The conflict with Jewish rulers did not end with Jesus’ silence of the accusers of the woman taken in adultery. There are three more conflicts found in John 8:12-20, 21-30, and 31-59.
The second encounter with the Jewish authorities began with Jesus’ statement, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus’ words, “I am the light of the world” reminds us of the prologue of the book: “In him was life, and the light was the light of men” (1:4). He is both the illuminating light that brings understanding and salvation, and He is the source of that light.
The Pharisees who heard His words immediately took issue with Him by saying, “Thou bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true” (John 8:13). These men were illogically applying the law which taught that it was necessary to have testimony from two or three witnesses to confirm a matter. It did not mean that if one man was the only one who affirmed something that it was false. The law was explicit: every man had a right to defend himself (cp. John 7:50-51). To this Jesus referred when He said, “Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go” (John 8:14). Still, in the face of this latter truth, Jesus testified that He also had a second witness to His claims: “Yea and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me” (John 8:16). The Father had borne witness of Jesus: He had given Him the wondrous signs He worked and had twice acknowledged Jesus to be His Son by saying, “Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). The antagonists of Jesus may not have heard God’s voice; they were certainly aware of the miracles He worked. Thus ended, momentarily, the discussion: the objection of the objectors had been met and shown to be a false assumption (v. 20).
Verses 21-30 is a resumption of discussion with the same men, whether that day or some other. But there was a shift in the subject of discussion. Jesus began the discussion by frankly telling the men, “I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come” (John 8:21). Jesus made this statement twice in His discussion that day with the Jewish questioners (vv. 21, 24). He had made a similar statement earlier (John 7:34).
To those who sought to discount Him, Jesus’ words left them baffled. “Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come” (John 8:22). When Jesus said, “I go away” He had a reference to His ascension back to His Father. When He said, “Ye shall die in your sin” He meant that if these men remained in their unbelief, they would be lost. There is a simple phrase added in v. 24 which showed there was a solution (which was unlikely given their present state of unbelief), but a solution should they change in faith. Jesus said, “That ye shall die in you sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
At length these men asked, “Who art thou?” and Jesus said, “Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning” (John 8:25). Jesus then said, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28). Jesus would give them indisputable evidence that He was who He claimed He was — when they had lifted Him up.
These words, “Lifted up the Son of man” was a clear reference to Jesus’ crucifixion for which these men would be responsible. But how would they know by crucifying Jesus that He was who He claimed to be? The answer is that while these men would succeed in getting Pilate to crucify Jesus, they could not prevent Jesus’ return to life! The resurrection of Jesus was God’s testimony that Jesus was His Son (Romans 1:4), and was confirmed by many infallible proofs.
The sad truth is that while the resurrection of Jesus was proven to be true, few of the ruling class accepted it. These men took every possible precaution to prevent a false report circulating that Jesus had been resurrected. They anticipated that Jesus’ disciples would come by night and steal His body from the tomb, then report He had been raised. To prevent that they secured from Pilate guards to guard the tomb. Those guards could have prevented Jesus’ disciples from stealing His body, but they could not prevent an angel from rolling the stone away from His tomb, nor the Father restoring His Son back to life. The guards rushed to the rulers and told them all the things which had happened. What did these rulers do, declare, “We have sinned” and bow in obedience to Jesus? They did not. They put a lot of money into the hands of the watchers and instructed them to say the disciples of Jesus had come by night while the watchers slept and stole Jesus’ body away. They had “lifted Jesus up” and by Jesus’ resurrection they knew that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Still, while they could not deny the resurrection of Jesus, they would not accept it.
These men were like people in the days of Isaiah. They had eyes but they shut them. They had ears but they closed them. Our present world is no different.
Jim McDonald