Is there a God?
A popular writer, Yuval Noah Harari has suggested that science can explain nearly everything. His book ‘Homo Deus’, which is Latin for ‘Man is God’. He thinks that, with all the advances that man has made in the sciences, our destiny is in our own hands alone. He recognises that to reach ‘nirvana’ or the blissful life, mankind must firstly abolish death and then upgrade humans further so that they will be gods. How can such a goal can be achieved?! At the end of his book ‘Sapiens, a brief history of mankind’ he wrote,
“Today it (homo sapiens) stands on the verge of becoming a god, poised to acquire not only eternal youth, but also the divine abilities of creation and destruction.”
He goes on to recognise a major problem with this idea,
“Worst still, humans seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one. . . Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want”
Harari is very critical of those who build up structures based on false stories. He illustrates this point by criticising the Roman Catholic church:
“According to this story, if a Catholic priest dressed in his sacred garments solemnly, said the right words at the right moment, mundane bread and wine turned into God’s flesh and blood. The priest exclaimed, ‘Hoc est corpus meum’ (Latin for ‘This is my body’) and hocus pocus – the bread turned into Christ’s flesh.”
It is so easy to create ‘straw men’ and then knock them down. The real question is much bigger than the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Mass. What really matters is whether there really is a creator to whom we are all responsible and how can we find answers.
Transhumanism, a form of atheism, is the goal of humans becoming gods. The Bible teaches that any transhumanist agenda cannot be solved by technology because the problem of human death was sparked by rebellion against God. There have been many humans who have either claimed to be divine themselves or to whom others have given this title. Men such as Gilgamesh (around 2,500BC), the Pharaohs, and notoriously many Roman Emperors. In 42 BC Julius Caesar was formally deified as "the Divine Julius", and Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of the Divine One") Subsequently some, but not all, of the Roman Emperors of the 1st to 4th centuries claimed to be divine including Tiberius 14–37AD, Caligula 37–41AD, Claudius 41–54AD, Hadrian 117–138AD, Commodus 161–192AD, Julian the Apostate 361–363. However all of them remain dead. In my medical training I met several people in long-term psychiatric hospitals who claimed they were God but they were all clearly out of their minds. Jesus wasn’t..
Let us briefly look at the means by which Harari wants to achieve his ideal world.
1. Abolish physical death
Cryonics is the low-temperature freezing (usually at −196 °C) and storage of a human corpse or severed head, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Some spend thousands of pounds in the hope that this will enable them to come back to life later. Such hopes are vilified by most scientists, particularly as the freezing cab only occur after death has already occurred, and death is now focusing on brain death.
However the Bible teaches that the problem has already been solved two thousand years ago when Jesus rose from the dead. In so doing he conquered death. Jesus is the only person in history who has returned from death never to die again. The risen Christ is saying,
“I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” Revelation 1:18
2. Upgrade humanity so that they will be like gods
There have been many great technological advances. We can fly in aeroplanes, bionic limbs can be made, brain implants enable people to hear and shortly to see. We can use nuclear power. The question is whether such advances can make God irrelevant. This has always been man’s problem – we want to be supreme over everything. At the beginning of the Bible the Adam and Eve faced this very temptation:
“And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17
Man is free to make many decisions, the only area we are forbidden to indulge in is to redefine what is right and wrong, that is God’s prerogative and his alone. There are many ways we can react to this. We may say, I want to be the arbiter of what I can and cannot do and so reject authority. Anarchists have held this view as do practical atheists.
Alternatively a religious authority, such as Islamic Sharia law or Jewish Rabbinical law may take over control, nearly always with disastrous consequences. Sudan has suffered from thirty years of Sharia law since the Islamic revolution there and the Islamic government of the despotic President Omar al-Bashir. In April 2019 there was a military coup that ousted this government and a civilian government was installed which has given the much needed religious and social freedoms that people longed for. No longer are people executed for apostasy from Islam. In 1991 a Muslim clan chief, Abdulla Yousef, had a vision and he and his entire clan of around a hundred people became Christians. In 1994 Abdulla and several of the new Christians were arrested and were sentenced to one hundred lashes. They were told that if they did not return to Islam they would be executed. Abdulla and a friend refused and were executed by crucifixion that August.
The third option is to have rule by consensus but that has its problems as seen in Nazi Germany where the National Socialists had the support of the majority of society. Clearly all societies need law, the choice is whether this is external and therefore to some degree oppressive or voluntary and heartfelt.
The fourth option is to personally surrender to the rule of a beneficent loving God. Jesus antagonised the Jewish rulers of his day because he undermined their Rabbinical law which he contrasted with God’s law. He rejected their strict interpretation of what was permitted to be done of the sabbath. Instead he put himself at the centre of how God wanted all people to live. He is God’s law and living his way is the door to eternal life. Jesus said to some Pharisees,
“ ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.’ To this the Pharisees replied, ‘Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?’” John 8:52-53
What a great question. Anyone can find the answer to this vital question by reading through the twenty-one chapters of John’s gospel
Rejection of God
In the name of freedom many have associated religious laws for God’s law and have, as a consequence rejected the concept of God altogether. A major problem is that then that we reject what is instinctively clear to us, we reject the hope of forgiveness and the hope of eternal life as well as the most powerful check on our behaviour. This is nothing new, King David noticed, around 1000BC,
“The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good.” Psalm 14:1
The Hebrew word translated fool means one who is morally deficient. When an individual wants to live their own way as opposed to God’s way, they usually come to the conclusion that there is no God. An earlier Psalm makes this point,
“In his pride, the wicked does not seek him (the LORD); in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” Psalm 10:4
“Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, ‘He won’t call me to account.’” Psalm 10:13
When an ostrich sees danger, it is liable to bury its head in the ground! Rejecting the sovereignty of God may be a means to justify one’s lifestyle but it does not mean that there is no God and that there is no judgment to come. The Bible is clear,
“Just as man is destined to die once and after that face judgment; so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.” Hebrews 9:27
The essence of the Christian message is that Jesus is the embodied Son of God who created us and who he offers eternal life by taking responsibility for the sins of His people.
Another early story in the Bible is that of the Tower of Babel. They thought,
“Come let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered . . . but the Lord came down to see the city . . . that the men were building . . . So there LORD scattered them from there all over the earth.” Genesis 11:5-9
This people wanted to ‘reach the heavens’, to be gods themselves so it is not surprise that the one true God intervened. Ultimately he always does.
These claims of humans hoping to be gods can be contrasted with the Bible’s claim that God became a human so that we humans could become children of God. The solution to the problem of death is through repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ. Those who believe in him and are committed to living with and for him are promised that they will also be resurrected with him. Jesus himself made the following claim:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
When two of Jesus’ apostles stood before the Sanhedrin, the ruling body who had recently arranged for the execution of Jesus, they confidently affirmed,
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
The emphasis of the whole Bible is that man’s greatest problem is our natural rebellion against the rule of God. Although God is a God of love there is a limit to how long his tolerance will last. He described his character to Moses on Mount Sinai,
“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished . . .” Exodus 34:6-7
The unforgivable sin, according to Jesus, is a rejection of what God says about him because Jesus alone is the key to eternal life. The Bible stresses that sin is essentially the rejection of God’s sovereignty over us and it teaches that every human being will ultimately face God’s judgment for what we have done with our lives. On that basis we all face God’s wrath because no-one, religious or not, is naturally good enough for God. When we look to ourselves for salvation, it is as stupid as a man trying to reach heaven by pulling hard on his shoelaces! The prophet Jeremiah wrote around 600BC,
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:5
Jeremiah contrasts such humanists with those whose ambition is to live with and for God.
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
Today there is much pressure on people to live apart from God, ‘to do their own thing’ and to find satisfaction, even if only short term, satisfying their emotional desires. God scoffs at such thinking that is increasingly universal. This is the great world war that is raging at the moment. Yet an ancient psalmist recognised that this has always been man’s problem:
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 2
Ultimately all people decide who is to be God. Essentially we will take this role to ourselves or abrogate it to one person or to others. We all worship somebody or something.
In a celebrated 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College, famed author David Foster Wallace told those gathered that atheism itself doesn’t really exist:
“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things—if they are where you tap real meaning in life—then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already—it’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power—you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart—you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.”
People can feel secure because they are in a religion, an organisation or even a church that promises its members security. Jesus and his apostles make it very clear that no security can be found there. People may be ardent members of a religion, may even be active in their church and passed through many of the prescribed rituals and yet not be right with God. The key question that we all need to answer is, ‘On what basis can someone like me ever be acceptable to a holy God?’ Jesus and his apostles teach that no-one can be acceptable to God by the way they live, that salvation is a gift of God and this is only given to those who are committed to live under the authority of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son.
The important question that all should ask is, ‘Is this story about Jesus true.?’ If it is, then radical changes in our lifestyles and ambitions will be needed. If it isn’t, ‘What hope do we have?’
Evidence Based Faith
Dr. E.V. Rieu translated Homer for the Penguin Classics series. He had been an agnostic all his life. He was subsequently asked to translate the four gospels for the same series. When his son heard of this he commented,
“Its going to be interesting to see what father will do with the four gospels, and its going to be more interesting to see what the four gospels will do to father.”
He did not have to wait very long. Within one year E.V. Rieu responded to the evidence he saw in the gospels; he became a committed Christian and joined a church. He subsequently sat on the committee that produced the New English Bible.
John wrote his gospel in order to convince people about Jesus. He recorded key evidence, much as a barrister selects what evidence to present to a court to convince a judge and jury. It is worth remembering the key verses he puts towards the end of his gospel.
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
In John chapter 5, Jesus selects some key witnesses to support his claims, made earlier in the chapter, to be one with God his Father. Jesus has already had his say about who he is, but he acknowledges that his testimony alone is not enough. As Mark Twain wrote in another context,
“His saying so don’t make it so.”
So Jesus calls up other witnesses,
The Evidence of John the Baptist
John appeared, unannounced, and started to preach in the inhospitable desert that God sees people’s hearts. Outward religion was not enough for God, a public repentance and turning back to the Lord is essential and this change can be sealed by public baptism. People recognised that his was the voice of God and vast numbers responded to his shining light – temporarily.
“John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose, for a time to enjoy his light” John 5:35
However the main message of John was to prepare the way for God’s Messiah.
“ . . . but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. . . . I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.” John 1:31
But as so often happens John and his message were rejected. In fact it was Herod Antipas who was so opposed to John the Baptist, because John had publicly opposed the affair that Herod was having with his brother’s wife. This resulted in John being imprisoned and then beheaded. When leaders reject the truth other people usually follow.
In the eighteenth century, London and all England were stirred by the preaching of the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield, much as John the Baptist’s preaching had affected first century Israel. When he was young John Wesley, being an ordained Anglican minister, was invited to preach in London churches. However after preaching in St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, he was told in no uncertain way by the Church Wardens,
“Sir, you must preach here no more.”
If you read the history of London in the 18th century, it is striking that the revival ministry of the Wesleys and Whitefield are hardly mentioned. Historians were selective according to their own prejudices.
For a time people rejoiced in the light of John the Baptist but then they turned back to their old ways. They realised the implications of this teaching, and found this hard. The evidence was there but they rejected it.
The Evidence of the Miracles
“I have a testimony that is weightier than that of John. For the very work that my father has given me to finish, and that which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” John 5:36
Already in John’s gospel several of these miracles have been alluded to. When Nicodemus, a ruler of Israel who sat on the Sanhedrin Council, came to meet Jesus his opening line was,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God. For no-one could do the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:2
There are thirty-three separate miracles that Jesus performed that are recorded in the gospels but John tells us that he did many more. A miracle occurs when the laws of nature are broken. God also causes coincidences to happen but strictly these are not miracles. In the Old Testament one of the features of God’s coming Messiah would be his ability to perform astounding miracles. Isaiah talks about what will happen when God himself will come to his earth,
“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” Isaiah 35:5
Jesus did fulfil all these prophecies, both physically but also figuratively; the spiritually blind and spiritually deaf came to see and hear what God had come to do.
Earlier in this chapter Jesus had mentioned his ability to ‘give life’ to people. Life was considered then as well as today, as a gift that only God can give to inanimate matter. When Jesus was on the earth, he raised four people from the dead. He raised the widow’s son in the village of Nain (Luke 7:15), the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:42), and Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha in Bethany after he had been dead four days (John 11:44). Finally he raised himself from the dead after he had been crucified. He had repeatedly told his disciples that three days after his death he would rise again.
The miracles Jesus enacted are important evidence and to reject this evidence will be counted against us on the day of judgment. Jesus said later to his disciples that unbelief was irrational,
“He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this was to fulfil what is written in their Law; ‘They hated me without reason.’” John 15:25
The Evidence of God himself‘
There is some debate about the meaning of the next argument Jesus uses:
“And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice . . .” John 5:37
This could refer to the proclamation the Father made when Jesus began his public ministry, when he was baptised by John the Baptist:
“And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11
This declaration was to be repeated when Jesus was transfigured into a dazzling being in the presence of Moses and Elijah on top of a high mountain. Peter, James and John witnessed this and heard a voice from the cloud clearly saying,
“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” Mark 9:7
An alternative view is that they have heard God speak through the Scriptures as Jesus continues,
“ . . . nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.” John 5:38
The Evidence of Scripture
In Jesus’ time there were many religious Jews who scrupulously studied the Scriptures but somehow they had missed what they were talking about. The Scriptures are all about God’s Chosen Servant King who was to come into his world – His Messiah.
The Jewish Rabbis were meticulous in their copying and studying the Scriptures, which are now our Old Testament. Copyists would only copy one letter at a time before going back to the original, just to be sure no mistakes were made. They would check the central letter of each line and each book. They would collect those sentences that contained all of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter had a numeric equivalent and they loved to discover significances in such discoveries.
The highly esteemed Rabbi, Hillel made the interesting observations,
“More flesh – more worms
More wealth – more carefully
More maidservants – more lewdness
More menservants – more thieving
More women – more witchcraft
There was one thing he did value,
“More Torah – more life”.
Hillel went on,
“Whosoever has gained a good name has gained it for himself, Whosever has gained the words of the Torah has gained for himself life in the world to come.”
A similar thinking is seen amongst some Muslims who consider that learning the Qur'an by heart will put them in good stead with God. Such people associate knowledge of the Scriptures with salvation.
A group of school children were taken to the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam . They trooped into a room with paintings by Rubens. The children started to criticise the pictures and discussed all that they considered to be wrong, ‘The hands are two big,’ ‘No-one smiles like that,’ The colours aren’t real,’ and so on. After a while the curator could stand this no more and he went up to the teacher in charge and said,
“Please could you explain to the children that it is not the Rubens pictures that are being judged here, it is the visitors.”
There is great power in the Bible to change people – but only if we see our need, are willing to be changed, and submit to the Saviour the Bible talks about. If we, like those children in the art museum, think we are superior, then we can gain nothing from God’s word. This is what Moses said to God’s chosen people of old,
“Take this book of the Law and place it besides the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stiff necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die.” Deuteronomy 31:26-27
Many homes have a Bible somewhere on their bookshelves. In Victorian times most families would have a large Family Bible but this was usually just used to record births, deaths, and to press flowers. Yet the Bible tells us how our relationship with God can be restored by Jesus, God’s Messiah.
All of God’s people should be Bible students, should work to understand it, and learn sections by heart. Without such dedication we cannot progress as Christians. Dr. Harry Ironside became Minister of Moody Church in Chicago. He had no college education yet became the foremost Bible teacher in his generation. From his biography we learn,
“Under his mother’s guidance, Harry began to memorise Scripture from the age of 3. By the age of 14 he had read through the Bible 14 times, once for each year of his life. During the rest of his life he read the Bible through at least once each year.”
On one occasion he was speaking at a conference and he and a fellow speaker began to discuss their own devotional life. The other speaker said what he had been reading from the Bible that morning and he then asked Harry Ironside when he had read. At first he was hesitant, but then he said,
“I read the book of Isaiah!”
He was saturated with the word of God. This is true for most of the great Bible teachers. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress spent 12 years in Bedford prison for refusing not to preach the word of God. He had little formal education but it was said of him,
“Cut him and you will find his blood is Bibline.”
Everything John Bunyan did was steeped in the Bible. The point of Scripture is to show us our deep needs and to point us to the only Saviour our creator has provided.
The agnostic who became a Christian, E.V. Rieu, concluded about the Bible,
“These words bear the seal of the Son of Man and of God, and they are the Magna Carta of the human spirit.”
The Evidence of Our Hearts
God knows what is really important for each of us. He is not interested in the volume of our verbal praise of him. The only worship he accepts is hearts devoted to him.
“I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” John 5:41-42
The Bible students of Jesus’ day were much more concerned to be recognised by fellow scholars that to be recognised by God. The way they dressed, talked and performed their outward religion was all to impress people – they weren’t so concerned about pleasing God. Yet their Scriptures emphasised that true worship should always be the purpose of life.
A headteacher was addressing the pupils in his school on their speech day. He said,
“The purpose of life is to discover the purpose of life and then to make that the purpose of your life.”
The Jewish Confession of faith, the Shema, taken from what God told Moses, explains the priority of life,
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
What God wants is nothing less than our hearts. A missionary to some tribes people in the Amazon attended a tribal meeting. The chief stood up and said,
“I am impressed with Jesus. I want to give him a gift of some money.”
The missionary then told the group that God does not need our gifts. The Chief thought again and said,
“I am so impressed with Jesus that I want to give him my youngest wife!”
Again the missionary explained that this was not what God required. The light then dawned on the Chief,
“I now understand. God wants my heart, then I give myself to Jesus because he is God.”
The decision we make over who controls our life should not be an arbitrary one, based on my personal desires, it should be based on evidence, just as Jesus insisted that people should make up their minds about his claims based on the evidence.
Further evidence from Jesus
Aleksei Navalny, a Russian strongly opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, has served many jail sentences for organising protest rallies that have been mainly directed against government corruption. In October 2018 he was publicly challenged to a duel by Putin’s longtime Security Chief, Viktor Zolotov. This challenge was made in a video, with Zolotov appearing in full uniform with cap and epaulets when he said that, whatever weapon was chosen by Navalny, he would ‘make mincemeat of him’. Navalny accepted the challenge, but his weapon of choice was to be a live television debate. The duel has not taken place!
Jesus was also considered to be a public enemy by the Jewish rulers and they wanted to find ways to get rid of him. In John 8:48-59, the Jews engage Jesus in a public debate, that had all the features of a verbal duel. Jesus had just told the Jewish authorities that the reason they do not hear God speaking to them was because they are not God’s people - they did not belong to God.
They respond very aggressively with two aggressive statements,
“Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed.” John 8:48
Jesus, without calling them names, repeats the truths he has so frequently made previously.
“’I am not possessed by a demon,’ said Jesus, ‘but I honour my Father and you dishonour me.’” John 8:49
Then they attack again,
“Now we know that you are demon possessed!” John 8:52
In response Jesus restates his divine claims but now accuses his attackers of dishonesty. The result was that the authorities wanted to stone Jesus to death there and then, but Jesus managed to slip away. There is however much to learn from the details of this dialogue which is the climax of the last two chapters.
Jesus had set the scene for what was to come when he had cried out publicly in the Court of Women of the Temple, which was bathed in light from the four massive lamps during the Feast of Tabernacles when these conversations took place.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Jesus claims that he alone is the key to understanding life. This theme of light shining is the basis for what John selected in his subsequent writing. Chapter 8 is a searchlight that makes the claims of Jesus abundantly clear. Then, at the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus will heal a man who had been born blind. This story is surely inserted here to highlight the blindness of the religious leaders opposed to God’s truth and that Jesus alone can enable them to see. It is all part of John’s thesis that ‘light is shining in the darkness’.
The claims of Jesus
Jesus accentuates two statements in this passage that are clearly very important because they both begin with,
“I tell you the truth . . .”
They summarise the message of the whole Bible. The first is,
“I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51
This teaches what Jesus had come to achieve although it is put in a negative form. Jesus has come that we ‘may have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10), he came that we might never see death..
The second is,
“I tell you the truth, . . before Abraham was born, ‘I am!’” John 8:58
This teaches who Jesus claimed to be. He is saying that Abraham looked forwards to his day.
A person who understands and accepts these two statements is a Christian, they are the basis for experiencing ‘life to the full’.
Let us look at these two verses in more detail.
1. If anyone keeps my word he will never see death (John 8:51)
The word ‘death’ has three meanings in Scripture. It can mean the physical dissolution of our bodies at the end of this present life.
Death also is used to refer to that ultimate disaster when we leave this world without the forgiveness Christ offers, to meet God the judge, and be dismissed from his presence for ever.
“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Revelation 21:8
Thirdly, death can also mean our alienation from God before we find forgiveness in Christ. Thus Paul wrote,
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . “ Ephesians 2:1
“When you were dead in your sins . . .” Colossians 2:13
We need to distinguish which death Jesus is talking about. In this context Jesus clearly cannot be talking about physical death as all his disciples would die physically. Later John brings the different meanings of death together when Jesus comforts Mary and Martha after the death of his friend Lazarus,
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;” John 11:25
The following verse adds another meaning, eternal death,
“. . . and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?’” John 11:26
Note these final words are left out in the liturgy of funeral services. As the minister walks down the aisle in front of the coffin, surrounded by people who normally would not be in church, it might be helpful if he could add these words whilst looking at everyone,
“Do you believe that?”
Their eternal destiny depends on the response.
When the great evangelist D.L.Moody was about to die, he said confidently to those around him,
“Earth is receding, heaven is approaching. This is my crowning day.”
Christian funerals should be a mixture of triumph overcoming the natural sadness – contrast their joy with the atmosphere at atheist or humanist funerals.
“Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?. . . But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-56
Jesus is absolutely clear when talking to his opponents, if any will believe in him, will follow him, let his word be their guide then they will never see death, they will never be separated from the God who made them and who died to save them.
During this discussion Jesus makes yet another claim to be the one and only son of God.
“My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.” John 8:54-55
There could be no confusion now. He is saying that his Father is the God of the Old Testament and he is adamant that this is the truth. Jesus had never and would never say anything untrue, so he throws down the gauntlet. The proof that he is God’s Son is that he always does what his heavenly Father says.
As this chapter was being written the television and newspapers were full of the manifestos of those who want to be the next Prime Minister. Here Jesus is putting forwards his manifesto that begins with what he longs to bring about. For him nuclear war is not the ultimate disaster, it is for us to face eternal death; to enter eternity unprepared to meet God; to die and wake up the other side knowing that there is no more hope. This is Christ’s manifesto, he wants to save us from hell for heaven, so this should be the manifesto of his church. Why are our churches so embarrassed about passing on this manifesto about heaven and hell and the only Saviour? Our message should be that any person who follows Christ, and who lives by Christ’s word, will never face the tragedy of hell.
2. Before Abraham was born, ‘I am!
Verse 58 is the other main point in Jesus’ manifesto.
“I tell you the truth, . . before Abraham was born, ‘I AM!’” John 8:51
The grammar here seems to be all wrong, ‘before Abraham was, I am!’ The answer is to be found in the Old Testament. When the Lord met Moses at the ‘burning bush’ and told Moses to be his representative in freeing the children of Israel from their captivity in Egypt, Moses asked how he was to explain this to the Israelites
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your Fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me ‘what is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?’.
God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I
AM’ has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:13-14
Jesus is clearly referring to this account and is claiming to be the same God as the one the Jews debating with him were claiming to follow. The Jews clearly understood what Jesus was saying; it is made eloquently clear by the sentence that follows,
“At this, they picked up stones to stone him.” John 8:59
It was blasphemy for a man to claim to be God. What was missing was a fair investigation of the charge against Jesus.
What is staggering is that, in spite of this immense claim by Jesus, there is a complete lack of self seeking by him.
“I am not seeking glory for myself.” John 8:50
“If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.” John 8:54
How many of the world’s politicians could honestly say that they are simply doing what God wants. How many would be willing to die for what they say they believe in? Jesus is surely the light shining in our darkness.
The message of the church
These two sentences together are a summary of the Christian message. Jesus is saying, ‘I am one with the eternal God. I have come to earth to brings this news of salvation to you. I have come to give you life, both now and in eternity. If anyone keeps my word he will never see death.’
Jesus is saying that anyone can avoid being separated from God eternally by accepting these two claims. Only if Jesus is who he says he is can he save us by taking responsibility for our sin. If he is not God he cannot be our Saviour. They must stand together.
Today many think that a Christian education is to help children to become nice, kind pleasant members of society. That is not the Christian message, it is far too limited, even though this may be a spin off. Why are we so ashamed to pass on what Jesus teaches?
People will want to know how they can change for the better and experience the power of the Spirit to change them into becoming like Jesus. Just telling people to be good will never bring about this change.
A headmaster wrote the following in his autobiography,
“I was happy in conversation with boys always to tell them what ideal behaviour was and where selfishness, cruelty and exploitation lay, but unwilling to talk of the very centre of Christianity, the meaning of the cross, because I found it at times repugnant and in part beyond belief.
With this semi-religion I was able to live with some contentment, but I knew well that it was ‘non-infectious’. That if what I believed was all Christianity amounted to, it would attract few. I knew that our Lord did not walk about Palestine beginning a world revolution, by saying,
“Come along everyone, be nice to everybody, be truthful, be honest. No he spoke of repentance, of salvation from sin, of conversion.”
How right this headmaster is. The Christian message is that the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, is at work. He enables individuals to recognise the rebellion against God, that is in us all, and draws us to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of any who turn to him. When we respond, his Spirit enters our life and begins the radical change in our characters. The Holy Spirit wants us to become like Jesus.
The darkness
Jesus claims that the darkness man is in is very great and John illustrates this by the reaction of the Jewish leaders. Note the characteristics of those who oppose him.
1. Anger
They lapse into irrational, vitriolic anger,
“The Jews answered him, ‘Are we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed?” John 8:48
Such slurs are quoted in all four gospels. In Mark’s gospel we read,
“And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said,, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons he is driving our demons.” Mark 3:22
On that occasion Jesus answered the irrational attack. He argues that if a king is fighting himself, he must lose! In the same way, a household in which the husband and wife are constantly fighting will be destroyed. Jesus is saying that it is irrational and absurd to think that he is driving out Satan by the power of Satan. It is darkness that is irrational and spiteful, God is recognised by truth and love.
2. Lying
Darkness is also characterised by dishonesty. Satan is the father of lies. Jesus picks this up,
“Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.” John 8:55
Those, in whom God has put his Spirit, also know God and this will be seen in the way they speak the truth with love.
3. Ignorance of God
Have you noticed how often politicians who are being interviewed and are facing a difficult question will begin their answer with,
‘Now the fact is . . .” or ‘We all know . . .’ or ‘To tell you the truth . . .
Although the Jewish leaders knew and understood so little about Jesus they said,
“Aren’t we right in saying . . .” John 8:48
Yet they were clearly wrong.
“Now we know . . .”, John 8:52
Yet they were clearly ignorant if they really thought that Jesus could conceivably be demon possessed.
Later the Jews confronted the man born blind, that Jesus had healed. We read,
“Then they hurled insults at him and said, ‘You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” John 9:28-29
The man answered using irony,
“Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” John 9:30-33
Such understanding was met with further ridicule and opposition. They said to the man,
“‘You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!’ And they threw him out.” John 9:34
Summary
Jesus claims to be God’s light shining in the darkness, yet the darkness betrays itself in the way it reacts to the light.
The prime issue
The issue at stake is the person of Jesus. John focuses on ‘glory’ in verse 54, but the issue was not the glory of God, that was not questioned, but the ‘glory’ of Jesus, and this is what his father is trying to establish.
“I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.” John 8:50
There are many religious leaders in the world who claim that God is their God yet they also fail to glory in Jesus.
“My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.” John 5:54
The wording here is fascinating. The Jew’s authority is their claim to follow their God and yet their God excludes the true Son of God. It seems they had a different God. Their demeanour, their anger and spitefulness betray that they are not following the God of love of the Bible, who is slow to anger!
In the modern world there is a feeling that all religions are essentially similar and are there to give people an ethic to live by and a purpose to live for. We should be saying to them, as Jesus said to religious people of his day,
“You claim to worship God but are you pointing people to me?”
One of the marks of the faith the real creator God wants to see is one that he points people to Jesus, so that men may glory in him and be changed by receiving his Spirit when they turn to him. The Jewish faith looked forward to the coming of God’s Messiah and the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. True religion gives people a confidence that they have been put right with God, who then empowers them to live for him in his style.
The average man, even if a church-goer, doesn’t glory in Jesus and is not being changed by him. However God seeks to glorify his son, Jesus, and so do all those who are members of the Kingdom of God.
Is there a middle way?
Can people not try to live good lives but reject Jesus? The Bible is clear, they can try to do that but it can never put them right with God. The vital point is that no-one can be good enough for God. Being sincerely religious does not impress God. We are either forgiven, and this can only be found in Jesus, or we are still responsible for our own sin. This will be apparent when we die and meet God. We are either members of the Kingdom of God or outside it – there is no middle way, as far as God is concerned. Either Jesus is demon possessed or he is the Son of God.
Too many people are willing to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but refuse to accept his claim to be God. C. S. Lewis, wrote powerfully in his book, ‘Mere Christianity’,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.”
In John chapter 8 there is no thought of Jesus being a great moral teacher, it was his claim to be God that was the focus of discussion.
“Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” John 8:53
Any who reject Jesus’ claim have to conclude, with the Jews, that somehow he is of the devil.
In 1936, Watchman Nee, the great Chinese Bible teacher and evangelist, made a similar argument in his book, ‘Normal Christian Faith’, saying that a person who claims to be God must belong to one of three categories:
“First, if he claims to be God and yet in fact is not, he has to be a madman or a lunatic.
Second, if he is neither God nor a lunatic, he has to be a liar, deceiving others by his lie.
Third, if he is neither of these, he must be God.
You can only choose one of the three possibilities.
If you do not believe that he is God, you have to consider him a madman.
If you cannot take him for either of the two, you have to take him for a liar.
There is no need for us to prove if Jesus of Nazareth is God or not. All we have to do is find out if He is a lunatic or a liar. If He is neither, He must be the Son of God.”
Who knows for certain?
Clearly there is one person who knows the truth about Jesus because he is the very definition of truth. That person is the Lord God. He revealed what he thought very clearly by raising Jesus from the dead. At Peter’s Pentecost sermon it was made clear that the cross demonstrated both what man thought of God’s Son, Jesus and the empty grave tells what God thought of his Son.
The decision we make about Jesus has immense consequences both for our lives here on earth but importantly for eternity.
BVP
