John 8:21 ¶ Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way,
and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill
himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I
am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die
in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
25 Then said they unto him, Who art
thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the
beginning. 26 I have many things to say
and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him. 27
They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. 28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have
lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do
nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
29 And he that sent me is with me: the
Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
30 As he spake these words, many
believed on him.
Jesus is talking about going back to the third Heaven
(2Corinthians 12:2) and these Pharisees will die in their sins because of their
rejection of Him and will not go where He is going. The Jews questioned whether
or not He was speaking of taking His own life because they didn’t understand
what He was saying. But, Christ here points out that they are of this world and
He is not. That’s why they will die in their sins, because they do not believe
in Him as the Messiah, the Christ, although He doesn’t immediately reference
those words.
So, the Jews demand that He declare who He is, something
that has repeatedly been done, as we have seen. Jesus has declared who He is
through the mouths of people around Him and He said it Himself.
Nathanael declared Him in 1:49 and He confirmed it, not
denying;
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi,
thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I
said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see
greater things than these.51 And he
saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Jesus declared Himself to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews in
John 3, although that was not a public statement. John the Baptist acknowledged
who Jesus is in John 3 also.
Jesus declared it to the woman at the well and she believed;
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias
cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he…29 Come, see a man,
which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
The Jews understood His declaration of who He was and were
furious.
5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill
him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus then again declared Himself.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.. 39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and
they are they which testify of me.
Again and again He has established His true identity. So,
this question the Jews put to Him is rather disingenuous. Jesus repeats that He
is only presenting to them the will of God the Father, the soul of God, the
origin of God’s will and self-identity. I have already explained how God has
three parts to Him, as per the Bible, and is not three separate persons,
because God is one. Each of the three parts share the same will which resides
in the Father.
Verse 28 is a reference to His Crucifixion and Resurrection.
He made a similar allusion before to Moses placing the serpent on the pole
(Numbers 21:5-9).
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life.
Proof of Jesus’ power and authority and identity did not
necessarily come from raising people from the dead or healing them of their
sicknesses. Others claimed to be able to do that in religious traditions. The
proof would come when man put His human body to death in a manner that could
not honestly be contested and then He got up from the tomb. The empty tomb is
the proof of Christianity.
John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father.
To be a Christian you must believe that.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.
Jesus states here that He is obedient to the will of the
Father. Many here believe on Him even without the proof of the Resurrection,
which, of course, has not happened yet. Blessed were those who believed Jesus’
words without having the reality of them fulfilled. This is a fundamental of
the Bible from Job to the Apostles. As
Hebrews 11 makes clear, the triumph of faith is believing what God has promised
and that He will provide it long before you receive it in reality. Believing
God is then the essence of salvation which is why Satan’s first effort revolved
around getting a man and a woman to question what God said.
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou
hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed.
John 8:31 ¶ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed
on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. 33 They answered
him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus
answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin. 35 And the servant
abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed. 37 I know that ye
are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in
you.
Jesus states that if
these new believers are truly His disciples they will be faithful to His
words. A disciple is someone who is
willing to give up everything to follow Jesus.
Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that
forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch (Acts
11:26). Many of those today who call themselves Christians are not His disciples indeed. They have elected to
follow men, not God, and have substituted political dogma, cultural beliefs,
and personal bigotry for the doctrine that came from Christ and His Apostles.
They have replaced Christ’s doctrine with their own convictions and a self-righteous
elitism that places themselves on the throne or an apathy that regards God as a
mere idea in their mind and not a person worthy of their worship.
Do we continue in His word? How many of you have even read
the Bible from cover to cover or listened to it read one time? How many of you
regard God’s words of grace as being important enough to occupy a considerable
part of your day? Jesus refers to the Scriptures, says it is written referring to
the written word many times, and refers to His spoken words which He will have
disciples put to writing. If the written word is important to Christ, why is it
not important to you? Can you truly be His disciple if you don’t regard as
important what He regards as important? You say, “but, I am doing things for
God. I belong to the right political party. I believe the right things about
right and wrong. I do many acts of service for God. I faithfully listen to
people talk about His word.” These Jews would have made the same profession, I
assure you.
Christ is the truth as He will say Himself very soon, in
chapter 14. If you continue in His word you will know the truth and the truth
shall make you free according to that knowledge.
The Jews who did not believe interrupt him again and respond
by making the absurd claim that, by virtue of their heritage in Abraham, they
have never been in bondage to any man. Of course, we know that they had been in
bondage to many nations from Egypt to Rome. But, Jesus isn’t talking about
politics. He is talking about their bondage to sin, sin against God. The only
freedom that they can possibly have from that is through Him, regardless of
their heritage.
People often, but not always, tend to wear their personal
sins on their bodies as they get older. The bowling ball beer paunch of the
late middle-aged man, the dried-out tanned-too-much lizard look of the late
middle-aged woman are examples of man and woman’s love of the flesh and pride
of vanity. But, there are many more sins that don’t show an outward appearance
necessarily on one’s face or belly such as bitterness, envy, hatred, sloth,
apathy and contempt for God.
The Jews had created their own religion which was far from
what God had originally intended for them. It was a system of rules and
regulations that not only did not bring them closer to God but created
themselves as a type of their own gods. Like many American Christians in
history and now they spent too much time patting themselves on the back to have
their hands together in prayer.
Jesus, speaking to the unbelieving Jews, accuses them of
trying to kill Him.
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