Like Father, Like Son Series

“Like Father, Like Son”

John 5:19-24

In a healthy family relationship, a father has a special relationship with his son. A son receives the special love which a father naturally gives to his son. Today we examine four essential truths concerning the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son and which stand as evidence of the Divine Authority of the Lord Jesus.

Look at John 5:18-23: The last verse we studied was John 5:18: “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” Here Jesus associates His own healings on the Sabbath with the Father Himself. An extremely important understanding!

Here was Jesus’ four point response to their evil intents:19“Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, (Absolute truth-the AMEN, AMEN, no debate) I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

The Second Point is: Verse 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”

Here’s the third: 21 "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

And the fourth: 22 "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

Here is the verdict: 24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

“Like Father, like Son.”

The first principle of the Divine authority of Jesus, an essential in His relationship with the Father is in verse 19 and it reminds you of the famous saying “Like Father, like Son.” “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” Most sons mimic their dads, sometimes the good things and many times the “not-so-good things”; Dads are sinners, whether saved or not, and their sons are all born sinners as well. Every one of us has this battle going on within us, that we desire to do the good, but the old evil nature still rears its ugly head so often. But Jesus did not have that challenge.

Jesus has never done anything on His own initiative, but has eternally been perfectly submissive to the will of His Infinite Holy Father. We saw in John 1 that Jesus has always, at all times, co-existed with the Father in perfect unity and He never did one thing without the prompting of the Father, and so Jesus implies that the only One who could possibly do what the Father does must be as great as the Father and as Divine as the Father! Jesus is the unique, one and only, one of a kind Son, who, like verse 18 stated, Jesus is equal with the Father in all respects, He IS GOD and SON, AND simultaneously and continually perfectly submissive to the Father.

“The Father loves the Son”

The second essential is in verse 20: "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing.” The present tense of the word “loves” denotes an ongoing, continual habitual practice of this love. “The Father loves the Son and in that love, manifests His perfect will and purpose to the Son.” There exists a continual MUTUAL LOVE between the Father and the Son. The Father’s true love for the Son precludes His withholding anything from the Son. The Father shows all things that He is doing to the Son and the Son never exceeds the Father’s will.

Since an eternal, perfect, unique and MUTUAL LOVE exists between the Father and the Son, together they display a unity in their very nature. Since the Son will demonstrate ALL that the Father leads Him to do, He is the perfect example and exegete, if you will, of the Father: Jesus alone is the one who explains the Father to us and speaks on the Father’s behalf because He is one with the Father.

It is NOT God’s love for us that He reveals the pleasure of His will and His purpose but rather it’s the Father’s love for the Son and the Son’s love of the Father, an absolutely perfect love. Because of the unblemished love of the Father and Son, Jesus would even be obedient to death on the cross, slain as the innocent for the guilty, never once disappointing the Father’s will or purpose but perfectly fulfilling EACH AND EVERY REQUIREMENT of God’s perfect love and law. He loves the Father PERFECTLY and Eternally and the Father loves the Son PERFECTLY and Eternally.