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Why Did JESUS Say _The Father Is Greater Than I_ _ If He Was GOD · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: John 14, verse 28. Jesus says five words that have
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  Speaker 1: puzzled sincere believers for 2,000 years. The Father is greater
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  Speaker 1: than I. If Jesus is God, if He is the
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  Speaker 1: Word who was with God and was God, what do
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  Speaker 1: these five words mean? Is He saying He is less
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  Speaker 1: than the Father? Is He denying His own divinity? Or
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  Speaker 1: is there something in this verse that most readers have
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  Speaker 1: never been shown? The answer is woven through Scripture, across Gospels,
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  Speaker 1: across letters, across the original Greek language, and when you
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  Speaker 1: see it, the confusion will not just disappear. It will
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  Speaker 1: be replaced by something far more beautiful than you expected.
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  Speaker 1: By the end of this video, you will understand this
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  Speaker 1: verse completely, and you will understand it from the Bible itself.
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  Speaker 1: These are the full words of Jesus, recorded by the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle John. You heard me say, I am going away,
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  Speaker 1: and I am coming back to you. If you loved me,
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  Speaker 1: you would be glad that I am going to the Father,
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  Speaker 1: for the Father is greater than I. John 14.28 These
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  Speaker 1: are the words of Jesus Christ, recorded by the Apostle John.
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  Speaker 1: And they raise a question that every honest reader must face.
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  Speaker 1: If Jesus is God, how can the Father be greater?
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  Speaker 1: This is not a question to avoid. It is a
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  Speaker 1: question the Bible itself answers. And the answer does not
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  Speaker 1: come from one verse in isolation. It comes from tracing
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  Speaker 1: what Scripture teaches across multiple passages. In the original language,
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  Speaker 1: in the context of the moment, Jesus said these words.
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  Speaker 1: But these five words do not exist alone. They sit
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  Speaker 1: inside the Gospel of John, a book that makes some
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  Speaker 1: of the most extraordinary claims about Jesus anywhere in Scripture.
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  Speaker 1: And if we want to understand what greater means, we
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  Speaker 1: need to see those claims first, because they change everything.
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  Speaker 1: The Gospel of John opens with one of the most
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  Speaker 1: powerful declarations in all of Scripture. In the beginning was
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  Speaker 1: the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
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  Speaker 1: Word was God. Three truths in one verse. The Word
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  Speaker 1: existed in the beginning, before creation, before time. The Word
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  Speaker 1: was with God, a distinct person in relationship with the Father.
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  Speaker 1: And the Word was God, sharing the same divine nature.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek here is precise. Theos and Hologos, the Word
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  Speaker 1: possessed the full nature of God. Not a God, not God-like. God.
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  Speaker 1: This is the same author who records, The Father is
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  Speaker 1: greater than I. The same book, the same pen. But
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  Speaker 1: the opening declaration is not the only evidence. Throughout the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus makes claims about himself that leave no room for ambiguity.
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  Speaker 1: In John 8, verse 58, Jesus is speaking to the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish leaders, and he says, Before Abraham was born, I am.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek is ego-ami, the present tense of existence. Abraham
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  Speaker 1: came into being at a point in time. Jesus is timeless, continuous, eternal.
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  Speaker 1: And the phrase ego, Amy, echoes Exodus chapter 3, where
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  Speaker 1: God reveals his name to Moses from the burning bush.
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  Speaker 1: I am who I am. The Jewish leaders understood exactly
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  Speaker 1: what Jesus was claiming, and they picked up stones to
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  Speaker 1: execute him for blasphemy. In John chapter 10, verse 30,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says, I and the Father are one. The Greek
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  Speaker 1: word for one is hen, the neuter form, not one person.
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  Speaker 1: which would require the masculine highs, but one in essence,
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  Speaker 1: one in nature, one in being. And again, the response
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  Speaker 1: of the listeners proves they understood the magnitude of what
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  Speaker 1: he was saying. They answered, You, a mere man, claim
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  Speaker 1: to be God. The title, Son of God, in the
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  Speaker 1: biblical world did not mean lesser than God. It meant
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  Speaker 1: of the same nature as God. That is precisely why
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish leaders charged Jesus with with blasphemy for claiming it,
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  Speaker 1: not because the title was humble, but because it was
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  Speaker 1: the highest possible claim a man could make. And then,
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  Speaker 1: after the resurrection, Thomas sees the risen Jesus and falls
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  Speaker 1: to his knees. His words, recorded in John chapter 20,
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  Speaker 1: verse 28, My Lord and my God. In the original Greek,
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  Speaker 1: Hokureos mukai hoteos mu, the Lord of me and the
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  Speaker 1: God of me. Both titles carry the definite article. This
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  Speaker 1: is not an exclamation of surprise. It is the highest
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  Speaker 1: Christological confession in the entire Gospel. And Jesus does not
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  Speaker 1: correct him. He does not say, Thomas, you have gone
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  Speaker 1: too far. He accepts it. The same Gospel that records,
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  Speaker 1: The Father is greater than I, also records, The Word
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  Speaker 1: was God. Before Abraham was, I am. I and the
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  Speaker 1: Father are one, and my Lord and my God, one book,
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  Speaker 1: one author, one consistent testimony. This means greater cannot mean
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus is not God, because the same book establishes
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  Speaker 1: that He is God, repeatedly, unmistakably, and in language that
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  Speaker 1: cannot be diluted. The word greater must be carrying a
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  Speaker 1: different meaning than most people assume. And to find that meaning,
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  Speaker 1: we need to enter the room where Jesus said these words.
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  Speaker 1: It is Thursday night, Jerusalem, a borrowed upper room. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and his disciples have just shared the Passover meal together.
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  Speaker 1: And before the meal began, Jesus did something none of
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  Speaker 1: them expected. The Gospel of John records it in chapter 13.
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  Speaker 1: He poured water into a basin and began to wash
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  Speaker 1: his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was
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  Speaker 1: wrapped around him. Foot washing was the task of the
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  Speaker 1: lowest servant in a household, too degrading even for a
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew slave. It was the job assigned to the person
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  Speaker 1: at the very bottom of the household hierarchy. And yet,
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  Speaker 1: the one the disciples called Teacher and Lord knelt on
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  Speaker 1: the stone floor and and washed their feet one by one.
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  Speaker 1: Peter resisted. He said, Lord, you shall never wash my feet.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part
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  Speaker 1: with me. The king of the universe, on his knees,
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  Speaker 1: with a towel and a basin of dirty water. After
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  Speaker 1: the meal, Jesus predicted that one of them would betray him.
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  Speaker 1: Judas received the bread, stood up from the table, and
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  Speaker 1: left the room. And the text says simply, And it
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  Speaker 1: was night. The remaining eleven disciples are afraid. Jesus has
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  Speaker 1: told them he is leaving. Peter has asked, Lord, where
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  Speaker 1: are you going? Thomas has said, Lord, we don't know
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  Speaker 1: where you are going. How can we know the way?
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  Speaker 1: Philip has pleaded, Lord, show us the Father, and that
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  Speaker 1: will be enough for us. The room is thick with sorrow, confusion,
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  Speaker 1: and the weight of what is about to happen. These
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  Speaker 1: men can feel it. Something terrible is coming, and they
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  Speaker 1: do not understand it. It is in this room, on
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  Speaker 1: this night, to these grieving and frightened men, that Jesus says,
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  Speaker 1: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God.
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  Speaker 1: Believe also in me. And later, in the same conversation,
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  Speaker 1: If you loved me, you would be glad that I
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  Speaker 1: am going to the Father, for the Father is greater
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  Speaker 1: than I. There is a small word in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of that sentence that most readers pass over without stopping.
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  Speaker 1: The word for. In Greek, it is hoti, a causal conjunction.
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  Speaker 1: It does not introduce a general theological statement. It tells
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  Speaker 1: you the reason for what came before it. Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: not delivering a theological lecture about the nature of the Trinity.
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  Speaker 1: He is speaking to frightened friends on the worst night
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  Speaker 1: of their lives. And he is telling them, You should
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  Speaker 1: be glad I am leaving. And here is the reason.
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  Speaker 1: Because the Father is in a greater position than the
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  Speaker 1: one I am in right now. Think about what Jesus'
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  Speaker 1: current position was in that moment. He was a man
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  Speaker 1: in a room. On the night before his execution, he
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  Speaker 1: was about to be arrested in a garden. He was
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  Speaker 1: about to be beaten, spat on, mocked, stripped, and nailed
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  Speaker 1: to a Roman cross. The Father, by contrast, was enthroned
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  Speaker 1: in unclouded heavenly glory. Jesus was saying, I am going
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  Speaker 1: from this, from the suffering, from the humiliation, from the cross,
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  Speaker 1: to the Father, to the glory. you should rejoice for me,
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  Speaker 1: because where I am going is greater than where I
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  Speaker 1: am now. The context reveals that Jesus was speaking about
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  Speaker 1: his current situation, not his eternal nature. He was not saying,
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  Speaker 1: the Father is a greater God than I am. He
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  Speaker 1: was saying, the Father is in a greater position than
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  Speaker 1: the one I currently occupy, and I am about to
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  Speaker 1: return to him. Con does not change what a verse says.
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  Speaker 1: It reveals what a verse means, and the context of
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  Speaker 1: John 14.28 is unmistakable. A man comforting his friends, telling
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  Speaker 1: them that his humiliation is temporary and his destination is glory.
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  Speaker 1: The context shows us that Jesus was speaking about his position,
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  Speaker 1: not his nature. But is there a way to confirm
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  Speaker 1: this from the original language? There is, and it is
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  Speaker 1: found in a single Greek word, the word Jesus chose
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  Speaker 1: for greater, and the word he did not choose. The
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  Speaker 1: Greek word Jesus used for greater is maison. It is
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  Speaker 1: the comparative form of megas, meaning great. And in the
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  Speaker 1: Greek of the New Testament, maison consistently describes someone who
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  Speaker 1: is greater in position, in rank, in role, or in authority.
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  Speaker 1: This word appears elsewhere in the New Testament, and its
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  Speaker 1: usage confirms its meaning. In Matthew 11, verse 11, Jesus says,
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  Speaker 1: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater, maison,
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  Speaker 1: than John the Baptist. Was John the Baptist of a
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  Speaker 1: higher nature than Abraham? Higher than Moses? Higher than David? No.
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  Speaker 1: He was not superior to them in being or essence.
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  Speaker 1: He was greater in his role, his unique position as
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  Speaker 1: the forerunner of the Messiah. The word describes rank, not nature.
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  Speaker 1: In John 13.16, in the same upper room discourse, Jesus says,
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  Speaker 1: No servant is greater, mizun, than his master. Again, position, role, authority,
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  Speaker 1: not essence. Now here is the critical distinction. The New
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  Speaker 1: Testament has a different Greek word for when it means
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  Speaker 1: someone is superior in nature or essence. That word is kraiton.
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  Speaker 1: In Hebrews 1.4, the writer says that Jesus is kraiton,
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  Speaker 1: superior in nature, to the angels, not merely higher in
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  Speaker 1: rank or office, superior in being, superior in essence. Crichton
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  Speaker 1: describes a difference in the very substance of what something is.
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  Speaker 1: When Scripture wants to say, someone is greater in nature,
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  Speaker 1: it uses Crichton. When it wants to say someone is
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  Speaker 1: greater in position, it uses Maison. Jesus said, the Father
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  Speaker 1: is Maison, greater in position. He did not say the
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  Speaker 1: Father is Crichton. He did not say the Father is
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  Speaker 1: superior in nature. He did not use the word that
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  Speaker 1: would indicate an essential ontological difference between himself and the Father.
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  Speaker 1: This is not a theological interpretation imposed on the text
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  Speaker 1: from the outside. This is what the text says in
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  Speaker 1: the language it was written in. The Greek is precise,
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  Speaker 1: and the precision tells us exactly what Jesus meant. The
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  Speaker 1: Father occupied a greater position, the unclouded glory of heaven,
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  Speaker 1: while the Son occupied the position of a servant on
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  Speaker 1: the night before his death. The Word settles the question,
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  Speaker 1: greater in position, equal in nature. The Greek confirms what
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  Speaker 1: the context already showed us. Jesus was speaking about his position,
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  Speaker 1: not his essence. But this raises a deeper question. Why
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  Speaker 1: was the Son in a lesser position? What happened? How
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  Speaker 1: did the eternal Word who was God end up in
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  Speaker 1: a borrowed room in human flesh, on the night before
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  Speaker 1: a cross? The Apostle Paul answers this question, and the
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  Speaker 1: answer is one of the most extraordinary passages in the
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  Speaker 1: entire New Testament. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church
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  Speaker 1: in Philippi, describes what happened when the Son of God
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  Speaker 1: entered the world, and every word carries weight. Who, being
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  Speaker 1: in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
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  Speaker 1: something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he
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  Speaker 1: made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
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  Speaker 1: being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance
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  Speaker 1: as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death,
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  Speaker 1: even death on a cross. This passage, Philippians chapter 2
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  Speaker 1: verses 5 through 8, is one of the most theologically
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  Speaker 1: dense passages in the New Testament. And when you trace
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  Speaker 1: through its language, word by word, it answers every question
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  Speaker 1: about why Jesus said the Father was greater. Being in
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  Speaker 1: very nature God. The Greek is on morphe theou. The
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  Speaker 1: word morphe does not mean outward appearance or costume. In Greek,
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  Speaker 1: morphe refers to the essential, inner, unchanging nature of a thing.
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  Speaker 1: It is not what something looks like. It is what
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  Speaker 1: something is at its core. Paul is saying with absolute clarity,
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  Speaker 1: before the incarnation, Jesus existed in the essential nature of God,
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  Speaker 1: not a reflection of God, not a created image of God,
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  Speaker 1: not an approximation of God, the nature of God itself.
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  Speaker 1: Did not consider equality with God something to be used
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  Speaker 1: to his own advantage? The Greek phrase, Isatheo means exact
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  Speaker 1: equality in status, in essence, in being. And the text
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  Speaker 1: says he did not regard this equality as something to
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  Speaker 1: cling to for his own benefit. He did not exploit it.
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  Speaker 1: He did not leverage it. This tells us something critical.
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  Speaker 1: He had equality with God. It was his possession. It
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  Speaker 1: was not something he was reaching for. It was something
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  Speaker 1: he already held. and he chose not to use it
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  Speaker 1: for himself. He made himself nothing. The Greek is ekinosin.
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  Speaker 1: He emptied himself. But what did he empty himself of?
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  Speaker 1: This is where many readers become confused. Did he pour
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  Speaker 1: out his divine nature? Did he stop being God? Did
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  Speaker 1: he lose his attributes, his omniscience, his omnipotence, his eternality?
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  Speaker 1: The text tells us exactly what he did, and it
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  Speaker 1: is essential that we see it clearly. The passage does
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  Speaker 1: not say he subtracted his divinity. It says he added something,
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  Speaker 1: taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
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  Speaker 1: human likeness. The word taking, labun in Greek, is a
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  Speaker 1: participle of means. It tells you how he emptied himself.
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  Speaker 1: He emptied himself by taking on the nature of a servant.
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  Speaker 1: He did not exchange one nature for another. He took
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  Speaker 1: on a second nature alongside the first. He did not
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  Speaker 1: stop being God. He started being man. He wrapped the
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  Speaker 1: infinite in the finite. He clothed the creator in the creation.
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  Speaker 1: He veiled his glory, not because it was taken from him,
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  Speaker 1: but because the mission required it. Think of it this way.
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  Speaker 1: A king does not stop being a king. when he
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  Speaker 1: puts on the clothes of a servant and walks among
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  Speaker 1: his people. He is still the king. Every atom of
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  Speaker 1: his being is royal, but he has chosen to live
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  Speaker 1: as a servant. His nature has not changed. His position has,
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  Speaker 1: and you have already seen this in action. In that
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  Speaker 1: upper room, John chapter 13, Jesus knelt on the floor
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  Speaker 1: and washed his disciples' feet, the task too degrading for
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  Speaker 1: a Hebrew slave. Philippians 2 tells you why he did it.
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  Speaker 1: He took on the form of a servant, not a metaphor,
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  Speaker 1: not a figure of speech, a literal act of servanthood.
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  Speaker 1: The one through whom the universe was made, on his knees,
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  Speaker 1: with a basin and a towel. That is what the
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  Speaker 1: descent looked like. And that is exactly why Jesus said,
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  Speaker 1: The Father is greater than I. The Son of God,
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  Speaker 1: who existed in the very nature of God, who possessed
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  Speaker 1: equality with the Father, chose to step down. He took
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  Speaker 1: on human flesh. He lived as a servant. He submitted
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  Speaker 1: to human limitation. And in that state, in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: in the room, on the night before the cross, the Father,
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  Speaker 1: enthroned in heaven, was in a greater position than the Son,
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  Speaker 1: kneeling with a towel. The greater was not imposed by nature.
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  Speaker 1: It was chosen by love. The inequality was real, but
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  Speaker 1: it was not about nature. It was about mission, and
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  Speaker 1: it was temporary. If the Son descended from a shared throne,
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  Speaker 1: then there must be a moment before the descent, a
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  Speaker 1: state before the incarnation, where the Father and the Son
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  Speaker 1: shared the same position, the same glory, the same throne.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus himself describes that moment in the same conversation,
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  Speaker 1: on the same night. Three chapters after saying, The Father
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  Speaker 1: is greater than I. Still in the upper room, still
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  Speaker 1: on the same night, still speaking to the same eleven men.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus prays. And in John chapter 17 verse 5, he says,
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  Speaker 1: And now, Father. glorify me in your presence with the
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  Speaker 1: glory I had with you before the world began. The
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  Speaker 1: glory I had with you before the world began. These
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  Speaker 1: words require no commentary. They require only that we listen
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  Speaker 1: to what they say. Jesus is not asking for something
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  Speaker 1: new He is asking to be restored to something he
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  Speaker 1: already had. The glory was shared with you. The relationship
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  Speaker 1: was personal in your presence, and it existed before the universe,
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  Speaker 1: before the world began, before the stars, before the seas,
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  Speaker 1: before the mountains and the rivers, before time itself began
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  Speaker 1: to tick. The sun was there, and the glory was
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  Speaker 1: shared The Greek preposition para with the dative case means
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  Speaker 1: at your side, intimate, personal association. The son was not
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  Speaker 1: observing the father from a distance. He was at the
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  Speaker 1: father's side in shared divine glory before anything was created.
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  Speaker 1: The relationship was not created. It was eternal. This means
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  Speaker 1: the greater of John 14.28 was not the original state.
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  Speaker 1: The original state was equality. shared glory, shared throne, shared
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  Speaker 1: divine life. And the Son is asking to return to it,
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  Speaker 1: because the mission that took Him away from it is
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  Speaker 1: almost complete. The cross is hours away. The suffering is
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  Speaker 1: almost over. And on the other side of it, the
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  Speaker 1: glory is waiting. The full timeline is now visible, and
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  Speaker 1: it is critical that we see it completely. Before creation,
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  Speaker 1: The Son and the Father share the same glory, the
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  Speaker 1: same presence, the same divine life, side by side, equal
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  Speaker 1: in nature, equal in position. There is no greater and
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  Speaker 1: no lesser. There is only the shared life of God.
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  Speaker 1: During the Incarnation, the Son descends. He takes on human flesh.
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  Speaker 1: He veils His glory. He lives as a servant. He
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  Speaker 1: washes feet. He submits to hunger, to thirst, to exhaustion,
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  Speaker 1: to weeping. He walks toward the cross. In this state,
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  Speaker 1: the Father's position in heaven is genuinely greater than the
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  Speaker 1: Son's position on earth. Not in nature. In position. After
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  Speaker 1: the ascension, the Son returns. Hebrews 1.3 After He had
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  Speaker 1: provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right
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  Speaker 1: hand of the Majesty in heaven. The position is restored.
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  Speaker 1: The glory is shared again. The mission is accomplished, and
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  Speaker 1: the Son takes His seat beside the Father. And in
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  Speaker 1: Revelation 3, verse 21, the risen Jesus says, To the
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  Speaker 1: one who is victorious, I will give the right to
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  Speaker 1: sit with me on my throne, just as I was
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  Speaker 1: victorious and sat down with my Father on His throne.
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  Speaker 1: He is on the Father's throne now. The descent is over.
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  Speaker 1: The mission is complete. the king has returned to the
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  Speaker 1: throne he left. The greater belonged to the time in between.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: It was not a permanent truth about the relationship between
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the Father and the Son. It was the temporary cost
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of salvation, the price the Son paid to bring humanity
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: back to God. We have traced this truth through the
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: context of the upper room, through the Greek language, through
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians, and through Jesus'
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: own prayer in John chapter 17. But the Bible does
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: not stop there. Across the New Testament, multiple authors, writing
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: independently in different cities to different churches, all testify to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the same truth about who Jesus is. And when you
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: see them together, the full picture emerges. We have seen
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: what the Gospel of John, the very book that records
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: these five words, testifies about Jesus. But the testimony does
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: not stop with one author. Across the New Testament, multiple writers,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: in different cities, in different decades, arrive at the same
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: truth independently. And the Church has held this truth for 2,000 years.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: The writer of the letter to the Hebrews opens with
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a declaration about the sun. In Hebrews 1, verse 3,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: he writes, the sun is the radiance of God's glory.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and the exact representation of His being. The Greek phrase
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: is character tes hypostasios oto, the precise imprint of the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Father's essential nature, like a seal pressed into wax, producing
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: an identical impression. The Son is not a copy of
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the Father. He is not an approximation. He is the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: exact representation of the Father's being, identical in essence, identical
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in nature. everything the Father is, the Son is. And then,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8, something remarkable happens. God
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the Father speaks directly to the Son, and the words
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: He uses are extraordinary. But about the Son, He says,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The Father
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Himself calls the Son God, not a lesser being, not
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a created servant, not an angel, God. The Father addresses
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the Son with the divine title. This is not a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: human author's interpretation. This is the Father's own testimony about
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the Son. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Colossae,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: says of Christ, The Son is the image of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: all things were created, things in heaven and on earth,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: visible and invisible. whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: All things have been created through him and for him.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: He is before all things, and in him all things
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: hold together. Every word of that passage carries weight. But
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: one word in particular has been misunderstood, and when you
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: see what it actually means, the claim becomes even more extraordinary.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: The word firstborn, prototokos in Greek, does not mean first created.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: If Paul had meant to say first created, the Greek
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: language had a word for that, protoktistos. He did not
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: use it. Instead, he used prototokos, which means supreme in rank, preeminent,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the heir. In Psalm 89, verse 27, God calls David,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: my firstborn, even though David was the youngest of Jesse's
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: eight sons. Firstborn is a title of supremacy, not a
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: birth certificate, and the scope of Paul's claim is total.
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  Speaker 1: All things were created through him and for him. Every star,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: every atom, every law of nature. The one who sat
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: in the upper room on the night before his execution,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: washing the feet of the men who would abandon him,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: is the one through whom the entire universe exists. At
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: his trial before the high priest, Jesus is asked the
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: direct question, Are you the Messiah, the Son of the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Blessed One? His answer, recorded in Mark chapter 14, verse 62,
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  Speaker 1: I am, and you will see the Son of Man
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: coming on the clouds of heaven. The title, Son of Man,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: which sounds like a humble claim to humanity, is in
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: fact one of the most extraordinary claims in the Jewish scriptures.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: It comes from Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14, where
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: a divine figure approaches the throne of God, rides the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: clouds of heaven, and receives an everlasting kingdom and the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: worship of all nations. In the Old Testament, only God
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: rides the clouds. Every person in that courtroom knew where
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: those words came from. They knew what Jesus was claiming.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the high priest tore his robes, the traditional response to blasphemy.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: He understood. Even in the hour of his greatest humiliation, bound, accused,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: about to be condemned to death, Jesus claimed the eternal throne.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: This question is not new. In the fourth century, a
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: teacher named Arius used this very verse, John 14.28, to
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: argue that the Son was a created being. lesser than
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the Father in nature and essence. The Church examined the Scriptures.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: They weighed the full testimony of Scripture and declared at
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. what the Bible
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: had always taught. The Son is of the same essence,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: the same nature, as the Father. The Greek word they
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: chose was homoousios, of one substance. What Scripture reveals, the
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Church confirmed. 17 centuries ago. John, Paul, the author of Hebrews, Daniel,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Jesus himself, the council of Nicaea, writing from different cities
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: in different decades, in different centuries, to different audiences, yet
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: all testifying to the same truth. The Son shares the
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Father's nature, the Father's glory, and the Father's throne. John 14.28
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: does not contradict this testimony. It fits perfectly within it.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: because every one of these authors also understood the Incarnation.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: The Son's descent into human flesh created a temporary difference
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: in position, but it never changed His nature. The testimony
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: is unified. The picture is complete. And when you see
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: the full arc, from before creation to after the ascension,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the meaning of this verse becomes not just clear, but beautiful.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: The Truth of John 14.28 is not complicated. The confusion
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: was complicated. The truth is simple. Jesus said the Father
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: is greater than I because at that moment He was
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: speaking from within His voluntary human mission. He had stepped
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: down from shared glory with the Father to walk as
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: a man, to serve as a servant, and to die
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: on a cross. The Father, enthroned in unclouded heavenly glory,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: was greater in position. not in nature, not in essence,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: not in divinity, in position, because the Son had chosen
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: to come down. Before the world began, the Son and
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the Father shared the same glory, the same nature, the
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: same divine life. John chapter 17 verse 5 records the
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Son's own testimony. The glory I had with you before
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the world began, equal in nature, equal in position, one God,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: In the Incarnation, the Son emptied Himself, not of His nature,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: but of His privileges. He added humanity to His divinity.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: He took the form of a servant. He washed feet.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: He submitted to arrest, to mockery, to a crown of thorns,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and to a Roman cross. And in that state, the
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: God of the universe walking the earth in human flesh,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: the Father's heavenly position was greater than the Son's earthly humiliation.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: After the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension, the Son returned.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: He sat down at the right hand of the Father.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: He sat down on the Father's throne. The glory was restored.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: The position was restored. The throne was shared again. The
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: greater was temporary. The equality is eternal. If you came
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: to this video wondering what Jesus meant, you now know
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: from his own words, from the Greek language the New
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Testament was written in, from the Apostle Paul, from the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: writer of Hebrews, and from the unified testimony of the
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: entire New Testament. The Father is greater than the Son,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: in the same way that a king enthroned in his
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: palace is greater than a king who has chosen to
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: walk among his people in the clothes of a servant.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: The throne is still his, the crown is still his.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: The royal blood still flows in his veins. The nature
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: is unchanged. But for a time, for you, he laid
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: it aside. The Father is greater than I. For two
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: thousand years, these five words have been used to diminish
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: the Son, to reduce him, to make him less than
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: what he is. But look at what they actually reveal.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Only someone who is equal can choose to be less.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: A created being does not empty himself. He is simply
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: made small by nature. He has no glory to lay
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: aside because he never possessed it. But Jesus was not
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: made small. He chose to be small. He laid aside
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the glory he shared with the Father before the world began,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: not because he was forced to, but because the mission
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: required it, because humanity required it, because you required it.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: The Father was greater in position because the Son chose
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: to descend, and the reason He descended was you. The
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Father is greater than I is not a verse about limitation.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: It is a verse about love. It reveals a God
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: who would voluntarily step down from the highest throne in
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: existence to wash feet, to bear a cross, to carry
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the weight of sin that was not His own, so
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: that the people He created could come home. what kind
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: of God makes himself less? Only a God whose very
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: nature is love. If this video has given you understanding,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: drop your thoughts in the comments. Like this video and
• 34:37
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• 34:40
  Speaker 1: on everything we put out. And if you want to
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: see how Isaiah described the Messiah 700 years before his birth,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: with details no other prophet gave, we have a documentary
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: on that. We will leave the link for you. Share
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: this with someone who needs to hear it. God bless
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: you and we will see you in the next one.