◄ What Does John 5:19 Mean? ►

John's Gospel was written in order that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living, invisible, immortal God and that by believing in Him we may have life in His name.

But in order to carry out the will of His Father, the eternal Son of God, Who is God the SON, had to humble Himself and be born into the human race as a perfect Man. He had to lay aside His heavenly glory and be clothed in a human body of flesh and blood.. for a season. He had to be born into His own creation and identify with us in every possible way. And He had to be willing to sacrifice His human life and shed His own, human blood so that His propitiatory death and glorious Resurrection would satisfy God's anger against sin and be sufficient to pay the full price for the sin of the whole world. 

The salvation of mankind was God's perfect plan which he ordained before the world was created. And The salvation of mankind would be accessed through faith in the supernational birth, the sinless life, the sacrificial death, and the glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ - so that by faith in His name we might have life eternal.

Throughout the Gospel, we discover many places where Jesus claims equality with the Father... for He is the Word made flesh. He is God incarnate Who as the eternal Word of God came to live amongst us as the perfect Son of Man. He is the Christ - the Son of the living God, and through faith in Him we are made sons of God and have become joint-heirs with Him.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath Who has the power to forgive sins. He is the Lord of Creation who has authority over the forces of nature. He is the incarnate Word made flesh Who dwelt amongst us and showed us His glory. He is the Jewish Messiah Who authenticated His claims to deity through His mighty miracles. He is the One Who was prophesied in the Scriptures... and He claimed eternal equality with the God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts with His declaration, "before Abraham was I AM."

There are many, however, who like to suggest that Jesus did not lay claims to deity, because He proclaimed, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do NOTHING of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing." There are those that suggest that He is here declaring His inferiority to the Father, and yet this contradicts many passages in the Bible where Christ refers to Himself by the holy and unique name of God, "I AM."

"I am the bread of life." "I am the Light of the world." "I am the door of the sheep." "I am the Son of God." "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." "I am the true vine." "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, first and the last." Christ most certainly proclaimed Himself to be Almighty God. Christ was fully God, but during His time on earth He set aside His glory and lived His life as a Man - demonstrating to the rest of humanity how God created Man to life - in willing and total subjection to our Father in heaven.

Christ is not suggesting that He is inferior to the Father or has less importance than the Lord God for He is fully God as well as being fully man. However, the life He lived was to reflect the will of the Father... and the Father's will was reflected in all Christ said and did. He said nothing that was against the Father's will and He did nothing that was in preference to it.

His comment here does not suggest inferiority or inability but an intimacy with the will of His heavenly Father. His food was to do the will of His Father and His cry was not My will but Thine be done. Jesus showed us HOW to live... in willing submission to the Father, delighting to carry out His perfect will, and maintaining intimate and uninterrupted communion with Him. Jesus showed us how to have a fellowship that cannot be broken.

Jesus demonstrated a life lived in full and total harmony with the will of the Almighty God... for the Son can do nothing of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing. To do something other than His Father's will would have been a shocking impossibility, for the Son of God loves the Father and the Father loves the Son with a love that is unfathomable and eternal, "and so whatever the Father does.. are the things the Son also does, in like manner."

Jesus came to earth to fulfil, to the letter, the Father's perfect will. He obeyed God's perfect Law, listened to His Father's voice, and was directed in all things to do His Father's pleasure. Nothing that Christ did in His life was independent or in opposition to the will of God for Christ lived His life as God determined that all humanity should live - in perfect harmony with the will of the Almighty God, to His praise and glory.

May we follow this perfect example of a man Who lived His life under the direction of the Spirit of God. May our lives become a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable in the sight of the Lord - only saying and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight - to His honour and glory.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the wonderful example of the Lord Jesus Christ Who laid aside His heavenly glory to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh so that in carrying out Your will, He paid the price for the sin of the world and demonstrated the way all Your sons and daughters should live - in humble obedience to Your will - only saying and doing those things that we hear from You. Help me to live as Jesus lived and to conduct my life in a manner that honours Your name, for Your praise and glory. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.