EXTRACT: The miracles of Jesus gave credibility to His astounding claims, such as that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father, and gave Him the opportunity to teach.
John 5, after the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:14), includes a long debate between Christ and the Pharisees (John 5:17-47), but that debate was not about the Sabbath directly. He explained to them certain higher-order principles, such as His work of resurrecting people from death (John 5:21, 25, 29), judgment, and eternal life (John 5:24, 39-40) and honoring the Son “even as they honor the Father” (John 5:21-30).
Similarly, after the miracle healing in John 9, Jesus told the Pharisees that He is one with the Father (John 10:30), that he was sent by the Father, that the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father (John 10:38), that He is the Son of God (John 10:36), that He is the door to God’s people, that He is the good shepherd (John 10:7, 11-16) and that He has the authority from the Father to give up His life and to take it up again.
One purpose of the Sabbath healing miracles, acting deliberately contrary to the traditions of the elders, was therefore to create the opportunity to teach the religious rulers. He gave the nation of Israel every opportunity to repent. As He said,
“I say these things so that you may be saved” (John 5:34).
Because of His claims, such as that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father, some Pharisees concluded that He has a demon. But others were willing to believe Him because of the miracles. This was another purpose of the miracles, namely to support these astonishing claims:
“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:37-38)
ARTICLES IN THE SERIES ON THE SABBATH
THE SABBATH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
– Blessed and Sanctified at Creation
– The Evolution theory makes the Bible null and void.
– The Sabbath before the time of Moses
– In the Ten Commandments
– In the Traditions of the Elders
CHRIST’S SABBATH HEALING MIRACLES
– A demon-possessed man and Simon’s mother-in-law
– The man with the withered hand
(The rulers wanted Jesus to heal on the sabbath.)
– The crippled woman
– The paralytic man at Bethesda
– The man that was born blind
CHRIST’S TEACHINGS ON THE SABBATH
– The Sabbath was made for man.
(The disciples picked grain on the Sabbath.)
– Jesus deliberately contravened the Sabbath.
– The Real Reason they killed Jesus
– His miracles gave Him the opportunity to teach.
– What did Jesus teach about the Sabbath?
– Jesus taught a different Sabbath.
– Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Law of Christ.
SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS
– The Sabbath is not repeated in the New Testament.
– Romans 14:5-6 – Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.
ARTICLE SERIES
Sabbath – List of articles
Jesus is not God, but He is God.
Daniel 9 – Overview of the four major interpretations
Seven Seal of Revelation – Verse by verse summary
General Table of Contents