THE UPCOMING DEPARTURE OF JESUS.
John 8:21-30.
JOHN 8:21. “Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and ye shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come.”
Again we are confronted with the awful possibility of seeking Jesus too late (cf. John 7:34). In our present verse, a warning is added: “ye shall die in your sins.”
Having realised too late that Jesus is, after all, the Messiah, the Greek reads, “in your sin ye shall die.” The singular sin which bars so many from heaven, (“whither I go ye cannot come”) is the sin of unbelief.
JOHN 8:22. “Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? Because He saith, Whither I go ye cannot come.”
Was He going to thwart their murderous plans by taking His own life? It is a preposterous idea!
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.”
Again He appeals to His divine origin. How unlike His opponents Jesus is. Their hearts and motivations are bound up with earthly, carnal things. Jesus is from heaven, “not of this world,” and He is motivated by pure and heavenly thoughts.
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.”
Literally, “if ye believe not that I AM.” I AM is the name of God. If anybody will not believe that Jesus is God, then they will “die in their sins.”
Such warnings are necessary in the course of Jesus’ ministry. Thank God that the door is still open for those who will believe!
JOHN 8:25. “Then said they unto Him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.”
The question is no doubt insincere, intending to bait Jesus into making some unguarded comment that they could catch a hold of, and accuse Him. His answer is both cautious and consistent. In effect, ‘I am the same person that I have always said I am since the very beginning of my ministry.’
JOHN 8:26-27. “I have many things to say and to judge of you: but He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him. They understood not that He spake to them of the Father.”
Jesus speaks of being sent (by the Father), and the words that He speaks are the words of the Father. Such is the unity between the Father and the Son.
Quite why His hearers did not even realise that He was talking of His Father remains a mystery. The mystery of wilful unbelief!
JOHN 8:28. “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”
Things will become clearer after Jesus is “lifted up” on the Cross. This is the beginning of His glorification. “Then ye shall know that I AM.” Another claim to divinity.
“And that I do nothing of myself.” In other words, Jesus is not operating independently of the Father, but the two are at one in all things.
John 8:29-30. “And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him. As He spake these words, many believed on Him.”
We see here again the oneness of the Father and the Son. Jesus’ authority arises from the fact that “I do always those things that please Him.” Such a testimony, and such an example, encouraged “many” to begin to believe on Him.
