Jesus Again Proclaims His Messiahship

John 8:21; 21. See John 7:32-34.

John 8:22; 22. Will he kill himself?] A derisive, mocking query, meaning: 'Will he commit suicide? If so, gehenna is his destiny, and certainly we shall neither seek him, find him, nor go where he is, for we are the chosen seed and heaven is our destiny.'

John 8:23; 23. This world] See John 17:14.

John 8:24; 24. If ye believe not that I am he] The Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, the one through whom redemption, salvation, and remission of sins would come; their Messiah, the Christ, the God of Israel made flesh among them.

John 8:24; Ye shall die in your sins] Remission of sins before death (and the consequent status of cleanliness and purity which assures the sin-free person of eventual salvation) comes to accountable men in one way and one way only. By conformity to the following eternal principles sins are remitted: (1) Men must believe in Christ as the very Son of God, the actual Redeemer and Savior through whose atoning sacrifice the whole plan of redemption and salvation is made operative; (2) Then being moved upon by a godly sorrow for sin they must forsake evil, turn to righteousness, and repent of their wrongdoings with all their hearts; (3) Thereafter they must be baptized in water for the remission of sins, under the hands of a legal administrator; and (4) Following this, also under the hands of a legal administrator, they must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

John 8:24; Those who take these steps and who endure in righteousness thereafter are saved; all others are damned. Thus by rejecting their King-Messiah these Jews would inevitably and surely die in their sins and be precluded from going to that eternal kingdom where the Eternal King reigns forever. And what was true for them applies in principle to men of all ages.

John 8:25; 25. Who art thou?] Again and again and again, frequently, emphatically, in language which they understood, Jesus had claimed divine Sonship, told them that God was his Father, that he was the very Christ. True, they did not and would not believe his witness. Why then do they ask for a further self-identifying assertion? Obviously they were seeking a statement from Jesus in which he would say the very words, "I am the Messiah." Such a plain statement would further inflame the multitudes against him, and would be more concrete and specific evidence to use in any trial for blasphemy.

John 8:25-26; 25b-26. 'From the beginning of my ministry I have told you I was the Messiah. There are also other truths I must tell you, and you shall be judged by them. But know this, him whom ye say is your God, who also is the Father who sent me, he is the source of my teachings, and I speak only those things which I have received from him.'

John 8:27; 27. They understood not] Those who were trying to ensnare him and who thirsted for his blood, those in spiritual darkness who had closed their minds to light and truth; not those spiritually receptive persons who but a moment later would be classed with those who believed our Lord's testimony of himself. (V. 30.)

John 8:28-29; 28-29. Here Jesus identifies his murderers and foretells the mode of his death: 'When ye have caused my death on the cross, and when it shall be made known unto you that I have risen again from the dead, meaning in that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, then shall ye know that I am the Messiah and that the message I taught you came from the Father. But for the present, suffice it to say that the Father is with me and I do nothing of myself alone. Whatever you may think, know this also that what I do pleases him.'