Above and Below

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ABOVE AND BELOW

John 8:19-25

19 Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."  20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come. 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.

NIV

Two Iconic questions that have been asked over the centuries, “Where is your father?” and “Who are you?” Jesus makes it clear, that if we knew the answer to either of those questions, we would know the answer to the other. He told them because they do not know him, they do not know the Father. Interesting these men he is speaking to, the Pharisees, are religious men who are trying to follow the Law of Moses which was given to him by JHWH or Yahweh, whom we call God, or Father, whom Jesus called Father, yet he tells them they do not know JHWH. Jesus is the physical manifestation of God, showing the world the character of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, as far as these Pharisees are concerned, Jesus is simply telling them, “Look at me, see who I really am and you will understand who JHWH really is.” Is this not our life as well? We have never seen either Jesus or the Father in person, well maybe some believers have had visions, but the most of us have not actually seen either, but we have enough testimony of those who did see Jesus, recording both his life, his deeds, his words, and his death, resurrection and ascension and we have the testimony of the Spirit who dwells within us, so we can truly know Jesus. Therefore we can also truly know the Father. We have all his deeds recorded for us throughout the Old Testament, but that does not give us a complete picture of his character because it does not include the Son and the Spirit. So when people, like the Pharisees, accuse God of being a God of wrath, killing all who disobey him, they do not know the Father because they do not know Jesus. If they knew Jesus they would see a God who raises people from the dead, who healed the sick, who fed thousands when they were hungry and who died for their sin so they could have eternal life. Jesus and the Father are one, if we know one, we know both. The challenge we are presented with is that in order to know them we cannot be from below, we have to be from above. That is to say, our citizenship must be in the kingdom of God rather than of this world. What then is the difference? It is how we live. It is what or who we put our trust in. Although it is true that we are physically here in this world at this time, we do not live here, it is not our home or our homeland. We are just passing through, our treasures are laid up beyond the blue. The angels beckon us from heavens open shore, and we cannot feel at home in this world anymore. We are already from above, just temporally residing here. But those who are at home here, are from below, they do not understand anything but what they can see, taste, smell, hear and touch. They cannot sense the Spirit, and thus know who Jesus really is and therefore know who the Father truly is. What we have to remember is we need to live as though we are truly from above and not as one from below. This does give rise to the question as to why we try so hard to stay here, living in this place that is not our home when our home is in heaven, the place Jesus went to prepare for us. Are we truly living as one from above or as one from below? We realize that the Lord as certain things for us to do while we are here and that He has our days numbered. So as long as we are here, we need to be about our Father’s business, rather than our own. Again, we live as one from above, not below.