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John

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Light of the World

John 8:12

What a bold statement!  Jesus claimed to be the only light in a dark world (John 1:1-5).  His Jewish listeners would have remembered Genesis 1:3-4: "And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness."  They knew that God is the only true source of physical, moral and spiritual light, and that without God the world is naturally in darkness - physically and spiritually.
 

God is Self-Revealing and Self-Authenticating

John 8:13-18

Jesus had just claimed to be the Light of the World (John 8:12).  But the religious leaders challenged His personal testimony: who could prove that He was telling the truth?  They assumed that He was a liar, and told Him so.  But Jesus exposed their shallow thinking.  A single eye-witness is not false if he or she tells the truth.  Jesus said that He was an eye-witness of heaven; that is where He had come from and the place to which He would return.  He knew Father God intimately.  But His hearers had no such experience and were not qualified to judge His testimony.
 

Where is God?

John 8:19-20

Jesus repeatedly spoke about His 'Father'.  He was not talking about Joseph, the husband of his mother, Mary, and the religious leaders knew that.  The 'Father' was clearly identified as being God; as in Isaiah 63:16 "… you Lord are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name" and in Psalm 89:26 "He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Saviour."
 

Where is Everybody Going?

John 8:21-24

Jesus said He was going to go away, and then it would be too late for His critics to decide to follow Him.  It was a strange statement.  When He declared that He would be out of their reach, that prompted the Jews to wonder if He was contemplating suicide.  Far from it.  Jesus knew that only Father God has the right to determine when everybody enters this world and when they shall leave it.  Even though He was God, Jesus still submitted to His Father's timing and did not allow Himself to be crucified until the time that was appointed (John 12:23).
 

Who is Jesus?

John 8:25-30

There was no doubt that Jesus was a very remarkable person.  John the Apostle, having observed Jesus’ life, death and resurrection was sure that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:34; John 20:31), as Jesus Himself claimed (John 19:7).  Jesus was not afraid or ashamed to say that He is fully united with the Father, and authorised by Him to be the life-giver to the world (John 5:24-27) having previously lived with Him in heaven (John 6:38).

Obeying Is The Proof of Believing

John 8:31-32

There were many people who liked to think that they were disciples, followers or supporters of Jesus.  Which ones were real disciples?  Surely it must be those who believed in Him.  Yes, but how deep did that faith go?  It was easy to be caught up with the enthusiasm of the crowd and to enjoy the teaching, realising that it made sense. But when they realised that following Jesus was life-altering, many went away (John 6:60-66).

Slaves To Sin

John 8:33-38

Jesus had just told the religious people that if they obeyed His teaching, they would know the truth and be set free (John 8:31-32).  The clear implication was that they were slaves.  That was such an insult to Jewish people: had God not delivered them from slavery in Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)?  Their response was that they were not slaves of anyone, so why would they want to be free?  But they were enslaved: physically and politically, the whole nation was dominated by the Roman Empire; but worse, they were slaves to sin.  Like every human being they were sinners, incapable of escaping the

Who Do You Belong To?

John 8:39-47

The Jewish people all belong to one family; they are descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, so the offspring of Jacob are also known as the Children of Israel or simply, ‘Israelites’ (Exodus 3:15).  So when Jesus accused them of behaving like their father, they thought of their forefather Abraham, who learned to trust and obey God.  But Jesus said that if those who opposed Him had the same nature as Abraham, they would certainly not be trying to kill Him: Abraham had looked forward to Jesus’ day (John 8:56).

Demonic or Divine

John 8:48-53

Nobody ignored Jesus.  The more they got to know Him, they either loved Him or hated Him.  Those who were against Him could not argue logically against His teaching and so they slandered Him.  They accused Him of not being a proper Jew, but a Samaritan; and not being from God, but belonging to Satan.  In accusing Jesus of blasphemy, they uttered the greatest blasphemy by ascribing the glory of God to the devil (Isaiah 48:11).  Jesus pointed out that by dishonouring Him, they were also dishonouring His Father whose judgement was hanging over them.
 

Greater Than Abraham

John 8:54-59

These verses follow the religious crowd’s accusation that Jesus was demon-possessed (John 8:48).  Jesus denied that lie, said that He honoured the Father, and that whoever obeys His Word will not die.  That inflamed them further and forced them to ask the correct question, “Who do you think you are?” (John 8:52-53).  Jesus did not answer directly and glorify Himself but appealed to Father God and Abraham as witnesses.

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