21 Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I am saying to the world.” 27 They did not know that He had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing from Myself, but I speak these things 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 speaking these things, many believed in Him. John 8: 21-30 LSB
John 8: 21-30
…16“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” “Do not send them,” Elisha replied. 17But when they pressed him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find Elijah. 18When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”… 2 Kings 2: 16-18
V. 21 I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin - He has been telling them for quite some time where He is from, that He came down from heaven, that God is His Father. They reject this about Him, even though He has fortified His claims by doing things that only God can do, healing the sick, making food enough to feed multitudes, the blind see, the lame walk, and He knows the Word of God in a way they do not. They will come to Him for certain types of miracles, but not for the spiritual rebirth. He is telling men who think they are good by their own measure that that is not the way God measures. God only accepts the works of His Son, and He only accepts us in Christ. The door is closing for these people, and they are the hardest to convince since they are religious and think themselves arrived, but without Jesus they are bound to die in their sin, to face the just wrath of an infinite Being. If only men preached like this today, they say they want to be like Jesus, well here it is, go ahead, I dare you. Tell people they aren't good enough, tell them they are going to hell.
Hendriksen writes "In their death they will experience no comfort and no peace of any kind, only dark despair. The One whom they have rejected will not be present to help them in their need. In their sin—all their sins viewed collectively, but separately in verse 24 (sins)—they will die. The wrath of God resting upon them, they will go to the place of everlasting perdition. They cannot go where Jesus is going; namely, to the Father." (BORROW Exposition of the Gospel according to John - Chapters 7-21)
J C Ryle on you will seek (zeteo) Me and will die (apothnesko) in your sin (hamartia) - This means that His hearers would seek Him too late, having discovered too late that He was the Messiah whom they ought to have received. But the door of mercy would then be shut. They would seek in vain, because they had not known the day of their visitation. And the result would be that many of them would die miserably “in their sins,”—with their sins upon them unpardoned and unforgiven. - Precept Austin
…17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. 18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.… Ezekiel 3: 17-19
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.… Ephesians 2: 1-3
V. 22 Surely He will not kill Himself - They don't listen, they are the ones trying to kill Him. In Jewish thought, of that time, suicide was one of the worst sins a man could commit. It really makes a spectacle of what transpired in Judas after he betrayed Christ. Judas was seeking power, riches and comfort, and he must have had the same cultural aversion to suicide, yet so much was his despair that he hung himself, and eventually his bowels burst forth upon the potter's field. So confident are these Pharisees in their own works, in their relation to Abraham, that they don't even entertain the possibility of themselves being outside of the Kingdom, of dying in their sins. It's much easier to believe that Jesus is the sinner, that they won't be able to follow Him because He is going to hell.
Surely He will not kill (apokteino) Himself, will He, since He says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come" - NLT - "The people asked, "Is he planning to commit suicide?" (Jn 8:22NLT). They are mocking Him and their question expects a negative answer. The sense of their response seems to be "If we can’t go where you are going you must have suicide in mind.” The Jews again (either willfully consciously or ignorantly) totally missed the point that Jesus was going to heaven and they were on a fast track to hell. They believed that those who commit suicide are excluded from eternal life according to Jewish tradition. Since they thought they were going to heaven, they reasoned that if He killed Himself, He would be sent to the worst part of Sheol, which Jews of that day thought was reserved for those who committed suicide. Josephus recorded the belief that "while the souls of those whose hands have acted madly against themselves, are received by the darkest place in Hades." (Jewish Wars iii.375) - Precept Austin
…5They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed. 6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:… Psalm 22: 5-7
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.… Hebrews 12: 1-3
V. 23 You are from below, I am from above - Even if they don't say it loudly enough for Him to audibly hear it, He knows the contentions of every heart. He kindly and firmly clarifies it for them, and this is the gospel, that you were born dead in your trespasses and sins, that you are part of this fallen world, dead in Adam, and here is the second Adam, someone from above. He is making it clear that they belong to what's below, to the prince of the power of the air, to those that make their bed in hell. They are only concerned with the temporal.
…21But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23But the seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and produces a crop—a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.”… Matthew 13: 21-23
…46The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.… 1 Corinthians 15: 46-48
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life— is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.… 1 John 2: 15-17
V. 24 For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins - He keeps reiterating this; maybe it's important.
Alas! that the farthest end of all our thoughts should be the thought of our ends.
--Thomas Adams
You believe (pisteuo) that I am (see note on ego eimi) He, (note "He" is not in Greek) you will die (apothnesko) in your sins (hamartia) - Believe is in the aorist tense calling for them to make a definite act of faith. The active voice speaks of making a volitional choice, a choice of one's will. Jesus explains the divine escape clause which is simply to believe that He is the great "I Am." Obviously implicit in this belief is acknowledgement that they are sinners in need of Him as Savior and that if they received/believed, He would be their Substitute and taste death in their place giving them eternal life. There is clearly a warning "unless" or "if you don't" for if you don't believe the door to the day of grace may be shut. And no man knows when God in His omniscience and justice deems it is time to shut that door in an individual's life. It behooves these Jews (and all souls) to walk through this door labeled "unless." The consequence to fail to believe is to receive the wages of sin which is death forever in one's sins. - PA
“You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late.”
-- Thomas Fuller
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10: 26-29
V. 25 Who are You - It has to feel like the movie Ground Hog Day to Jesus by now. He has said Who He is, that He and the Father are One, that He comes from the Father, that He only does what He sees the Father doing. He has demonstrated Who He is by many miracles and fulfillment of prophecy.
38nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. 39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, 40yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.… John 5: 38-40
V. 26 To judge concerning you - They will be judged according to the light they have received.
48 “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
49 “For I did not speak 1on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” John 12: 47-50
V. 27 They did not know that He had been speaking to them about the Father - Interesting, since earlier they wanted to kill Him for calling God His Father, making Himself equal to God.
Jesus conclusion regarding the Jews points out their deep spiritual blindness. The religious men were like Paul described as those "whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2Co 4:4+) These religious men were natural men who "did not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to (them); and (they) cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1Co 2:14+) Unless the Lord opens eyes, none of us can see God's spiritual truths. - PA
V. 28 When you lift up the Son of Man then you will know that I am He - Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
…12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.… Galatians 3: 12-14
V. 30 As He was speaking these things many believed in Him - Jesus will challenge the depths of this belief in the next verses. If you could just stop here and look no further you might leave with a warm feeling, and at most churches they would, but we are to press further and look for fruit, in our lives, our children's, and those of our church family. What did you actually believe?
J C Ryle on John 8:30 - There is, however, no reason to think that the “belief” here was anything more than a head belief that our Lord was the Messiah. That many did so believe whose hearts remained unchanged, there can be little doubt. The same expression occurs at Jn 10:42, and Jn 11:45, and Jn 12:42. The extent to which men may be intellectually convinced of the truth of religion, and know their duty, while their hearts are unrenewed, and they continue in sin, is one of the most painful phenomena in the history of human nature. Let us never be content with believing things to be true, without a personal laying bold on the living Person, Christ Jesus, and actually following Him. Chrysostom observes: “They believed, yet not as they ought, but carelessly and by chance, being pleased and refreshed by the humility of the words. For that they had not perfect faith, the Evangelist shows by their speeches after this, in which they insult Him again.” Theophylact, Zwingle, and Calvin take the same view. (John 8 Commentary) (Bolding added)
A W Pink on John 8:30 - This does not mean that they believed to the saving of their souls, the verses which follow evidence they had not. Probably nothing more is here signified than that they were momentarily impressed so that their enmity against Him was, temporarily, allayed. Many were evidently struck by what they observed in the demeanor of Christ-bearing the perverseness of His enemies so patiently, speaking of so ignominious a death with such holy composure, and expressing so positively His sense of the Father’s approbation. Nevertheless, the impression was but a fleeting one, and their believing on Him amounted to no more than asking, "When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" (John 7:31 ). (Bolding added) - Precept Austin
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