John 8: 31 - 59
Face Off
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” 39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “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. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” 48 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. 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.” 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. Who 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.” 57 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.
Today’s message is being composed during a nice part of the year which I enjoy is late spring. If you are a sports enthusiast then this is also a great time to enjoy a variety of sports. The Baseball season is underway. College spring sports are in their final playoffs. Also the pro basketball and hockey series are in their final series. The cities whose teams are involved in the playoffs take these times with great intensity. Hockey describes the beginning of their games more accurately than the other sports. They begin with what they call a ‘face off’. It is a method of starting play in ice hockey, lacrosse, and other games in which an official drops the puck or ball between two opposing players who contend for its control. It begins a timed confrontation. Whoever has the most points when time runs out wins the confrontation.
To a large degree we have witnessed and will continue to witness the confrontation of our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ match wits with the religious reps. this verbal battle is presented in stages as the case builds up against the Scribes and Pharisees. It had begun with the revelation of our Holy Lord Himself as the Light of the world, a light which the religious sect had failed to see and respond to. It continued with the fact that our Lord Jesus Is The One Who had come from above, One Whom they had failed to discern and listen to. Now we are going to learn that the accusation becomes more blatant. The reason that they have failed to see Him and to know Him is because ‘their father is the Devil’, in other words, it is because they are following in the Devil’s ways and behaving like him. In the words of Paul to the Corinthians in the second letter chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 we read, ‘the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them’.
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Please take note that our Master and King spoke to some of the Jews who had showed some sincere positive response to Him. It was a glorious promise of hope. The truth was now open to them, and if they will but know and receive that truth it will make them truly free. If you have not caught a unique problem here then let me point it out. But here is a truth that we all need to nail down and that there is only one test of true faith and that is perseverance and continuance. We need to hang in with our Lord and not quit our loyalty to Him. We are going to shortly see that they are going to flip in their belief of Him as the Messiah because of the points He Is going to make with them. In fact these people along with the religious hypocrites are going to be so angry that they will try to pick up stones and try to kill our Lord right then and there.
By such perseverance those who receive His teaching (‘word’) will come into a fuller understanding of truth, especially the truth about Him, and will thus find freedom from sin and its power. And then they will find true freedom, not the freedom from the tyranny of Rome which they have previously longed for, but a greater freedom, a freedom from the tyranny of that greatest evil ruler of all, sin.
There is an important lesson here. The only final basis of assurance of salvation for anyone is continuance in responding to the truth. A ‘saved’ man can backslide, but he can have no assurance while in his backsliding, and, if it is permanent, abundant Scriptures testify to the fact that it indicates that he was not really saved. When the Savior saves it is effective, even though there may be the occasional blip. He does not fail in His work.
Some teachers say that the continuing conversations are not from the believers but from the religious non-believing zealots. Yet, there is really no indication that there is a change in people who respond to Him. Please note the beginning of the next verse, ‘they answered Him.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
The remark of our Lord Jesus hit all their nerves, the suggestion of not being free jars them all. They prided themselves on the fact that because they were the sons of Abraham, and because they had the Law of God, they above all men were free, because their thoughts were free. Whatever the Roman tyranny they were under, they proudly believed and claimed that they had a freedom that came from the fact that they had God’s Law and were ruled by it and that they were the people of the covenant with freedom to live by that Law. Besides this fact, outside interference and subjection was of secondary importance.
Indeed, under the Romans they did have specific rights to practice their own religion exclusively and thus had reason to consider themselves as religiously free. Thus they could say, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to any man’. This could only apply to them religiously as they well knew, but it was something of which they were proud. They saw themselves as religiously free spirits, especially free from idolatry. So this is why they respond ‘How can you say that we must be made free?’
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
We need to stop here and see the wisdom of our Great Lord and King. As I mentioned the Jews thought that because they had the right to practice their religious beliefs that they were not under any bondage. Sure they were and could acknowledge that the Romans were their physical rulers but the Jews could care less who ran the government. To a large degree what they were saying is that even though the Roman controlled their physical movements and way of life, they could not control the way they thought.
To answer this point our Lord says, ‘Oh really, you think you are not in bondage to thoughts. Well, consider this. To sin is to be a slave. As with addictions, men and women may think they have sin under control, but once they try to escape they soon discover that they are helplessly enslaved. As Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans chapter 7 verse 19, ‘the good I want to do, I do not do. The evil that I do not want to do, I do’. For the fact is that it is only when we are happy to continue in sin that we think we have control over it. But once we seek to escape from it, it is then that we discover its bondage.
35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
In addition to this deep analysis of these incorrect thoughts established by these so called religious experts our Lord also includes a zinger. He gets them fired up by His words because to say that they are ‘slaves’ was to call them bastards or illegitimate. Besides inferring that they are not God’s children this word also infers that they are debased no longer in pure or original form. Now we get a good inclination on why these guys went on a verbal attack against our Lord saying He was from an illegitimate family.
We see here that our Lord Jesus contrasts those who are slaves to sin to those who become sons and daughters of God’s household through the power and authority of the true Son. Those who are slaves have no permanent benefits. One day they will lose out. But those who become sons and daughters because of their response to the Son become free from such slavery. They are made free by the Son. And their position in God’s household is therefore permanent.
37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
He did not deny that in the flesh these men could call themselves ‘children of Abraham’. However a key point is that among Israelites when you said ‘son of --’ it could have two levels of significance. On the one it could indicate ‘by ancestry’, on the other it could mean ‘by behavior’. Thus the ‘sons of Belial’ were those who behaved like Belial. A true son is revealed by his behavior. What He was thus saying was that while they might be natural sons of Abraham they did not behave like it and were therefore not true sons of Abraham. So while there were some among them who were friendly disposed and had given His words entry, the wider group still sought His death, and it was they whom, identifying themselves as ‘children of Abraham’, Jesus was addressing.. That Abraham would not have behaved like they did is implied, thus they were not truly ‘sons of Abraham’.
38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
Now in an obscure way our Lord Jesus contrasts Himself with them He pointed out that He spoke only of what He had seen with His Father. Thus what He spoke was good and true. His abiding in the Father was constant and affected all that He said. But these protesters on the other hand spoke what they had heard from their father. The implication was that their father was less worthy. This remark as we will see indentifies their anger.
39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
These men were quick to pick up the fact that He was distinguishing His Father from theirs. In their minds they are only thinking about a human ‘man’ who our Holy Elohim utilized to form a special people unto Him and they did not connect that our Lord was talking about Father God, Jehovah Yahweh.
Like many they thought that they could be judged by their connections. They were inordinately proud of their connection with Abraham for it was to him that God’s great promises were given. But Jesus would now point out that if they were Abraham’s children it only counted if they behaved like Abraham. And this was something that they should indeed have recognized, for their history and their Scriptures were full of God’s rejection of those who did not obey Him. We can compare Matthew 3.9 where to the same claim to be sons of Abraham, John the Baptist says that God is able to raise up ‘these stones’ to be sons of Abraham. There is nothing to a name for real evidence of true son ship lies in behavior.
40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
Many of us are quite affected by our Lord’s words which He will say in the upcoming verses – ‘I AM’. We all know that He was saying to these people that He was the voice speaking out of the burning bush - In other words, He Was and Is God. However, as we can see here that all along He was letting these people know that indeed He Is God. He explained that if they were really Abraham’s children they would behave as Abraham behaved. But the very fact that they were plotting His death proved that they were not doing so. He had come as a man who had told them the truth which He had heard from God and yet they were seeking to kill Him. Abraham, in contrast, welcomed Him when He showed up with two angels as we learn in the book of Genesis chapter 18.
“1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. 9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” 10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” 16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
41 You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Recognizing that they could no longer defend themselves by reference to Abraham they changed their position. It is possible that they picked up the fact that our Holy Lord Jesus was all along speaking that His Father Is Adoni Yahweh.
Remember that our Lord implied that they were slaves or in a way saying that they were born children from parents who were not married. Well they were accusing the Lord Jesus from coming from this same situation.
42 Jesus said to them, “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. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus denied what they claimed. He pointed out that their very attitude was clear proof that they were not true children of God, for if they had been they would have loved Him, the One Who came from God at the express will of God. Indeed the reason that they did not understand this was because they did not want to, and it was simply because His preaching was too uncomfortable. It demanded far reaching changes and an acceptance that the system on which they had built their lives might not be as satisfactory as they thought. So the reason why they did not understand Him was simply because their ears were too heavy to hear. ‘Cannot hear my word’ means ‘cannot because their prejudice prevents them from hearing it’.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Here we find a very interesting thing to consider and it is this, ‘Does Satan always lie?’ I am pretty certain that most of you are thinking based on what we just heard from our Master and Lord Jesus Christ that Satan does always lie- ‘He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” However stop and think about what our Lord has said here. Is He saying Satan always lies!’
If this be so then how can we explain why Satan and his ministers quote true scriptures (Matt. 4:1-10; II Cor. 11:13-15); How did the false prophet Balaam uttered true prophecies (Num. 22); and why the demon who impersonated Samuel seemed to be so “honest” (I Sam. 28:3, 12-20).
So, ask yourself this question, ‘do liars always lie?’I think the answer hinges on a principle — someone who is always a liar does not always lie! If a liar could be “depended upon” to lie consistently, one could always extract the truth from him. In order to be “effective,” liars often mix truth with error. Effective” liars do not always lie!
The statements of Satan in the book of Genesis chapter 3 verse 4 – 5 are an excellent example. Many people use these verses as an argument that human beings cannot be born into the family of God. They reason that since Satan is a liar as stated in John 8: 44 and since he said to Adam and Eve –‘ye shall be as gods..’ then men shall not be as gods. WRONG! Satan told the truth about the ultimate destiny of our ancestors and as a result all of sinful mankind. You see he was correct in that sinful men and women would be ‘gods’. Please note that the ‘gods’ begins with a small ‘g’. By sinning death entered. First we have died spiritually then, as we know physically. In our dead spiritually existence we are the gods of our own lives. Our Lord Jesus Christ said so in chapter 10 of John’s Gospel. Satan lied about ‘how’ to become a member of God’s family. In his deceit he clouded the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that by His shedding of His blood, death, and resurrection we are forgiven and are then adopted as His children and ultimately will become one in Him [John 17]
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
Here our Precious Lord Jesus points out the problem with mankind and it is because they are willing to receive anything but the truth. How could they believe when they were so dishonest that they behaved like the Devil, He is saying. Had He brought them lies they would have believed, (as later they would believe other false Messiahs who pandered to them). What they could not stand was the truth. They were determined to hold on to their prejudices rather than admit that there were things in their teachings and attitudes that needed putting right.
You cannot escape this no matter what your lives are involved with. Facing up to the fact that we might be wrong is a problem we all have. We too become so set in our ways and our ideas that we do not step back to look. No one person or church is fully right. We must learn that there is truth that we have yet to find, and that what we consider the truth may only be partially so. There is only One Who is ‘the Truth’.
46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
We just went over the facts relative to liars, now what about our Holy God Jesus Christ. He questions these so called holy people to give Him evidence that He has ever committed a sin? Stop and think about this. Remember they had said that He was born out of wedlock. If this was really true then they should have answered, ‘We just said and can prove that your dad wasn’t Joseph.’ Did they? The answer is no and in fact they couldn’t come up with one fact that our Holy Master ever committed a sin. So, then it comes to reason then that everything He has been saying cannot have even one lie. If there was a lie then He sinned – right? And if they are quiet in an actual charge then it also stands to reason that they should believe what He has told them.
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
So then He asked them why, if He was speaking the truth, they would not hear Him and believe Him. And His solution was that it was because they were ‘not of God’. For His life substantiated His teaching, and if they could not fault the one they should have accepted the other. But their response to His teaching brought out the truth about their own lives, for what He taught was the truth, and yet they rejected it. Whatever their claims might be, therefore, they were not of God, for any man who studied the teachings of Jesus, and then turned away from them, was demonstrating thereby his own sinfulness. And that was because if his heart had been right he would have had to respond.
48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
We now come across the stymied man’s playbook. It says on page 666, ‘when back into a corner come out with insults, cursing, and any other immature verbal attack.’ Since our Lord in His great wisdom just cornered them to take their own inventory and realize that He was in truth telling them all the right information they shut off their brains and allow the venom from their hearts come pouring out.
To call Him a Samaritan was to accuse Him of being heretical. But the term was intended to be even more insulting than that, for they deeply despised the Samaritans. To call him a Samaritan was one of the biggest insults a Jew could direct at another Jew. Furthermore, with their words linking our Holy Master with the Devil, in affect they are charging Him with being demon-possessed.
49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
Jesus denied their charge. Rather than being demon possessed it was He Who truly honored the Father. That was patently something that no demon possessed person would do. Furthermore He wanted them to know that He was not fighting for His own honor. There was Another Who would defend His honor. Father God Is The One Who Judges all men and as such glorifies our Lord Jesus. So, by seeking to dishonor Jesus these Jews were attacking God Himself.
51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”
The fact that they should recognize was that His words offered life. Those who fully responded to them would never die. Jesus was of course speaking about eternal death. The way to eternal life, He was telling them, was by studying Jesus’ words, receiving the truth about Him, believing in Him and responding to Him, and then obeying His teaching. The Pharisees taught that eternal life was obtainable by a constant study of the words of Moses, and a determined effort to obey them as they were expounded by the Rabbis, demonstrating their participation in the God’s covenant. Jesus was now replacing Moses and putting Himself in his place.
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. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”
These religious hypocrites tried to ridicule His teaching. They must have known what He really meant but they were as aware as He was that others were listening. So they altered ‘see death’ to ‘taste of death’ with the intention of emphasizing physical death, as their comments about Abraham and the prophets demonstrated. They were refusing to acknowledge that He was speaking of ‘the second death’, something that they too believed in.
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.
Jesus did not directly answer their jibe. Rather He diffused their argument by disclaiming any desire to glorify Himself. They claimed that His Father was their God. Well, let them consider this. It was the One Whom they claimed as their God Who was the One Who would glorify Jesus, and indeed was already doing so through His wonderful works. Thus by not recognizing Him they were proving that they did not actually know the Father. In contrast with them Jesus did know Him and He kept His word faithfully, as their own failure to convict Him of sin earlier established. To suggest any other position would make Him a liar like them. There was obviously now no holding back. Both had made their positions clear.
At this point Jesus, in full awareness of what He is doing, now makes His past comments absolutely clear. They had asked Him whether He was greater than Abraham. Well, He would now tell them the truth.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
Abraham had been told by God that ‘by you all the families of the earth will be blessed’ and that ‘kings would be born of him’, and as he looked forward to kings being born from him he might well have associated the coming time of blessing with the coming of a righteous future king descended from him, one who would rule nations as he ruled his family tribe. How else could the nations of the world be blessed through him? Abraham thus rejoiced in the great day when God and the world would be at one through his descendants and looked forward to that day of God. This came out especially when at last the chosen son, through whom the promises would begin fulfillment, was born, for laughter was continually associated with that birth, even in the very name Isaac itself (meaning ‘laughter’). Abraham rejoiced at the birth of Isaac for he rejoiced at him as the sign of the fulfillment of the promises in the future.
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Their reply was over literal. They must have known something of what Jesus meant but they were pandering to the crowds. For in their hearts they must have known, had they considered the matter fairly, that Jesus had meant that Abraham looked forward as a prophet. But now they discover that they finally get what they wanted, for Jesus reply is an unequivocal statement of His divine origin.
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Boom! Skeptics comment that our Holy Lord Jesus never said He was God – get real.
It was now patently clear that He was claiming to have had eternal existence, to have been in continual being long before Abraham. He was indeed saying that He was the ‘I am’, the eternally existing God, the One Who existed even before the world was created.
So, hearing the clear words from God in human form they feel on their knees and begged forgiveness for their sins. Not quite. In their satanic hatred they wanted to kill God.
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.
It is quite interesting how when people have yielded to killing someone that they fail to take into consideration their own safety. Remember back when the evil government workers hated Daniel. They tricked Darius the king into passing a law they knew Daniel would break and as a result be feed to the lions. Stop and think that even if Daniel was killed by the lions did they think that all would be okay for them individually. As we know Daniel was spared and as a result of their trickery not only did these evil men die at the same process they wanted Daniel to go through but their families also met the same fate.
These men who lost reason were willing to risk the wrath of the Romans who took away their right to capital judgment. This is why they ultimately took our Precious Holy Lord Jesus to Pilate to get him to put our Lord Jesus to death.
