11 15 2015 “Four Accusing Questions” John 8:47-59
Every chapter of the Gospel of John so powerfully witnesses to the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have especially witnessed that fact in chapter 8. Jesus declares in John 8:12: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Then in verse 24 He says: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Remember that the word “He” was understood but not in the actual text and so Jesus was declaring Himself to be the “I AM” of the Old Testament appearing as the Word Incarnate in the New, the First and Last of Isaiah and the First and last of Revelation. Then in verse 28 Jesus declares: "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, (Once again He is declaring the type of death He would suffer and that He is the “I AM”.
In verse 36 Jesus makes the declaration that it is through Him that you receive freedom from sin and entrance into the Family of God: “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” He goes on to say that to love the Son is to love the Father and to love the Father means that you would love the Son.: "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.” We ended last week with verse 47: “He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God." Their inability to hear and respond to Jesus was clearly an example that they were not God’s children: they had not received a birth from above.
“Are you a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Today we start at verse 48 (NKJV): “Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.”
“Are you a Samaritan and have a demon?” Once again the Jews’ assessment of Jesus was “way off”. To say that Jesus was a Samaritan would be declaring Him to be a mixed breed and apostate race, hated by the Jews. Since Jesus combated the Jews’ claim of being the true children of Abraham, they retaliated with the accusation that He must be a Samaritan and even worse, He must be a demon. Of course to accuse Jesus of being a demon would be to charge God with the same accusation, which is the grossest of blasphemy. Jesus implies that the accusers are doing exactly that: They are on extremely shaky ground.
Jesus continues in Verse 50: “And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." Here Jesus again describes true discipleship and what it means to “believe. Keeping the word of Jesus consists of receiving Jesus and His words, believing everything that He claims concerning Himself, obeying Him means living by His Word and “remaining or continuing” to do so (or to “Follow Him”. Cf. 8:31)
Keeping Jesus’ word speaks of the character of being a child of the kingdom of God. Having life and light in Him consists of spiritual life without end, life which physical death cannot extinguish. The physical death that comes to every man and woman because we are sinners will only have a mild effect upon believers, as a matter of fact, in the New Testament when believers died physically it is referred to as “sleeping”. Death in the New Testament takes two main definitions: 1) Physical death which is temporary. 2) Spiritual eternal death. The idea of separation is seen in both aspects. The body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26) and those who are unbelievers are dead in their sin without the Lord Jesus. Whether physical or spiritual, death is the opposite of life. The promised inevitable destiny for true believers is resurrection to eternal life, life in God’s presence forever in His forever kingdom.
Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?
“Whom do You make Yourself out to be?"
We continue in verse 52: Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.' 53 Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
Jesus’ inquisitors couple two questions together in verse 53: “Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? “Whom do You make Yourself out to be?" Jesus’ answer is quite unusual as many of His responses are: At first it seems like He avoids the questions but the reality is that the Jews’ only focus was on the physical side of life or death. Focusing only on the physical side of death inevitably causes them to draw a preposterous conclusion. If Jesus had meant what they perceived He meant, they concluded that only a demon possessed person could make such claims since Abraham and the prophets had all died. Their bodies had died even after they heard and obeyed the words of God. Is this Jesus above those people of old? Could Jesus be greater than YHWH since He continued to say that keeping His Words would deliver a person from death? Surely He was blasphemous or demonic!
Listen again to Jesus’ response: "If I honor (or glorify) Myself, My honor (or glory) is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Jesus answers in a different way than expected. Jesus’ answer pertains to the Godly Glory (or Honor) which belongs to God alone. If He had immediately claimed to be greater than Abraham, the prophets, or YHWH, the Jews would have thought Him to be delusional or blasphemous so He approached the issue in terms of glory. He never sought His own glory or praise because glory apart from the approval and praise of God the Father, self-praise, self-glory…all of those would be meaningless and in vain. IT IS MY FATHER WHO GLORIFIES ME. Jesus receives His glory from the Father as He works in perfect obedience to the will of the Father. Remember that the Father and Son have mutually and eternally honored each other’s person and they would ALWAYS continue to honor each other perfectly.
Glory and glorify (doxa/doxaxo) speak to the issue of honor and esteem. Jesus only seeks the esteem and honor of the Father. In John, doxa describes the radiance of the majesty of Heavenly glory and the very SHEKINAH glory of YHWH which is now manifested in the earthly tabernacle of the Incarnate Word from Heaven. It is revealed in the signs and miracles of Jesus as well. The Glory of God takes special significance in the life and work of the Lord Jesus as well as His essential being, which will culminate on the Cross, the Resurrection and Ascension.
Jesus’ answer reflects all of His previous statements concerning Himself. He draws a striking contrast between Himself and His challengers. He glorifies the one they claim is their God but they display no knowledge of truly knowing Him. They do not recognize Jesus as the very emissary from the Father; If they understood and believed YHWH to be their God, they would do the deeds of God, and so they only prove that they themselves are liars.
Jesus, on the other hand, KNOWS THE FATHER and Keeps His Word. His claim to know God is founded not only on his being from eternity the Son of the Father, but also on His perfect obedience to the Father’s will, in other words, Jesus knows Him because He keeps His Word. This reality challenges the dead hearts of His audience, in fact, it angers them to the point where they would like to kill Jesus rather than humble themselves.
Jesus returns to His challenger’s hero, Abraham: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." There is not a reference where God revealed the Savior specifically to Abraham, however, we can assume that God gave Abraham some revelation along with informing him that “in him all the nation of the earth would be blessed.” (Gen. 12:2-3) and perhaps when Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac and God stopped him in order to supply the lamb. (Gen. 22) In any case, Abraham looked forward to God’s promised Messiah by faith, but Jesus’ listeners did not recognize Him. (vs. 55) Romans 4:3 reminds us that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” The Jews were infuriated that Jesus applied the day of the Lord or the dawning of the Messianic age to Himself.
“Have you seen Abraham?”
We close with verses 57-59: “Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
Abraham had been dead for more than 2,000 years and so if Jesus was merely a man, He could not have seen Abraham. The fact is that Jesus created Abraham and called Him by faith out of Ur of the Chaldeans but again the Jews were judging by outward appearance and not righteously and truthfully; but that did not stop Jesus from exerting His eternal existence in a clear and concise response: “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” In this statement Jesus once again exerts His Glorious eternal existence: “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” It is an emphatic form of speech in the Greek present tense of being (existing): Jesus has been continual in boundless existence and duration…uninterrupted, timeless, and self-existent.
God never became but HE IS! He never was something that He is not now and He never will become what He is not now. He continually IS. Only God has this attribute. We saw the significance of this from Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 40-55 last week. In this declaration, Jesus again makes the clear assertion that HE IS GOD because He is one WITH God in essence and Kind. Abraham, the greatest of the Patriarchs came into being, but Jesus eternally was, as now He is and will ever continue to be.
The reaction of the Jews clearly demonstrates that Jesus utilized 1st century imagery in claiming to be God and that is why the Jews who heard His mighty and glorious statements “took up stones to throw at Him,” but Jesus miraculously “hid Himself” and passed through the crowds unharmed. Jesus was protected in all circumstances until the fullness of His Glory on the Cross as a sacrifice for sin for everyone who would believe in Him alone for forgiveness and eternal life. This is the Savior whom we serve, The Son who is and was and is to come, One eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit. To Him be the Glory. Amen.
I. Jesus’ answer to: “Are you a Samaritan and have a demon?”...“If anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." (vs. 51-52)
A. Keeping the word of Jesus consists of receiving it, believing it, obeying it, living by it, “remaining or continuing” in it. (8:31)
B. The kingdom of God consists of life which physical death cannot extinguish.
C. The destiny for believers is resurrection to eternal life.
II. Jesus’ answer to: “Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? “Whom do You make Yourself out to be?" (Answer vs.52-56)
A. Jesus’ answer pertains to Godly Glory (or Honor) belonging to God alone.
B. The Father and Son have mutually and eternally honored each other’s person.
C. Jesus’ answer reflects His previous statements concerning Himself and challenges the dead hearts of His audience.
D. Abraham looked forward to God’s promised Messiah by faith, but Jesus’ listeners do not recognize Him. (vs. 55) “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)
III. Jesus’ answer to: “Have you seen Abraham?” (57-59)
A. Jesus exerts His eternal existence: “Before Abraham was born, I AM.”
B. The Style of Deity: God never became; He IS.
C. The reaction of the Jews demonstrates that Jesus clearly claimed to be God in the 1st century imagery.
D. “Jesus hid Himself and went out”: Jesus was protected in all circumstances until the fullness of His Glory on the Cross.
