Jesus is Lord

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

JESUS IS LORD

John 8:21-30

21 Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come."  22 This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?" 23 But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins."  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."  27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So 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. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."  30 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

NIV

There is still more of this exchange between Jesus and the Jews, who would be the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They are the ones who are steeped in the law and are refusing to see Jesus for who he is, the Messiah. From other sources, we know these Pharisees are very upset with Jesus because so many people are following him, which means they are losing control over the people. Jesus declares the truth between him and them. He is from above and they are from below. The idea is that Jesus sees the world from the view of God and man sees the world from his own view. If we put our faith in Jesus, if we are Jesus followers, believers, Christians, then it would seem right to say that we should have the view of God, rather than our own view. If, however, we live as if we are of this world, then we cannot see the view of God. Jesus seems to make the distinction between those who live in the world, they will die in their sins. Because we are believers, we will not die in our sins, but we will die in Christ and so be resurrected as Christ was and live for all eternity. Because of having a world view, the whole idea of a resurrection is based on the good works of the Pharisees or because of what they believe in their own righteousness, but at least they believe in a resurrection, unlike the Sadducees. This sort of resembles how many people think in our culture. The idea of being a good person gains entrance of heaven is nothing more them a world view, seeing from below, rather than from above. We cannot do anything other than to believe in Jesus in order to have eternal life. Even our belief, our faith is a gift from God. God makes it very clear through the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. No one can say, “Jesus is Lord” except through by the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3). In order to have a heavenly view, we must yield to the Spirit. It is the people who refuse to accept Jesus who refuse the convicting power of the Spirit. At the time Jesus tells them they will die in their sin, the Spirit had not yet been given, but they had the Son right in their midst, who is God, and surely they should have been convicted by his testimony and of the testimony of the Spirit and the Father on that day with Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. The other truth, which we might be one of the few people who believe, God did not forsake Jesus on the cross. Jesus makes it clear here in his conversation with the Jews. “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." The purpose Jesus came to earth was to be lifted up on that cross, to take away all our sins. That pleased the Father and so the Father who sent him did not leave him alone. If we are to believe God turned his back on Jesus in the midst of his doing the perfect will of the Father, then what are we to believe about God when we fail him when we are not doing his perfect will? Does he turn his back on us? Jesus said he would never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus is God. It makes absolutely no sense at all the Father would turn away from Jesus. When Jesus made that statement from the cross he was quoting the well-known 22^nd Psalm, which also declares the Lord will rule over nations, as well as many other prophetic words about Jesus. Again many people see from a world view, and if we are going to be believers, followers of Jesus, then we have to see through the eyes of God. We cannot see with physical eyes, but with spiritual eyes, with our heart, not just with our mind, with our spirit, not just with our body and its physical limitations. So, by the Spirit, we say, “Jesus is Lord”.