Week 23, Day 5: Unity with the Father
Today’s Reading: John 19:1-20:31
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
Chapter 17 of John contains a prayer by Jesus for the disciples to have unity. In this prayer Jesus ask that the disciples be one as He is one with the Father (17:21-22). I want to take the opportunity to point out a few verses here and ones that we have already read that point to the deity of Christ. Deity meaning that Jesus is God. As stated in these verses, Jesus is one with the Father. Also verse 5 speaks about the Father glorifying Jesus with Himself with the glory He had with Him before the world began. Jesus shared glory with the Father before this world was started. My question to those who deny the deity of Jesus is would God share His glory with another? In John 5:23 Jesus spoke of all the people honoring Him even as they honor the Father. Knowing that God is a jealous God who will not share His people with other so called gods (Exo 20:4-5), is it then consistent to say that God would allow people to honor Jesus as they honor the Father? These things only make sense if Jesus is deity?
If Jesus is not one with the Father, then how can Jesus say that all things that the Father has are His (16:15, 17:10)? The things that Jesus says does not reflect that He is just “a god” but that He is God. Nor can these statements be made if Jesus is just a prophet or a good teacher. A man or a prophet cannot make these kind of claims.
Although the emphasis of chapter 17 is not on Jesus’ deity I think several points are made that show this to be true. The emphasis of the chapter is on the need for unity among the disciples. We ought to be one just as Jesus is one with the Father. We ought to be perfected in unity so that the world may know that Jesus is true and was sent from the Father. Too often infighting and division ravage the church and cause it to be less than what it could be. People look upon this and have a reason to criticise God’s word and faith in Jesus. Let brotherly love abound and let the bond of peace help keep us sanctified in the truth.
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