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THE TRUTH BRINGS FREEDOM

John chapter 8, verses 27 to 47

The leaders of the Jews were prejudiced against recognising the Lord Jesus as the one sent from God, for they had worldly minds and did not want to understand His message. The Lord told them that they would clearly identify Him when they lifted Him up: the Son of Man is a reference to the prophecy of Daniel, where he saw in a vision One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14).

They knew the Son of Man was the Messiah.

He was referring here to His crucifixion - to lift up is an expression used a number of times in this gospel to refer to it (chapters 3:14, 12:32,34). After His death and resurrection, many of these religious rulers believed and were saved.

Yet Daniel's vision looks upon the time when He will return to earth to take up His kingdom, when all who pierced Him will see Him (Revelation 1:7). Again He claimed that He was not making all this up, but that He was simply saying what He learned from the Father, and doing what pleased His Father. This marked Him off from the rabbis.

Many of the Jews then came to believe, nominally at any rate (chapter 2:23-25), but the tension was keen and the Lord proceeded to test the faith of these new believers from among the Pharisees. They believed Him (chapter 6:30) as to his claims to being the Messiah with their own interpretation (chapter 6:15), but they did not commit themselves to Him. So He made it clear that their future loyalty to His teaching would prove their sincerity.

Similarly, we accept church members on profession of trust in Christ. Continuance in their obedience to the Word will prove if their faith is real. It is the acid test of the true believer. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone: it produces fruit. After a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will want to "continue in His Word." A person who is active in the church but is not interested in the study of the Word of God is dangerous to a church.

Truth is one of the marks of Christ (chapter 1:14) and He claimed to be the personification of truth (chapter 14:6). It is only by knowing Him as the great I AM, that we can obtain:

• freedom from the slavery of sin (Romans 8:2). This freedom is won alone by Christ and we are sanctified in truth (chapter 17:19).

• freedom (intellectual, moral, spiritual) is only attainable when we are set free from darkness, sin, ignorance, superstition and let the Light of the World shine on us and in us.

• freedom from the bondage of the law (Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1).

Their boast of being physically Abraham's descendants was probably right, but the Jews came to rely solely on mere physical descent (Matthew 3:9) and so God made believing Jews and Gentiles the spiritual children of Abraham by faith (Matthew 3:7; Romans 9:6).

Their claim of never having been in bondage to anyone was clearly false. At that very moment the Jews wore the Roman yoke as they had worn that of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece (Macedonia). They also missed the point about freedom by truth.

Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin is in the present tense. Sin, like the worst narcotic, is habit forming (hence the problem today for criminologists, for paroled or pardoned criminals nearly always go back to crime - they are their slaves). Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16).

Then the Lord changed the metaphor and made a contrast between the positions of the son and the slave in the house (see Hebrews 3:5,6 and Galatians 4:30):

• the slave has no footing or tenure and may be cast out at any moment: such were these rulers, who were serving in the temple then, but were removed when the temple was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD.

• the son is the heir and has a permanent place: as the Son of God, He enjoyed God's presence throughout eternity.

As the Son, He has the power and authority to set the slaves of sin free indeed, actually and really. We are freed from the dominion of sin, and should not accept defeat and failure as a normal Christian experience. We are intended to live for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Such spiritual freedom, however, was beyond the concept or wish of these Jews.

Like at the recent feast (chapter 7:20, 25, 30, 32; 8:20), some of these professed believers were even now glowering with murderous vengeance because of what He had been saying. They had no longer room for his word (verse 31) when once they understood the spiritual aspect of his message, like His disciples in Galilee (chapter 6:60-66).

Taking up again the subject of their sonship, their being descendants of Abraham, He compared His words, which He had seen with His Father, with their actions (hatred of Him), which they had seen with their father.

They saw the implication and tried to defeat it by repeating their claim to being of Abraham's pedigree; but He countered that their actions belied their identity with him, for they sought to kill Him, who told them the truth from God, whereas Abraham did not do this. The contrast, "I know that you are Abraham's seed" against "If you were Abraham's children," is that between the natural and the spiritual posterity of Abraham. All legitimate Jews by race are the former; all who are of faith like Abraham, whether Jews or Gentiles, are the latter (Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 3:6-14).

As the old adage says, like father, like son. "You do the deeds of your father" (who is neither Abraham nor God as the Lord Jesus plainly indicates). So they contested "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father - God" as a proud boast in direct reply to His implication (verse 38) that God was not their spiritual Father (Deuteronomy 23:2).

The Lord Jesus made a distinction between hereditary children and true children. The religious leaders were hereditary children of Abraham and therefore claimed to be children of God, but their murderous intentions showed them rather to be children of the devil: he was a murderer from the beginning (it was he who caused man to sin, bringing death upon mankind), and a liar and father of lies (it was by lying that he caused Eve to sin).

They did not believe Him, because He told the truth: their stubbornness, pride, and prejudices kept them from believing in the Lord, thereby doing what the devil desired. They were his tools in carrying out his plans; they spoke the very same language of lies. Satan still uses people to obstruct God's work (Genesis 4:8; Romans 5:12; 1 John 3:12).

No one could accuse Jesus of a single sin. People who hated him and wanted him dead scrutinised his behaviour but could find nothing wrong. Jesus proved he was God in the flesh by his sinless life, and godly people hear what He has to say.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.

28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."

30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?"

34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

35 "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."

39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father - God."

42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

46 "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?

47 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."