Thoughts on the Gospel of John (55) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Then Jesus said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come. So the Jews said; Will he kill himself, because he says, Where I go you cannot come?
John 8:21.22.

Thoughts on the Gospel of John (55)
The Son of God came into this world as its light to bring people out of darkness (cf. ch. 12:46). But they preferred darkness to light. Then the Lord Jesus told the leaders of the Jews that He was about to go away, but they would seek Him in vain. They wanted a political Messiah who would satisfy their worldly ambitions and lusts, one who did not correspond to God's Messiah.

"You will seek me." These words remind us of Hosea's prophecy: "They will go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them" (ch. 5:6). God is not mocked: He can be found only by those who seek Him with all their heart and soul (cf. Deuteronomy 4:29).

In the matter of taking leave from this earth there are only two possibilities: either one dies in one's sins or in the Lord. In the former case, people have followed their own will and rejected Christ as the Saviour. Their end is the second death, far from God. By contrast, those who die in the Lord are called "the blessed" (Revelation 14:13). Eternal life awaits them.

The Lord would dearly have taken His listeners where He was going: back to His heavenly Father. Their disbelief and evil hearts, however, made it impossible. They assumed Him more capable of suicide than being empowered to ascend to heaven.

(to be continued next Sunday)

Today's reading: Job 32:1-22 · Acts 15:13-29