John chapter 5 beginning at verse
17. This text of scripture has always
been It's kind of like that unapproachable
light. You can't really penetrate it
as it ought to be understood. It's incredible, absolutely incredible,
that Jesus spoke these words to these men. And these men were
not believers, but he spoke them for the benefit of believers,
of his people. It's amazing how intensely the
truth just flows from Him in these words. So compact, so rich,
so deep, so eternal. It's really... It's not possible
for us to really completely understand it, I don't think. And yet, we
do understand it. And that's why we understand
how great it is, because it's speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to take you to this particular
psalm as the title of this message today. If you would turn to Psalm
104 and verse 1. This is really the first words
of this Psalm, are the title of today's message. And these
words came to my mind as I was studying for the message in John
chapter 5. In Psalm 104 and verse 1, it
says this, listen to these words. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O
Lord my God, Thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty. So the title of the message today
is, Oh Lord, My God, Thou Art Very Great. I can't think of
a better title than that for these words that Jesus gave here
in John chapter 5. Now, the first thing I want you
to understand in this text of scripture is as we first tried
to look at John 5, it occurred to me in reading the entire chapter
that from verse 17 through verse 30, Jesus is giving an exposition,
an explanation of the miracle that he did in the first 16 verses.
So that like when we preach, we read a text of scripture and
expound it, Christ is expounding what he did and said in the first
16 verses in these verses. And that shows us how that he
orchestrated the entire event so that everything that was there
in God's providence, meaning God's arrangement of things in
time, to accomplish His will, to make known His glory. Everything
that was then there in this circumstance was arranged by God to set it
up for what Christ would do and what He would say. And then everything
that He did and that He said there was in order to set forth
what He says here in verses 17 through 30. So all of it together forms the
picture and the message. The man was impotent. He was
there at this house of mercy, the pool of healing. Christ,
the Lamb of God, coming here into the temple as to the Sheep
Gate, and here performing on the Sabbath day this great miracle,
and then explaining in those verses, 17 through 30, we're
about to look at here, what this means. Why was it on the Sabbath
day? What did he do? What was the
purpose of what he did? And what was he saying here by
this? In verse 16, it says the Jews
persecuted. They did persecute Jesus and
sought, they looked for a way to kill him. And so that was because he had
done these things on the Sabbath day. Now the Sabbath day was
the seventh day. God in the law of God in Exodus
20 and again in Deuteronomy chapter five told the people of Israel
that they were to keep the Sabbath, they were not to do any work
in that day. But as human nature has it, and
as religious men who don't know God, Unless God reveals himself
to us, none of us do. But it is true that in our unbelief
and in our ignorance, we take the things God has said and we
twist them. We actually make them opposite
of what he intended by them. That's how perverse we are. And
so the Jews had taken that commandment, the Sabbath, which says not to
do any work, and they had twisted it so that they would require
people not to do anything. And they would make a work of
not working so that, for example, I mean, if you were to do it
in the modern day, they'd sit there on the couch and expect
to be served in idleness and in laziness and claim by doing
that they were keeping God's law. And then they would use,
they would boast in their idleness and in their laziness and not
doing anything and they would take their own laziness and idleness
and boasting in it and accuse others and make them guilty before
God. So this is entirely the opposite
of what the Sabbath was given to do. It was not given for men
to be idle and lazy. It was given to us that we might
know the work of God, that God alone can do the work that gives
us rest. Okay, so in the beginning, in
Genesis, God created the world in six days, everything in it.
And on the seventh day, he rested. And because of that, he says
that in Exodus 20, that we are to rest on that day. And then
again in Deuteronomy 5, in talking about the Sabbath, God said to
Israel, I've redeemed you out of Egypt, I've brought you out
of Egypt, I've redeemed you, therefore keep this day. In both
of those cases, in redemption, which is our salvation, referenced
in Deuteronomy 5, and in creation, from Genesis chapter one, we
see the only one who works is God. And that work is the reason
for our rest. It doesn't mean like we sit around
serving ourselves and our own thoughts. It means that we admire
and come to worship God by faith in Christ for His work, depending
on Christ to give us rest. Okay, so if we understand that,
those two things, the way that the Jews twisted the Sabbath
to make it a stick to hit people on the head with for not stopping
doing anything, rather than seeing that the rest they need can come
only because of God's work, then we see and understand something
about what's happening here. Christ himself on this day, the
Sabbath day, on purpose and openly where it was well attended, did
a work. And that work was to raise an
impotent man from the results of his own sin and
to make him every whit whole, to make him perfect. By that
command He gave to him, rise, take up your bed and walk. And
the man rising up was in obedience to Christ's command. That obedience
was because he believed the word Christ gave to him, rise. If
he didn't believe Him, he wouldn't have gotten up. And he took up
his bed and walked. And that taking up of his bed
and walking was a testimony by what he did of the glory of Christ
in raising him from the dead, raising him from his impotence.
He was impotent in the guilt of his sin, impotent in the corruptions
of his sin. And Christ raised him up by that. And then also in the Lord's explanation
of this in verse 24, of John 5, he says, what he says here
in verse 24 corresponds to the miracle, because the miracle
was a portrayal, it was a picture of what the Lord actually does
by His work. Now, God's work, not ours, but
His work, because the man was impotent, and this was the Sabbath,
and only God's work can give us rest. He says in verse 24,
I say unto you, verily, verily, he says a double amen. I say
unto you, he that heareth my word, that's what he did. He spoke to the impotent man,
the man who had no strength, who could contribute nothing.
No one could help him. No man cared for my soul. He
spoke to him, his word, and whoever believes on him, having heard
his word, on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and that
was the result of Christ's word, giving them, not only making
him everywhere whole, but giving him faith, the faith that God
gives, the faith in Christ. That man has everlasting life
and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to
life. That's the work. That's the work Christ does. That's what the miracle is talking
about. That's the shadow of the miracle
fulfilled in the work of Christ. Okay, now, so we have now some
understanding in an overview level that this was a Sabbath
day. The work was performed by God
in our nature, the Son of God. And the work that he performed
was to raise the impotent from death to life. and that life
came with faith to believe him, and he is no longer under condemnation. He already has passed from death
to life. And who can do this work? Only
God. The man had no strength to do
it. And so, that having done this work, and now about to explain
this to the Jews who opposed him, he not only shows how that
they perverted the Sabbath, but they were judging and fighting
against God who alone does the work. It shows how perverse we
are by nature, how much enslaved we are to the blindness of our
sin, the blindness that our sin brings, that we would oppose
our own salvation. And yet the Lord tells them this. And these men didn't believe.
He preached such a powerful, clear message. Unmistakably clear. Telling them He was the Son of
God. Telling them God was His Father. Telling them He's the
Son of Man. Telling them He raises the dead. Telling them He has
life in Himself and gives life to whomsoever He will. Telling
them all these things, and you know what? They did not believe
Him. It shows you that the gospel
can be preached and men will not believe it, even when it's
spoken by the Lord Himself. So that the gospel preached has
power only according to the life-giving power of the Lord Jesus Christ
who speaks that gospel. So I say all these things in
kind of an overview way as we're going to get into this so that
we can hold that overview. And then when we see this, what
Jesus said here, I believe we will have the same reaction of
the psalmist, oh Lord, my God, thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty. clothed with honor and majesty. The Lord sets forth this in these
words beginning at verse, I'll start with verse 16. Therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him, to slay
Him. They tried, they looked for a
way to kill Him because He had done these things on the Sabbath
day. Here they are looking at him
and they're accusing him as a man because he didn't observe the
Sabbath in their understanding which was to do no work. Sit
around, be lazy, be idle. That's what God says to do. No,
that's not what he says to do. He says you look to Christ who
did the work and you rest in His work. That's the labor. He says, labor not for the meat
which perishes, but labor for that which gives, which God will
give, which brings eternal life. This is that work that you believe
on him whom he has sent. So that's the work we're to do.
And it's a work that describes all work to Christ. It's the
work of faith. All right, but here he says in
verse 17, notice that Jesus answers them. And his answer is not a
defense that he is going to abolish the Sabbath, that he's going
to do away with it, as he says in Colossians chapter 2, that
the Sabbaths are done away with. There's no Sabbaths. Why are
you judged by men according to taste not, touch not, and keeping
the Sabbaths? Those things are done away in
Christ, he says in Colossians chapter 2. So the Sabbaths would
be done away, but that wasn't the argument that Jesus gave
here. What was the argument that he gave here to silence their
foolish unbelief and hate for him? Notice his answer. My father works hitherto and
I work. In other words, this is God's
work. God is working. God raised the
impotent man. I raise the impotent man because
I am God and I do the Father's work. In that work of raising
the impotent man, in the work of giving life to the dead, know
this, this is the work of God. And God works on the Sabbath
in order that we might rest. That's what we rest in, that
God has done the work, and he did it in the Lord Jesus Christ. My Father, this is saying, I
am the Son of God, my Father, do works hitherto. My father
is working and I work. I work because I'm the son of
God. I do the work of the father. He works, and that's the reason
that, and that's the reason this man is standing before you, who
was impotent, every whit whole. And then in verse 18, therefore
the Jews sought the more, they looked even more earnestly and
intently to kill him because he not only, in their opinion,
had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father,
that's true, making himself equal with God, that also is true.
If he is the son of God, then all that God is, he is. He is
God. He's saying here, I am the son
of God. I do the work of God because
I am equal with God. He's equal with God. The Son
of God is equal with God in every way. In every way. What is unique to God that we
are not? That helps us to understand this.
In what way is God unique from us? Well, we could say in every
way, but particularly, there's things about God that is not
true of us and never will be true. Number one, God is the
sovereign. And when we say sovereign, we
mean there are no other rulers but God. There's no one who rules
except God in all things. Todd Nibert pointed out one time
that nations use this word, they say we are a sovereign nation,
but there's hundreds of nations in the world and they all claim
to be sovereign, which means there are none of them that are
sovereign. So applied to nations, it's never true that they're
sovereign, are they? It applies only correctly to
one, and that is God. Only God is sovereign. We aren't
sovereign. We never will be sovereign. And
other things are true about God. It says here, as the father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself. Okay? So that means that God
the father has life in himself. It doesn't come from outside
of him. You and I have life because God gives us life at every moment. He upholds our life. If He doesn't,
we stop breathing, our heart stops beating, we cease to be. But God has life in Himself.
God doesn't require it. He has no dependence on anyone. We have dependence on God for
everything, and He depends on us for nothing. You see? So life is in Him. So that's
one thing. Another thing, I mean, besides
being sovereign, he has life in himself. We don't. Our life
is Christ. It's in him. And what else is
true about God? Well, in Psalm 90, it says, that
God is from everlasting to everlasting. It's so wonderful. I'm just going
to read it to you in Psalm chapter 90 and verse 1. Listen to this. This is what Moses wrote. This is a psalm of Moses. He
says, Lord, thou has been our dwelling place in all generations.
We live and move and in him we have our being. Before the mountains
were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. So from everlasting to everlasting,
God is God, and there's none like him. God is eternal. Except
when we read about this in scripture, we find out that Melchizedek
had no beginning or ending of days, end of life, no beginning
or ending of life or days. So he's like the Son of God,
and the Son of God is eternal. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He has life in himself. He's
sovereign. He's equal with the Father. And
He is equal in glory. He's equal in will. He's equal
in work. He does the work of God. He's
equal in His wisdom. He's omniscient. He knows everything
at all times and never learns anything. The Son of God. He's equal with the Father. He's
especially equal in creation. God created all things by Jesus
Christ. In Ephesians chapter 3 it says
that. And many other places, in John 1, he says, there was
nothing that was made that he didn't make. He upholds all things
by the word of his power. Hebrews 1, verse 3, he made the
worlds. He upholds the worlds. He sustains
all things by the power of His word. He's equal with the Father.
He does the Father's work. No one else, no one else but
Christ upholds this world. No one else but Christ created
this world, upholds it, and brings about His will throughout all
of the events of the world. And especially, no one but Christ
brings salvation to His people. These things are unique to the
Son of God. And He does that work because
that's the Father's work. And God the Father has put all
of the work into the hands of His Son. The Father does nothing
but what He does by His Son. And think about that. Here God
has entrusted to His Son everything, all of His will and all of His
work, and has also bestowed upon Him all of His honor and all
of His glory. and has given him all things.
That's the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, my God,
thou art very great. You are clothed with honor and
majesty. So we read on in verse 19. He says, Then answered Jesus
and said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do. For what
things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Men have wrestled over this.
He's equal with God and yet he says he can do nothing of himself.
What does this mean? Is it not true that he's equal
with God? Is he somehow less than God?
And we wrestle with these things. How can Jesus be God and there
be one God and yet there are three in the Godhead? You don't
have to wrestle about it in your head. Just admire it, that in
the Godhead there are three persons, and the three are one, and the
one are three, and all the three are all for God's elect. They're
all for me. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
says, the Son can do nothing of Himself. It doesn't mean that
He's unequal with the Father, that somehow, that yes, like
the Jehovah's Witnesses would say, He's a God. Complete abomination
and twisting of scriptures. But they say that, as if He's
God, but He's not really as great as God the Father. He is. He's
equal with His Father. But here he's talking about the
fact that the Son of God, now get this, the Son of God alone
was given the work to do, the work of our redemption. The Son
of God is the only, the one and only mediator between God and
men. Therefore, as the mediator, the
Son of God is subject to the Father in all things. And He
does nothing but what His Father has given Him to do. He's doing
all of His Father's will, but it's also His will because it
was in His heart. and it was in his heart as the
Son of God from eternity. He was co-equal and in counsel
with God the Father and the Holy Spirit of God in the work of
redemption. They were all equal in that,
but in that redemption, in that counsel of God, the Son of God
took the role of being the mediator between God and men. In fact,
so much so that we cannot know God except in the Son. We cannot see God except we see
Him in the Son. We cannot love God except we
love Him in the Son. We cannot worship God unless
we worship Him in the Son. And God the Father is pleased
to bestow upon His Son all of the honor that men ascribe to
God the Father that he has been pleased to bestow upon Christ
that honor, and no one else but the Son of God has that honor,
because no one else but the Son of God was appointed to it and
has done the will of God, okay? No one else could. And so when
he says, the son can do nothing of himself, in verse 19, but
what he seeth the father do, he's talking about the fact that
as the son, he has submitted himself to the father as the
son of man, as our mediator. For what thing soever he doeth,
whatever the father does, these also doeth the son. He's talking
now about only what God can do. And if whatever the Father does,
the Son does, what does that mean about the Son in His work?
That is the work of the Father. It's the work only God can do. He's equal with God. And verse
20, for the Father loveth the Son. The Father loveth the Son. Now in the phrase just before
this, the son does all the father's work. And here the father loves
the son. He loves the son and he's saying
in this that he loves him not only because he is his son, his
beloved son, his only begotten son as the son of God, but also
and especially the son in his role as the mediator. Why did the Son of God come into
the world? Why? He didn't need to. He had no needs for coming into
the world. But it pleased the Father that
He do this. But why did the Son of God come?
In order to do the work of Christ. The One who is Christ is the
Son of God and the Son of God is the One who came as man and
as a servant, willingly submitting Himself to God His Father as
man and as the Son of God in one person now. fulfilling all
that was in the Father's heart and saving His people from their
sins. And that's why His work was an
obedience of everlasting righteousness. That's why His work merited an
everlasting life for all of His people. Whatever He does, it's because
He's God and man, and the Father loves His Son as the God-man. He loves Him. And because He
loves Him as the God-man, our mediator, all of God's love is
only in Him. God the Father loves His Son,
and His love to us is only in His Son. That's what He's saying
here. The work is His. He alone did
it. He's God, the Son of God. The love of God is only towards
His Son, and it's only towards those who are in His Son, given
to His Son, the ones for whom the Son has given Himself in
love. So the Father loves the Son, and He shows him all things
that Himself doeth. There's no way that a human or
an angel can understand the mind of God in his full extent. But the Son can, because he's
God. So when the Father shows him
all things, it's because he has the ability, he's the wisdom
of God, he knows all these things as God and man. In Isaiah 53,
it says, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many. This knowledge. The Father showed him all of
his will, all of his work, and what he needed to do in order
to meet all of the requirements that we could never meet. Christ
met them. He's the Son. And then he goes
on. He not only shows him all things
that himself doeth, he will show him greater works than these,
the one of raising the infinite man that you may marvel. That
was a shadow of what he's about to unfold. For as the father
raises up the dead. He does, and this is the work
of God. The power of God is required
to raise the dead. No one can raise the dead except
God. And the Father does that, and
not only does He resurrect the dead, but what does He also do?
Notice, He quickeneth them. In other words, He gives them
life. He not only raises them from death to life, but He gives
them everlasting life and in that life is contained all that
is part of life, which is what? What is contained? What is part
of the life that He gives? Well, first and foremost is the
righteousness that's needed in order for Him to give life. Righteousness
is the basis of life. He says in Romans 8, 10, the
Spirit is life because of righteousness. Or in Romans 5, 21, as sin reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life. So righteousness is always required
in order for there to be life. And so in the gift of this life,
not only a resurrection, but this life, there is a gift of
righteousness. and the gift of the Holy Spirit,
so that every grace of God is contained in that gift of life. We can't believe God unless we're
given this life. We can't love God unless we're
given this life. We can't know God unless he gives
us this life. With the life comes all of the
gifts that are contained in that life. The Holy Spirit of God
is given to us. Christ himself comes to live
in us. by His Spirit, and therefore
we have this life. God gives it. He raises us and
gives us life. Even so, as the Father does that,
because that's His will, that's His work, He gives that work
to the Son to do. The Son quickeneth whom He will. Not every person. Not these men. who heard him, and refused him,
and opposed him, and hated him, and kept looking for ways to
kill him. The more he said, the more they were intent on killing
him. No, not them. He says, He quickens whom He
will. He gives this life, He raises up, just like He raised
up this one impotent man, He raises whomever He will. It doesn't
mean that there are only so few as the one out of this multitude.
What it means is that He gives life to whom He will, and in
that life there is an abundance of grace that flows to all of
His people, a multitude no man can number. He goes on in verse
22, "'For the Father judgeth no man, but has committed all
judgment to the Son.'" Now he's saying, look, you're complaining
that I did this work on the Sabbath as if that breaks the Sabbath.
No, this is God's work. God gives life. from the dead. God gives life of righteousness
that's based on a righteousness. God gives that righteousness.
He gives His Holy Spirit. And God is the judge. I'm doing
this because I am the Son of God. I'm equal with the Father
and I do His work. Here I am before you as a man
and what you see is just a person, a man. But in this body, the
very fullness of the Godhead dwells without any lack. Every part of God is in me. There's nothing that God is that
I'm not, because I am God. God the Son. The Father judges
no man. He's committed all judgment to
the Son. In other words, you're standing
now, hearing the words of your Judge. You see Him as a man. He is the man and He is God and
you will have to give an account to Him. Verse 23, He did this
so that all men would honor the Son even as they honor the Father. What greater statement can there
be here than that He is equal with God? As you honor the Father,
you have to honor the Son. If you do not honor the Son,
you do not honor the Father. He's equal with God in honor,
in worship. In Psalm chapter two, he says,
kiss the son. You adore him. You submit yourself
to him gladly, in love and in adoration and in admiration. You kiss the son, lest he be
angry because he's the judge and you perish from the way.
That's Psalm chapter two, verse 12. So he goes on. God has given
all judgment to him so that all men would honor the Son even
as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which has sent him. Verse 24. And this
is the verse. It's just amazing. It just jumps
off the page. He's saying, Verily, verily,
now he's speaking with all of the authority of the sovereign,
eternal, omniscient, omnipotent God who has no beginning or ending,
whose word is always done as God in our nature. Because the only way he could
fulfill this word in power is if he took our nature and bore
our sins so that he might raise us from the dead. He is himself,
he said, I am the resurrection and the life. How could he be
the resurrection if he did not first overcome death by overcoming
our sin? And that could only be done because
he's the son of God in our nature. And so he speaks with that authority
as the judge and as the life giver, the sovereign, verily,
Verily I say unto you, see here the power, O Lord my God, how
great thou art. You are clothed with majesty,
with honor and majesty. I say to you, he that hears my
word and believeth on him that sent me, has everlasting life
and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life.
How is it that we can live? How is it that we cannot come
into condemnation? Well, we were just singing it
earlier from Romans chapter five, because the Lord Jesus Christ
died for us. He gave his life a ransom. His life a ransom. We live because
He died. We were dead. He took our sins. He bore them as His own and died
because of our sins. But He didn't die for himself
alone. He died and was buried with his
people in that death. So our sins were put away and
he was raised again by God because he fulfilled all that God required
in order to bring us from sin and death to everlasting life. And so here we have in these
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, notice here, the Son of God equal
with the Father has taken such a stoop that the one who has
all authority and power, who judges all, who gives life to
whomsoever he will as a sovereign because he has life in himself
and all by the will of God, that one stooped in humility in order
to save us from our sins, and in so doing, to set forth the
glory of God, so that when we see Him in His humility, bearing
our sins unto death, in order that we might be set free from
our sins in righteousness and everlasting life. What do we
say? Oh Lord, my God, Thou art very great. It is in his humility
that we see his majesty. It's in his humility that we
see his honor. You see? That he who is high
made himself of no reputation and took upon the role of a servant
and the form of a man in order to deliver us from the wrath
we deserved, and to answer God's justice and fulfill His righteousness
and set forth His grace and His mercy in overflowing rivers of
life, to the highest possible manifestation of God's greatness. O Lord my God, Thou art very
great. In the Son, we see the greatness
of God and hear His words. He that hears my word, hears
my word and believes. This is the hearing of faith.
This is given to us. We don't produce it. It doesn't
come from ourselves. We can't work it up. We can't
earn it, God has to give it freely. There's nothing we do, God's
operation, God's work, but in this gift from God to us to see
Christ, we rest because He did the work. He's the Sabbath, He's
the one we rest in, and that one, believing, already has everlasting
life. Because the life that God gives
brings with it all that life contains, righteousness, the
Spirit of God, and all of his gifts of grace. And he shall
not come into condemnation, because condemnation came upon the Son. but is passed from death to life
because the Son took our sins, was condemned by God for them.
He died and He rose again and all of His people were condemned
and died and rose again to everlasting life in Him. And they believe
Him because He gives it to them. He says to them, rise, take up
your bed and walk. Declare in your walk by faith
in Christ the glory of the Son of God. Why are you carrying
your bed? Because the one who made me every
withhold told me to take up my bed and walk. That's why. Verily,
verily, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead, spiritually dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. That's power, isn't it?
That's grace. That's the honor and the glory
and the majesty of the Son of God. O Lord, my God, thou art
very great. Now, we're gonna pause there
and look at this verse at John chapter 20. Echoing the words
of Psalm 104 verse one here. In verse 19 of John 20, the same
day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors
were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said to them, peace
be unto you. Peace with God. peace from God
to them because of Christ's precious blood that made our peace in
the reconciliation that he made. Verse 20, and when he had so
said, he showed to them his hands and his side, his hands pierced,
his side pierced with a spear. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you. As my father has sent me, so
send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, receive ye the Holy Ghost.
You see how he gives his spirit? Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted to them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
He's talking about preaching the gospel. Verse 24, but Thomas,
one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the
Lord, but he said, Except I see in his hands the print of the
nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust
my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight
days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them.
Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst
and said, Peace be unto you. Then he said to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, And behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing."
And notice, when Thomas saw the Son of God having done the work
of God in our nature as a servant, giving his life a ransom and
rising again in triumphant victory, he said, My Lord and my God,
O Lord my God, Thou art very great. You are clothed with honor
and majesty. The one who is God, who does
God's work, did it in our nature, is taking that great stoop in
the humility of his own heart. God didn't twist his arm to do
this. This is his nature. This is who
he is. Jesus said, this is eternal life
that you might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. And this is knowing God. It's
knowing him not only that he is God, that he is man, but knowing
his character. He stooped of his own will. out of love that was in his own
heart, giving life that was in himself to those who had no reason
for life, no reason for love, no reason for mercy. He gave
it to them because that was him. That's who he is. And when we
see him, our hearts run out to him, compelled to trust him. And we say, oh, Lord, my God,
thou art very great. You're clothed with honor and
majesty. You're so great. So great, the
sovereign Lord, eternal Lord, in whom all of our life is, who
gives it at your will, taking the great stoop to bear our sins,
and fulfill all of our righteousness, and bring us to God, and make
us the children of God. all by Yourself, and we rest
in looking to You. In that faith that You give,
we rest. Amazing grace. Let's pray. Father,
thank You for Your Word to us. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You
spoke these words and revealed God to us in Yourself. We know that You are God, the
Son. We know that you are the only son of your Father in that
way. And we know also that all the
work of God has been put in your hands to do, and you did it and
finished it. And this is all of our salvation.
You revealed yourself from heaven in order to make known and to
accomplish the work of the eternal Savior, the author of eternal
salvation. and this you did for our salvation,
that we might be brought to God and know you in this work, know
you in your word, know you in all that you did and revealed
in your word. Help us as the impotent man to
rise up by faith and to carry our bed, proclaiming the glory
of the Son of God, that he did the work on the Sabbath day in
fulfillment of his perfect purpose to give us rest in himself. What
a great Savior. Oh, Lord, my God, Thou art very
great. You are clothed with honor and
majesty. Amen.