“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ So the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.’ Jesus answered, ‘Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.’ They said to him therefore, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 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.’ So the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself, since he says, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 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.’ They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 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. 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.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Light or Dark?

As the Feast of Booths began, we saw discretion from Jesus, entering Jerusalem without fanfare, and not making Himself known until midway through the week of the feast. From the midpoint on, and especially as the feast drew to a close, we saw a boldness from Jesus, teaching publicly and declaring Himself the source of living water. This boldness placed Him back into a position we’ve seen before, the Truth of His message at odds with the corruption of the teachers of the Law. After the feast has ended, we see that Jesus remains in the region, and the antagonistic relationship between He and the ruling Jews (who already want to kill Him), continues to show itself publicly. This is an ebb and flow that is shown throughout each of the gospels, as the Jews, the Pharisees in particular are constantly trying to poke holes in Jesus’s teaching, and Jesus consistently turns their corruption and wickedness back on their heads. These instances, as they repeat and progress, help us to see a clear dividing line – the distinction between the Light and the dark.

1. God Affirms the Light

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

                The second of Jesus’s seven “I am” statements, this shows us the other side of what He says during the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:14-16,

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

In Matthew, Jesus tells us that we are lights of the world, and points to the responsibility and purpose of this role – to shine. To give off light that gives glory to God, our Father. But what He says in John’s gospel shows us very simply how we become lights to begin with, as shining with the Spirit isn’t something that is naturally occurring in our flesh. It is following Jesus that gives us the light of life, and pulls us from the darkness of death that is what worldliness offers.

“So the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.’”

It bears considering the track record of Jesus’s ministry. The people healed, the miracles performed, and most importantly, the wisdom of scripture and Truth of God taught to thousands of spiritually starving people. Jesus is not just a random guy who showed up at the temple one day and said, “guess what everyone? I’m the light of the world!” The work that God has used Him for, His grasp and teaching of the Law, and the prophecies He fulfills should be apparent to anyone who’s paying attention. So, what the Pharisees do here, which is true to form for them, is pathetic. Jesus makes a statement and they jump, thinking they’ve got Him on a technicality. What they seem to be pulling from and twisting is Deuteronomy 19:15, which says,

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.”

This is a principle that Paul makes a point of addressing in 2 Corinthians 13:1, “… Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” showing that even after the fulfillment of the Law in Jesus, it was still relevant. Charges aren’t to be leveled and punishment executed on a whim. There is to be evidence, witnesses, things that allowed judges to establish the legitimacy of the charge. This was an issue with the accusations leveled against the woman caught in adultery in the last passage, as they looked to stone her to death, despite there being no apparent witnesses. The fact that the Pharisees grab this is strange, as Jesus is making a claim, not accusing or being accused of a crime. God provides His people with a simple standard to determine true from false prophets in Deuteronomy 18:21–22, which says,

“And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

The issue is, if the Pharisees has shown a better understanding of the Law and used this passage, they would have had no accusation to level against Jesus. When Jesus says that the blind will see, that people will be healed, or even commands the wind to be still, it happens in real time. If you actually look for evidence of His divine appointment, it’s abundant. But the Pharisees don’t want to see that, as it clashes with their selfish aims. So again, they cherry pick from the Law, and try to twist it against Jesus.

“Jesus answered, ‘Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.’”

Another issue with the Pharisees’ line of reasoning is that simply because there isn’t a second witness present to attest to Jesus’s claim, “I am the light of the world,” doesn’t mean it’s false. They could argue that it requires proof, but to immediately deem it a falsehood doesn’t make sense logically. But their aims aren’t logical, and their goal once again, is not the truth. Jesus pushes back against their claim, He speaks the truth, and whether He serves as His own witness or not, it’s still true. What He says here also calls us back to the opening of John’s gospel, John 1:1–5,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

There simply isn’t a human that can properly attest to Jesus’s origin and position, because He is one with God and has existed since before our known reality. In Jesus is the light that is the very life of mankind. While people weren’t around to bear witness to this, the evidence to support Jesus’s claim is evident in the work that God has sent Him to do. But for the Pharisees, or for anyone for that matter, to see this they would have to look beyond worldly things, they would need to “worship in spirit and truth” as Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in John 4. But Jesus, being perfect, doesn’t stop at simply declaring the truth and the signs and wonders that help affirm it. Despite the Pharisees twisting the Law, He still fulfills their presumed requirements, and provides a second witness: God the Father. This could be taken in a general sense, that God affirms Jesus’s words by the clear blessing that has been given to His ministry, but if we look through the gospels, we have two occasions where God literally affirms Jesus’s position and ministry. The first is recorded in Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3 at the baptism of Jesus, where after the Holy Spirit visibly descends onto Jesus, the voice of God is heard from heaven, calling Jesus His, “beloved Son, with who I am well pleased.” The second of God’s verbal affirmations of Jesus occurs at the Transfiguration, recorded in Matthew 16, Mark 9, and Luke 9. While the voice of God came from heaven itself at the time of Jesus’s baptism, we see at the Transfiguration that God is manifested as the cloud, as He did with the people of Israel in the wilderness during the time of Moses. While the wording of each account is slightly different, the sentiment is the same, with God saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” In Matthew, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” In Mark, and “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” in Luke. While this happening at the Transfiguration would be known only to Peter, James, and John, the first occurrence at Jesus’s baptism would have been witnessed by anyone present at the time. Jesus is the very embodiment of Truth, and so His witness about Himself is true. But God affirms this as the second witness, through His discernable blessings, and through speaking from heaven concerning the ministry of His Son.

2. The Absence of Light is Death

“They said to him therefore, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.”

Again we see that the Pharisees cannot see past the flesh, and that Jesus boldly attests to their blindness as He teaches publicly in the temple. But as has been displayed before, and will be again in John’s account, Jesus isn’t touched as it’s not yet time. This is a reminder that the cross was not the success of the enemies of God, but was the voluntary surrender of Jesus to God’s will.

“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.’ So the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself, since he says, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’”

 This is the second time that Jesus has told the Pharisees of His pending departure, and the second time they have failed to understand Him. This first exchange takes place in the prior chapter, in John 7:33–36,

“Jesus then said, ‘I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.’ The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, “You will seek me and you will not find me,” and, “Where I am you cannot come”?’”

It’s ironic that despite the fact that the Pharisees miss the point completely, and are wrong in both instances, they’re speculation is closer the second time. Jesus isn’t going to kill Himself, but He is going to offer up His life for the world, pass into death and back into life, before ascending into heaven, to the right hand of the Father. The part that is so terrifying in both declarations is Jesus’s assertion that “where I am going, you cannot come.”

“He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.’”

As Jesus said earlier in the passage, “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.” The Pharisees, whose minds are set on wicked, worldly things simply cannot understand Jesus, or the Truth that He speaks. Jesus, who has come to offer salvation to the world, doesn’t judge. But in rejecting Him, we bring judgement on ourselves. As He told Nicodemus in John 3:17-21,

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

The evidence of God’s existence, and the abundance of His Truth is undeniable to any whose eyes are truly open, but there is also freedom to remain blind and enslaved. As Jesus says in Revelation 3:20,

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

The offer is there, to have a relationship with God, to be under one roof and entered into fellowship with our Lord and Savior, but it’s not forced upon us. We’re free to reject the light, to love the darkness, and to embrace the ultimate pain of death and separation.

3. The Light was Made to be Seen

“So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.”

If we back up to John 5, and look at the aftermath of Jesus healing the crippled man by the sheep pool, we see His declaration that He is the Son of God. It was this that took the religious leaders from persecuting Jesus, to actively seeking to kill Him. They know who He says He is, and that this hasn’t changed, and they would know it to be true if their eyes were open.

“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.’ They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.”

We know that the Father and Son are one, and that all authority has been given to the Son by the Father, but this passage highlights the example of the servant that Jesus gives us to follow. In all things He actively pursues and fulfills the will of the Father, not His own as an individual. There are an abundance of wrongs with the Pharisees, and though Jesus calls them out on some of the more egregious issues (see Matthew 23 as a prime example), His purpose and the will of God is not that Jesus judge the world, but save it. The Pharisees, and many of the people are blinded by worldliness, but a time is coming when the veil will be torn and many (though sadly, not all), will see the Truth of Christ.

“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. 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.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

It’s subtle, but Jesus again shows divine foreknowledge, not saying, as He has before that the Son of Man must be lifted up, but specifying that He is addressing the ones who will be behind His crucifixion. This use of the phrase “lifted up,” brings us back to what He told Nicodemus in John 3:14-15,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

This merits considering the origin and significance of the serpent in the wilderness from Numbers 21:5-9,

“And the people spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

So how does Jesus on the cross relate to the serpent in the wilderness? The bronze serpent, what the people of Israel were called to look upon, is a symbol of the very thing that’s killing them. When we see Jesus on the cross, what we look at is the penalty for our sin, the very thing that is killing us, and everything that we deserved, poured out on the One who deserved none of it. The innocent and righteous Lamb of God, crucified under the wrath of the Father, that was earned by the sin of the world. This event was so profound that when the Roman centurion who oversaw Jesus’s crucifixion witnessed His death on the cross, he is recorded in both Matthew and Mark as professing, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” To look upon and understand the image of Jesus on the cross is to take in the significance of His life, death, and resurrection. This is something that many of the ruling Jews remained blind to, even after the resurrection, continually plotting, and fighting to suppress the truth and retain their power. But for any with eyes to see, Jesus’s words here in John 8 are entirely affirmed and exemplified in Him lifted up. His will and authority was and is that of the Father. His devotion to the mission, to what is pleasing to God was and is absolute, even to the point of death on the cross. To any hearing His claim, they have only to look and see how His entire ministry attests to the truth of His words, to see that the light of Christ is visible to all, assuming they have not chosen to remain blind.

Pastor Landon’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwctC7qoCM