Jesus is Equal to God in His Power and Sovereignty from John 5:21

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2016 8:09 AM

My Worship Time                             Focus:  Jesus is Equal to God in His Power and Sovereignty

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 5:21

            Message of the verses:  “21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

            Let us begin by looking at several OT verses that teach us that only God has the power to give life to the dead:  “’See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand (Deut. 32:39).”  “"The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up (1 Samuel 2:6).”  “32 When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed. 33 So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the LORD. 34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm. 35 Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes. 36 He called Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, "Take up your son." 37 Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out (2 Kings 4:32-37).”  “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? (Acts 26:8).”  “indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:9).”  “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type (Heb. 11:9).” 

            John MacArthur writes “Because His power is the same as the Father, Jesus Christ is able to raise the physically dead (11:25-44; Matt. 9:18-25; Luke 7:11-15; cf. John 6:39-40, 44).  Moreover, He has the power to give spiritual life to the spiritually dead.  ‘Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him,’ Jesus promised, ‘shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life’ (4:14). 

            When we look at the ministries of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:22 and also Elisha in 2 Kings 4:34-35 we see that God used them as His representatives in order to raise the dead, which is unlike what Jesus does when He raises the dead for He says “The Son gives life to whom He wishes.”  MacArthur concludes “As God chooses when He gives life, so does the Son choose, in perfect agreement with the Father, a truth illustrated by the salvation of sinners.  All whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world to give to the Son will come to Him, and He will not reject any of them (6:37).  Even Jesus’ truly human prayer in Gethsemane, ‘My Father, it is possible, let the cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will’ (Matt. 26:39), yields to the perfect concord between the persons of the Godhead.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It has been good to go over these things that show that Jesus Christ is indeed God who came in the flesh to take my place on the cross, to die and to be buried, and then to be raised from the dead so that He can do that for all who believe.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To tell as many as I can the truth of who Jesus Christ is.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Genesis 3:15).”

Today’s Bible question:  “When Pharaoh heard that Moses had slain an Egyptian, what did he do?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/5/2016 8:40 AM