John 8:25-30

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Deeper Waters. We are continuing going through the Bible looking to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. At the present time, we are in the gospel of John and in chapter 8, which is a chapter, as was pointed out last night, that is extremely important to understanding the claims of Jesus and as we get to the end, we’ll see just how great the claims were. Tonight, we’re looking at verses 25-30. Let’s go to the text.

²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

   “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

 ²⁷They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.²⁹The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

The Jews demand of Jesus to know who he is. In essence, they are saying “Who do you think you are?” They realized that Jesus was making a strong claim. I must say this in response. The Jew back then who knew Jesus was making a strong claim I believe is taking his claim more seriously than the person sitting in the pew who could even be a Christian but is not learning about their faith and passes over these words without considering just how revolutionary what Christ is saying is.

Christ tells them that he is just who his words and actions have been revealing him to be from the beginning. The problem is not that Christ has not answered their question. The problem is that he has answered their question and they simply do not like the answer that he has given.

Once again, his mission is connected with his relationship with the Father and his judgment is true because it is the judgment of the Father. As has been stated numerous times before, Jesus is shown to have a highly intricate relationship with the Father and everything he does is based on that.

Since they do not understand, Jesus tells them that they will when the Son is lifted up. John is a fan of using double entendre and no other writer describes crucifixion this way. John is indicating that while crucifixion involves a lifting up, in reality, it will come to be that which reveals Jesus as the king that he claims to be.

Jesus also tells us that he always does what pleases the Father. Stop and consider that. All of us today have done something that does not please the Father and here Jesus says that he always pleases him. What a claim to make.

We are told thankfully that some put their faith in him. Who? We don’t know. It doesn’t matter to us either. The question is, what about you? Have you put your faith in him?