Welcome to Day 2151 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Gospel of John – 19 – Reason for Rejection – Daily Wisdom

Part 3 Authentication Of The Word – Reasons for Rejection

Today we continue our series, the Good News according to John the Apostle. Last, we saw the religious leaders again trying to trap Jesus to make a case against him to kill him as they brought a woman before him to judge. Yet Jesus was victorious. “‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” Today, our scripture is John 8:12-59. Since it is a more extended passage, I will read it as we go through the message. In many ways, especially with the hypocritical religious leaders, Jesus was a radical individual, a most imposing personality. Not intimidating, not frightening. Imposing. Formidable. Unafraid. He entered the temple to find people groping about in spiritual darkness and thirsting for divine truth. He boldly stated in our lesson in John 7:37-38, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!  Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” The first verse in today’s passage is 12; he picks up where he left off before the incident with the woman. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” He fearlessly spoke the truth without apology. He joyously walked in the truth with His Father; therefore, He was constantly in trouble for His uninhibited love of truth. Jesus understood better than any the price to be paid for speaking and living the truth because He is divine truth incarnate, the Light made flesh. John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. Matthew 10:34 recalled a particularly shocking statement by Jesus, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” The purpose of a sword is to divide. Physically, it separates one part of a body from the rest. Figuratively, Hebrews 4:12 describes it best, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” And socially, the sword separates groups into two categories; it attracts those who will surrender and incites violence against those who will not. There is no room for compromise before the gleaming sword of truth. Surrender or fight. Jesus figuratively brought a sword into the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. Some surrendered. Others began a futile, exhausting, self-destructive fight. Their response is a study in the stages of rejection which we cover in our message today. 8:12–18  When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.  I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.” This discourse continues where 7:52 left off in their reply to Nicodemus, “They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.’” After the story with the woman in last week’s 8:12, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”  John indicates a change of scene with the word “again,” which is typical of him. These particular discourses took place over several days—not necessarily on the festival’s last day—and were undoubtedly repeated several times as visitors to the temple came and went. Jesus began this address with “I am the Light of the world,” He stood near the temple treasury (8:20). The temple treasury was located in the Court of Women. Every evening during the Feast of Tabernacles, just after the evening sacrifice and before sunset, priests entered the Court of Women to light two (some historians say four) giant chandelier-like lampstands. Perhaps as the priests set each lamp aflame, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Note how the statement is exclusive. He didn’t say “I am A light”—one among many—but THE Light, the one and only source of truth. Later, He would invite a crowd of listeners to become children of the Light through belief (12:36), and He once predicted the future of His disciples when he taught in the Sermon on the Mount in last year’s series Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” The Pharisees immediately challenged Jesus, declaring His self-declaration invalid because it had no accompanying proof ( John 3:11–12). Because of this, the Pharisees claimed that his testimony was “not valid.” After all, people can claim anything about themselves; a mere statement doesn’t establish the truth. Jesus took their challenge at face value and offered the testimony of God the Father. 8:19–20 Then they asked him, “Where is your father? You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come. The Pharisees responded cynically, “Where is Your Father?” They knew the apparent circumstances of His birth (8:41) and that Joseph was dead. The question was a backhanded slur, delivered at the level of an inside joke. Perhaps the insult came with a wink and a knowing look. Jesus ignored the insult and responded with an ironic double-meaning rebuke. Anyone who believed that Joseph had fathered Jesus didn’t know the identity of Jesus’ real Father, nor did they personally know God. With His second statement, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Jesus declared Himself to be the means of knowing God personally, because Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father. 8:21–27 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” But he continued, “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; if you do not believe that I AM HE, you will indeed die in your sins.” “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. Jesus repeated His indictment of the Pharisees from 7:33–36, saying they would never see heaven because they did not know God. And again, the religious elite took Him literally. So, Jesus explained His meaning in simple language. “Below” is the realm of fallen creation. “Above” is the heavenly realm in which no sin can exist. Those born below are doomed to die in their sin and then suffer eternal punishment for their deeds (John 3:3). Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Jesus is from above because He is God. His statement is rendered as “I am He”; however, the Greek is egō eimi, “I Am,” the classic self-designation of God (Exodus 3:14). Believers can be born from above through belief (John 3:16–17). When they asked,“‘Who are You? Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,’ Jesus replied.” But because of their willful blindness, the Pharisees failed to understand Jesus’ reference to the Father (3:13). If you review, 3:3–21 shows a striking resemblance between this discourse and the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus. 8:28–30 So Jesus said, “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 but speak just what the Father has taught me.  The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him. The “lifting up” refers to His crucifixion, a prediction He had made to Nicodemus perhaps as much as two years earlier (3:14–15). He then repeated His teaching from His encounter with the Pharisees after healing the invalid (5:19–47). Jesus didn’t whisper the truth once and then leave the scene. Instead, he taught the same lessons to many audiences daily in the temple. The discourses preserved by John represent numerous instances in which Jesus became a target of the religious leaders’ wrath after proclaiming the truth. However, John inserted a subtle editorial note to reassure the reader: While Jesus’ opponents remained steadfast in their rebellion, many believed in him. 8:31–36 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  Verse 31 may indicate another change of scene in which the conversation resumes. As Jesus spoke, many believed. He then addressed them directly in the hearing of the Pharisees and other nonbelievers. He assured them that belief was not the end of something, as though they had arrived; belief is a beginning, a birth after which growth must follow. Believers are to continue in obedience. As believers order their lives after His truth, they will “know” the truth. The Greek word is ginōskō, one of at least four terms John could have chosen that means “know.” Unlike the others, ginōskō stresses understanding rather than mere sensory observation. It is closely related to the Hebrew verb yada, which describes the most intimate knowledge.   Moreover, as one “knows” the truth, they are “set free.” The Greek term is suggestive of release from indentured servanthood. When someone became indebted beyond their means of paying, one solution was to exchange a period of slavery for relief from the debt. Sometimes the length of service could be the rest of one’s natural life. The indebtedness here, of course, is the penalty for sin; freedom is a spiritual release from judgment and the free gift of eternal life. Jesus’ statement, “and the truth will set you free.” has become something of a truism, and rightly so. While His primary point was spiritual and eternal, it is a fact that truth leads to freedom in the physical, and temporal realm. As usual, Jesus spoke on multiple levels. As usual, the Pharisees zeroed in on the literal interpretation. And, being the self-centered men they were, they applied Jesus’ statement to their condition as descendants of Abraham, by which they claimed racial, cultural, and moral superiority. Furthermore, they claimed to have never been enslaved by anyone! Well, except for Egypt. Assyria. Babylon. Persia. Macedonia. Syria. Rome. What could they have possibly meant by this? Perhaps they were never compelled to worship a man as a god despite their many political masters. Despite Roman domination and occupation, the Jews were able to worship God with virtually no interference from their captors. In the temple environment, the Pharisees perhaps gestured toward the sanctuary as if to ask, “What freedom do we need that we don’t already have?” Jesus clarified the purpose of His statement. The master is a sin. Jesus’ statement that “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.” is meant to highlight the inferior status of a slave. The “Old Master, Sin” uses people for evil purposes, and when the body of the slave is wasted from use, the slave is cast out. The Son has come to liberate sin slaves from their old master, allowing them to become children of God. 8:37–42 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did.  As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.  Jesus affirmed that His hearers were descendants of Abraham, at least in the physical sense. However, their shared heritage ended there. Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of all who trusts God because he heard and obeyed God’s word. Because Jesus is the Word of God in human flesh, to reject Him is to reject God. Therefore, the disbelieving Jews were descendants of Abraham in name only. The fact is that God and Satan are the contrasted “fathers” in 8:41 & 44. After rebuking the Pharisees for failing to heed God’s Word, He invited them to be true Hebrews, commanding them,  I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father. But the Pharisees, by not doing the deeds of their father Abraham, were rejecting their God. Jesus implied this made them sons of Satan, the father of lies, and ultimate rebel against God. His indictment incited hatred rather than prompt reflection and repentance, which the Pharisees expressed with a sneer in a thinly veiled epithet. The phrase, “We are not illegitimate children,” was aimed at the presupposition that Mary conceived Jesus illegitimately. The Lord bypassed this insult as He had the other (8:19) to reinforce His earlier teaching that He was on earth to do the Father’s will. 8:43–47 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!  Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Having invited the Pharisees to believe in God as their ancestor Abraham had done, and having felt the sting of their insult, Jesus laid bare the source of their unbelief: they wanted to do the desires of Satan, whom He called their “father.”  A particular trait of John is his portrayal of the universe as sharply divided (roll out post) between light and dark, truth and lie, life and death, the kingdom of God, and “the world.” For John, there is no middle ground. And it is perhaps this discourse that sets his perspective like concrete. Satan is everything God is not, and to practice sin is to side with Satan against God (1 John 1:5–7). The plain and simple reason for the Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus as the Word of God, was their dedication to the father of lies. 8:48–57 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”  Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.  Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” The...