“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” John 8:12.
“The Pharisees therefore said to Him, ‘You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.’ Jesus answered and said to them. ‘Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.’” John 8:13-14.
When the Pharisees say to Jesus that His witness is not true, they are not calling Him a liar in so many words but rather that it is not a valid testimony, since it is by the testimony of two or more witnesses that a matter will be established.
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.” Deuteronomy 19:15.
Still, with all they know of this Man they are kicking at the goads, so to speak, kicking at the cattle prods. One would have to have the IQ of a tree stump not to realize that this Man is extraordinary and should at least be given some respect; yet they fight on.
The Lord’s response does not seem to be judicially correct, for He says, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true…” it does not seem as though this would cut any ice with these legalists.
However, He clarifies this phrase with the rest of the sentence and with what follows.
“…for I know where I came from and where I am going”, this can only be a claim to deity since none of them would know where they came from and where they were going. This also indicates His preexistence.
The, where I came from, heaven, would be prior to His birth. And the claim to know, where I am going, is another thing that folks were not sure of then as well as now.
With the exception of those who have accepted Christ as savior and have the comfort of eternal security in Christ no one knows where he is going.
“You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” John 8:15.
The flesh is a mess; it is hard enough to judge something impartially with good hard facts, much less with a theology filled with misconstructions, and a heart filled with jealousy and pride as the Pharisees were.
The religious leaders were looking for a knight in shining armor, someone fitting to be their Messiah, who would drive out the Roman oppressors. Then get down from His horse put His arm around their shoulders and say, “Guys, thanks for taking care of things for Me; you will be My right hand men.”
Alas, what do they get, a quiet, humble Man who goes about doing good, healing and feeding folks, ignoring the hated Romans, and being a general embarrassment to educated folks who know the law.
What other judgment can there be, He simply does not fit the preconceived mold; seemingly He was the son of Joseph born in Nazareth, not even in the ballpark.
A rhetorical question, what do you think people do, expend more effort checking the background of someone who wants to borrow 50 dollars than they would examining the claims of Jesus to save their eternal souls?
Apparently no one ever asked Jesus where He was born; they just assumed it was Nazareth! “You judge according to the flesh…”
“And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” John 8:16-18.
Jesus tells us that He is not judging now but if He were that judgment would be correct and righteous.
“I charge you therefore [to preach] before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom…” 2 Timothy 4:1.
Notice too the eternal connection that was broken only once in all eternity, “I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me”, when on the cross Jesus was bearing sin for mankind. It was then the Father turned His back on the Son.
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?” Psalm 22:1.
It is hard to imagine that kind of separation, though most of us have been separated from someone we love at one time or another; it is a bitter thing.
Yet God is infinite, as is God the Son so no matter what we use as examples they are pitifully small compared to the incomprehensible suffering of Christ on the cross.
Is this an overstatement? No, it is not. A friend once said that it will take an eternity in the lake of fire for the godless to understand what Christ suffered on the cross for us.
Returning to Christ and the Father judging in truth; it is easy to see how the God who can see into the inner soul, even to the point of knowing things about us that we ourselves do not know, can judge, still, a few proof texts will drive the point home.
“For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. For He need not further consider a man, that he should go before God in judgment.” Job 34:21-23.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” 1 Samuel 16:7.
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13.
Again Jesus makes a point to the legalists which they will not receive, that there are two witnesses, Jesus, God the Son, and God the Father.
However the witness is from the very Godhead who created them and the truth of the matter is this:
“…it is impossible for God to lie…” Hebrews 6:18b.
“…eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began…” Titus 1:2b.
You cannot find two greater or more truthful witnesses than this. In fact one might say that the Holy Spirit gave testimony too in that He was the agency through which Jesus’ attesting miracles were worked.
“Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’” John 8:19.
Once again we find the principle that a person cannot know the Son without knowing the Father and they cannot know the Father without knowing the Son, and it is the Holy Spirit who reveals these truths to them.
Yet these Pharisees profess to be the very keepers of the faith entrusted to them.
Do not let anyone come to your door bearing any less than three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for it will be a misguided lopsided faith in a non-existent Bible doctrine.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…” Colossians 2:9.
Just as one has to multiply length, times width, times height to get the volume of a square or rectangular container, such as 2 by, 2 by, 2, feet which equals 8 cubic feet, so too you cannot see what can be understood of God without examining the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together.
“These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.” John 8:20.
The treasury is mentioned because it was where thirteen chests were located for almsgiving; which would indicate that this was a very public place where the Lord spoke, not some dark corner.
Jesus’ day has just begun in these first few verses of chapter eight and I am exhausted already. Try to put yourself in His shoes as you read John 8-10:21.
My Witness is True, John 8:13-20 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-27-12, updated on 10-22-17.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.