Jesus Contrasts His Father to False Religions
Posted 3/30/25 –
Four hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament wrote concerning the Jews, “You have profaned (my name) in that you say, the table of the LORD is polluted;” “I even I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.”
“You have departed out of the way, you have caused many to stumble at the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
“But unto you who fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.” This was the condition of the Jews when Jesus came to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Judas had already betrayed Jesus, and Jesus also knew beforehand that his disciples would forsake him.
In John 17:3, Jesus prayed these words to his Father, “And this is life eternal, that they (his disciples) might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Eternal life is the great end that is set before us. Eternal life lies only in the knowledge of the Father and Jesus Christ. The Son of God was to die for us so that we could be brought before the throne of his Father.
Jesus did not pray nonchalantly to his Father, but with great love. And this is how we are to begin our prayer, “Our Father!”
John 17:1-3, The time had come for the Father to glorify his Son, to return to him the glory he had set aside to become a child born and a Son given. What was it Jesus was to be given? It is “Power over all flesh,”
Matthew 11:27, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Jesus could now give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him.
When Jesus said, in verse 3, “And this is life eternal, that they (the Jews) might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
When he spoke these words, “The only true God,” Jesus was contrasting his Father with
- Polytheism: The belief there is more than one God.
- Philosophic naturalism is the idea that only natural laws and forces as opposed to supernatural ones, operate in the universe.
- Mystic pantheism, the doctrine that the universe conceived of as a whole is God and, conversely, that there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe.
When Jesus said, “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” this is the only place where he gives himself this compound name. He uses the term “Jesus Christ” in the strictest of senses.
“Jesus,” because he saves his people from their sins; and “Christ” as anointed with the fulness of the Holy Ghost for the exercise of his saving offices, Matthew 1:16, “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
“Who you have sent.” Sent in the abundance of Divine Authority and Power to save.
With his words, the Lord positioned himself side by side with his Father, proving by implication his Divine nature. If Jesus were a mere creature, as many claim, eternal life with him would be impossible.