With Dale Ratzlaff
John 8:48-57
The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ “Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
The hostility expressed in the first verse of this section is based upon verse 47 in our previous study.
He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God (Jn 8:47).
Here Jesus plainly states that the reason the Jews cannot hear what He is telling them is that they “are not of God.” I believe what Jesus is doing here, and to the end of chapter eight, is trying to awaken the calloused conscience of these religious leaders. At times Jesus was very gentle in dealing with sinners as He demonstrated with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. At other times, because of the hardness of their hearts, Jesus had to be very blunt as He sought to break through the pride and self-sufficiency of the Jews. Therefore, Jesus tells these leaders that they are not of God. They are on the wrong side of truth and allegiance. Rather than examine the consequences of this truthful statement of Jesus, they, in turn, castigate Jesus as a demon-possessed Samaritan. Think for a moment on both the gravity and irony of what is taking place. Jesus, as we have already seen in John 1:1, is the eternal Word who was continually the self-existent God; now He is being called a demon-possessed Samaritan. We remember what John said before:
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him (Jn. 1:11).
In Mark, we have the story of the Jews claiming Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. To this Jesus said that every sin could be forgiven,
but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin, because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mk. 3:29-30).
Jesus’ answer does not have the vitriol that one might expect in response to such an insulting statement. He just truthfully relates the facts of His person and work.
Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”
There are several points of application here. First, when accused of having a demon, Jesus objectively responds by telling the truth, “I do not have a demon.” There doesn’t appear to be a sense of anger or hostility, just the truth—a good example for us. Second, Jesus does not seek His glory. He leaves that up to the Father—another pattern for us to follow. The one who “seeks” Christ’s glory is the Father, the one who judges. Third, as so often is the case, the ones judging end up being the ones judged. Matthew records this truth.
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye (Mt. 7:3-5).
Jesus does not withhold eternal life from these Jews.
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.
What a promise! What an opportunity to enter into a profitable discussion with the Lord of Life—eternal life! But no, truth rejected only makes one even more unseeing, hardened, and self-sufficient.
The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ “Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?”
Jesus tells the Jews that if they “keep His word” they will never “see death”—an expression of eternal life. They, however, change the wording to “he will never taste death”—referring to the bitterness of common death. Next, the Jews asked the most important question, “Whom do you make Yourself out to be?” They ask the right question but for the wrong reason. Rather than honestly seeking the true answer to their question of who Jesus is, they ask the question so that they might condemn Jesus for claiming to be God.
Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”
Here in unmistakable language, Jesus states that His Father is the very one of whom the Jews say, “He is our God.” Jesus knows the Father; they don’t. The divergence is clear. Jesus knows the Father; the Jews don’t. Jesus keeps the word of the Father; the Jews don’t. Jesus seeks to give the Jews eternal life; The Jews reject the Life-Giver in the strongest terms. Jesus was not yet ready to give up presenting saving truth to these religious leaders.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.
This statement from Jesus was somewhat of a riddle. What exactly did Jesus mean? When did Abraham see Christ’s day and rejoice? I think there is a three-fold answer.
First, we have this foundational promise upon which the structure of the saving gospel would be built:
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:3).
Paul refers to this ancient promise as the basis for the gospel going to the Gentiles.
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU” (Gal. 3:8).
Second, at the birth of Isaac, who is named “He laughs,” Abraham could then “see” that the promise God had made to him many years before could now be fulfilled. We can only imagine the happy celebration at the birth of “He laughs.”
Third, when Abraham was instructed to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on Mt. Moriah, he obeyed.
Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son (Gen. 22:7-13).
In these “prophetic events”: the promise that all nations would be blessed in Abraham, the miracle of the birth of “He laughs’ and the ram being offered up “in the place of his son” we see Abraham peering down the ages of time and rejoicing that God’s promise would come true. It is astonishing that we have the following record in Genesis. It as if Abraham was given a vision of Mt. Calvary where the true Lamb of God was offered up in our place. The just for the unjust.
Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided. Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen. 22:14-18).
There is one more crystal statement Jesus would give to these faithless, self-proclaimed descendants of “Father Abraham”:
So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
There is no question that the Jews understood exactly what Jesus was saying. He is the self-existent eternal “I AM”—The Jehovah that met Moses at the burning bush. Those who heard Jesus were on the horns of a dilemma. They must either accept Jesus for who He claimed to be or put Him to death for blasphemy. There was no other option under the law. In spite of all the evidence Jesus had given them as recorded in the Gospels, the Jews are unwilling to repent of their pride, and they chose to reap the terrible consequences of the rejecting the Life-Giver who said,
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (Jn. 14:6).
Application
- Throughout this passage, we see the value of obedience to truth as defined by the word of God. Abraham obeyed even in the most difficult circumstances leaving us an example.
- Not only are we to understand the blessings of obedience, we should also recognize the terrible consequences of disobedience: the hardening of our heart, the searing of our conscience so that the voice of God is dulled and the final outcome is being judged as rejectors of eternal life, thus reaping the consequences of eternal separation from God.
- As Jesus responded in calmness and truth to the most insulting and offensive comments so should we. Today, Christians are facing growing hostility. Let us remember Christ’s words.Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt. 5:11-12).
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Mt. 5:44-45).
- When we run across difficult statements—and we will— in the word of God, let us seek to discover truth rather than reject the word as did the Jews.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the abundant evidence given in the Gospel of John regarding Christ’s person and work. Guide me as I study your word and help me to be obedient. May I react with love to those who disagree and castigate me as an evil person. †
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