The Perfect Son in Union with God the Father

The summary close to Jesus’ public ministry is found in John 12:44–50. Key themes in Jesus’ earthly, teaching ministry, as recorded in John’s Gospel, are positioned one after the other. The foundation for each of Jesus’ claims is His eternal union with God His Father. This inseparable communion extends to those who are appointed to life (Acts 13:48), who receive the Word of God and believe it.

First, it is God the Father who has sent His only begotten Son into the world (Jn 3:16), to be the Savior of His people (Mt 1:21), from every nation of the world (Jn 4:42; Rev 5:9; 7:9). These people believe the Word of God spoken and written for their benefit. Their faith comes from the Word they hear preached to them (Rom 10:17).

Believing in Jesus, His Person and work, is granted to those whom the Father and the Son choose to reveal Him (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22). These people are known because they have received the Holy Spirit, who employs the Word of Christ to bring forth life (Jas 1:18a) — new, abundant, and eternal.

Second, it is for men to see Jesus and in seeing the Son, they see the Father because this union of natures, wills, and works. Jesus, the Son of God, emanates from the Father. There is only one sun in our solar system; and there is only one Father of lights. Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5) sent from the Father. He is the best gift, along with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 10:45), to come down from God the Father, who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift (Jas 1:17).

Third, those who are illumined by the Light of heaven do not walk in darkness (Jn 8:12). By the work of God, these people see and believe in Him who was sent from heaven (Jn 6:29). They have been transferred from the domain of darkness and into the marvelous light of the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13; 1 Pet 2:9). Having been given their sight — a deliverance from the work of Satan to blind them (2 Cor 4:4) — the Christian sees the light and now walks in the light, as a child of light (Jn 12:35; Eph 5:8; 1 Jn 1:7).

The Word to be believed, revealed from heaven, is a light for the walking path that is narrow, the very lamp by which we see the truth as it is in Jesus (Ps 119:105; Eph 4:21). “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give them the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6).” By this internal work of the Spirit, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18).

Fourth, the two advents of Jesus, the Word of God who has come into the world, are very different. The Word came the first time to save. The Word will come the second time to judge (Jn 12:47–48).

The second coming of Jesus Christ is appointed by God the Father for the last day (Mt 24:36; Acts 17:31). The Day of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Day of Judgment. When Jesus comes, it is the sword that comes in judgment from His mouth (Rev 1:16; 2:16; 19:15, 21). This is the Word those sinners rejected (Jn 12:48), which will be the standard of judgment on that day (Gk. logos). To reject the Bible is to reject Jesus Christ, for the Scriptures bear witness of Him (Jn 5:39). Hence, the state of the unregenerate natural man (Jn 14:17; 1 Cor 2:14) is that he has ears but cannot hear. He has eyes but cannot see. He has a heart but not for God.

The Bible assures us that we are all conceived in a state of condemnation because of original sin (Ps 51:5; Rom 5:12). Being condemned already (Jn 3:18; Rom 5:16), sinful man’s greatest need is to be justified before the Holy God. The Justifier of the ungodly is Jesus Christ, the Righteous (Rom 3:25; 1 Jn 2:1). His blood shed, following His perfect life of obedience to God the Father, has secured right standing for those who believe in Him (Rom 5:9). We are saved (justified) by God’s grace (Rom 3:24; Titus 3:7), as manifested by the faith (justified) brought by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11).

Fifth, in seeing and hearing the Word of God, we believe this is God’s revelation of Himself through His Son, the preacher (Heb 1:2). Jesus, during His earthly ministry, was a true prophet who proclaimed His Father who is in heaven. Jesus showed His Father to the world; but the world could not hear, could not see, and could not believe in the Messiah.

Sixth, what the world could not comprehend (Jn 1:5); what the Jews did not receive (Jn 1:11); God was pleased to reveal Himself to people who were not His people. Gentiles from every nation, appointed to eternal life by the commandment of God (Acts 13:48), are given eternal life by the will of God in receiving Jesus Christ (Jn 1:12–13; 10:28).

It is the life of God eternal in the soul of man that causes one to hear the Word of Christ, to see the truth, and to believe in the light of life. Thus, we see that the one with the indwelling Spirit is the one who has the Son, but the one without the Spirit of Christ does not have the Son. One has eternal life and the other does not (Jn 3:36; 1 Jn 5:11–13).

My dear reader, examine yourself to see your own status. Knowing from our text that you will be judged by the very Word you have heard and seen for yourself — the test is whether you believe or not.

To hear the Word of Christ is to hear God the Father. To see the revelation of Christ is to see the Father. To see, you must have the Light, and that comes from the Father. For the Father so loved you, Christian, that he sent His only begotten Son, who also loved you that you might know you are one of His beloved. It was the Spirit who, in love, revealed all this through God’s Word.

There is only One who has the ability to save or destroy (Jas 4:12); therefore, we must make Him known to others. In this is the manifestation of His love, in and through His chosen people called to be His witnesses (Jn 13:34–35; Acts 1:8).

Our witness to Christ is also our witness to God the Father; for all that the Son is and does emanates from God the Father. The Father and the Son are one (Jn 10:30); and we have been made to be one with them, through the Holy Spirit given to us…the Spirit of God’s perfect Son.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

March 10, 2024

John 12:44–50