17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
As we move into verse 17-21 this afternoon, I believe we find ourselves at one of the most underrated and most incredible verses in the Bible, in verse 17. Jesus tells us why the Father loves Him. There are several places in the Bible where we get to see inter-trinitarian interaction in terms of specific statements said to one another, or places like this where one person of the trinity tells us why another person of the trinity loves Him. I think it should absolutely fascinate us more than it does. Especially when we learn about something that God loves, we should really want to know about that, because if we love God, we love the things that God loves. And we learn here that the Father loves the Son, because the Son lays down His life, that He may take it up again.
The Father Loves the Son because of His Death & Resurrection
The Father loves a good resurrection story. So the Son did what the Father loves. This is interesting because I don’t think that we often think of the Father loving the Son because of His death and resurrection – we often don’t think about the Father’s love for the Son in general or the love in the trinity. But to think about the Father loving the Son because He lays down His life to take it up again is even more rare for us to think about. We usually just think that that’s the reason we love Jesus – His death and resurrection is the reason Christians love Jesus, because He did that for us, and that’s very true. But the Father loves Him for that also, and before we ever did.
Consider some of the things that Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplishes, which the Father loves.
Redeems Sinners and Brings us to God
The death and resurrection of Jesus redeems sinners and brings us to God. Of course, this is normally the first thing that we think of when we think about what the work of Christ accomplishes. And we love Jesus for this; and so does the Father. He loves the self-sacrifice of us His Son. He loves what the Son has done on behalf of sinners. In any story, that’s the kind of character that we love – the one who accomplishes an act of self-sacrifice on behalf of another.
But the Father doesn’t just love this as an unaffected observer watching a movie or reading a novel. But for some reason that is a matter of divine wonder, God loves the sinners for whom Christ is dying and rising for. The Son whom the Father loves goes to purchase and redeem sinners whom the Father loves. The Father loves His elect from all eternity, the Son goes to get them, and the Father loves Him for it. Amazing.
Glorifies God
Verse 17 also shows us that Christ’s death is not just for us, but for the glory of God. His working for the glory of God, was working for us – the glory of God being primary. It was for the Father, in obedience to Him. A. W. Pink says, “The laying down of His life was the supreme example of His devotion to the Father.” The Father loves the Son for His death and resurrection because it brings Him glory, displays His power, love, and justice, and was the ultimate act obedience to Him.
Defeats God’s Enemies
Not only does the death and resurrection of Jesus save those whom the Father loves, and not only does it bring glory to the Father, but it also defeats God’s enemies. Satan, sin, and death all defeated in the work of Christ. And this the Father loves. He loves the conquering and the victory and triumphing of His Son over His enemies.
Purpose
Jesus dies for a purpose. He doesn’t die just to die, or that He may remain dead. He dies so that He would rise again. He laid down His life that He may take it up again. For the Author of Life, the purpose of death is resurrection.
The Necessity of Resurrection
The death of Christ is absolutely necessary, but so is his resurrection. We have to have the resurrection. We don’t only need a perfect sacrifice for sin, we need a living mediator, a living intercessor, and a living king. The resurrection is obviously a necessity for our salvation. So Jesus undergoes death, so that He would rise again. So one of the very purposes from the beginning of Christ’s death, was that He would then become undead. He intended to undo death. The curse of death had to be undone, and resurrection was the way to do it, so He died for that purpose.
The Necessity of Death for Resurrection
But of course, death is a necessity for resurrection. Resurrection implies, and requires death first. You can’t have resurrection without death. And so He was willing to die. The greatest joy requires the greatest pain. And the great news of the gospel is that Jesus took the sting out of death for us.
The Father’s Love for the Son is the Basis of His Love for us
The last couple of weeks we have talked a lot about the relationship between the Shepherd and the sheep – the Shepherd’s love, care, protection, and sacrifice for the sheep. But we must know that the relationship between the Father and the Son is the basis for the relationship of the Shepherd and sheep. The Father’s love for the Son is the basis of His love for us.
We all have a deep hunger for the affirmation and love of our fathers who are proud of us. That’s one of the great problems in our society today. We’ve got a lot of lost and lawless young men, because they had no fathers who loved them. Fatherly love, correction, and direction is so important to us as human beings. And yet, in our time, it is so broken. I praise God for His grace where He is restoring fathers to homes and raising up new generations to be godly fathers. But regardless of whatever the situation is with our relationship with our fathers, we have that love that we so desperately need in Jesus Christ, for the Father perfectly loves the Son whom we are united to. This is why we can say that the Father’s love for the Son is the Basis of His love for us, because we are told that the Father loves the Son because the Son lays down His life to take it up again, and as Christians we are united to Christ – He dies and rises for us, and we die and rise again in Him. Because of our union with Christ, the love directed at the Son from the Father is love directed at us. We can know we are loved because the Father loves the Son and we are united to the Son. This is amazing. This is where our security lies. The love given to the Son from the Father, is given to us, because we are united to Christ. And this love and union that we have in Christ, was not something begrudgingly given to us. Christ did not have his arm twisted on the cross. This was accomplished by his own authority, willingly, because He wanted to. And that is Jesus’ point here. “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”
The Son has Authority not only to lay down His life, but to take it up again
I did talk a lot about this theme last week, but I will just say once again: Jesus gives nothing to the devil. He lays down His life, and then He takes it back again. He doesn’t give His life to the devil so we can go free. He authoritatively lays down His life as the necessary blood sacrifice to atone for sin, then He authoritatively raises Himself back to life from the dead, to live to intercede for us and rule His kingdom. Nobody manipulated Christ to die for us – He did because He wanted to. That’s the kind of Savior we have and should want, not someone just gritting His teeth and doing His duty, but Someone who wants to be our Savior. From this flows our assurance and trust in Him as our shepherd. He willingly, of His own authority gave Himself for us, therefore, we can trust ourselves to Him and His care throughout our lives. If He died for us, will He not also care for us in this life?
Again, I am emphasizing that Jesus did not have His life stolen from Him, He laid it down, of His own accord, by His own authority. A. W. Pink says, “It was not the nails, but the strength of his love to the Father and to His elect, which held Him to the cross.”
Christ could have called down a thousand angels. He could have wiped out his enemies with a word. He could’ve come down from the cross at any moment; He could’ve stopped the lashes in mid air at His command. But He did no such thing. He kept the lashes in flight to His back. He held the nails together that held Him to the cross. He sustained the breath of His mockers. He subjected Himself to the pain and suffering at the hands of sinners, because His father loved Him, charged Him with it, and so that He could rise again.
He faced the darkness of death because He saw the light of resurrection. So can we. We can suffer and be mistreated, and endure pain, because we are loved and secure and we will rise to life again. We have to suffer and die to resurrect from death. And it is better that we do, than never resurrect at all. The darkness of suffering and death does not separate us from Christ or undo the union we have with Him. He is there with us, and resurrection awaits.
The Father Charged the Son with this
At the same time as the death and resurrection of the Son, done by the Son’s authority and will, it was also the charge of the Father to the Son. The Father commanded that which He loved, and the Son loved that which He commanded. Indeed, this is Jesus’ basis for saying He has authority to lay down and take up His life – because of the Father’s authority, and the Father charged Him with this task. So everything Jesus is saying, He is basing on the authority of the Father, which is what really gets at the crux of the matter for the Jewish audience who seek to kill him.
Verse 19-21, the Jew’s reactions
In verse 19-21 we see the reaction of the Jews to all of this that Jesus has said. Again, as we have seen, His words cause division among the Jews. His voice is going out, the sheep are hearing it and recognizing it – those who are not His sheep, are not drawn by His voice – they revile against Him.
You know Jesus has presented an irrefutable case when the only opposing response is to resort to name calling and accuse Jesus of demon possession (again) and being insane. They have no argument. They have no response. Yet they do not want to believe. So they dig in to their sin and unbelief.
What we see is that gospel preaching is not a matter of intellect or evidence, it is a matter of sin and faith. Rejecting the gospel is a matter of loving your sin. It is unbelief. It’s interesting the way the matter is phrased in these verses – there was division over His Words. The division is that some believed and some did not. Jesus had just healed the man born blind in chapter 9, and some of the Jews are more blind than he ever was, others are beginning to see and have their eyes opened to Christ, or so it seems.
Jesus has just preached His death and resurrection. He has just preached the gospel. And it caused a division among the people. The gospel divides and distinguishes between men. Where do you find yourself today? Are you calling Christ names under your breath? Are you living in unbelief? Or do you believe? Do you confess your sins and trust Jesus to forgive? May God be gracious to open our eyes to receive His word.
When we receive this Word and believe it, we learn that we can lay down our lives for others, because we know that we will get it back again. The self-sacrifice of Christ inspires us to do the same for others, the resurrection of Christ gives us confidence, we will live again. Men for whom Christ has died and risen for are the most fit to give their lives for others. Even if we are not literally dying for people, we die for others in everyday self-sacrifice for others. Men go out and work and take responsibility and bear the difficulty of work to provide for their families. Women give up their bodies to bring life into the world.
There are many ways in which we can give up ourselves for the sake of others. And we can do this freely, because no matter how much we give up for others, we cannot out give God. He has given more than we could ever imagine, and more inheritance and reward awaits to be given.
So let us give up ourselves. Let us give up our sins. For whatever we give up, we get back better from Christ. Let us give up our lives to receive His resurrection. Let us give our sins, to receive His forgiveness. Let us give our own ways to walk in His ways. Let us give up our dead idols to receive a living Savior. Let us give up our faux authority, to submit to His. Christ has given all: His life, His blood, His breath; and He gives it to us.
Because of what Jesus did, we too will receive our life back if we lay it down in Him. We lose and give up things in this life to follow Christ. We take up our cross – our instrument of death – we crucify the flesh, we die to ourselves. And we live again. There is a cost to following Jesus. Jesus said “count the cost.” What does it cost to follow Jesus? Death. You have to die. But what comes after death? Resurrection.
Allow me to close with the Benediction from Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
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