|
|
|
|
The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, Continuing discourse after the feast, Jesus as the Light of the World, Part XVII, John 8:37-42 - Lesson 64
Read Verses John 8:33-36, for review: They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:37, 38, I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Jesus acknowledges that these before him are the offspring of Abraham.
They are his descendants in the natural sense.
But Jesus Christ is more interested in Abraham's descendants in the supernatural sense.
He gives us an important spiritual principle here.
Abraham's true children are those who follow Abraham's example of faith.
As we see in: Gal 3:7, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
These men who were the seed of Abraham were not the children of Abraham in the sense of this verse!
In these men before him, the teaching of Jesus Christ had found no room, no place of acceptance.
Not even a little crack in their heart for the word to enter.
They exhibit no faith.
These are they that desire to kill him.
He knows who their father is and it is not Abraham.
Abraham would not desire to kill him.
An awful hatred was at work in their hearts.
But he reminds them that he can be trusted because he is a witness to that which he speaks.
What he speaks he speaks as an eye witness just like these before him do what they do because that is the character of their father the devil!
Like father, like son.
Do we not mimic our father?
Are we not chips off the old block? Are we not acorns that fall close to the tree?
Jesus was from the Father and he revealed exactly the character of the Father.
They were of their father the devil and their character revealed exactly the character of their father whose spiritual offspring they were.
He revealed God in his manner of life; they revealed the evil one, the devil in theirs.
They were the spiritual seed of the devil!
What father does your character reveal?
What father does my character reveal?
Examine yourself, whether ye be in the faith!
John 8:39,41a, They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father.
The true son duplicates the character of the father.
A father is pleased to see his son carry on his works.
A son who does his father's will pleases his father.
Abraham believed God and did his will.
Abraham heard God's word and believed it.
He was told to give up his own father and then he was told to give up his only son.
He obeyed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
God's word found a place in Abraham and now these Jews are claiming that Abraham is their father.
Jesus says that this cannot be.
My word has no place in you!
If you were Abraham's children my word would find place in you because my word found place in Abraham.
Their testimony revealed who their father was and it was not Abraham!
Abraham would not seek to kill Jesus Christ.
Anyone who has a heart of murder against someone who tries to impart the truth of God is not a heart inspired by faith.
It is not the heart of Abraham.
Their father, the one whose works they perform, is a very different person from the Abraham that Moses wrote about.
John 8:41b-42, Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
We take the words, "we be not born of fornication" to mean that they meant that they were not bastard Jews, whose blood had been contaminated with idolatrous alliances and compromise such as had taken place with the Samaritans.
They claimed purity with the blood line of Abraham.
None of them had joined with the sons of Ishmael like they thought Jesus was claiming they had.
The Jews cling to tradition to be their tie to the Father.
They are pure Jews in the pure line from Abraham, therefore God must be their Father.
But Jesus rebukes them for such shallow thinking.
He does not endorse the Fatherhood of God for all men.
God is not their Father.
He may be their maker and creator but they have chosen their father and it is not God, the Father.
John tells us in his first epistle, 1 John 5:1, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
He tells them that their hatred of him makes it perfectly clear that they do not know the Father.
For if they knew the Father it is clear that they would love the Son.
If they knew the Father, the Father's character would be seen in them.
hey would love the Son as the Father loves the Son.
But they did not love Christ and so it is today.
A man or woman, boy or girl cannot know the Father except by knowing Jesus Christ.
The Fatherhood of God for all men is a myth perpetrated by Satan himself.
The truth of the matter is is that the only Fatherhood that exists for all men is the Fatherhood of Satan and the only way a man can be loosed from that Fatherhood is through his adoption by the Father through Jesus Christ. |