John 5:17-19

The charge does not accuse Him of healing, but of breaking Sabbath regulations. In both cases, Jesus repudiates the charge by arguing (1) that the works of salvation are contemplated by the Sabbath Commandment (That would have to be Deuteronomy 5:15, where redemption is the focus of the keeping of the Sabbath.) and (2) that what Jesus did—being contemplated by the Sabbath—is equivalent to God doing the same thing. It was this that really angered the Jews, because they correctly surmised that He not only had "broken the Sabbath" but (in their eyes) did something far worse in "blaspheming God" by making Himself equal with God.

The concept behind Christ's reply is that God is not a man that He should break the Sabbath. God is not a man that He should lie. (You are probably familiar with that.) God is not a man that He would break the Sabbath either. From what we have seen, it ought to be obvious that Christ did not regard the Sabbath as a time of idleness. He certainly looked at it far differently than the Jews did. And He admitted that what He was doing here, in John 5, could be construed as work.

But what kind of work is it? Since He equated Himself with God, what He was saying is that He was doing THE WORK OF GOD. That is His justification. "My Father is working until now"—and He didn't break the Sabbath!

It's interesting that the word answered in verse 17 also appears in verse 19. It's the only place in the New Testament that this particular word is translated, "answered." The words "answer" or "answered" appear many, many times; but this is the only two times that [this particular word] appears. The reason I bring that to your attention is because it is a particularly strong word. What it means is that Jesus was heatedly defending Himself. It is showing that He considered their accusation to be "personal," if I can put it that way; and He is reacting to it very strongly.

What came out of His mouth was, "My Father has been WORKING till now. He works ON THE SABBATH!" What we have to figure out is what kind of work does God do on the Sabbath? This is important to understanding the principle of the kind of work that is permitted on the Sabbath. What does God do that Jesus is copying?

Jesus is saying, "I am copying what I have seen my father do. Therefore, I am NOT breaking the Sabbath—because God does this on the Sabbath!"

John 5:19

What is good for the goose is good for the gander, I guess. He even set the example in this. Because He always did what His Father told Him to do and what He saw His Father doing and the disciples—us—have to do what He did in imitating His Father. It is like a big, long chain. It starts with the Father and He sets the agenda. And then the Son, the visible God that we all have come to know, He shows us how to do it in the pages of His Word. And then we, called at this late time, have to take that wisdom that we glean from this Word and from the Holy Spirit that is given to us and follow that same path, do those same things.

There is a way that the God Family functions, acts, behaves. It all starts from the top. What the Father does, Jesus does. And what Jesus does, His brothers and sisters also do. And later on, it is going to expand out to the whole world. It will not be just those elect in the church that do His will, but all the world. Now that is going to play out over thousands of years, obviously, even from today. But that is the way it is.

John 5:19

Oh, He was taught! He had the greatest and best teacher. He had the greatest and best and most important education anybody on earth in all of the history of mankind ever had, and it was already showing when He was twelve and one-half years old. No, He was not taught by men. He was taught by the Father. He did not need to be taught by men. He had the best teacher that there ever was.

Was this reference to a visible manifestation of the Father? I think it is possible, but even if it does not mean actually a visible representation of the Father right in front of Jesus Christ, it certainly means that He saw things out of the Scripture under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit which God was giving to Him in order to enable Him to see, to comprehend, to understand.

John 5:19-21

The work that God is doing is not the work of a physical creation, but it is the work of a spiritual creation. He is creating sons in His image. And Christ is Redeemer; He is Deliverer; He is Savior—and that's His work! What does He spend His time doing? He spends His time healing. He spends His time forgiving sin. He spends His time teaching the way of God. He spends His time doing good. That's His part in the work of God.

The greatest gift, I guess you might say, that God can give to a person is eternal life; and the Son will do that too. That is the great release—the great deliverance—that comes at the end.

John 5:19

What came out of His mouth was, "My Father has been WORKING till now. He works ON THE SABBATH!" What we have to figure out is what kind of work does God do on the Sabbath? This is important to understanding the principle of the kind of work that is permitted on the Sabbath. What does God do that Jesus is copying?

Jesus is saying, "I am copying what I have seen my father do. Therefore, I am NOT breaking the Sabbath—because God does this on the Sabbath!"

John 5:19

So it was that relationship with the Father that gave Him everything that He needed, both in terms of example, instruction, and we could also say inspiration to do what He did on earth.