John 8:21-30 (ESV)
I Am the Light of the World (continued)
21 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.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 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.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” 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.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 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.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
In movies that center around some sort of disaster, it seems as if there is always at least one person who knows that the disaster is about to happen. They’ve studied the data, they’ve made observations, they’ve conducted tests and they know that something terrible is about to happen. So they warn people, they sound the alarm, and they beg people to heed their warnings and take action. Some do and are saved, others do not, and they perish.
That’s the image that comes to mind for me as I read this passage. Jesus is passionately sounding the alarm for the people, warning them that they need to entrust their lives to Him now because disaster is just on the horizon.
The listeners are confused at first by Jesus' claims, but at the very end of the passage, there is hope as some come to entrust their lives to Jesus.
What’s amazing about this passage is something that Jesus says that skips past us as we read, but certainly, these words from Jesus would have caught the attention of any first-century Jew. Twice in the passage, Jesus uses the title I AM in reference to Himself. If you remember, that is the title that the Lord gave to Moses when Moses said, “When the people ask who sent me, ‘What is his name,’ what should I say to them?” The Lord said to Moses, tell them “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
I AM; that title appears in verses 24 and 28.
In verse 24 Jesus states that unless you entrust that I AM, you will die in your sins.
In verse 28 Jesus says that when He is lifted up (a reference to the cross and His crucifixion), then they will understand that I AM.
The incredible point of verse 28 is that on the cross, through Jesus the Son, God the Father has made His love for us visible and plain to see. There on the cross, we see how much God loves the world, loves us, loves you.
Dale Bruner said it best in his commentary on John’s Gospel. “This hoisting onto a tree is the revelation of the majestic I AM. The burning bush (Exodus 3) was only the preview; the Bleeding Tree is the feature itself—of God’s Self-Revelation in Jesus’ Self-Immolation (His perfect atoning sacrifice for our sin).”
Jesus is pleading with the people to entrust their lives to Him, and many we’re told, believe and make their first steps of faith.
What about you? How have you responded to Jesus’ offer, invitation, and now plea? If you are reading this, I assume that you’ve already entrusted your life to Jesus. If that’s true of you then perhaps the question we need to consider is, “What are your next steps of trust?”
Is it at work, at school, or with your finances? Perhaps those trusting steps need to be with your relationships; with family and friends. Or perhaps those trusting steps might be ones that are more challenging as you face a struggle with your health, or as wrestle with grief over a loss.
Whatever situation you're facing, trust the One who was given and sent into the world, not to condemn, but to save. You won’t be disappointed.
God bless you and know that I’m praying for you constantly.
Scott