Jesus plainly told the Jewish leaders that although they were Abraham’s descendants, their true father was the Devil—a fact proved by their desire to kill him. Their actions corresponded with the one who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. (John 8:38,44)
There was a time when we all did the things shown us by Satan, mentally or imaginatively. (Ephesians 2:1-3) But now we do the things shown us by the Spirit of God by revelation, spiritually. Our loving Father wants to show us His intentions in the same way that He showed them to Jesus.
The Father loved the Son and showed him everything He did, so that those who followed him would marvel. (John 5:20)
How Jesus and his Father worked together in harmony (from The Amplified Bible):
Jesus worked with His Father relationally.
“My Father has worked (even) until now. [He has never ceased working; He is still working] and I, too, must be at [divine] work.” (John 5:17)
Jesus worked with His father responsively.
“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].” (Verse 19)
The Williams Translation puts it this way: “Whatever the Father is in the habit of doing the Son also persists in doing.”
Jesus worked with His Father knowingly.
Not blindly or mindlessly. “The Father dearly loves the Son and discloses to (shows) Him everything that He himself does. And He will disclose to Him (let Him see) greater things yet than these, so that you may marvel and be full of wonder and astonishment.” (Verse 20)
Jesus worked with the Father willingly.
“I am able to do nothing from myself [independently, of My own accord – but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders]. Even as I hear, I decide [As the voice comes to me, so I give a decision], and my judgement is right (just, righteous) because I do not seek or consult My own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father who sent Me.” (Verse 30)
Jesus was “the first-born of many brethren” – so as we please God, He will do as He pleases through us, as well. God’s sovereignty and our responsibility will flow together in beautiful harmony. The Greek word translated “please” means “behaviour that results from relationship” — intentional, deliberate conduct pleasing to God.
Rather than a horizontal tension between two opposing forces —sovereignty and responsibility — this indicates a vertical compatibility between two persons working together.
As we do the things that please the Father, the Father does as He pleases, through us! Nothing is impossible to us because nothing is impossible to Him in us!
Jesus firmly promised that those who believe on him would do the same deeds — “and greater deeds than these…because I go to my Father.” (John 14:12)
How could they be greater? Because Jesus would be exalted at the Father’s right hand, the ultimate position of honour and power! “And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
When Jesus does whatever we ask in his name, his Father is glorified in him! If we would see the Father more often glorified in His Son, we should ask Him to show us greater deeds — and then do what He shows us to do — exactly as Jesus did! After all, we now have the same fellowship with the Father that Jesus had.
The Father was in the Son (“You in me”); then the Son was in the Father (“I in You”); now we are in the Father and the Son (“That they may be one in us”). Our relationship was firmly established when we believed in Jesus Christ and acknowledged him as the Son of God. Now, the Father and the Son delight in our fellowship with them, and in our united fellowship with one another (John 17:21; 1 John 1:6).
We know that we live in the Father and that He lives in us because He has given us His Spirit. “God dwells in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God; and they dwell in God. To dwell in love also means to dwell in God, for God is love. (1 John 4:13-16) Those who are in the flesh (the old nature) cannot please God. “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Romans 8:8,9)
We don’t have to struggle for the same unity with the Father that Jesus had—we have it! “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:6)
Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” God was clearly revealed in His Son, who was the very image of his Father. If we could only see that we have been re-created in the same image, and fully grasp the privilege that is ours as God’s children, we would delight in working in fellowship with our Father as much as Jesus did. The result: we would be one, in the same way the Father and the Son are one.
The Revelation Knowledge of the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, and we who believe in the Father and the Son, results in a lifestyle not unlike that of Jesus in the Gospels and the Apostles in the Book of Acts, in that not only are all things possible, but that nothing is impossible!