John 8
MorJohn 8:1-59
The Gospel According to John John 8:2-59 John 8:2-30. This section begins with a paragraph (verses two to eleven) [John 8:2-11] often described as a doubtful paragraph; and there is reason for such description. In the King James Version there is nothing to suggest that there is any question about it. When the English revisers did their work, and when the American revisers did theirs, the two companies were in agreement that there is a doubt as to whether this story came from the pen of John. Consequently those who use the Revised Version will find the paragraph, beginning with the fifty-third verse of the seventh chapter, and running through the eleventh verse of chapter eight, put within brackets. That is so in the English, and American Revisions. If we consult the Greek Texts, we find that Westcott and Hort have lifted the paragraph out completely, and inserted it as an addendum at the end of the book. Nestle’s Text has restored it to its place, but has put it in brackets. It is very doubtful as to whether John wrote it. I am not going to be over-dogmatic, but personally I do not think he did. There are many internal evidences, that it was not from his pen. In some old manuscripts, the paragraph is found in the Gospel of Luke. Possibly it was added by the hand of that remarkable extra-illustrator, Papias.
Evidently, however, all those who have examined it, and who are not sure of authorship, feel that there is something about it which makes them feel that they cannot leave it out. Westcott and Hort were convinced that it ought not to be where it is; so they put it in at the end of the book, but they put it in. Added probably by some other pen, I still believe it to be in strict chronological sequence. I propose therefore to treat it as authentic, and in proper sequence historically.
We have then in this section three matters; the incident recorded in verses two to eleven (John 8-2-11); then in one verse (verse twelve) [John 8:12), the great claim of Jesus, which in the sequence of John, is the second of the great “I am’s”; and then following, from verse thirteen to the end (John 8:13-59), we are again in the atmosphere of opposition, and questioning, and discussion.
This incident is one of the most fascinating and beautiful, in some ways, in all the account of the ministry of our Lord. It is very startling. It is very revealing also, of the attitude of His enemies towards Him, and principally of Himself. The thing occurred, we are told, in the early morning;" And early in the morning He came again into the Temple." It follows quite naturally the story of the preceding chapter, that of the feast of Tabernacles, the last day of the feast, the eighth, when He had uttered His great call, challenging human thirst. He had spent the night in the mount of Olives. Every man had gone to his own house; Jesus had gone to the mount of Olives; and early in the morning He came, the day after the feast.
The dispersing crowds would characterize that morning; with many still lingering. If we glance on for a moment to verse twenty, we find that" He spake in the treasury." That refers to the courts of the women, where the treasury was situated.
When on the previous day He had made His great call, “If any man thirst,” He had stood, which marked a distinct difference in His attitude for the moment. He stood as a Herald. Now He went back and resumed the attitude of the Teacher, He sat down. When He stood, and uttered that call. He was not teaching, but making a proclamation. Now, going back, He again assumed the position of the Teacher.
The crowds gathered round Him. As they listened to Him, there was a stir, a movement in the crowd, and there came into the midst certain scribes and Pharisees, bringing a woman. It is impossible to read the story without realizing the brutal indelicacy of their action. Whatever this woman had done, and however guilty she was, legally they had no right to drag her into the public gaze. The Sanhedrim had its sittings in the very next part of the Temple to where Jesus was teaching. Probably they intended to take her there presently but they had no right to drag her into publicity.
With the same brutal indelicacy they told her story as they said she had been “taken in the very act.” It was brutal, but I shall always be glad they said it, because it leaves no doubt whatever about this woman’s guilt. It was not a question of hearsay.
We can visualize that scene in the early morning, Jesus sitting as a Teacher, the people gathered round about Him, and this interruption of rulers, religious and moral rulers, custodians of morality, hounding in a woman, and laying bare her sin to the crowd. Then they raised their question. Moses commands that such should be stoned. What sayest Thou? John is careful to tell us their motive in saying this. “This they said, tempting Him, that they might have whereof to accuse Him.” They were trying to put Him in an awkward place, on the horns of a dilemma. Roman law said that life must not be taken except with Roman authority. Moses said she was to be stoned. What would He say about this? If He said she was to go free, He would be contradicting the Mosaic law. If He said she was to be stoned, He would be involving Himself with the Roman authorities.
Then follows the matchless story. What did He do? He stooped down and wrote. No, I cannot tell you what He wrote. I have often wondered, and read the legends, and they are all suggestive. What He wrote we do not know, but the attitude was everything. It was the attitude of attention to something else, and refusal to satisfy His questioners. It was the attitude of dismissal.
But they would not let Him alone. They were determined to have an answer; and so John says that “He lifted up Himself, and said, Whosoever among you is sinless.” This is the only place in the New Testament where this particular word occurs. It is not merely, Whosoever among you never sinned. It is far more than that. It means literally, sinless. “Let him first cast a stone at her.”
In these words He did not answer their enquiry in the realm of comparison between Moses and His own opinion. It is as though He had said; I am not discussing Moses with you. If that is the law of Moses, let it stand as a law; but if I do not discuss the law or the sentence, I am here to appoint the executioners. In that saying our Lord revealed for all time this principle, that sinlessness is the only qualification for punishing. That sentence put me out of the stone-throwing business for the rest of my life! “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then He stooped down and wrote again. Look at that crowd going out. That is one of the most gloriously humorous things on record. Every last man of them went, and it is interesting that John says they went out one by one, from the eldest to the youngest. I wonder what that means. Were they still standing on the precedence of the elder over the younger? I prefer to think that the oldest man went first, because he had most sense. Be that as it may, He cleared them all out. Exit the executioners. Then we come to the supreme wonder and glory of the story. Jesus was left alone, with the woman in the midst. Now what do we see? Incarnate Purity standing confronting the saddest thing in all human life, convicted impurity. There is no mistake about the sin. What then do we see? According to His own declared principle, He was the only One Who had any right to cast a stone at that woman; He was without sin. If we did not know the story so well, and we were hearing it for the first time, we should almost stop with bated breath, and say, what did He do?
First of all He called her by the same name which He used for His Mother, at Cana, and on His Cross, “Woman.” Whenever that word fell from the lips of Jesus, it was a word of infinite tenderness. Oh marvel of marvels, Woman! That crowd that had gone would have described her by a harsher word; they would have used the term harlot, or prostitute, or something worse. He said, “Woman”! Then He said, “Where are they? did no man condemn thee?” Then, the only word recorded as falling from her lips, was uttered. We do not know her name.
Have you ever noticed every such woman you meet in the course of Jesus’ ministry remains anonymous? Mary of Magdala was not a sinning woman in this sense, in spite of the stupid blunder of all the years. All these are anonymous. Their names are never recorded. I do not think they will ever be known, because they will have new names in that land Beyond. The only thing she is reported as saying is, “No man, Lord.” If we had looked at the woman when she was being brought in, and then if we had looked at her when she said, “No man, Lord,” we should have seen a great change in her face. I know how she looked when they took her in. She was rebellious, she was defiant, she was angry. That method of handling that sort of woman always produces that result. But when she looked into the eyes for a moment of another kind of Man, a Man Who dismissed her accusers, I tell you her eyes were losing the defiant look, and becoming tear-dimmed; and I think there was a quiver in her voice as she said, “No man, Lord.”
Then came the amazing, the astounding words, “Neither do I condemn thee.”
I do not think that the full meaning of what He said is found in what I now suggest, but I feel sure it was involved in it. I think we may put the emphasis on the last word. “Neither do I condemn thee.” He was not condoning her sin; but among other things, He meant this: These men say you were caught in the act, woman; if so, where is the man? Yes, Mr. Kipling, “the sins we do by two and two, we must answer for one by one”; but we have no right to put all the blame on the one. “Neither do I condemn thee.”
But He meant more than that. If we turn to Romans eight, we find out what He meant. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” He put Himself and His redeeming and atoning love and passion between her and her sin. The Lamb was “slain from the foundation of the world.” “Neither do I condemn thee; go thy way; from henceforth sin no more,” or rather, continue no longer in sin.
The incident was over. “Again therefore Jesus spoke unto them, saying.” There are those who link that “therefore” with verse fifty-two in chapter seven. I link it with this story. Then He uttered His claim. “I am the Light of the world,” that was personal. “He that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life,” that was relative. The personal was inclusive. “I am the Light of the cosmos.” The word is used in differing ways. We read that “God so loved the cosmos, that He gave His only begotten Son”; and then “He that loveth the cosmos, the love of the Father is not in him.” Strange apparent contradiction; but we know the difference in the use of the word in these and other cases. When Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world,” the claim was superlative and inclusive. But He had not finished. “He that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness”: and that is not all: “He shall have the light of life.” First the personal, “He that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness”; secondly, the relative, “he shall have the light of life”; which means not merely that he shall walk in light and not in darkness, but he shall be a centre of light; the light proceeding from him. Thus we have the same two ideas found in His call at the feast of Tabernacles. If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, out of his inner life shall flow the rivers. Now as to the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness; he shall have the light of life, and so light shall shine forth from him.
If this really did happen immediately after the feast of Tabernacles, notice that all this was said in the treasury. That refers to the women’s court, where stood the golden chests. That is where Jesus was when later He saw the widow casting in her mite. During the feast, the golden chests were illuminated. Some Jewish interpreters say they were illuminated every day during the feast. Now the feast was over, the lights were out; and He Who had stood and claimed the fulfillment of the prophecy of the rivers, now stood and said, “I am the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but he shall have the light of life.”
Discussion began immediately. The Pharisees said to Him, “Thou bearest witness of Thyself; Thy witness is not true.” Let us glance back to chapter five and verse thirty-one. There, in the story of the derelict, Christ said, “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” These men were quoting Him. They were quoting Himself against Himself. Now when He said, “I am the Light of the world “they quoted Himself, endeavouring to show His inconsistency. But He cannot be trapped. What He said was true. The consistency of Eternity explains the apparent inconsistencies of time.
How did He answer them? He declared that even if He bare witness of Himself, whatever He said was based on certain knowledge. I know Whom I am, I know whence I am, I know whither I go. He was not speculating in anything He said. They judged after the flesh. He judged no man. But if He did, He was not speaking alone. He and the Father were united; They judged together. They did not know. They were flesh-bound, blinded with the dust of material thinking.
Then using one of their own laws, He declared that in the mouth of two witnesses, truth was established. Here then were the two. He and the Father were never separated.
Then came the bitter thrust, “Where is Thy Father?” They were mocking Him. For the moment they would not question the claim that He was one with the Father. It is as though they said, Supposing God is Your Father, then produce Him. You say He is witnessing with You, how do we know He is witnessing with You? We still only have Your own words. Where is Your Father? In hostility, they were in exactly the same attitude as Philip was in friendship, a little later on, when he said to Jesus, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus gave in effect the very answer He gave to Philip. He said, “If ye knew Me, ye would know My Father also.” If you knew My Father, you would know Me.
At that point in his narrative John says, “These words spake He in the treasury, and no man took Him; because His hour was not yet come.” He was held secure from all hostility until His hour came.
Then He continued, and He said, “I go away, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin; whither I go, ye cannot come.” Those were words of condemnation. Again the Jews were perplexed. They said, “Will He kill Himself, that He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?” He replied in the same tone of severity as He said, “Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world.” Their whole outlook was fleshly, and therefore of Satan. He was not from beneath; but from above. All His vision, and His passion were centered and rooted in the things of heaven.
Then they in anger flung at Him the question, “Who art Thou?” He replied in effect, Who am I? I am the same that I have claimed to be from the beginning. And then, When you have lifted up the Son of man, you will know! That is what He had said to His Mother, “Mine hour is not come”; and to His brethren, “My time is not yet come.” All through He is seen with His eyes upon the Cross. When you have lifted Me up you will know. There is no other way of knowing. There is no other way for the opening of eyes spiritually blind, than the way I go.
Then He made His final claim in this discussion.” He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him.”
That claim is linked with the statement immediately preceding it. When you have lifted up the Son of Man you will know. In these words we catch the accents of the everlasting mercy. He had spoken to them in anger. He had had to tell them the truth. They were from beneath; and all their attitude was mastered by hell. But He was in the world under the mastery of high heaven. One day, He told them, the revelation would come to them. When they had lifted up the Son of man, they would understand. “I do always the things that please My Father”; and within those are the things to which I refer, the lifting up of the Son of man. So in the midst of all the bitterness of opposition, and the sternness of rebuke, there was the vibrant tenderness of the everlasting mercy.
The last sentence is, “Many believed on Him.” There was, for a moment, a reaction in His favour; but it was not worth much, as we shall see presently. John 8:31-59.
Once more the word “therefore” in verse thirty-one (John 8:31) marks continuity. Following His claim, “I am the Light of the world,” there had been discussion, and that discussion had resulted in some reaction in His favour. This paragraph shows how superficial that reaction was, as it records the way in which our Lord dealt with the Jews who believed on Him. “Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him, If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples.” The paragraph ends with the statement, “They took up stones therefore to cast at Him.” All the way through He Was dealing with that section of the crowd that had felt this reaction in His favour. As we follow through, I repeat, we discover how little worth while that reaction was. We see Him all the way now, proceeding with great majesty and supreme dignity, and becoming more and more lonely, isolated; until at the end the isolation was complete, no one was with Him.
This section may be set out in a sevenfold sequence of statement and reply. In that way let us follow the story.
The first section is found in verses thirty-one to thirty-three (John 8:31-33).
“Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him, If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
That is the first movement. Our Lord thus gave these Jews, attracted to Him, clear, if brief instructions as to discipleship. The one necessity was not the emotional attraction of which they had been conscious, but that of abiding. “If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples.” Not the inclination towards Him, which produced admiration; but such complete subjection, that they would abide. He also declared what the results of such abiding would be: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”; knowledge and complete emancipation.
They immediately objected to His suggestion of possible freedom, claiming that they were already free. They said,
“We be Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man; how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?” It was a remarkable answer, an answer in some senses, justified. What did they mean when they said they never had been in bondage to any man? They had been in bondage. They had been in bondage in Egypt. They had been in bondage in Babylon. They had been in bondage to Syria. They were then under Roman bondage, and yet they said this. Now, as a matter of fact, they never had been subdued; neither Egypt, nor Babylon, nor Syria, nor Rome, none had ever broken the spirit of the Jew. So far they were quite right; and our Lord in replying to them did not deny what they said, from the standpoint of their own view.
The next section is found in verse thirty-four to the beginning of verse thirty-nine (John 8:34-39).
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever; the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; yet ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath not free course in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father.”
“They answered and said unto Him, Our father is Abraham.”
Thus in answering their claim to freedom, He did not debate the subject with them. He acknowledged it in a certain way. He admitted that there was a sense in which their spirit had never been broken, they had never been subjugated, they had never bent the neck to any outside national power. But He immediately lifted the whole consideration to the realm of the ethical, and showed them He was not talking in the realm of the material at all. These people were thinking all the time on the level of the material, thinking of the flesh all the time. Whether of the Messiah, or of the Kingdom of God, they were thinking in the terms of the earth; and our Lord was ever calling them to lift their thinking on to the higher level, the spiritual level, the level of righteousness, and the level of the ethical.
He said to them in effect: You never have been subdued by any outside nation, but you have been, and are the slaves of sin, the bond-servants of sin. Then He told them that those who are the slaves of sin are excluded from the house, the house standing there for the whole economy of God. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews dealing with the Son, and the servant, uses the word house, in that way. Now, said Jesus, the bond-slave of sin is excluded from the house; but the Son abides, and he whom the Son sets free, also abides. He said they were Abraham’s seed after the flesh, but they were rejecting the Son. He spoke from the Father.
They were acting from their father, in such a way as to deny the claim they were making of relationship to Abraham. Never subdued by material forces, but so mastered by sin that they had lost their contact with God, and were unable to understand when the Son spoke from the Father to them. Then they answered, still boasting in the flesh. When He told them that they were of their father; they said, “Our father is Abraham.”
The next section is in verses thirty-nine to forty-one (John 8:39-41).
“Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God; this did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father.”
They said unto Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."
Our Lord had admitted that they were the seed of Abraham; that is a fleshly matter; but now declared they were not the children of Abraham; that is a matter of the spirit. In the ninth chapter of the letter to the Romans, at verse six (Romans 9:6) we read, “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children.” There we have in apostolic writing the reaffirmation of the truth that our Lord was then declaring, the truth that Israel after the flesh, has never realized; and the truth that a great many Christian people do not seem to have realized. There are multitudes of Christian people to-day who are thinking still of Israel after the flesh. Relationship after the flesh is of no value unless there is the relationship of the spirit. Spiritual relation is proven by works. Our Lord declared that they were proving their relationship by the works they were doing.
It is quite evident that those listening to Him caught the significance of what He was doing. They recognized that He was insisting upon it that the one thing of supreme importance was the spiritual, and not the material; that spiritual relationships may exist, even when fleshly relationship is absent. And so, professing to accept His intention, they denied His suggestion. They said, We are not born of fornication; our Father is God. Thus they attempted to affirm the spiritual relationship. He was denying the value of their fleshly relationship to Abraham, unless there was spiritual relationship with Abraham.
Unless the works they did, demonstrated the fact that they bore the same relationship to God which Abraham bore, and demonstrated by his works, their fleshly relationship was of no value at all. They replied by affirmation. We are the children of God, we were not born of fornication. Thus they ignored what He was insisting upon as the spiritual and ethical being supreme.
The next section begins at verse forty-two and runs through verse forty-eight. It is characterized by dread solemnity.
“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I came forth and am come from God; neither have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But because I say the truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convicteth Me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth the words of God; for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God.” The clarity of this answer of Jesus leaves no room for doubt about these matters. First, mark His claim; “If God were your Father, ye would love Me.” Presently when Philip said, “Show us the Father,” He replied, “Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Imagine anyone else saying a thing like this, If you knew God you would love Me. That is what He said to them with perfect clearness. Then He told them what lay at the back of that deafness and dullness, their blindness and denseness; they were of their father the devil; their spiritual relationship was a relationship with hell.
Then, in this passage, our Lord, in the most remarkable way defined the devil. He said two things about him. He is a murderer, and he is a liar. That covers all the ground. He is a murderer from the beginning. He is a liar from the beginning.
Once more we go back to the beginning of the Gospel. John, looking back upon Jesus said, “We beheld His glory . . . full of grace and truth.” Satan is a murderer and a liar, the exact antitheses of grace and truth. In other words, all that God is, Satan is not. God is grace. The devil is a murderer. God is truth.
The devil is a liar. Thus our Lord showed that relationship is proved by action. If they had been of God, they would have discovered grace, and responded to it; and truth, and loved it; but they were seeking to kill Him. Hate was in their heart, and they were false. That demonstrated their relationship. They were of their father the devil.
Thus He had once more insisted upon it that the ethical is the proof of the spiritual. Their evil deeds demonstrated their relationship to Satan. Real spiritual relationship with God will always bring forth works like the works of God.
“The Jews answered and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon.” Now they were getting angry. They felt the impact of the terrible things He had said to them; and now they charged Him with being a Samaritan. In their view the Samaritan was opposed absolutely to the Jew. “The Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans.” To the Jew the Samaritan was the incarnation of opposition to his position and race and nation; and they said Jesus was a Samaritan; and moreover, that He was demented.
So to the next section, verses forty-nine to fifty-three (John 8:49-53).
“Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honour My Father, and ye dishonour Me. But I seek not Mine own glory; there is One that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto Him Now we know that Thou hast a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest. If a man keep My word, he shall never taste of death. Art Thou greater than our father, Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead? Whom makest Thou Thyself?”
Our Lord first denied quite simply, and in dignified language, what they had said, “I have not a demon.” Then again explained Himself as He said, “I honour My Father… I seek not My own glory”; and then that superlative utterance, “If a man keep My word, he shall never see death.”
They could only interpret on the ground of the physical. Never see death? What did our Lord mean? Presently we shall hear Him say to Martha, “He that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.” Both on this occasion and on that He was speaking in the realm of the spiritual. He did not mean that men would never die physically. He now declared that the man who keeps His word is placed beyond the possibility of any destructive influence bearing in and breaking down his essential life; he shall never see death. They could not rise to this height, and so they said, Now we know Thou hast a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead; Whom makest Thou Thyself?
Now verses fifty-four to fifty-seven (John 8:54-57).
“Jesus answered, If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father that glorifieth Me; of Whom ye say, that He is your God; and ye have not known Him; but I know Him; and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar; but I know Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.
The Jews therefore said unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years, and hast Thou seen Abraham?”
Again, if familiarity with the Scriptures has not blunted us, we listen with amazement to the things He said. They said, “Whom makest Thou Thyself?” He immediately answered in effect, I am not making Myself anything; I do not glorify Myself at all. My Father glorifies Me. Then He added the thing that for a moment stunned them, and called forth their mocking laughter. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.” What did He mean? It is rather interesting, the interpretations that have been suggested. Someone said that He must have meant that Abraham was still living in the spirit world, and so was watching Him even then.
Was He not rather speaking out of that eternal consciousness which He so constantly manifested? Was He not rather saying; My day did not begin when I was born into your world. My day stretches back, and includes all the past. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day.
I believe, however, that there was historical application in the words. I have long been convinced that the appearance of Melchisedek was one of the Christophanies of the Old Testament. He is described as “King of righteousness, King of peace.” He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and He blessed him; and the less is blessed of the greater. Historically Abraham stood face to face with Christ, in my conviction, when Melchisedek met him.
Then we hear the ribald mockery of the Jews, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?”
I never read that without thinking that it was a possible revelation of how old Jesus looked. Yet He was only three and thirty. I think if I were an artist, and ever attempted to paint the face of Jesus, I would not paint too young a face at that time! I think the years so full of sorrow and travail had told upon Him.
This brings us to the final section, verses fifty-eight and fifty-nine.(John 8:58-59) Here we come to the third great sign of this Gospel in the realm of words. First, “I am the Bread of life.” Then, “I am the Light of the world.” Now-and I pray you notice that our Lord introduced this statement with the formula which He employed when He would rearrest attention, and emphasize the importance of what He was about to say. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.” That is a supreme claim to Deity; perhaps the most simple and sublime of all the things He said with that great formula of old, the great “I AM.” “Before Abraham was born, I am.” Not, I was. That would simply mark priority, the priority of existence. But the “I am” claims the eternity of existence, antedating the whole of the Hebrew economy, existing in eternal Being. These are the words of the most impudent blasphemer that ever spoke, or the words of God incarnate.
Then what?" They took up stones therefore to cast at Him." Mark the “therefore.” Because of that, because of what He had now said, because of His blasphemy. That was the deepest reason of hostility, that He was blaspheming. They were quite right, if the things He said were not true. “They took up stones therefore to cast at Him.”
Then mark the quiet majesty of the final statement. “Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple.”
That was a wonderful day, taken from beginning to end, What a marvellous revelation of the Lord this chapter affords. It is a chapter of conflict, definite hostility, unbelief; blindness to spiritual things; deadness as to moral sense; but we see the Word here in action, and we hear Him in speech, and watching the process, we find the reason of the action, and the inspiration of the speech.
How do we see Him in action? In dealing with that woman. How do we hear Him in speech? Saying, “I am the Light of the world”; “Before Abraham was born, I am.” How are we to account for it? What was the secret of it all? Again we listen, and from the things He said, we have the explanation of everything. “I am not alone,” “I and My Father,” “I am from above.”
I think we may end with John’s word, “And we beheld His glory-full of grace and full of truth.”