Jesus has the power to raise the dead. But what will happen thereafter? Jesus has an explanation for the afterlife, and in this verse, Jesus begins to unfold the truth about eternal life: who will have it, and how they will possess it even in this life? He also begins to explain judgment as to who will escape it.

Death is irreversible, except that God can do the impossible. God can raise the dead, and Jesus claims that He has this divine authority to give life to the dead. To this, He also adds He has the authority—from the Father—to render judgment upon all men. These are the greater works that demonstrate His divine equality with the Father.

Even in the face of strong opposition, Jesus does not soften His claim to divine equality. He boldly asserts He is in fact equal to the Father. The Lord claims from His own divine and inherent authority that He, as God the Son, fully mirrors God the Father so that men might in Him see and know the invisible God.

Jesus made His divinity known in an unmistakable way. He is God as evidenced in His deeds. He does what God does because He has divine prerogatives as God the Son. However, the Pharisees are blind to this reality. Steeped in their own man-made religion, they pay no attention to the promises of God that His Messiah, the Son of God and the Son of Man, the Savior would come into this world. Their godless response is the intent to kill.

People can be overzealous about things God could care less about. The Pharisees were such people. They vigorously promoted and guarded their own man-made religion. With the healing of the invalid, the Son of God contradicted and disrespected their religious rules. How would the Pharisees respond? Would they submit to His divine authority? Or, would they contend for their own rules and requirements? Listen to find out.

Jesus makes a connection between the healed man’s sin and his sickness. Even though the modern world would like to reject this notion, the Scriptures reveal that the sovereign God who rules over all things also orchestrates human sickness and even uses it at times to chastise people of their sin. Listen to learn more.