John 5:21 Commentary and Bible Study

Everybody knew that if anybody could be raised from the dead, it would be the Father who would do it – and there is going to be no argument about that at all. Only the Father could raise the dead. ‘Yes,’ says Christ, ‘but you will see me do the same.’ The Son too is able, just as the Father, to raise the dead, and they will see this. How will they account for what is happening if they do not think Jesus is the Son of God, that he is divine, and he is one with the Father? So these verses establish Christ’s divinity, and he makes it so plain to them. He is so bold. He knows they are plotting to kill him, but he knows that they can’t, because he will not allow them, his hour has not yet come. He must walk yet, for another couple of years, on earth, before he allows himself, in apparent weakness, to be taken and arrested, and crucified. But here, he is telling them, and announcing to them, exactly who he is.