Calvary Road Baptist Church

“THE REAL ISSUE IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST”

John 8.48-59 

Ecclesiastes 1.9: 

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” 

Keep this verse in mind as we once more consider the ongoing conflict between the Lord Jesus Christ and the religious establishment leaders in Jerusalem. There is no new thing under the sun.

What particularly comes to my mind as we prepare to read John 8.48-59 is the basis for the controversy that ran into the second day following the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem about six months before my Lord’s passion. To a great assemblage of men come to celebrate on the last day of the feast in the Temple courtyard, the Lord showed Himself to be the fulfillment which the Feast of Tabernacles anticipated. He was the antitype to that great feast’s type. He stood amid the multitudes on that occasion and cried in a very loud voice, 

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”[1] 

Of no surprise to us, we are told by the apostle that 

“there was a division among the people because of him.”[2] 

The next day our Lord declared, in the very same place, 

“I am the light of the world.”[3] 

A number of those present accepted what He said as true, while members of the religious establishment mostly rejected His claims and openly accused Him of lying.

We had already seen that the controversy continued to the second day following the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles when the Jewish leaders claimed God was their Father. The Lord Jesus Christ disputed their claim, insisting that the devil was their spiritual father.[4] Not surprising to the Gospel account reader, the real issue at hand was the Lord Jesus Christ. He made claims about Himself and His mission that was necessary, proper, accurate, and timely. The religious establishment, however, strongly disputed who and what He was. With insight from Ecclesiastes 1.9 then, should anyone be surprised that nothing has changed from that day to this?

Of course, there is the advance of technology, the growth of personal wealth made possible by the spread of capitalism, and the absurd insistence that science is the answer to every problem and the final authority on all matters of truth, despite how often science and scientists are shown to be mistaken.[5] These things granted people are still disputing who and what the Lord Jesus Christ is. Nothing has changed in that regard.

Let us now consider John 8.48-59: 

48  Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49  Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.

50  And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

51  Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

52  Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

53  Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

54  Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:

55  Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

57  Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

59  Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. 

I will approach our text a bit differently than is usual for me, by surveying the passage to take note of the contrasts that are found, to then pay attention to what the Jewish establishment men said and did when arguing with the Lord Jesus Christ, and then what He asserted when contending with those who opposed Him. 

First, LET’S MAKE OUR WAY THROUGH THE PASSAGE LOOKING FOR CONTRASTS 

Verse 48:

“Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” 

The Jewish establishment men voiced their opposition to the Savior by revealing to Him what they believed to be true of Him and perhaps what they had said to others about Him. The contrast they drew was between themselves and Him, they being Jews and He supposedly a Samaritan who was demon-possessed. Thus, in their minds, they were good and holy, and He was a defiled Samaritan possessed by a demon. 

Verse 49:

“Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.” 

Our Lord responded to their charges by denying any association with a demon and making the counterclaim that, while He honored His Father, they dishonored Him. 

Verse 50:

“And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.” 

The Lord Jesus Christ does not seek His glory, the implication being that they, on the other hand, did precisely that. He also alluded to one who seeks and judges. It would be about six months later, as He approached the time of His crucifixion, that our Lord clarified this portion of the verse when He would say, 

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”[6] 

Verse 51:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” 

Three things here: First, “Verily, verily,” meaning truly, truly, from the Greek for amen, amen. This announced an important statement. Next, “If a man keep my saying” is another way of referring to keeping His commandments, including, of course, the directives to trust Him, to believe in Him, to come to Him. Finally, “he shall never see death” refers to never experiencing spiritual death, never being separated from God. 

Verse 52:

“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.” 

Their categorical rejection of the Savior should be seen in the context of their previous admissions that He had raised the dead and cast out demons. They recognized that though their beloved Abraham and the prophets were dead, the Man they argued with claimed eternal life would be the possession of those who keep His saying. 

Verse 53:

“Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” 

Their willingness to ask Him a question seems significant. Is he greater than their father Abraham and the prophets, who are dead? Who does He make Himself out to be? Their smug convictions about who He is seem have become a bit uncertain, so they sought clarification. 

Verse 54:

“Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.” 

Our Lord disputes any implication that He sought to honor Himself, recognizing that honor is not something that should be sought or grasped. Real honor must be granted. Honoring yourself is nothing. Our Lord said, “it is my Father that honoureth me,” who they said was their God. Recognize how powerful that statement was, that their God honors Him. 

Verse 55:

“Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.” 

Our Lord denied that His adversaries knew the One who honored Him. It is He who knows Him. If He spoke like they spoke He would have been a liar like them. He then asserted once more, “but I know him, and keep his saying.” 

Verse 56:

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” 

You will notice, in verse 54, that our Lord only admits that His adversaries made the claim, 

“of whom ye say, that he is your God.” 

In verse 53 they claimed Abraham as their father, which the Lord acknowledges here, adding that Abraham rejoiced to see His day and was glad when he saw it. It was no surprise to our Lord’s adversaries to hear someone mention Abraham seeing the Messianic era since the rabbis taught that truth about Abraham. What would have shocked our Lord’s audience was His application of Abraham’s anticipated Messianic Day to Himself, referring to it as “my day,” and Abraham’s gladness when he saw the Lord Jesus’ day. 

Verse 57:

“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” 

Making the same kind of mistake Nicodemus made when he mistook our Lord’s comment about the new birth to suggesting the Lord meant reentering the mother’s womb and passing through the birth canal a second time;[7] these men misunderstood the Lord as claiming to be physically old enough to have seen Abraham so many centuries earlier. As well, notice that they mistook His 30+ year physical age for approaching age fifty, suggesting the toll that our Lord suffered physically as the Holy One living in the midst of human sin and wickedness made Him look much older than His physical age. 

Verse 58:

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” 

Here is another of our Lord’s “Verily, verily, I say unto you” announcements. Important statement pending. 

“Before Abraham was, I am.” 

Here our Lord asserted His preexistence, “before Abraham was,” and also His eternity, “I am.” There could be no denying what they understood Him to mean. 

Verse 59:

“Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” 

They recognized His claim of deity and immediately sought to stone Him as a blasphemer. However, as He had on other occasions, He eluded them.[8] 

Next, WHAT THE JEWISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS SAID AND DID 

Five quick observations from our text, observing the development of their thinking and reaction:

First, they asserted the Lord Jesus Christ was both a despised Samaritan and was afflicted by demon possession, verse 48: 

“Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” 

Next, they said once more, this time in verse 52, that they were even more certain that He was demonized, as a result of His claims: 

“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil.” 

However, perhaps because they correctly understood the Lord’s claim that a man who keeps His saying shall never see death, while not agreeing with what He said, responded in verse 53 by questioning Him: 

“Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” 

Fourth, in verse 57 they were incredulous about our Lord’s claim in verse 56 that Abraham rejoiced and was glad to see, as the Savior put it, “my day,” seemingly referring to the Day of the Lord: 

“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” 

I have already made mention of their estimation of our Lord’s appearance of being older than we knew Him to be then. It is the latter part of the verse, in which they asked Him if He had seen Abraham, that betrays the extent of their alarm, or perhaps bewilderment.

Fifth, it is when they correctly surmise that the Lord Jesus Christ is making the explicit claim of deity, “Before Abraham was, I am,” that they recoiled in horror and outrage and immediately moved to stone Him. 

Finally, THE CLAIMS MADE BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST 

He has already raised the dead, cleansed lepers, healed the lame, cast out demons, and fed thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. Two days earlier He urged the thirsty to come to Him. The day before He claimed to be the Light of the world. During this exchange, He even more explicitly asserted His deity.

It is in verse 47 that our Lord said to His adversaries, 

“Ye are not of God.” 

It is difficult for 21st century Americans to imagine how this statement must have inflamed His adversaries.

In verse 49 He makes three claims: 

“I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.” 

He disputed their claim that He was bedeviled. His claim “but I honour my Father” advances two truths, that He honors God and that God is His Father. They, on the other hand, dishonor Him. Their reason for dishonoring Him? They fear Him upsetting their nice arrangement as the religious leaders of the people, and they are blind to the possibility that someone so good, so powerful, and so gracious could be who and what He said He was.

In verse 50 our Lord denied wrongdoing while declaring two things: 

“And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.” 

The implication here, of course, is that His opponents did seek their own glory. John 12.43 reads about them, 

“For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” 

The second half of the verse is a declaration with two edges. On the one hand, there is one that seeketh. That would be the Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost. On the other hand, God has committed all judgment to the Lord Jesus Christ, John 5.22. So, the Lord who will save those who respond to the Gospel is also the Judge who will mete out punishment for all who do not respond to His Gospel. Dealing with Him is unavoidable.

Verse 51 adds to what was said at the end of verse 50: 

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” 

Another important statement here. And a promise made to those who keep His saying, who respond to His Gospel, who trust Him to save their eternal and undying soul. You shall never see death.

Verse 54 addresses this important topic of honor: 

“Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.” 

Honor is an important matter in God’s Word because it is an important matter with God. Honor God with the first fruits of your increase, Proverbs 3.9. Honor your father and your mother, Ephesians 6.2. Honor qualified widows, First Timothy 5.3. Elders that rule well are worthy of double honor, First Timothy 5.17. But before honor is humility, Proverbs 15.33 and 18.12. What about the One who is honored by God? Our Lord claimed that His Father honored Him. Therefore, how should He be honored by His creatures? Consider what the LORD God of Israel said in First Samuel 2.30: 

“them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” 

Related to honoring the Savior is knowing God. Consider the number of times this theme is repeated in verse 55: 

“Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.” 

Four times in this verse reference is made of knowing God. The Lord Jesus Christ knows Him. His adversaries did not know Him. And you can know Him, as well. How can you know God? The Lord Jesus Christ said, in John 14.7, 

“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” 

For the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Jewish patriarch Abraham, consider verse 56: 

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” 

For the Jewish people, Abraham was even more important than Moses. God may have given the Law to Moses, but He made promises to Abraham, and Abraham was the first Jew. How did Abraham respond to seeing Christ’s Day? The Greek word translated “rejoiced” here is unusual, and refers to being overjoyed.[9] The stage is now set for our Lord Jesus Christ to reveal His superiority to father Abraham.

Verse 58 contains a “Verily, verily I say unto you” phrase, announcing an important statement. And this is one with staggering importance: 

“Before Abraham was, I am.” 

Hearkening back to the time Moses saw the burning bush that was not consumed by the fire enveloping it, which was a divine manifestation, a theophany, our Lord Jesus here said to those men contending with Him what the LORD God of Israel said to Moses from the burning bush. No wonder they picked up rocks to stone Him to death. He claimed to be God. Under the Law of Moses, anyone claiming to be God who was not God deserved to die by stoning for the sin of blasphemy. The problem with their reaction is that Jesus Christ is God. 

Perhaps you have heard of a British writer named C. S. Lewis. He was for many years an Oxford University scholar and teacher, and an atheist. Over time, however, his friend J. R. R. Tolkien brought him to recognize the fallacy of atheism and Lewis made a profession of faith in Christ. Though there is a serious question about his understanding of the Gospel, the late C. S. Lewis wrote with astonishing clarity about many things, among them one’s estimation of Jesus Christ. In his book, Mere Christianity Lewis wrote, 

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 

That was the dilemma our Lord’s adversaries faced, only they were well enough schooled that they instantly grasped the dilemma they were facing. The man with whom they were contending was either the Son of God or the incarnation of evil, and they refused to consider that He is the Son of God. Therefore, they tried to stone Him, but He got away.

Looking back 2,000 years, who and what do you think the Lord Jesus Christ is? Some try to deny He ever existed at all. However, there is far too much supporting evidence refuting that false claim. There is also persuasive historical evidence that He rose from the dead, something frauds and deceivers cannot do.

The reality is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of sinners, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and our soon coming King of kings and Lord of lords. In light of that, my suggestion is that you consider His claims very carefully and then trust Him.

__________

[1] John 7.37

[2] John 7.43

[3] John 8.12

[4] John 8.41-43

[5] https://www.famousscientists.org/10-most-famous-scientific-theories-that-were-later-debunked/ 11/16/18

[6] Luke 19.10

[7] Luke 4.29-30; John 10.39

[8] Luke 4.29-30; John 10.39

[9] Fritz Rienecker & Cleon Rogers, Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1980), page 240.

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church