Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Today, in our extended reading, we will read a bit more Scripture to look at the life of Christ, His miracles and the responsibility the Father places on Him. This is a record of Jesus being obedient to the Old Testament Scriptures and going up to Jerusalem on one of the "pilgrim feast days".

The "pilgrim feast days" were three of the seven feast days that Jews were required to go "up to Jerusalem" and the Temple to worship the Lord. The feast day in this passage was the third of the Fall Jewish feast days, "Rosh Hashana", the Feast of Tabernacles.

The day that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem is the feast day which by the "law of the Lord" was designated as a "Sabbath Day", Leviticus 23:23-25. It was not a Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, but the Jewish holy day of the Feast of Tabernacles with the same requirements as a "Sabbath Day".

I give you this information because the Jews in Jerusalem used this day, a Sabbath Day and its requirements, to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. What those accusing Jews did not know was that Jesus brought into existence the Sabbath when after 6 days of much creative activity Jesus established the Sabbath, "the day of rest", Genesis 2:1-3.

When approached, Jesus said, verse 17, that He and the Father were the same and were both responsible for the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. Then the Jews sought to kill Jesus for not only healing on the Sabbath, but making Himself equal with God.

There is another very profound announcement made by Jesus about what the Father assigned to Him. Verse 22 is the record of the Father designating Jesus, His Son, to be "Judge". In fact, God the Father commits all judgment to His son, Jesus.

This is the prophetic portion of this passage. Jesus will be the judge in the future. He will be the "judge" at the "Judgment Seat of Christ" when He will judge our works. It is not a time to judge lost or saved. The truth is that only saved people will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Jesus will also be the "judge" at the "Great White Throne Judgment", Revelation 20:11-15, when He sentences all of those to the "Lake of Fire" who have not been saved. Again, this judgment is not to decide if one is saved or lost. Only lost people will stand at this judgment.

Jesus is a God of love and mercy and our Savior, but also He is the coming "judge".

PRAYER THOT: Help me to live, Lord, in light of the fact that You will be the judge that I stand in front of at the Judgment Seat of Christ.