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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict, Continuing discourse after the feast, Jesus as the Light of the World, Part XII, John 8:16-24 - Lesson 59
Read Verses John 8:12-15 for review:
John 8:16-18, And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Jesus tells them that if he judges his judgment is true.
True judgment is not according to appearance, not by carnal principles, but by spiritual principles.
Man judges visible acts, Jesus judges the inner being.
Man judges in haste, Jesus waits on the Father and seeks his will.
He judges the same as the Father.
If that is so then it is obvious that his judgment is true.
Jesus further remarks that the law requires the testimony of two to establish what is true.
If two agree to something the law validated that which was agreed as true.
Jesus Christ says that he is one witness and the Father is the other.
Christ bore personal witness to his divine person and mission and the Father bore witness to him in the prophesies of the Old Testament.
He bore witness through the testimony of his servant John the Baptist, and he bore witness to him at the Jordan when John baptized Jesus, and the Father announced that this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Two witnesses established the truth according to the law.
Here are the two most credible witnesses and yet the Jews reject the truth!
It is impossible for unbelief to accept the truth.
A person cannot be convinced into the kingdom.
Ye must be born again by the Spirit of God.
It is a supernatural transaction.
John 8:19, Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
Where is thy Father?
They do not ask this question to learn of the Father, but they ask it scornfully.
They were not interested in truth
Jesus again reminds us that to know the Father is only possible by knowing Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ is only known to those he reveals himself to.
You do not choose to know the Son, the Son chooses to know you, otherwise you would never know the Father.
As Jesus said in: Mat 11:27, All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
John 8:20,21, These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. 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.
The treasury was in the forecourt of the women.
This was the place of thirteen bronze chests, nine for the legal payment (temple taxes) of the worshippers and four for the free-will offerings of the people.
This was the place where women could come and it fits, that the woman taken in adultery would have been brought here.
John again intimates that the Jews tried to take Jesus on this occasion but John says that his hour had not yet come.
By this phrase used repetitively by John, God wants us to know the principle of God's timing as it governs the affairs of men.
The passages in John that show that Jesus' time had not yet come demonstrate that God is the complete master of all and he will not let men carry out their evil deeds until he permits them to do so.
It is interesting to note here that Jesus Christ says that he may be sought by men, but that seeking will be in vain.
Men may have religious feelings, men may weep because of sickness, fear of death, great financial loss, loss of comforts or jobs.
Under a little pressure men and women may say their prayers, read the Bible, come forward in a highly charged evangelistic meeting, become active in church work, profess to seek Christ, and outwardly look like a different character, but often it is only a reformation of the flesh, and not a transformation of the spirit.
Let the sickness disappear, let the finances return, the new job come, and the professor returns to his old ways.
Jesus knows his listeners.
He knows that they are of the flesh.
He knows that they will die in their sins.
He knows that they will not seek him with all their heart as we are told in Jer. 29:13, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
The key word in this verse is the word "me" referring to Jesus Christ.
We are to seek him, not some improved health, or wealth or comfort or position or some gain.
And then he tells them they cannot come where he goes.
He says he goes his way.
They cannot come because they do not know him, they refuse to know him and without knowing him who is the way it is impossible to go where Jesus goes.
That is why he says they cannot, they do not have the ability to come.
Any attempt to come by their own efforts is hopeless
He is the only way to the Father and without following him, there is no other way to the Father.
Without Jesus Christ we are corrupt and vile, without Jesus Christ we are not holy, without Jesus Christ we are not righteous, without Jesus Christ we continue to have a fallen nature not suited to the place where Jesus Christ goes.
Therefore Jesus Christ said: ye shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
John 8:22, Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
So with ridicule and with the understanding of blind men they joke that he will kill himself and go to Hell, where of course it is unthinkable that they would follow him.
John 8:23, And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
But they have things backwards, he tells them.
You are from beneath, I am not from beneath, but from above.
We are from two different worlds, two separate spheres, two different realms.
Only those who follow him are of his world because he is the only way between the worlds.
There is an infinite gulf between the worlds.
One that cannot be breeched by human means or human efforts.
They were from the lower realm, he was from the higher realm.
He was not of their world, they were not of his world.
They were born of flesh and not of spirit.
And he indicates here that they will never be of his world for they are flesh.
He says in: John 8:24, 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.
This is clear and unequivocal.
Christ does not hesitate to present this awful truth.
And we ought not either!
The result of unbelief is to die in your sins, unpardoned, unprepared for heaven, and unprepared to meet God.
In order not to die in your sins you have to believe, you have to trust, in the only way that God provides, in his only begotten Son.
Christ is God's only remedy for sin.
Christ is the only passport to heaven.
Only those who have been washed in his blood, only those who have been clothed in his righteousness can enter God's domain.
God will not allow sin to corrupt his palaces like it has corrupted this world.
He only allows a prepared people to come to his house.
Only belief in Christ opens the door to heaven.
There are no grays here, just blacks or whites, yeses or nos, yeas or nays!
You are either for Jesus Christ or you are against him.
Believe or perish, Jesus says to the Jews!
And it is no different today. God has the same plan in 1994! |