John 8:12-32
The fundamental nature of light
Light is something that we cannot do without. It’s fundamental to life. Without the light of the sun, we won’t have life here on earth. You and I wouldn’t be here without it. Its importance can be seen in the fact that the very first thing we hear God saying in the account of creation is, “Let there be light”. There would be no plant life, no oxygen to breathe, no animal life and no us. Light is essential to life and that’s why it is a fitting metaphor for the Lord Jesus to describe his importance for this world.
“I am the light of the world” (the declaration of Jesus)
In chapter 8 of the gospel of John, we read that at the Feast of Tabernacles the Lord Jesus declared that he is the light of this world, the light of life.
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’[1]
This is the second of the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus that John has recorded in his gospel. In these sayings Jesus speaks of himself in various ways beginning with the words “I am”. The first of these is found in chapter 6 when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (6:35, 48). Later in the gospel he says, “I am the gate for the sheep” and “I am the good shepherd” and “I am the resurrection and the life” and “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Each of the sayings reveal his significance for us and our world. Today we are looking at chapter 8 and what Jesus said of himself on what was most likely the last great day of the Festival of Tabernacles (or Booths or Sukkot) Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world”.
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The festival of Tabernacles
At the time, the Festival of Tabernacles was one of three great annual pilgrimage festivals that every male Israelite was expected to celebrate in Jerusalem (see Exodus 23:14, 17; 34:23). It ran for seven days in September or October with a festival assembly on the eighth day. The festival commemorated Israel’s journey in the wilderness, reminding them of the Lord’s provision for them in the past but also with the anticipation of what he’d promised to do for them in the future.
During the festival people camped out using leafy branches to make shelters for themselves in fields or on the rooftop of their homes in and around Jerusalem to remember that time when they wandered in the wilderness camping out under the stars. It was at this festival that Jesus taught and declared several important truths about himself, two of which seems to have been related to what went on at the festival.
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The water-drawing rite
Each day at the festival there was a water-drawing rite[2] in which water would be drawn from the Pool of Siloam and carried back in a golden pitcher in a procession led by the High Priest where it would be poured out before the Lord and the words of Isaiah 12 sung with its central words being, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:2)[3]. Last week in chapter 7 we read how Jesus declared that it was those who believed in him who would have rivers of living water flowing from within them.
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The lighting of the four lamps
The other thing that happened at the festival was that on every night of the festival four huge lamps were lit in the Court of Women and of those lights it was said that they shone so brightly that the glow from the temple area could be seen all over Jerusalem[4]. The lighting of these great lamps recalled the light from the pillar of fire that guided the Israelites at night after their escape from Egypt (see Exodus 13:21). They were also lit recalling the promise that the Lord had given his people that the days of sorrow would one day end and he would be their everlasting light (see Isaiah 60:19-20).
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The declaration made on the last great day
On that last great day of the festival Jesus was probably standing in the Court of the Women where these lamps would have burnt and he declared himself to be the light of the world. He was the light of God that was coming into the world and just as Israel had needed to follow the light from the land of slavery, so they now needed to follow Jesus who is the light of the world.
You might have noticed that we have overlooked verse 53 of chapter 7 and the first 11 verses of chapter 8 that appear in the NIV in italics and that is because in the oldest Greek manuscripts of the gospel of John these verses are not there. They seem to have been a later inclusion, and it makes more sense to understand that the words of Jesus in verse 12 follow directly on from what he said in chapter 7 on the last great day of the festival.
The truth that Jesus was revealing to the people in Jerusalem was that Jesus fulfilled this festival. It pointed to him for he is the light of the world. He is the light of God and the light of life, and they needed to follow him to enter God’s promised rest. Without Jesus they were stumbling around in the darkness. Later in chapter 12 Jesus said that he had come into the world so that everyone who believed in him would not remain in darkness (see John 12:46).
The Pharisee’s stubborn unbelief
But as much as the people at that festival needed to understand the truth that Jesus is the light of the world, what we see is the stubborn unbelief of the Pharisees and others in this chapter. Sadly, some people refuse to come into the light. And in the verses that we are looking at today we see what that the unbelief and wilful obtuseness of the Pharisees and others at the festival.
Despite all Jesus has said and done, the many signs that Jesus had performed that pointed to the fact that he had come from God and was the light of the world the Pharisees refused to believe.
John 8:13
Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.’
Literally they said that his testimony wasn’t true (as per ESV). They refused to believe him and instead denied the truth of Jesus’ words. But in this passage Jesus diagnoses the problem with their unbelief.
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They judge by human standards
The first thing he said was that they were judging things by human standards. They had no idea where he had come from and where he was going.
John 8:14-15
14 Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.
The problem with many who were at that festival in Jerusalem was stated back in chapter 7 and verse 24. They were not judging correctly, because they were judging him by mere appearances. They thought they knew him. But they were judging him from their limited, superficial worldly perspective and not heeding the testimony of the one who had come from above. Their understanding was limited by their perspective.
If you are a goldfish that has always lived in a goldfish bowl on the kitchen bench, then you believe that your whole world is limited to that bowl. You swim around in your bowl and all you can see are the stones on the bottom of the bowl, the filter, the rock or two in the middle with the plants hanging off it and the food that daily drops down from the surface of the water like manna from heaven. The fish would think that its whole world was contained in that bowl.
If you dropped in another fish that came from the ocean and that fish started to tell the goldfish about what was out there and where it had come from it might argue with it that he has never seen an ocean and that it can’t be real and that the other fish is only trying to deceive it. But the goldfish’s perspective even though it is real, it isn’t complete. It’s limited. It isn’t the truth.
That’s how it was for Pharisees. Jesus went on to explain to them in verse 23 that they were from below and he was from above. They were of this world, and he wasn’t. Their perspective was limited to this world and what they thought they knew about Jesus. They were judging him by merely human standards (literally according to the flesh). But there was more to Jesus than what they were prepared to accept and he had shown them this through the many signs that he had performed which they were now ignoring. The signs were there so that they might believe.
The Lord went on to say that his judgment is true for he doesn’t judge alone. His father who sent him testifies with him. He had borne witness to his Son through the startling signs (the miracles) of Jesus that only one sent from God would have been able to do. He had also testified to Jesus at his baptism and then on the Mount of Transfiguration.
- They did not know the Father
But instead of believing they were wilfully obtuse and just asked Jesus, “Where is your father?” (v19). Jesus replied that they didn’t know him or his father. And that if they knew him, they would also know his Father. Later in chapter 14 Jesus will tell the disciples plainly that “No one comes to the Father except through me” (v6).
The problem with such stubborn disbelief is that you are choosing to remain in the darkness. You remain stumbling around in the dark. And the consequences of remaining darkness are spelt out by Jesus in verses 21 to 24.
John 8:21-24
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 he, you will indeed die in your sins.’
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They would die in their sin
The Lord Jesus told the Pharisees that if they didn’t believe that “I am he” that they would indeed die in their sins. The words “I am he”[5] are at a minimum a reference to Jesus being the one that he had told them that he was, the one who the father has sent into the world, the bread of life, the light of the world, the light of life, the Saviour of the world. But the words perhaps even point to his deity, that he is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the one through whom all things have been made that were made. In the Greek version of the OT (the LXX), the same Greek words that have been translated “I am he” repeatedly appear in Isaiah when God talks about himself (41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12;).
Isaiah 48:12
Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called:
I am he; I am the first and I am the last.
Jesus told them that if they refused to believe in him and what he had revealed about himself then they would die in their sin[6]. You are choosing to bear the consequences of your sin yourself. You don’t want to die in your sin.
It’s only by faith in Jesus that our sins can be forgiven, the slate wiped clean. Jesus would go to the cross to bear the sins of many. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). He came into the world so that we can be forgiven and not die in our sins but have eternal life. But if you refuse to believe you are choosing to bear the consequences of your sins yourselves.
John 3:36
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
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They would not get to go to where Jesus was going
Jesus told them not only that they will die in their sin, but they wouldn’t get to go to where he was going. “Where I go, you cannot come?” he said. The Pharisees come up with several suggestions as to where Jesus was going. In chapter 7 the mused that he might have been going to the Greeks. Here in this chapter, they seem wilfully obtuse suggesting that Jesus was going to kill himself. But Jesus had told them that he was going to the one who sent him (7:33). He was going to the Father (16:17). And for those who would believe in him he would prepare a place for them there. This is what he explained to his disciples in chapter 14. He then went on to explains that
John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
But sadly, some will choose the darkness where Jesus said there is there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12 CSB). It’s an awful prospect.
Despite the warning that Jesus gave those at the festival many still stubbornly refused to believe. In verse 25 they asked, “Who are you?” This is probably less of a genuine question and more of a further challenge as the “you” in the sentence is emphatic and could be translated, “You, who are you?” or as one commentator has put it, “Who do you think you are?”[7].
- One day they would know him
But one day they would know him.
John 8:28-29
So Jesus said, ‘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 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.’
One day they would see him for who he really is, after they had lifted him up presumably on the cross. The Lord Jesus would die and be buried and on the third day be raised to life and exalted and would return with the clouds of heaven to judge the world (Matthew 24:30). One day everyone shall know him for who he really is..
Genuine faith
But despite the stubborn unbelief of the Pharisees there were many who believed in him. But to them Jesus gave a warning about and also a promise.
John 8:30-31
30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him. 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
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Faith that perseveres
In this gospel we have already seen disciples of Jesus finding Jesus’ teaching hard and stop following Jesus (6:60-66). They had some sort of belief for a time, but they then turned away. As he spoke, at this festival, many believed in him. But Jesus warned those who believed that it is those who hold to his teaching, who continue in it who are really his disciples.
The true mark of genuine disciples said Jesus is literally “remaining in my word”. True faith is persevering faith that holds on to the gospel, the Word of Jesus. It holds tightly to Jesus and the truth. And that is what we are being encouraged to do. To not give up on the truth of the gospel that we have believed. We must keep running the race trusting in Jesus and his word.
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The truth will set you free
The promise for those who do is that the truth will set you free. You will never walk in darkness. You will have the light of life. You won’t die in your sin because your sin has been dealt with. You won’t be condemned because Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross. It is by his wounds we have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). You will no longer be a slave to sin and death. And you get to go where he was going, the place that he has prepared for us in his Father’s house (see 14:1-4).
Believe in the light
That day at the festival Jesus declared I am the light of the world. Later in chapter 12 he encouraged the people of Jerusalem to believe in the light while they had light so that they might become children of light.
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Before the darkness overtakes you
He told them to walk in the light before the darkness overtook them (see 12:35-36). That’s what John is inviting us to do through this gospel – to walk in light, to believe in the one who is the light of the world, and to do it before the darkness overtakes us. Do it now while you still have the opportunity for one day it won’t be there.
You need the light. If you are in the darkness, you need the light to show you what you can’t see. You need the light of life. You can’t live without him who is the light of the world. One day the opportunity won’t be there, and the darkness will overtake you and you won’t get to go where Jesus was going.
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Hold on to the truth.
But he also warns believers that true faith holds on to the truth. We need to walk in the light and not let go of the teaching of Jesus for our own ideas or to suit our own desires or to conform to the ideologies and thinking of this world.
You can’t let go of the truth and walk in the light. Many people fool themselves thinking that they can – choosing what they want to believe about Jesus rather than what he has revealed in his word. But it is his truth that you set you free not yours. This is the promise Jesus gives to all who follow him. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
[1] Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture references are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011) (Revised and updated edition). (2011). Hodder & Stoughton.
[2] What this daily practice reminded the people of God of was how the Lord had sustained them in the wilderness providing water. But it also looked forward to the coming kingdom and the river of living water flowing out from the temple that Ezekiel spoke of that would bring life to the earth (Ezekiel 47:1-11). The words of Ezekiel chapter 47 were read out at the festival.
[3] George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Themes, John, page 79.
[4] See Carson page 337 and Kruse page 280 and Geroge R. Beasley Murray, “Word Biblical Themes, John” .
[5] Greek = egoࠢ eimi
[6] The word “sin” in verse 21 is singular and in verse 24 it is “sins” plural. The sin that is referred to in verse 21 is probably a reference to the sin of unbelief and the plural in verse 24 refers to all the sinful actions that spring from or flow out of our refusal to believe.
[7] Colin Kruse “John Revised Edition (IVP New Testament Commentary) page 286
