JOHN CHAPTER 8

Mon. 4/11 - John Chapter 8 – Lesson 1 – The Woman Caught in Adultery

John 7:53 They went each to his house,

John 8:1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

After the debates about whether or not Jesus could be the Messiah in Chapter 7, everyone just dispersed and went home. However, Jesus who had no home, went to the Mount of Olives. This was His place of solitude to pray, meditate, and rest. It is good to have a quiet place to be alone with God and regroup. The fact that Jesus Himself needed this indicates that we should all develop a place of prayer and meditation. If Jesus needed this, how much more do we? When I lived in a house, it was my garden. For some it is their easy chair. For some it may be their man (or woman) cave.  

Early the next day in the temple, Jesus continued to attract a crowd; so He sat down to teach them. Some of them probably felt that He had answers to questions they had pondered for a long time, maybe all of their lives. Many were probably just curious about all the hub-bub. Religious leaders were still trying to trap Him in some way.

John 8:3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

While Jesus was teaching the crowd, the scribes and Pharisees plopped an unfortunate woman in front of Jesus saying she had been caught in the very act of adultery. If the scribes and Pharisees so responsibly accosted the woman in the act of adultery, where was the other half of this depraved duo? Yes, why didn’t they lay hands on the man as well? It seems the Pharisees disobeyed the law by not arresting both parties. The law clearly stated that both the man and the woman were to be executed. Both the adulterer and the adulteress had equal responsibility for their sins and should have been equally held accountable.

Leviticus 20:10 (MSG) “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—the wife, say, of his neighbor—both the man and the woman, the adulterer and adulteress, must be put to death.

Also, stoning was only specified in the case of a man taking an engaged virgin within the city limits where she could have screamed to attract attention:

Deuteronomy 22:22-24 (NLT) “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die. In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil. Suppose a man meets a young woman, a virgin who is engaged to be married, and he has sexual intercourse with her. If this happens within a town, you must take both of them to the gates of that town and stone them to death. The woman is guilty because she did not scream for help. The man must die because he violated another man’s wife. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.

The scribes and Pharisees wanted to create a corner that Jesus could not deliver Himself out of in the midst of the people so that everyone would see and hear how He handled this difficult situation.

John 8:6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

They were eager for Jesus to entrap Himself by His actions. If He said to stone her, He would not only appear merciless but would be violating Roman law since the Jews were not allowed to carry out a death penalty. If He extended mercy, they would accuse Him of disregarding the law. Also, if He said to stone the woman, they could accuse Him of not meting out justice to the man involved even though they had not brought the man to Him.

John 8:6b Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

I wish I knew what He wrote! Many scholars have speculated on this very thing. He might have written each of the names in the crowd that were holding stones or each of their sins. Since He knew their hearts, He could have written down a few pet sins of those scribes and Pharisees. Maybe He started writing the ten commandments to remind them that none of them perfectly kept even those. Maybe he wrote the names of their secret lovers. We don’t know, but we would like to have known. Maybe Jesus will let us in on it when we get to Heaven!

John 8:7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

They kept pressing Him for an answer. I guess they thought He was ignoring them while He wrote on the ground. When He said that the one without sin should throw the first stone, the point was there is only One who is righteous, and you’re not Him. Then He continued writing the mystery messages in the dirt. I still want to know what that might have been! Perhaps at that point they began seeing what He was writing in the dirt.

John 8:9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

The older ones may have left because they had the longest list of sins because they had lived longer and had the longest time to mess up and need forgiveness. Or perhaps they had the wisdom of living longer to understand His meaning and their sinfulness while the younger men were rash as young men often are. They could have been hot heads, and that hot-headedness could have blinded them until they saw the example of their elders. I believe the woman was now alone with Jesus but was still trembling because she had just seen her life pass before her eyes with the expectation that she was going to be cruelly and excruciatingly executed.

John 8:10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Jesus had saved the woman’s life from the angry, murderous mob. He asked her where they were, and if anyone had stuck around to condemn her. She responded, “No one, Lord.” She addressed Him with reverence and respect, and possibly gratitude. Jesus assured her that He would not condemn her to death either. He admonished her not to continue in her sinful ways. I imagine that after being that close to being stoned to death and out of gratitude to Jesus for saving her, she gladly obeyed Him. She did not deserve mercy because she was caught in the act, but Mercy met her at the point of her need. The One who did have the right to Judge, who could have pounded the gavel and said, “guilty,” extended mercy to her. He graciously gave her life to her as a gift.

Q – Have you ever been tempted to “cast stones” at someone? Perhaps that someone truly was guilty of a heinous offence. Did the Lord prevent you by reminding you of His grace to you? Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” If you have been saved by grace, you are forgiven COMPLETELY even though you did not deserve forgiveness.

Wed. 4/13 - John Chapter 8 – Lesson 2 - I Am the Light of the World

John 8:12 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

This is the second of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the book of John. You may recall that earlier Jesus had stated “I AM the Bread of Life.” The way He structured these sentences indicates that He was clearly claiming to be THE I AM, that He was claiming to be God. Since the timing of this statement was still at the Feast of Booths, the people would have definitely recognized this as a messianic claim since the following passage was read during the Feast:

Zechariah 14:5b-8 (MSG) Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him. What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God’s—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning. What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter!

The passage from Zechariah is a prophecy concerning the New Jerusalem. There will be no need for the natural luminaries (sun, moon, or stars) because God will be the only light source needed. Jesus was claiming to be THAT light. “Follows” in this passage can be defined as “to be in the same way with,” or in other words to be in unity with, in tune with.  This would not be a half-hearted, person who followed out of curiosity, but one who had dedicated himself to following Jesus, the true believers. To this type of person, Jesus promised they would walk in light rather than darkness. Darkness is usually symbolic of evil and depravity. Light represents goodness, peace, joy, tranquility – all the things provided by a relationship with Jesus. The light of life is Jesus Himself because He is the only way to everlasting life. Meaningful, productive, purposeful life!

John 8:13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”

That’s what they always say. Same old song and dance, and I can’t even dance! Previously as we studied in John chapter 5, Jesus had pointed out that He, His Father, the miracles, John the Baptist, and even Moses all bore witness that He was the Son of God! Yet here are the Pharisees once again saying His testimony is not true because there are not two witnesses. Actually, because it is not corroborated by the Pharisees.

John 8:14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

Jesus knew where His true home was, but they didn’t. And unless they came to know Him as the Truth, they would not understand that He had come from Heaven and was going back there. After all, these guys didn’t even have His earthly birthplace correct since they kept assuming He was from Nazareth in Galilee rather than Bethlehem of Judea. They didn’t have a clue!

John 8:15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

The Pharisees were judging according to the outward, but the Lord judges according to the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7b For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Jesus does not pass judgment based on the five senses. If He does make a judgment it is heavenly and revelatory. Christ will ultimately be the judge of all, but His judgment is unclouded because he knows all the facts. Since He and the Father are One, His judgment is perfect. Jesus and the Father judge together, so they are two witnesses as well as the perfect judge.

John 8:17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

As we have noted previously in our comments on John chapter 5, two witnesses were required to prove a person’s guilt or innocence. In this case, they wanted two witnesses to prove whether or not Jesus was telling the truth about Himself. Jesus is one witness and the Father is the other witness. If they worshiped the Father wholeheartedly they would be able to perceive that Jesus was the Son of God. The miracles He performed were also God’s witness on His behalf. The miraculous healings He performed could be authenticated by the people who received them, and the Pharisees had interviewed some of those who experienced healing but refused to accept their testimony. We will see another example of that in John chapter 9, so stick with us.

John 8:19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?”

Once again, the Pharisees were thinking in fleshly terms. You would think they would have a clue about spiritual things since they were the religious leaders of Israel, but it appeared they had none. They were wanting Jesus to produce an earthly Father. They still did not understand that He was speaking about God.

John 8:19b Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Jesus was pointing out that the Pharisees had no relationship with Him or His Father. If they trusted in Jesus, they would have had the light to see that His Father was God, Yahweh. And had they truly known Yahweh, they would have recognized His Son! There was an obvious family resemblance, after all! They were so busy trying to force everyone to follow traditions that they did not focus on knowing the Lord God. They were trying to squeeze people into the mold of liturgical conformity rather than teaching the people to have a relationship with God as their Father. They missed the fantastic message that Jesus had come to make an intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe possible for sinful men and women!

John 8:20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Jesus was speaking boldly in the enemies’ camp, yet was not arrested. He was in the territory of the Pharisees, claiming to be God which they thought was blasphemy because they did not believe Him, but they left Him alone. His time had not yet come. Where have we heard that statement before? Repetition highlights importance, and John reminds us over and over that God sovereignly protected Jesus because “His time had not yet come.”

Q – Have you ever heard the Hank Williams song, “I Saw the Light?” Jesus is the Light, and His Holy Spirit illumines the word of God that we might understand. Are you beginning to see things more clearly? If not, pray and ask the Lord to shed His light on the passage for you.

Friday – 4/15 - John Chapter 8 - Lesson 3 – Not of This World

John 8:21 (VOICE) So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

Jesus was still talking to the Pharisees and told them that the destiny they created for themselves through their unbelief would be carried out – they would die in their sin. They would be unable to follow Jesus where He was going (Heaven) because they had no trust, reliance on, or relationship with Jesus.

John 8:22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

Thinking merely of the physical, here and now, once again, the Pharisees wondered if Jesus was planning to commit suicide. They realized death was a place they could not immediately follow, but they missed the point that Jesus was saying they could not abide forever with Him in His home. He was returning to His Father’s house, and they could not follow because, as we will learn later, Jesus is the only Door. They did not know that because of their lack of relationship with Jesus, their unbelief, He would not be preparing a place for them in His Father’s house. Those places are reserved for those who place their trust in Jesus as the Son of God.

John 8:23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

Jesus clarifies that the Pharisees were from this world (earth), but He was from another world called Heaven. The Pharisees were spiritually empty, bankrupt. Since they refused to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they could not possibly trust Him as their Messiah and Savior. The only way to escape dying in their sins and permanent separation from God was to put their trust in Jesus and accept His salvation invitation. They did not have the relationship of adoption into the family of God.

John 8:25 So they said to him, “Who are you?”

Reading this passage helps me to further understand why elsewhere Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides.” Jesus had told them in many ways that He was the Son of God. They just couldn’t “see” it. They may have been saying, “Who are YOU? A mere carpenter’s son from Nazareth telling us, the religious aristocracy of Israel, that we are not able or welcome to go where you are going?” In other words, “Who do you think you are?”

John 8:25b Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”

As we said before, Jesus had been telling them, sometimes in no uncertain terms, that He was the Son of God from the very start of His earthly ministry. Jesus was proclaiming the Father’s agenda, not His own. By claiming to have been sent by God, Jesus was implying that He had been WITH God. As a matter of fact, Jesus was there on divine assignment, a mission from God. The Pharisees did not understand. Jesus told them He had much to say about them (the Pharisees) and much to judge. Foreshadowing…See Matthew 23:13-29 for the “woes” Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.

John 8:27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.

How clueless could they be? They must have had heads of granite because nothing of spiritual consequence or substance penetrated. Since they had made up their minds NOT to believe Jesus, they could not understand His words.  Understanding only comes when God opens up a person’s mind. God left them blind. They had His word in the Old Testament but refused to believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

John 8:28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 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.”

By lifted up, Jesus was talking about the crucifixion. So He was explaining that they would not know who He was until after they murdered Him and God raised Him from the dead. Even then, most of them would refuse to believe because they would not admit they had been wrong. Most of them remained hard-hearted and obstinate.

Jesus always spoke under the authority of God because, in reality, He and the Father were and still are One. Therefore, Jesus could state that God had not left Him alone.  Obviously, the Father was not physically there beside Him (observable to the Pharisees), but they were One in Spirit. As the God-Man, Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father in order to be the sinless sacrifice to die in our place.

John 8:30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The Pharisees’ hearts may have been hardened, but many other people who heard Jesus’ words, saw the light and believed. And as we will see much later at least a couple of Pharisees also believed. Some of them experienced a softening of their hearts through the grace of God and were convinced.

                         

Q – If you were to die today, could you follow Jesus where He went? If you have entrusted your life to Jesus, believed He is the way to Heaven, you would instantaneously be in His presence as soon as you breathed your last breath on earth. Do you have confidence in that truth?

Mon. 4/18 - John Chapter 8 – Lesson 4 - The Truth Will Set You Free

John 8:31 (ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus now addressed believers, those Jews who believed Him to be the Messiah, rather than the Pharisees who doubted or outright rejected the truth that He was the Son of God. He proceeded to give the believing Jews instruction. He told them a test of true discipleship was abiding in His word. To abide means to live, to stay, or to reside. They were to remember and act upon the words He had spoken, the things He had taught them. If they took to heart and lived by the things they had learned from Him already, they would better understand the truth that salvation comes through Him and is a free gift which would set them free from sin. The truth that Jesus had imparted to them that He was the Son of God, on mission from God, was the truth that would deliver them from sin. Whereas these first believers had the spoken word of Jesus, who they heard teaching in the temple and from the mountaintops, we have the written word. We need to live in the Bible, absorb it daily. Today, we still must act upon the truth we have learned so far in trusting Jesus in order to understand more of the Scripture and be even more intimately in step with our Lord.

John 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

The “they” now switches back to the unbelieving Jewish religious leaders. Had Jesus’ Jewish listeners forgotten captivity in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, under Philistines, and now under Rome? Of course, under Rome they were recognized as a valid religion, had some liberty within the system, and were not technically slaves. However, they are missing the point completely. That is not the kind of slavery Jesus was talking about. Nor is He instructing them about political liberty.

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Dr. Samuel Thorpe of Oral Roberts University:

The issue in John 8:31-36 is bondage versus freedom. The audience had a twisted view of the nature of the Messiah, that because they were physical descendants of Abraham, they were the "chosen" of God. But Jesus called them "slaves of sin", in bondage to sin and flesh. So He was the only way to freedom, the Truth itself, which would set them free from their bondages. But they refused to recognize their spiritual and mental enslavement. The truth can only be found in Jesus, and truth sets them free from these bondages but their pride blocked their ability to see reality. SO far, they had been acting as slaves to sin and flesh; and always would if not freed.

Until we receive Christ, we are enslaved to the way of the flesh, of self-gratification, which ultimately is the way of sin. This is the direction Satan would love for people to continue moving.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All people are in that category of being sinners until they meet and surrender to the Savior.

Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

As Paul taught in Romans 6 above, we are all slaves to something. Either sin is our master, or the Lord is our Master. I know which Master I prefer to serve, the One who loves me and prepares a home for me in Heaven.

Warren Wiersbe BE Bible Study Series:

Jesus explained that the difference between spiritual freedom and bondage is a matter of whether one is a son or a servant. The servant may live in the house, but he is not a part of the family, and he cannot be guaranteed a future.

A slave might have even managed the house for his owner/employer, but at the end of the day the house and everything in it belonged to the Master. The Son would inherit, but the slave could be sold or thrown in prison due to a lie told by his master’s wife like the patriarch Joseph (You can read his story in Genesis 39). The Son had the power to free slaves. Jesus is the Son of our Master. He not only sets us free from sin but promises us a place to live in His Father’s house for eternity – no longer as slaves but as co-heirs!!! When we trust Jesus as Savior and Lord – His invitation of salvation which was free to us but was purchased by the giving of His life on the cross, we went from slaves of sin to heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. We are slaves of God, but our Master has adopted us as sons and daughters.

Romans 8:15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:17 (NIV) Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

There can be no greater freedom than resting in the fact that God has included us in His forever family. If Jesus is your Guarantor of freedom, you can take it to His bank knowing He has made good on His promise to redeem you from slavery to sin by paying your purchase price on the cross. He sealed the deal completely when He rose from the dead and ascended victoriously back to the Father.  

Q – Have you trusted in the truth that Jesus is the Son of God who was fully man and fully God, died for your sins, was raised from the dead, and now intercedes for believers at the throne of God as our advocate? Have you been freed from a lifestyle of sin and adopted into God the Father’s forever family?

 Wed. 4/20 John chapter 8 – Lesson 5 – Abraham’s Offspring?

John 8:37 (ESV) I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

Of course these Jewish religious leaders were biological descendants of Abraham. Genealogies being very important in the Jewish culture, these men would be able to track their family tree back to their forefather Abraham.  Jesus did not dispute that fact. However, Jesus also knew that they did not believe God like their patriarch had believed.

Romans 4:3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

John the Baptist had already pointed out that their physical relationship to Abraham would not save them from the wrath of God:

Matthew 3:8-10 (NASB) Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

These men who claimed Abraham as their father sought to kill the promised descendent of Abraham through whom the Jews and all the nations would be blessed! Abraham’s belief was counted to him as righteousness. The faith of Abraham made him right with God. The Pharisees and Sadducees were physical descendants of Abraham, but they did not follow his spiritual heritage. They claimed Abraham as their father but did emulate His closeness to the Lord. They followed rules, but had no relationship. Abraham was their claim to fame, empty notoriety. They were name-droppers. They claimed to know God but did not recognize Him in the words of His only begotten Son.

John 8:38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

Jesus’ Father is God who is in Heaven above. Jesus taught the things He had personally heard and witnessed while in Heaven with the Father. Since the religious leaders had claimed to be Abraham’s children, was Jesus saying they did things Abraham had told them? NO! Jesus implied that these Jews were NOT emulating their father Abraham’s example. Therefore, they were not behaving as God the Father directed either.

John 8:39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”

The Jewish leaders were a perpetual broken record. I wonder if they thought Jesus was “slow” or “dense” because they kept saying the same thing over and over again. Or were they senile and forgot what they had told Him. They kept falling back on their Jewish heritage rather than admitting that each of them individually was lacking in the faith required to trust God. They were claiming what Abraham had done, and were not taking into account their personal accountability. As if, they, like spoiled children, could ride on his coattails forever. This would be like me saying that because my father was an engineer working on F-111 and F-16 airplanes, I would be qualified to do the same without learning any of the required math and science myself.

John 8:39b Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.”

Jesus pointed out once more that these men were not behaving in any way, shape, or form as Abraham would. If Abraham was their father, they needed to shape up or ship out. Jesus confronted them again with the fact that they wanted to kill Him even though He spoke under the authority of God Himself. Jesus boldly addressed the fact that they had murder in their hearts. All He had done was to share the truth of God with them. As we have noted before, the miraculous signs Jesus performed validated that He was from God. Once again, He accused them of “doing the works your father did.” He made it clear their father could NOT be God. Their claim to the SPIRITUAL lineage of Abraham was not legitimate.

John 8:41b They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”

So the Jews came back with a dig questioning the legitimacy of Jesus’ own birth. They made the assumption that Mary was unfaithful to Joseph since she was already pregnant when they married. Jesus had said all along that God was His Father. They claimed that God was their Father, that they were in relationship with Him. But there is no relationship to the Father without relationship to the Son. If they were truly children of the living God, they would have recognized His Son and followed Him.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

Not only would they recognize the Son if God were their Father, they would LOVE Him.  If they were truly children of God, they would not only have recognized and followed Jesus but would have wanted to be taught by Him since His authority was much higher than their own. However, they did not understand Him. The theological knowledge of Jesus dethroned the religious leaders as if they were babies in need of milk instead of being able to be leaders in the temple. They could not bear to hear His words because it would mean admitting that He was closer to God and had more knowledge of God’s ways than they did.

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Jesus called them the devil’s children! Since they were too prideful to see what He was subtly saying, He just stated it point blank. The fruit does not fall far from the tree, so their murderous thoughts toward Jesus were in keeping with the fact that spiritually they were being led by Satan. The father of lies is who inspired them to bear false witness against Jesus. Satan caused the accusers within the Sadducees and Pharisees to make false claims about Jesus. One example follows:

Mark 3:22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

Since the teachers of the law did not believe Jesus and were blinded to the truth that He was the Son of God, they discouraged others from believing by telling lies about Him. 

John 8:45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Jesus was calling the teachers, the religious leaders, deaf to the words of God. He once explained this deafness and blindness to His disciples to help them know why they could understand many of the parables but others could not.

Matthew 13:11-15 (MSG) He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again: ‘Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won’t have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won’t have to look, so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them.’

Those who truly belong to Jesus and, therefore, to God the Father are able to understand the truth. The Jewish religious leaders were not able to understand Jesus’ words because they had “form-ship” but no fellowship. They mechanically obeyed the Law but would not admit their inability to do so perfectly. So they completely missed out on the fact that Jesus was the Savior they needed in order to overcome sin and the world. God had their bodies, but what He desired and required was their hearts; and He did not have their hearts. Their bodies were surrendered, but their hearts were not. They fulfilled ritualistic observances but completely failed in the area of loving God with all their hearts, souls, and minds which is the first and greatest commandment. When you break the first commandment, you’re done. You’re sunk before you begin swimming. That’s why Jesus had to come.

Q – Are you an excellent rule follower? Do you choose the moral high ground because it was drilled into you by your parents? But are you missing out on the joy of loving and being loved unconditionally by Jesus who died for you? Only His Holy Spirit living within you can transform you into the person God wants you to be.  Stop striving, and start trusting!

Fri 4/22 - John 8 – Lesson 6 - Before Abraham Was, I Am

John 8:48 (ESV) The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

First, the Jewish leaders called Jesus an illegitimate half-breed, and then they said He was demon possessed! The Samaritans were despised for intermarrying with the pagan peoples around them who worshipped idols. As we pointed out in the story of the woman at the well, Jews often went out of their way to avoid Samaria. So this was a double put-down. They not only refused to believe Jesus was God, but they thought He was of the devil. God and Satan cannot live in the same vessel, so if Jesus had a demon He could not be the Son of God. I believe these Jews were scraping around in their brains for a way to explain Jesus’ miraculous powers apart from God, so they accredited them to a demon. They were giving themselves migraines because they could not admit Jesus was God incarnate and had to find a way to refute Him. In accusing Jesus of blasphemy and demon possession, they were themselves committing blasphemy by attributing God’s work to someone or something other than God. They were committing the same thing they accused Jesus of doing.

John 8:49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

Jesus calmly stated that He did not have a demon, but He was obedient to God the Father. The Jewish leaders continually tried to discredit and slander Jesus. They dragged His name through the mud even though the signs He performed obviously pointed to the power of God working through Him. Their words were a brutal and methodical character assassination fueled by jealousy, lies, and deceit. Jesus, the Son, did not seek His own glory, but the Father glorified Him. Jesus constantly attributed His works to the Father who sent Him and instructed Him rather than claiming them for Himself. Jesus declared that the Father was going to judge these false accusers at the appointed time.

John 8:51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Despite the fact that they were accusing and abusing Him, Jesus offered them the way to eternal life. In the midst of their tenacious, relentless tirade against Him, Jesus explained that the way to never see death was to believe and follow Him. The physical body will die, but the soul and spirit of those who believe and trust in Jesus can never be extinguished. Physical death on earth does not conquer eternal life.

John 8:52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

They didn’t get it. How many times did Jesus have to say it, and how many times did they need to hear it in order to believe? They pointed out that all the Jewish heroes of faith had ultimately died. They could visit their tombs. The ruling party at that time were mostly Sadducees who did not believe in a bodily resurrection, so this would make no sense to them. They still did not perceive that Jesus was not speaking in terms of never physically experiencing death. For those who trust in the Lord Jesus, death is a blink that leads to being in the presence of the Lord forever.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NASB) Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

I do not know what form we will take until our bodies are resurrected at the second coming of the Lord, but I do know that when our earthly bodies die, we will be with Jesus instantaneously. That is enough for me! The religious rulers again demanded to know who Jesus was or thought Himself to be. He had told them over and over and over, but their eyes were blind and their ears were deaf as far as discerning that His words were true. Isaiah prophesied about them:

Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

John 8:54 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.’

Jesus was saying that if He tooted His own horn, it would be only narcissism. The Jews claimed to know God and be His children, but still could not see that God was glorifying Jesus the Son. Jesus had previously pointed out that God verified His deity through the miracles He was able to do. The Sadducees and Pharisees said they knew God but did not recognize His divine artistry at work!

John 8:55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

When Jesus said He “knew” the Father, He was claiming to be in intimate relationship with Him. Then He stated that they did not “know” God. They were NOT in intimate relationship with God. Then He called them liars because they claimed to know God. To know God for Jesus was to walk in obedience to His will.

John 15:10 (NASB) If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Jesus obeyed God, and we are to obey God. As we trust Jesus, the Holy Spirit will enable us to obey willingly, being secure in the Father’s love and trusting that His will is what is the absolute best for us. God knows His divine plan for us which is always for His glory and our good.

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Abraham had the divine revelation, God’s promise to him, that through his seed, the Jews and ultimately the world would be blessed. The promise was Abraham’s, but the timing was God’s. Abraham believed God even though he waited years to have a son. Abraham did die and was buried; but as noted above, because of his belief, at the time of Jesus’ incarnation, he was with God. Therefore, Abraham DID rejoice to see Jesus’ day. He finally got to see the promise come to fruition.

John 8:57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

The Jews were saying that Jesus was just a young whippersnapper, so how could He have seen Abraham? Since they did not believe Him to be deity, they could not understand how a man His age could claim to have met a patriarch who had been dead for hundreds of years. As usual, they were stuck in the physical realm.

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Here Jesus claimed pre-existence which was claiming deity. By using “I AM,” Jesus declared Himself to be equal with God the Father. You probably remember that “I AM” was the name God told Moses to use when telling the Israelites who sent him.

John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

In the eyes of the religious leaders, Jesus had committed blasphemy by saying “I AM.” This was a sin punishable by death according to the Law of Moses. So they each grabbed a handful of rocks in order to stone Him. Did He have an invisible cloak or what? (Too much “Lord of the Rings”) We really do not know exactly how Jesus hid Himself in the middle of a crowd, but He got out of Dodge, or in this case, the temple. As usual, “His time had not yet come.”

Q – Have you heard the statement that Jesus either was God as He claimed, was a lunatic for believing Himself to be God, or was pure evil for deceiving people? What you believe about Jesus determines your final outcome. Trusting in Jesus as the God-Man who died for you…Believing His word…is the only way to spend eternity with Him in paradise. Have you surrendered yourself to His will? Are you living out His purpose for you?