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Truly, Truly! – The Father and the Son

Truly, Truly! – The Father and the Son

Truly, Truly! – The Father and the Son.

“The Jews sought to kill Jesus all the more, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever the Father does, the Son will also do in like manner.” (John 5:18-19).

There is a much-used Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible that points to its root word “truth.” The Greek in the New Testament also picked it up and used it for “truth” as well. That common Hebrew word is “amen.”

Amen. This biblical word basically means: This is truth! I agree that this is true! Yes! We heartily accept and approve of what was said! We are assured that this is certainly true! So be it! We believe this is trustworthy and we take it to heart!

Amen! Amen! is often translated as Truly, Truly, or Verily, Verily in the New Testament. This double Amen is only recorded in the gospel of John, and is said by Jesus before He offers a statement, not after.  He is the only Person to say this, because He is the only Person who has the authority to say this before He says it. This double Amen, as opposed to a single Amen, must be an important distinction for Jesus, because He felt compelled to use this preface twenty-five times in John.  When Jesus begins a statement with that double “Truly,” He is intending to be doubly intense when He says it, and so He wants the listener to be doubly attentive. He wants to emphasize the importance of His words. He is saying, In all truth I tell you. He wants the listener to focus, and He is serious about preparing the listener to be receptive. When Jesus says Truly, Truly, He is saying: Most assuredly, what I am about to tell you is absolutely true and trustworthy. So listen up, because an eternal truth is coming to you now. In all sincerity, says Jesus, this is the solemn truth. Take these words in, says Jesus, and have them go into your mind and then straight to your heart. For these words of mine are double truth, they are doubly true. Jesus might as well have been saying… And you readers out there centuries from now, get ready to apply your hot pink highlighter, get ready to do some double underlining! Truly, Truly, what you are about to hear is the honest to goodness truth. This is True! Really True!

Jesus would often probe the profound intimacy between Father and Son, relishing the mystery. The Spirit of love shared between them is eternal, and their spiritual union is boundless. The personal relationship between Father and Son has always been so intimate that somehow they are inside of each other. There is nothing in the universe that is as tightly knit together as the Father and Son. Their love for each other is the energy source for all the love in the world. Without their trinitarian love for each other, there would be no love. Human love would not exist were it not for their divine love for each other.

“The secret of the whole world of humanity is the love between the Father and the Son. This is at the root of it all. Upon the love between the Son and the Father hangs the whole universe.” (George MacDonald, Knowing the Risen Lord).

Jesus the Son only does what the Father asks Him to do. He only speaks what the Father wants Him to say. Jesus does not go a step ahead of the Father, He does not take His own initiative. The Son stays in lockstep with the Father at all times. If we were to explore the biblical relationship between God the Father and God the Son, we would have to include:

Major Events

  1. Jesus calls the Father “Abba,” an affectionate term of honor and familiarity (Mark 14:36);
  2. The Son would rather do the  Father’s will than His own (Mark 14:36);
  3. The Father gave His blessing over the Son at His baptism, saying “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” (Luke 3:22);
  4. The Father basically repeated His blessing over Jesus at His Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5);
  5. In speaking of His death, the Son asked the Father. “Put your glory on display and bring glory to Your name.” The Father responded by speaking audibly out of heaven and saying that He has and He will. (John 12:28).
  6. After praying to the Father, Jesus shares these truths about the Father and Himself. “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27).

John 5

  1. The Son is limited to doing whatever He sees the Father doing, and whatever the Father does, the Son does. (5:19);
  2. The Father dearly loves the Son and shows Him everything He is doing. The Father is totally transparent to the Son. (5:20);
  3. Just as the Father gives life to those He raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone He wants. (5:21);
  4. The Father is not the judge. He has given full authority to the Son to judge (5:22);
  5. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent Him (5:23);
  6. The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to His Son (5:26);
  7. The Son can do nothing on His own as judge. He judges as the Father tells Him (5:30);
  8. The Son has come in the Father’s Name (5:43).

John 14

  1. The Father will love those who love the Son, and they both will make a home within them all (14:23);
  2. The words of the Son are not His own. His words are the Father’s words (14:24);
  3. The Son humbly nods to the Father as the greater of the two (14:28);
  4. The Son will do whatever the Father requires of Him, so that the world will know that the Son loves the Father. (14:31);
  5. The Son is the only way to the Father (14:6);
  6. When you know the Son, you know the Father. When you see the Son, you have seen the Father (14:7);

John 15

  1. The Son is the True Vine, and the Father is the Gardener who prunes the branches. (15:1);
  2. The Father is glorified when the disciples bear much fruit. (15:8);
  3. The Son has loved the disciples the way that the Father has loved the Son. (15:9);
  4. The Son has obeyed the Father’s commands and remains in His love. (15:10);
  5. Everything the Son has heard from the Father has been told to the disciples by the Son. (15:15);
  6. Whoever hates the Son hates the Father (15:23);
  7. The Son sends the Spirit from the Father (15:26).

John 17

  1. When the Son gets glorified, He gives the glory back to the Father (17:1);
  2. The Father is the only true God, and the Son is the One whom He sent to the earth (17:3);
  3. The Son brought glory to the Father on earth by completing the work He was sent to do (17:4);
  4. The Father and the Son shared glory before the world began (17:4);
  5. All who belong to the Son also belong to the Father (17:10);
  6. The Son protected the disciples by the power the Father gave Him (17:10);
  7. Just as the Father sent the Son into the world, the Son is sending the disciples into the  world (17:18);
  8. The Father and the Son are essentially One… The Father in the Son, the Son in the Father (17:21);
  9. The Father loves the disciples as much as He loves the Son (17:23);
  10. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world, before the beginning of time (17:24);
  11. Only the Son truly knows the Father (17:25);
  12. The Father’s love for the Son will be in the disciples (17:26).

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