can we avoid the consequences of a sinful life?
- Mention ways we can help those who are willingly ignorant of the truth of the gospel.
- How can we live healthy, both spiritually and physically?
- What should be our attitude in times of persecutions and serious oppositions?
- List the various ways Jesus Christ proved His equality with God the Father in His personal testimony.
- Mention the four witnesses the Lord appealed to in His defence.
