Jesus' Relationship With the Father

Well, visitors, here today I thought I might mention what we're doing today is continuing with our series of studies into the Gospels. This is our Harmony of the Gospels, which is a book. This is the New King James Version, and a Harmony of the Gospels basically just goes through the Gospels in chronological order and shows the different accounts side by side so you can see them.

We're about three years into it, and we're all the way up to page 22 now, so only have, let's see, 120 pages to go. Also, I'm concluding I'm going to have to live longer and longer if we're ever going to get through this. Today's a good example of that because I started out preparing this a while ago and thought, well, I'm going to cover at least a page which is about 40 verses in there. As I got into it, working on it, I realized I had more than an hour's worth of material covering the first six verses, I believe it is.

But it's very important material. It's very, very detailed, as we'll see as we get into the subject today. One thing I'm coming to see as we continue with these studies is that while it may seem that we're only covering the Gospels, and that may, to some people, be boring or maybe stuck in one track or something like that, but actually we're covering a large number of other doctrines as we go through the Gospels because they arise naturally as we go through and study the words and teachings of Jesus Christ.

For example, I was just adding up some of the subjects we've covered so far, and they include topics like the nature of God, the inspiration of the Bible, archaeological and historical proofs of the Bible, the accuracy of Bible prophecy, repentance, baptism, faith, healing, our calling, our destiny, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, conversion, what it means to be born again, the spirit world, and the virgin birth.

So we're actually covering a lot of doctrines as we go through this, in many cases, in most cases, straight from the words of Jesus Christ Himself. So you can't get much more authoritative than that. And today we will actually be covering a few more doctrines, specifically Christ's divinity and the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ. And we'll touch a little bit on judgment at the end of this. Now, last time to lead into today's topic, last time we covered the healing of the lame man at the Bethesda pool just north of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

And that event leads into what we'll be covering today. And if you remember what we talked about last time, that event took place on a Sabbath. Now, it's not specified whether this was the weekly Sabbath. It is specified. It was during one of the Holy Days when thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more people were there in Jerusalem.

So there are very large crowds there, which we talked about. And so it's not specified whether the Sabbath that is mentioned is a weekly Sabbath or one of the Holy Days. It's not specified which Holy Day it was. So we don't know. But in a sense, that's just a side point to the main story. But the fact that Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath and told him to take up his pallet and walk led to a conflict between him and the Jerusalem religious establishment there.

And when they find out that it was Jesus who had healed the man who had performed this miracle, they were very, very unhappy with that. We talked last time about some of the rules that they had on what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, what constituted carrying a burden on the Sabbath. And I gave a few examples of that. For instance, you could not wear shoes that had nails in the soles of them there on the Sabbath because that was unnecessary weight.

You couldn't carry a sewing needle pinned in your garment there because that was unnecessary weight. The rabbis argued whether you could wear, if you were missing a leg and wore a wooden leg, they argued whether it was legal to wear your wooden leg on the Sabbath day or a false tooth in your mouth because a wooden leg or a false tooth weren't a natural part of the body.

Therefore, was that an unnecessary weight? Some argued that it was. So this is how picky some of their rules and regulations about what was allowable or not allowable on the Sabbath were. And in their mind, Jesus was breaking the Sabbath by telling the man to take up his pallet and walk. But their interpretations went far, far beyond what God himself actually said was allowable on the Sabbath and his instructions about keeping it holy. And that brings us to the section of John 5 that we'll cover today starting in verse 16. I will be projecting all of the verses up here on screen so you can follow along either in your harmony or your Bible or here on screen.

And we'll start by reading through this section first and then we'll go back and unpack that and see what God reveals to us here because, again, a tremendous amount of information packed into these few verses.

Beginning here in John 5 and verse 16, for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My father has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do. For whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son. That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father, he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

So now let's go back and try to understand what we're being told in here by the Apostle John, what John was inspired to record about this. And again, there's an incredible amount of information here, which is why we'll only cover these very few verses here today. So let's start again back up here in verse 16. For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. Now, as I mentioned last time when John uses the term the Jews, he isn't talking about all Jews. After all, John himself is a Jew. Jesus is a Jew. All of the disciples are Jewish. So John doesn't mean the Jewish people as a whole or in general when he uses this term. This is kind of his shorthand referring to what I call the Jerusalem religious establishment. That is, the Jews who were opposed to Jesus and to his work out of their perception that he is a threat to them, to their position and their power here. So they want to eliminate him, as we see here, they want to kill him because they see him as a threat. So they accuse him of breaking the Sabbath. Now, in their minds, he was breaking the Sabbath in two ways. This is one of the study questions I sent out. One of the ways that they view him as breaking the Sabbath is by telling the man that he is healed to pick up his bed, as it's worded in some versions, it means a pallet, and to walk. Now, in their minds, this would have been viewed as encouraging somebody to break the Sabbath, which is punishable by death to do that. So this is the first way that they viewed him as breaking the Sabbath. As I mentioned this earlier in this series, I didn't go into it last time, but when it came to healing on the Sabbath, and we see this conflict again and again in the Gospels, a number of different times it's brought up, the religious authorities did believe, well, when it came to healing, you could heal on the Sabbath if it was a matter of life and death.

In other words, if somebody is injured, they've got a compound fracture in their leg or something, and there's potential for them bleeding to death, yes, you could bind up the wound, set the leg, and put antiseptic on it and things like that, and save the person's life. But if it was not a matter of life and death, if someone just had a a chronic disease or condition or injury, as this man, this layman, has here today, it was not, according to their interpretations of the Sabbath, not allowable to heal him on the Sabbath. That could be done any other day of the week. So this is one of their restrictions, and as we'll see, Christ comes to teach a very different way, a very different approach to that. So let's see, continuing on here with the story then, since this man was not dying but merely crippled, as he had been for 38 years, in their minds, this was no reason for Jesus to heal the man on the Sabbath. He should have waited for any other day of the week. So notice also an interesting fact in this is that nowhere in this debate here in John 5 do they dispute the fact that the man has been healed. That's rather interesting, isn't it?

They don't argue that. They don't argue with Jesus, well, you didn't heal the man, you're just a charlatan. No, nobody argues about that because after all, there's a man standing there who has been healed. Probably the man, well, we don't know, it's not stated, we know he had been in this condition for 38 years, whether he had been laying there at the pool, how much of that time, we don't know, it's not specified there, but quite possibly a number of these people had walked by and seen that man laying there for the last five years, last 10 years, we just don't know. And now he's standing before them upright and well and healed. So nobody disputes that fact. The dispute is over whether what Jesus did was legal or not, according to their interpretation of how they interpreted the Sabbath there. So because Jesus did heal the man, he had in their minds committed a capital offense, deserved to die for that. So that's what leads into this discussion in Christ's response. So this is a very serious charge. It is literally a matter of life and death, because if they have the evidence, if they have the witnesses, theoretically, they could have stoned Jesus to death here for this. So this is something that is quite important, and we'll see this as we unpack Christ's response to them as we go through this. So he begins answering their charge that potentially could lead to execution. He's not careful in what he says.

Now let's notice one other verse before we get into his response here, because this helps us understand the background a little bit better, and perhaps why Jesus answers some of these things in the way that he does. Now we covered this earlier back in John 2, when we talked about Nicodemus, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court-slash-Congress, you might say, of that day. And he comes to Jesus by night, and what does he say? There's a rather startling admission here in John 3 and verse 2. And it says, this man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi means teacher or master or Lord, so he's acknowledging that Jesus is a remarkable teacher here. And here's the more remarkable admission, Nicodemus says, we know that you are a teacher coming from God. Come from God. They recognize this. Nicodemus says, we. Again, he's a member of the Sanhedrin. How many the we is were not told. But certainly, there are more who acknowledge that Jesus is a teacher sent from God than just Nicodemus himself. And then he says, why? He says, for no one can do these signs. This word signs also can encompass the meaning of miracles. So they recognize that the miracles he performs are a sign of God. So he says, no one can do these signs, these miracles that you do unless God is with him.

It's a rather remarkable statement there. This has been months, maybe a year or so earlier than the context of where we are today. So keep in mind some of the Jerusalem religious establishment there know and understand that yes, Jesus is from God. So let's keep that in mind as we continue through this story here. So then how does Jesus respond to their charges that he has broken the Sabbath by healing a man on the Sabbath day? Picking up the story here in verse 17 here. But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.

This is awkwardly translated here and doesn't quite catch the intent of Christ's response. So I'd like you to notice the wording of several other translations. Keep in mind that this discussion, this conversation is taking place on the Sabbath day after Jesus has healed his man. So notice how other versions put this. The NIV translates this as, My Father is always at his work to this very day, this very day being the Sabbath, and I too am working. The English Standard version says, My Father is working until now, and I am working. The Holman Christian Standard Bible. My Father is still working, and I am working also. The New Living Translation. My Father is always working, and so am I. The New American Standard Bible. My Father is working until now, and I myself am working. And there are several others that translate it similarly. The Bible in Basic English, the Living Oracles in New Testament, 20th Century New Testament, some of the other versions I check. So there are a number of versions that capture this meaning a little bit better here. But what exactly is Jesus Christ's point when he says that the Father has been working and is working right up to that very day, that very day being the Sabbath? Well, let's ask ourselves, how would Jesus's audience have understood and what would that have meant to them hearing these words from Jesus Christ that, my Father is working right up to this very day, this very minute, on the Sabbath, and I am working also? Why does Christ say that? Well, first of all, they would have understood that, thinking back to their mindset, their understanding of Scripture, they understood that God rested on the Sabbath day back in Genesis after the creation week there and created the Sabbath and it explicitly says that God rested on the Sabbath day.

But a question in their minds and a question that helps us understand what's going on here is, did God rest? And does God rest on the Sabbath, every Sabbath since then, since creation week?

Think about that, because it helps us understand where Jesus's point and what his audience would have understood there. Does God, who is Spirit, need to rest? Or to rest on the Sabbath day?

No, he doesn't. He goes, God is Spirit. God is not flesh. He's not flesh and blood like us, subject to becoming tired and worn out and exhausted and things like that. He doesn't have a...he's Spirit. He doesn't have a physical body like ours that needs to sleep, our seven or eight or nine hours or whatever every night, and they have a day of rest, one in seven. He doesn't need that. So does God rest on the Sabbath day? Well, not necessarily. And this is what prompts Jesus Christ's response here, because the works of God continue even on the Sabbath day.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not diminishing the Sabbath in any way. I'm just trying to help us understand the theological viewpoints of the audience and Christ's response, because the response is quite profound when we understand the implications of that. So the works of God, as I said, continue even on the Sabbath day. Now, what do I mean by that? What would the people of the first century understood by that? Well, to them, miracles happen every day, and they do. The birth of a baby on the Sabbath day. Is that a miracle? You bet it's a miracle. Absolutely a miracle. Vegetation, plants, crops that continue growing on the Sabbath day. Is that a miracle?

Yes, it is, because it's part of the miraculous process that God set in motion there.

Rain, in due season it falls. Is that a miracle? Sure, it is, because again, it's part of God's miraculous creation, the process, the system that he set in motion to sustain our lives here on earth. So all of these are part of the works that God set in motion that continued every day of the week, including the Sabbath, including the Holy Days. These things, these miracles, did not stop because it was the Sabbath day. So the Jews understood and conceded that, yes, God himself continued to work even on the Sabbath day. Again, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should work on the Sabbath day at all. God's commandment is inviolate. It's hard and fast for us, but it doesn't necessarily apply to God because God is Spirit. The Sabbath was made for man, not necessarily for God himself. And this is the point that Jesus says when he responds, as we just read here, again in the NIV, my Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that my Father continues his miraculous work every day, including the Sabbath. So why do you want to kill me for doing a miraculous work like my Father does on the Sabbath day? That's his point. But if we don't understand how they would have perceived or thought of God and God's relationship to the Sabbath, we wouldn't pick up on that. So again, they had long understood not just the miracles that I mentioned, babies being born, crops growing, rains coming, that sort of thing. They would have understood those as God's miracles on the Sabbath day, but they also understood that certain kinds of work needed and indeed were actually commanded by God to be done on the Sabbath day. Specifically, that the temple, and the temple, or this is taking place right outside the temple there, if not on the temple grounds itself, they know that every Sabbath day the priests go in and offer sacrifices on the Sabbath day. And you can go back and read, they actually offered more sacrifices on the holy days and killing and butchering animals, which I know some of you have done with a deer or an elk in particular, or a moose or whatever. It's hard work to butcher and kill an animal. And yet this happened every Sabbath, every holy day in the temple there.

So for the ministry, speaking for myself, the Sabbath is often our hardest day of the week in terms of work. I typically leave about 9.30 in the morning and don't get home until 10 or 12 hours later there. So is this breaking the Sabbath? No, it's not, because it is part of the work of God. It's part of God's work of serving people, of teaching people, of helping people, because God is love and everything that he does is motivated out of love. God never stops working on the Sabbath because he is always doing good. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. God doesn't rest and take off for the Sabbath as we need to. He doesn't have to stop on the Sabbath because what are his works? His works are works of love, of kindness, of generosity, of mercy, of caring, of healing, of guiding, of teaching, and so on. And those works continue all the time.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And this is the point that Jesus is making here in his comments. The Father worked doing good on the Sabbath and Jesus worked doing good on the Sabbath. And neither of them are breaking the Sabbath because their motivation is love for mankind to help, to heal in this particular case. And of course, this did not go over very well with them. They did not appreciate hearing that. So now they latch on to Christ's statement about God being the Father. So picking it up here, now in verse 18 here, Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, again broke the Sabbath is their interpretation. That doesn't mean he's literally breaking the Sabbath because God certainly sees nothing wrong in healing on the Sabbath day, but that was their view because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father making himself equal with God. Now, as I mentioned last time, Jesus did not break the Sabbath. He never sinned.

So he obviously never broke the Sabbath. Had he broken the Sabbath, had he sinned, we would not have a Savior there. So John is not saying that Jesus broke the Sabbath. That was the accusation of Christ's accusers there because he did things that weren't allowable under their rules, specifically healing on the Sabbath. Now, there's also something interesting going on here about the Greek language that I need to draw your attention to. The Greek verbs are here translated again in verse 18. Notice it says, broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father. In English, that's past tense, something that happened in the past. In English, we have three tenses for our verbs. We have past, present, and future. I did. I am doing. I will do. That's past, present, and future. Greek has other shades of meaning with its verbs. This is what is called the imperfect tense. That doesn't mean a tent with a hole in the top. It's a language term there. You don't have to remember this. That's just what it's called. But in English, again, we have past, present, and future. Greek has other shades of meaning that are a bit... I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation, because it's over my head and probably over a lot of your heads as well. What this means is that Jesus did these actions not just this one time. What the imperfect tense means is that he had been doing them repeatedly in the past and was continuing to do those same things now at this point.

Again, it's hard to translate that concept into English because we literally don't have the words to express it. But there are some Bible versions that try to capture this sense in the Greek. I'll give you a few examples of this. Here's the New King James, which we just read. Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, this is translated into past tense, but also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. The New International Version tries to capture the continual action that the Greek implies there. So they translate this, For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, not only was he breaking the Sabbath actively at that point, but he was even calling God his own father, again, continuous action, making himself equal with God. A couple of other versions translate this very similarly, the English Standard Version. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. And another one, the Holman Christian Study Bible, or Standard Bible. This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. You see the distinction there in the language.

So basically what this means, the bottom line, is that Jesus had been doing this repeatedly before.

In other words, this wasn't the first time that he does this, that he heals on the Sabbath.

Or that he calls himself, or that he calls God his father. It's not the first time, is what is the meaning there of the Greek, the significance of this imperfect tense here.

Jesus did these actions not just this one time that we're talking about here, but he had been repeatedly doing them in the past and was doing those same actions again here. There are other rival versions that also capture the same kind of meaning here. But if you were trying to translate the meaning literally into English, again we don't have the words to quite capture the intent there, but it would be something like, not only had he been breaking the Sabbath as he was doing now, but he had also been calling God his own father as he did now, making himself equal with God.

And again, it sounds awkward in English because we don't have the words to express that particular verb tense that exists in Greek here. But what is the significance of this? Well, again, it's simply this, that what John is telling us is this was the first time that Jesus had done these things. He had been doing things like this repeatedly before healing on the Sabbath and claiming to be God. And what John is describing here is just the latest time that he was doing this. So it was something Jesus had done before that he was doing now and he would continue to do in the future. And again, this confirms that there are many other things that Jesus did that aren't recorded in the Gospels. You can actually read the conclusion of John's Gospel. He says there were so many other things that Jesus did that if they fill all the books in the entire world that wouldn't even contain all the things that he did. So this gets back to the point I made several times before. The Gospel writers were selective in what they recorded for us there. They don't give us all of the details. And here's an example of it here that's implied when we understand the Greek here. So there are actually a number of subtle things there in the Gospels that actually tell us a great deal when we understand the meaning here. But notice again, getting back to our story after that little lesson in Greek here, notice that they latch on to Jesus' statement about God being his father. Now how do they view that? How would they have viewed that? They view that, as we see here, as Jesus making himself equal with God. But of course, Jesus didn't say that. He didn't say that he was equal with God. He just said that God was his father, not that he was equal to the Father. So then Jesus goes on to correct this misstatement or misunderstanding. And then in the following verse, we see some of Christ's clearest statements as to his divine identity and messiahship. And any Jew who is familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, which certainly these religious leaders would have been, would have clearly understood the implications of what he is saying. So continuing the story here, verse 19, up here, then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do. For whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. There are several things to pick up on here. First of all, Jesus says, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself.

Now why does he say this and what does he mean by this? What's his point?

Again, what is Jesus being accused of? He's being accused of healing, performing a miracle on the Sabbath and breaking the Sabbath in that way. So what is Jesus's response here?

Yes, translate a little bit awkwardly into English, but basically what he's saying is, I didn't perform the miracle. I didn't perform the miracle. He says the Son can do nothing of himself. In other words, he didn't perform the miracle. Who performed the miracle? God performed the miracle. So who are they accusing of healing on the Sabbath in reality? God, the Father. God is the Father. You understand that? See that? See the point here? I didn't perform the miracles. What are you saying? I can't perform miracles of myself. If you want to accuse someone of breaking the Sabbath by healing on the Sabbath, guess what? You're accusing God because he's the one who did the miracle of healing on the Sabbath. You're actually accusing and condemning God.

And there's interesting implications to this because if we take this at face value, it means that all of the miracles we read about in the Gospels, Jesus himself didn't do them.

Yes, he was the agent, but it was actually God performing the miracle. Because as he says here, I can of myself do nothing. So I would understand that to imply that God the Father is the one who is actually performing miracles. After all, who is Jesus? Jesus has emptied himself of his divinity, well not of his divinity, but of his glory as God to become human. So how much divine power did he have as human in the flesh? We've touched on that a little bit before, and I don't know all of the answers, but it's interesting. What he says here, the Son can do nothing of himself. That would seem to imply, he's saying, that he doesn't do the miracles, but that it is the Father who is doing the miracles, and he is just the instrument through whom God is working. And I think that's essentially what is being said here. I think that is the most clear understanding of what is being said here. And then he goes on, that he transitions from that, and begins talking about the relationship between him and the Father in terms that they can readily understand. Now in that culture, we've talked about this before, a son would generally, when it came to a vocation, would follow in his Father's footsteps. What was Jesus' stepfather, Joseph? What was his occupation? He was a tecton in Greek. It means a builder. As we've talked about this before, that most likely means he was a stonemason, not a carpenter, because they didn't have a lot of trees, didn't have a lot of wood to build with. They're in Galilee. They built primarily with stone. So Joseph, being a builder, is probably a stonemason. And Jesus is probably trained in his Father's footsteps as a stonemason. That was just the way it was done. If your Father was a metalworker, you would be a metalworker. If your Father is a leatherworker, you would be a leatherworker. If your Father was a farmer, you would be a farmer. If your Father is a potter, working with clay, that's what you would learn and become, and so on. And it had been that way for generation after generation, going back for many centuries. So that is understood. That is just the way things were done in that culture. So the son, basically, the son in a family, basically became an apprentice to learn his Father's trade. There it is, sighed. It was virtually unheard of for a son to do anything differently, to leave his Father's trade and become something different. That was viewed as, in a sense, rejecting your Father and the culture of that day. So that was pretty much unheard of. There was one exception to that, and that was to become the Talmid, the disciple of a famous rabbi, because that was the highest calling. That was the highest status you could attain in life, to become a great rabbi or the student of a great rabbi and trained to become a rabbi yourself. So that was an exception. That was okay. That was considered a very honorable choice to make in your life, in your vocation. But apart from that, a son just learned whatever work his Father did, because that was just the way it was done, and to do otherwise was disrespectful of your Father. So everybody knew that. Everybody understood that. So what is Jesus saying here with that background? What's he saying here when he says, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do for whatever He does, whatever the Father does, the Son does in like manner. So what He is saying here is that just as a good Son follows in His Father's footsteps, that's what He is doing.

He is following in His Father's footsteps. It's like any good Son would do. That's the point here. To do otherwise, again, would be to show disrespect and dishonor to the Father. That just wasn't done. And Jesus kind of has to disarm them a bit with a statement, because for a son to imitate and to obey His Father was something that would be praised in that culture and would never be criticized. And everybody knew that. And then He goes on to say that He is in complete submission to His Father's will as any good Son would do. In that culture that day, being a good Son was, we just don't have anything comparable to the power that that had in that culture of that day. It was just, everything you did was to please and honor your parents there, to follow in their footsteps. That was an honorable course of life. And to deviate from that was just an utter disgrace.

We'll get into that, someone, when we get into the parable of the prodigal son. What an absolutely disgraceful act that was of the prodigal son to turn his back on his Father and leave and choose a different course in life. That was just unthinkable in the culture of that day. And that's a little bit of what is going on here. Jesus is saying, like a good Son, He is just doing exactly what the Father does. That's His point. And again, it wasn't a submission to the Father's will based on power, that the Father had more power or was stronger, like a human Father is stronger and more powerful than His Son. But Jesus says that His attitude of submission is based on a oneness of mind. In other words, Jesus submitted to the Father, not because He was forced to, and certainly Jesus being in physical human form, the Father being Spirit, Almighty Spirit, could have forced Him to do everything. But Jesus says that's not the way it worked. He submitted to the Father out of total love and out of total agreement with and being fully of one mind with the Father. And that is why He would later say, we'll get to this later on, if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. And this is the kind of submission that God wants to see in us. Yes, God could force us by sheer force, by sheer power, to adopt and live by His way of life. He certainly has the power to do that, bring of us. But He doesn't deal with us that way. He tells us choose, choose life as He chose Israel, as He told Israel. He doesn't force us to do things His way all the time. He wants us to love Him and to be in total obedience and submission to Him, to be fully of one mind with Him and Jesus Christ. And He wants us to obey Him and do things His way and to follow His laws because we love Him and because we love His laws and we love His way of life, not because we're afraid of Him. We're afraid of the consequences of disobeying Him.

We are to become, the overall point, the implication of this, is we are to become like Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is just like the Father. That's the overall point here. And again, that is why we're going through the Gospels in such detail here. Because how are we going to become like Jesus Christ if we don't know how He lived, if we don't know how He taught, if we don't know what He did? These are the words that show us what our role model is like and what we are to become. How can we become like Him if we don't study and learn what He was like?

And what was Jesus Christ like? I'd like to look at another scripture here. There's a little bit of a sidebar, but Hebrews 1 and verses 2 and 3. It says here, God the Father, referring to, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. We understand that Jesus Christ was the one who created everything. And notice this, who being the brightness of His, the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. And I want to focus in on this highlighted part here, the express image of His person. Or as the NIV puts it, the exact representation of His being.

The term that is used here is referring to a tool that was used to make coins at that time. How were coins made? I'd like to give you a little lesson in archaeology and history again.

Coins were made, you'd take a round disc out of metal, whether it's gold or silver or bronze, there. And they didn't have the heavy duty hydraulic presses like they have down at the Denver Mint there. It was all done by hand. And the way it was done is you had two different steel cylinders. I say steel, not steel. It would have been the hardest metal, probably mostly iron at that time. Two cylinders, and engraved in the end of the cylinder was a negative impression of the coin that you wanted to make. So they would anchor one of these cylinders into a base called an anvil or something like that. And they would stick the little round disc of gold or silver or bronze, copper, whatever, on top of that. And then they had the upper cylinder, so you've got two cylinders like this with a metal disc in the middle. And they would take a heavy hammer and they would hit it with all their might to stamp that metal disc with the impression on the upper and lower side. And it would produce a coin like this, stamped on both sides at once. That's why a lot of ancient coins are off-center. As you can see with this one, it's a little bit off-center. You can see down here at the bottom, the cylinder isn't exactly in the middle there. So that's very, very common. This is the way coins were made back during that time. So, and the result is what we see here. The exact representation, as it is described here, the exact representation. That is what this is referring to. What is produced by this process is an exact representation of the negative impression on these two steel cylinders here. Again, I misused the word steel. I'm used to thinking of steel, but steel had not been refined. The process to make steel at that time.

So again, this process makes a perfect copy or an exact representation of the impression on those cylinders here. So what this is, so when this is telling us that Jesus Christ is the express image or the exact representation of the Father, what this is saying is that Jesus is an exact copy of the Father. Just as a coin is an exact copy of that process by coin making, Jesus Christ is an exact copy of God the Father. Does anybody know what this tool is called?

It's interesting because in Greek the same term applied to the tool, the set of tools that die, as you might call them, as well as the image that was created. There's a great word for that. It was called character. It was called character. Obviously we see where we get our English word, character, from this word. They were both referred to as character, both the tools and the copy that was made. It was called a character in Greek. Now when we talk about allowing God to build his character in us, what does that mean? It means we are allowing God to create an exact copy of himself in us. As Jesus Christ is an exact copy of the Father, we are allowing God to create in us an exact copy of Jesus Christ so that we will be an exact copy of the Father. Quite profound lesson from one word, one word there in the book of Hebrews. So just as Jesus Christ is the exact copy, the exact representation of the Father's being, that is what God is doing in us if we allow him to do so. If we allow him to do that. So these are some of the illustrations that are used in God's Word to help us understand what we are to become, what we are to be like, what we are to become with his help. I might also mention here another concept that ties in with this, this complete submission to the Father, and that is the complete faith and trust that Jesus has in the Father and had at that time. We talked last time about how Jesus didn't need to tell the man to take up his pallet and walk because Jesus knows this is a holy day, the man knows it's a holy day, it's a holy day in which thousands of people are coming to ritually went, rents there at the Bethesda pool, and they both knew what the religious leaders' rules were about the Sabbath. You can't heal on the Sabbath, you can't take up on a necessary burden on the Sabbath.

So they both know that, Jesus and the man both know that. But Jesus specifically tells the man to do that. Why does he do that? Why does he do that? He would have known that this would not go unnoticed. Again, there's thousands of people coming back and forth to the temple on this holy day and ritually washing there at the pool. And this man would have stood out like a sore thumb, walking around carrying his pallet with him. You just didn't do that on a Sabbath or a holy day. So why did Jesus do this? I think there are two reasons for that. First of all, I think because it gave him an opportunity to show how wrong they were in their approach to the Sabbath. By that, I mean rather than the Sabbath being the blessing and delight that God intends it to be, that they had turned it around and turned it upside down and made it a huge burden for people. I've mentioned some of the picky rules they had about that. Somebody sent me an email last night with about a dozen others and there were just some real head-scratchers in there, just unbelievable stuff. But they had made the Sabbath a burden. God intended the Sabbath to be a great joy and a delight and a blessing to people. But they turned it into an unmanageable burden. And I can't help but think as often as Jesus provokes people to be blunt about their rules regarding the Sabbath, I have to think that Jesus, who made the Sabbath, after all, he was the Creator, he was the one who gave the Ten Commandments, he's the one who created the Sabbath, gave the Sabbath Commandments. I think it had to have literally pained him to see how people had so twisted and distorted the meaning and the intent of the Sabbath.

And that way, what pains God? I can't help but think God and Jesus Christ are pained a lot of times and how badly people do things and distort things that he intended to be good for us. And I think that is what is going on. I think that is why we see on a number of occasions, again, as I talked about with the language, this wasn't the first time Jesus had done that. He's been doing this fairly continually up to this point. And John just includes this as an example of that. So I think this is why we see Jesus deliberately provoking the religious authorities over their interpretation of how to keep the Sabbath day. Again, this is something Jesus had been doing and he does it now under circumstances that are definitely going to draw attention to it. Again, everybody's going to notice the man carrying his palate on the Sabbath day. It sticks out like a sore thumb. So I think that is one reason to show people how wrong they were in their approach to the Sabbath, to provoke a confrontation, to be blunt about it. And second, I think it gave him more of an opportunity to more completely reveal his identity as he starts doing. And his response here, that he wasn't just any old rabbi, it was just any old gifted rabbi, but rather that he was in fact the promised Messiah, the Son of God, God in the flesh. And again, as we saw, this is something he had been doing already, claiming to be the Son of God. And he was doing it now. After all, what had he done? He picked out this lame man by the pool of Bethesda. Interestingly, the man didn't even ask to be healed. Jesus came up to him and said, do you want to be healed? Take up your bed and walk. And he does. The man didn't even ask Jesus for healing. We thought about that aspect of it. Sometimes God comes along and does things in our lives that we didn't even ask for. And yet, it's a great blessing for us. And this happened here. The man didn't even know who Jesus was.

Didn't know until Jesus caught up with him later in the temple and identified himself as the one who had healed him. So the man is more or less an innocent bystander in the whole process there. A man comes along out of nowhere and heals him after he's been in this condition for 38 years. So my point is that Jesus is acting very, very deliberately, but also in a very measured way at the same time. Because as we talked about last time, had he healed a dozen or a hundred people, there were probably at least dozens, maybe hundreds of people at this pool waiting to be healed, and he picks out one man. What would have happened if he had healed dozens or hundreds? Well, with you know, a million people there during the Jerusalem during the Holy Day season, it would have created an enormous uproar. Almost a riot, you might say, a stampede, you might say. He knows how many people would have been trampled to death trying to rush Jesus to be healed under circumstances. But he doesn't do it that way. He does it in a very measured way there to get his point across. But how does it tie in then with backing up about five minutes with complete faith and trust in the Father? Well, it ties in this way because Jesus knew that, knew what his actions would provoke. They would provoke accusations of breaking the Sabbath and blasphemy for making himself equal to the Father as they saw it. That could result in what?

Being stoned to death on the spot. So Jesus clearly demonstrates courage and standing up for what is right. But that courage is buttressed by faith that his life is in God's hands. And God can and will control the situation and will guide him, will inspire him, will lead him in the right way at the right time. And we see this. I'd like to turn to 1 Peter 2 and notice a verse here. We'll lead into it a little bit here. 1 Peter 2 verses 21 through 23. For to this you were called, Peter writes, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return. This is talking about the events leading up to his crucifixion, obviously. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But what did he do? What was his reaction? He committed himself to him who judges righteously. In other words, he committed everything to God's hands, to the Father's hands, in total and complete faith. That's the part to focus in on here. He didn't get angry. He didn't strike back when he was being lied about, falsely accused, beaten, and so on. He simply had complete faith and trust that he was in God's hands and that God is in complete and perfect control.

And when you have that kind of faith, that kind of faith that's rooted in complete trust, complete confidence, complete obedience, complete faith in God, you don't have anything to fear.

Because what's the worst that man can do?

Christ knew the worst they could do was beat him, torture him, and kill him.

But God can do anything. And it's that way in our lives as well. So we see here a great example of faith and courage rooted in his closeness, his close relationship with the Father. So continuing back here in John 5, verse 20, picking it up here, Christ goes on and says, "...for the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does." Getting back again to the metaphor he uses that all of his audience would have been familiar with, of a son growing up and following in his father's footsteps. He's continuing that same picture there that all of them could identify with. And then he says, "...but he will show him, he the Father will show him Christ greater works than these that you may marvel." Now in the first part of this verse, Jesus again continues this analogy of the son learning his father's trait, learning at his father's side. And the father is showing the son all that the father does. That's what it says here. The father loves the son and shows him, or teaches him, as a father would teach his son his trade. That's the analogy Christ is using here. That is, the father is teaching his trade, and I'm just following in his footsteps here.

So this is what Christ is saying. And again, his audience would have understood that. And Jesus then refers to the miracle that has just been done, the healing of the man who has been lame for 38 years. And the people who are standing there then, how would they have responded to what Christ starts saying next here? Or when Christ says here, that he the Father will show him greater works than these that you may marvel.

So Jesus refers to this healing, greater works than these, this miracle that has just been done, of healing the lame man. How would they have understood that? Again, as we've talked about before, the audience is very steeped in the scriptures at that time. Many of the men will have memorized entire books, books of the Bible. So how would they have understood that? What verses would have come to their minds when Christ starts talking about these miracles? Well, one verse would have come to mind is Isaiah 35, 5 and 6.

A Messianic prophecy, the prophecy of the Messiah. We're familiar with it because it's a millennial setting. We probably hear it during the feast. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame, which this man was, shall leap like a deer in the tongue of the dumb sing. For water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams of the desert. So they knew that a man who has been in this condition for 38 years has just been healed. This was a sign, according to Isaiah's prophecy here, of the Messiah. The Messiah is here, and He's starting His work of healing right before our eyes.

Of course, Jesus, we've talked about some of the other miracles. We've talked about another healing of a paralyzed man who is lowered down through the roof of the building there in Capernaum.

So these miracles are starting to be performed. But then Jesus moves beyond that, getting back here again to John, and says, essentially, if you think you've seen something with this miracle of the healing of the lame man today, you ain't seen nothing yet. Just watch, because the Father will do far greater works through the Son. Miracles that will amaze you, that will astound you, that you will marvel at, is essentially what Christ is saying here. And then Jesus goes on to give some examples of the kind of miracles that the Father will do through the Son. He says, returning here now to verse 21, He says, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. Now, a couple of things to note here. First of all, why does Jesus introduce now the subject of life?

Well, what's the overall context of the discussion? The discussion is whether you can heal somebody on the Sabbath if it's not a matter of life or death. Logical sequence to the points Jesus is bringing up here. Yeah, you can heal if it's a matter of life and death on the Sabbath, but if it's not, no, you've got to wait till another day of the week. So Jesus, it seems like He's introducing the subject of life out of the blue, but He's not. It's actually a logical extension of the points that He's making here. So what He says here is that God can and does heal whenever He wants to, whether it's the Sabbath day or not is irrelevant for God. He can raise even the dead to life on the Sabbath day if He wants to, and that He has given that power to Him as the Son. It's at a point now. Even so, the Son gives life to whom He will. Jesus says that He has been given that power by the Father. Now, what does He mean by life here? Let's dissect that a little bit here. There's the obvious answer. He's clearly talking about life being raised from the dead, but I think there's another aspect to consider here as well.

Because, as we've seen going through these studies, many of these things have multiple levels of meaning and understanding when we dig into it and understand the context.

We'll get to the life from the dead in a minute, but I want to take a little detour here and examine this word life and think about it here. Because it can and I think does apply to a new life in this physical existence, apart on this side of the resurrection. Because we see this analogy of a new life, we see Christ using this a number of times in the Scriptures. What I'm familiar with, John 10 in verse 10, what does Christ say? He says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So we see here that Jesus is the giver of a new kind of life, an abundant life. And we sometimes speak of, to use an analogy, we sometimes speak of a new world opening up to us. We mean it figuratively, but it has deep meaning. For instance, to give an example, going to the Holy Land, which I know some of you have there, and you go there and it forever changes your perspective of the Bible from that point forward, because you never read the Scriptures in the same way again after that. You read them and you visualize these scenes that you've seen from going to the Holy Land. So it has opened up essentially a new world to an understanding to us. When we do something like that, you didn't know what the expression meant before, but once you went there and experienced it, then you know, then you can identify with that. You saw things you'd never seen before. You understand things now in the Bible that you never understood before. You comprehend things in an entirely different way moving forward from that point. And that is, I think, Christ's point here, that there is a new a kind of a new life that we can receive through Jesus Christ, through a relationship with Him.

Everything changes in every area of our life when we come to that understanding through God's calling. Our relationships change. Our relationship with our spouse changes. Our relationship with our family changes. Our relationship with our employer changes. Most of all, our relationship with God changes to a new life. We now have new priorities in life. We begin to to grasp the purpose and the reason for why we are here and what we are to do with our lives. What is our purpose? What are we doing? What's this life all about? God begins to open our minds to the understanding, and it transforms everything about our thinking, our priorities. We begin keeping God's Sabbath day. We begin keeping God's holy days. We begin to learn about how they teach us about God's plan and purpose for us. We begin tithing. We start getting our financial priorities in life right. We begin planning for the Feast of Tabernacles, making that the highlight of the year. We begin building a closeness and a bond with the other people whom we know in God's family, the church. Every aspect of our life begins to change. Our perspective, our outlook, becomes a new world, a totally different way of seeing things here. God begins to shape us and to bold us in what Paul referred to as a new creation. We go down in the waters of baptism. We come up as a new creation, a new creation in Christ. This, I think, is one of the ways that, as Christ put it here, the Son gives life to whom He will. He does give us a new life in this existence on this side of the resurrection. He's been giving that new life to believers for the last 2,000 years. I think that is one meaning, an additional meaning we probably haven't thought about. But it is clearly a way that Jesus uses the term life, as we saw from John 10.10.

But in context, I do think that the primary meaning is obviously giving new life through the resurrection of the dead, which is specifically mentioned here in this verse. So the point that Jesus is making here is that if it is impressive for a man who is lame for 38 years to be healed, what about raising the dead back to life? I think you've seen something with this miracle. What about when people start coming back to life from the dead? It's hard to get more impressive than that. Now at this point in the Gospels, Jesus hasn't raised anyone from the dead. We're not to that point yet, but he will before much longer. And here he is essentially foretelling exactly what he is going to do, not too far in the future, when he will literally raise people from the dead. Now when he says this, the Son gives life to whom he will and talks about raising the dead and giving them life. What again, what would what scriptures would have popped into the mind of his audience? How would they have understood what he's saying here?

People knew that God could raise the dead. We're familiar with several examples of that back in the Hebrew scriptures. They know that God has done it before. It's recorded there for them. And except for the Sadducees, who didn't believe in a resurrection of the dead, the other Jews of that time did. They understood that there would be a resurrection at some point in the future. But here Jesus is saying specifically that he as the Son can give life to whom he will.

Now they would have understood this as a clear claim of being divine. Let's notice a few scriptures here. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 39, where we see God speaking. God in this case being the one who would become Jesus Christ. But notice what he says.

Now see that I, even I, am he, and there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive.

In other words, I can raise people from the dead. I wound and I heal. Nor is there any other who can deliver from my hand. So here we see God, the one who would become Jesus Christ, saying that there's nobody like him. There's no other God who can kill someone and raise them back to life again.

So for Jesus to say that he could give life to the dead as the Father did, that is a clear claim of divinity. They would have obviously understood it that way because only God can make a statement like that, that he can raise the dead to life again. But think also here, I want to expand your mind a little bit here. We're familiar with the resurrection of the dead. We talk about it on the eighth day at the feast every year. We talk about it when there's a funeral and the great resurrection that we expect. But even greater than the physical resurrections, which we hear about at the feast, will be the Father or what the Father did in raising Jesus Christ back to life.

I want you to think about that for a minute, not just to a physical life because Christ was, at that point, a physical being. But what is the magnitude of the miracle God performed in not just bringing somebody back to physical life, but restoring them to the status of a divine God, which is what Christ was before he came in the physical flesh? How much power does that take?

We're talking infinitely more power than just raising a dead physical body to life in physical form again. We're talking about raising a being not in physical form again, but as God.

Have you ever thought about the magnitude of that miracle that God performed when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead again? From the dead that time? Just astounding. We're talking about giving life and power back to a being who was powerful enough to speak, and the universe sprang into existence. The solar system formed. The Milky Way galaxy came into existence. Billions of galaxies sprang into existence out of nothing at his word. If you are God the Father, how do you recreate that kind of power and restore that power to a being that you've raised back from the dead?

How do you give the power of a billion blazing suns to somebody in a resurrection, which is what the Father did when he raised Jesus from the dead? The reason I mention this is I think that's some of what what Jesus was talking about when he says that the Father will show him greater works than barely healing a man who's been lame for 38 years. That's nothing to God compared to the power to recreate and regenerate a being who can speak and the universe is spring into existence. Really mind-boggling to think about that. I don't know if you've ever thought about it in those terms before, but again there's just so much there in the depths and riches of God's Word. Then Jesus goes further, getting back to the story here, John 5 and verse 22, Jesus goes further and makes yet another claim of divinity here. He says, verse 22, for the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son. Now again, what would the people there have thought about? What scriptures would have popped into their mind about hearing God the Father committing all judgment to Him? They would have thought of a few passages like these. Psalm 28 and verse 8, arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations. They would have thought about scriptures like Isaiah 66, verse 16, for by fire and by His sword the Eternal will judge all flesh.

Christ says the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. Here Isaiah said, the Eternal will judge all flesh. And another one, Joel 3 and verse 2, let the nations be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. So who is doing the judging in all of these verses? God is. God is. So for Jesus to say that all judgment has been committed to Him, He's saying unmistakably that He is God. He is God. It's unmistakable that they would have picked up on that immediately. There's no other way to interpret that.

In their understanding of the scriptures.

Returning back to John 5 and verse 22, I'd like to interject two other thoughts here. One is, again, what is going on here? Why does Jesus say this? Why does He now bring in judgment into His discussion here with these people who want to execute Him? What's happened? They've passed judgment on Him. They've condemned Him as guilty, breaking the Sabbath, claiming to be God, claiming to be equal with God. What's the penalty? Death by stoning.

What does Jesus say? He says, you have judged me. Guess what? The Father has given me all authority to judge. And your time's coming. Your time's coming when you're not going to be the one standing there condemning me. I'm going to be standing there in the resurrection as your judge.

Did they grasp that? No, absolutely not. But that is what Jesus Christ is saying.

When He says, all judgment has been given to me by the Father.

Another point I want to mention here about this is that why this is one of the study questions I sent out is why does the Father commit all judgment to the Son, as Jesus says here?

What would make the Son a better judge than the Father might be?

Any thoughts on that? Again, it's one of the study questions I sent out. Any Scriptures come to mind about that? Why would Jesus be a better judge of humanity than the Father would? What has He done? What has He experienced that the Father hasn't?

He's walked in the flesh. He's walked a mile in our shoes. Yes, right, exactly. Exactly. Notice Hebrews 4 verse 15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was at all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

He's been through everything we can experience in that life. In this life, I've given a sermon at Passover a couple of years ago, going through or before Passover, going through how Jesus in His 33 years experienced all kinds of things, the trials that we go through in life, compressed into His life, their betrayal, betrayal by friends, family abandoning Him, all kinds of things. He went through that. He's been there. He can identify with us what makes Him a perfect high priest for us, one who can sympathize with what we go through in this life.

Another passage, Hebrews 2 verses 17 and 18, Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, like us, had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation, to make an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. So when we go to the Father in prayer, we know we have a high priest there, an intercessor, who has been through it, been through everything we can go through in this life, in some form or another. We have somebody who has walked a mile in our shoes, somebody who's experienced everything, been tempted with all the temptations we face in this life, who's been tested, who's been through the ringer in life's difficulties as we have. He's been there, He's done that, He's experienced what it is to be human.

In every way, He knows what it's like. And the Father hasn't had that experience, hasn't gone through that. And recognizing that difference, the Father has committed all judgment to the Son because of His experiences as a human being, Jesus would be a better judge, a better high priest, a better intercessor. And this is why all judgment has been committed to Him. And continuing back here in John 5, and we'll wrap it up here, for the Father judges no one that has committed all judgment to the Son. That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. And what is the point here? Jesus' final point that we'll talk about today. The point is that, as Jesus has explained leading up to this point, Jesus is doing exactly what He sees the Father do. He is perfectly submitting to following the Father as a son would follow in His Father's footsteps there. He's perfectly submitting to the Father, following Him. And the Father loves the Son because of that and reveals to Him what He is doing so the Son can do the same thing in the same way. Again, getting back to the analogy of the Son walking in His Father's footsteps. Jesus comes back to that. And as the Father works miracles through the Son, He will do even greater miracles than He has just done by healing the man who's been lame for 38 years. And the Father has given the Son the power to give life to the dead and has also committed all judgment to the Son. So, in light of all of these things, Jesus kind of sums up this part here at a good breaking point for us. In light of all of these things that He said here, everyone should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. And if they don't, if they don't get it, if they don't understand that, if they can't see that, who are they dishonoring?

Are they dishonoring the Son? Well, yeah, but more importantly, they're dishonoring the Father who is doing all of these things in and through the Son. So, we'll wrap it up there, break it off, and pick it up next time. Any questions from anyone? We actually have a new feature today, and I forgot to be checking this, but yeah, people who are watching on the webcast can actually email in questions and through a text message and nothing here. So, any questions from anybody? Yes, Faye.

What is it?

Okay, Faye's face point for the benefit of the recording is we don't know fully what the Father has gone through. We do have the record of Christ's life, which we're covering here, and what else has the Father gone through? Actually, just a few examples come to mind. The Father has been through a lot. I mentioned just a few minutes ago rejection and betrayal by friends, by family, that Christ experienced, which is one of the greatest pains any of us can experience in life. Did the Father experience that? Yeah, he did. Think about Lucifer, Hillel, and the third of the angels who betrayed the Father, rebelled against him, tried to overthrow him.

Has the Father experienced... I talked earlier about the heartbreak that God has to feel, seeing a human condition, and the way we've messed things up, messed up our relationship, messed up the way we view him, the way we view his laws. Everything...

Mankind has found a way to mess up everything he's ever touched. Does that pain the Father? I have to think it has, because what is God's motivation? God is a God of love. He hates to see us hurting ourselves. He hates to see us hurting one another. He hates to see us turning our back on and abandoning him and breaking his laws, because he knows the consequences of that, the laws of motion that bring punishment as a natural consequence of that. Does that pain God? It has to, as a being of love. Absolutely. Has he gone through everything Jesus Christ has? No.

The Father has never been a physical human being. He's never been beaten with whips, as Christ did. He's never been nailed to be crucified. He's never gone through that, so he's never experienced blood loss and hunger and starvation and the exquisite pain and torture that comes with the crucifixion. But has he experienced things on an emotional level? Certainly. Absolutely. No question about that. But there is a distinction, as I pointed out here, as Hebrews points out in those verses and others, that we have a high priest who has been tempted in every way as we have and far beyond what any of us will likely experience in this life. So yeah, that does make him an intercessor and a high priest who is perfect for us. But yeah, great question there to think about. I appreciate that.

Any other questions? Yes, David. I was really struck by verse 20 here in chapter 5, where it says, the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does, and will show him, show Jesus Christ greater works of these. And I think the epitome of that would be seeing his body resurrected and brought back to life. Yeah.

Other people are being resurrected, but for Jesus Christ to be resurrected and brought back to life in the time frame exactly that he identifies, I think is very significant. Also helping Jesus to realize what a great thing that is. Right. Marvel over it. Yeah, David's point for the benefit of recording. John 5, verse 20, where Christ says, the Father will show him greater works than these. And it's interesting. Not that he'll show the world greater miracles than these, but he will show Jesus greater works than these. And your point, yeah, what could be greater than being resurrected? And not just resurrected from a physical body, which he'd been in for 30-plus years, but to be resurrected, as I pointed out, as a being powerful enough to speak. And a universe comes into existence. So talk about an incredible work. Yeah, yeah, definitely an awesome and incredible work to be resurrected in that form and that capacity with that power that he had with the Father before he ever became a physical human being. Yeah, great, great observation there, Dave. Anyone else? Yes, Mr. Saldivar. The Father has gone through the agony and trauma of losing his firstborn son. Oh, yeah. Yeah, good point. His point that the Father has gone through the agony of losing his firstborn son. Some parents have experienced that kind of agony there. And yeah, even Jesus didn't experience that, but the Father did, losing a child, losing a firstborn child. Very, very painful experience. So, yeah, good thoughts. Any of you others have any thoughts or questions afterward? We're running out of time here, but we'll wrap it up there. And again, in about a half hour, please pick up your belongings. Feel free to use that time to fellowship. Enjoy one another's company. And in about a half hour, we'll start setting up for the reception here.