Wednesday in the Word...John 8:21-30...a rhetorical quesiton
Wednesday in the Word covers verses 21 through 30 of John chapter 8, which read,
v.21 - Then He said again to them,
"I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."
With this passage I will try to switch back and forth to what Jesus is saying and what the crowd is saying. Jesus is in the temple area and speaking to those who are gathered there. He has made the statement that He is the Light of the world. Jesus is also receiving some "push back" from His statements that connect Him to His Father, God.
Jesus will go away. He will be crucified; be buried in a grave for 3 days; rise again; and then ascend into heaven. In the unbelieving state that they are in, they will not be able to follow Him. They will die in their sin unless something happens to them.
v.22 - So the Jews were saying,
"Surely He will not kill Himself, will He,
since He says, "Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
since He says, "Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
The Jews are confused about Jesus speaking of dying. How is this going to happen? He surely is not going to commit suicide because that would be highly offensive and condemned as a heinous sin. They would not want to follow Him in such a terrible act if that is what He was planning on doing.
v.23, 24 - And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
Jesus distinguishes the difference between He and them. They are from this world which represents the spiritual system of evil but Jesus is not from this world which represents the spiritual system of what is holy. Jesus' origin is not from here but from there.
It sounds fatal for us but Jesus gives an "unless" clause. We are doomed to die in our sins unless we believe something. What are we to believe? We are to believe that Jesus is God. He uses the term "I AM." We see it here as "I am He" and the "He" is referring to God. If we are not to die in our sins then we need to believe that Jesus is truly and fully God. The "I AM" phrase takes us back to Moses speaking to God at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 and references of God in this way in Isaiah chapters 43, 46, and 48.
v.25, 26 - So they were saying to Him, "Who are You?" Jesus said to them, "What have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world."
These outlandish statements from Jesus would bring about this question from the Jews. "Who are You to say that You are God?" This is probably more of a rhetorical question rather than one where they are waiting for an answer.
Jesus responds with nothing new but actually something that He has been saying all along. His speaking brings judgment because we are not comparing ourselves to each other but before the holy God. Jesus has more to say in the way of instruction and warning but the messages are coming from God. What He is saying are God's actual words to them. Jesus again states that He is "God sent." He is God sent with the words of God to be said to these people who happen to question His every word.
v.27-29 - They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things
that are pleasing to Him."
How much more can Jesus say about what is going to happen? They are in the dark still about His connection and conversation about Father God. Could they think Jesus was talking of some earthly father or rabbi that He was taught by?
To be lifted up was to be crucified or no suicide attempt. It is also a reference to the bronze snake being lifted up in the desert. The only way the people were physically saved was to look at what had been lifted up. Jesus would be physically lifted up but the only way to be spiritually saved is to connect Him as God. This lifting up is the plan of the Father. He has been in the presence of the Father to be taught what was to be done. He is still in the presence of the Father and what He is always doing is pleasing to the Father.
The crucifixion is the turning point in history for those who see Jesus not as just as a good moral teacher but as the thief on the cross saw Him, the King of another kingdom. The connection to that kingdom is our believing that Jesus is nothing less than deity, the Messiah sent of God to save sinners.
v.30 - As He spoke these things,
many came to believe in Him.
Praise the Lord for this little verse. Some listened and were given eyes to see, eyes to hear, and hearts softened to absorb His love and grace through faith given from God. They were born again and anew. They were coming to their senses like the Parable of the Lost Son(s) and the younger remembering and acknowledging how great the father was. In the midst of this ridicule and persecution, the words of the Father through the Son was yielding a harvest.
Now we have the words of the Father through the Son and we live in a world that is ever increasing in its ridicule and persecution of Christians. Will we continue to willingly speak His words in the midst of it? Will we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him? This is the plan of the Father to us as Jesus told His disciples and future disciples (us) to go, make disciples and to teach them all that Jesus has commanded. May we be faithful in doing so for His glory. Let us pray.
"Heavenly Father, how precious it is so see Jesus in the way He speaks of Himself. How direct are Your commands and instruction on those who will not die in their sins. How gracious and loving are You to provide the perfect Sacrifice, Your own Son, to take our place as we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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