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Commentary on "Lord of the Sabbath"
Day 7: Friday, February 17, 2012 - Further Study
Let's examine one specific case of what occurred on the Sabbath during Christ's ministry.
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (John 5: 1).
- Does the Bible prohibit carrying a load on the Sabbath? Jer 17:21-22 indicates that it is breaking the Sabbath to carry a load.
- Would Jesus command someone to break an eternal moral command?
- In verse 17 did Jesus claim to be resting on the Sabbath day?
- Regarding verse 18, did Jesus call God his own Father?
- Regarding verse 18, did Jesus claim to be equal to God? Is Jesus equal with God?
Given the answers to these other questions regarding verse 18, why is there any basis to conclude that Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath exactly as John records? Please notice that Scripture does not say that the Jews claimed Jesus was breaking the Sabbath. John says that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath.
The only way that Jesus could break the Sabbath, condone other breaking the Sabbath (His disciples gathering grain in the field), and even command someone else to break the Sabbath is because this commandment had been fulfilled in Him.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 10, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 7
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