Today’s Scripture:
“So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.’” — John 8:28 (ESV)
Reflection
I can’t generalize today’s passage in one sentence, so I’ll just start with the summary. At first, Jesus tells the crowd that he will be going somewhere where they cannot go, but the Jews mock him by asking him if he is going to commit suicide. Jesus was talking about going to heaven, not going to hell for suicide. Jesus says that he is from above while they are from below, and that he is not of this world while they are, and that if they don’t believe that Jesus is God (I Am), then they will die for their sins. Jesus tells them that he is who he says he is and that his Father is also true. Next, Jesus prophesies of his death when he talks about being raised up and following his Father’s will.
Many non-Christians say that Jesus never said “I am God”, but is this really true? In today’s passage, we see two times where the words “I Am” are used (a “he” is added at the end, but the Greek does not have that in the original text). If we remember back to Moses and the burning bush, God says that “I AM WHO I AM,” (Exodus 3:14) and it just so turns out that the same Greek, ego eimi, is used in John 8 when Jesus is talking about himself. He says in verse 28 that when they have lifted up the Son of Man, they will know that he is “ego eimi,” or “I Am,” which refers to God himself.
When Jesus says that he will be lifted up and they will know that he is God, he is not talking about his ascension; he is talking about his death on the cross and how the cross was raised. When Jesus is raised on the cross, we see the Roman centurion in Mark 15:39, who says that Jesus is truly the Son of God, who is God himself. The prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled in this passage. Addressing the part in John 8:28b-30, Jesus always does the will of the Father and what is pleasing to him. I gotta get my weekly CGC lesson into the QT at least one day! Today, we reviewed how Jesus executes his office of Prophet (WSC q24). The answer is: “Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.” Just connecting it to this passage, we see how Jesus uses his Word, the Bible and his literal words, to reveal his will to us for our salvation. Quite literally, he spoke to the Jews of his time and revealed the whole plan of God’s will for salvation by speaking his Words. Jesus still reveals his will to us today through the Word, like today’s chapter. It’s crazy to think how Jesus revealed God’s will to those Jews through his Words, but through us reading God’s Word, we also receive God’s will for our salvation revealed. I just thought it was a pretty cool tie in!
Just to summarize, I learned that Jesus is truly God and he revealed God’s will by prophesying about dying on the cross.