The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

John 8:31-47

"The True Emancipation Proclamation" is the title for a two-part study, which continues and completes the Lord's "Light of the World Sermon" given in the Temple Treasury, the day after the Feast of Tabernacles.  He spoke about true freedom and how anyone can find "Emancipation from Enslaving Sin" (8:31-41a), "Emancipation from Evil Satan" (8:41b-47), "Emancipation from Eternal Separation" (8:48-59).  The first two of these sub-divisions are discussed in this lesson.

Learn what the Lord meant by His words, "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (8:31b, 32)!  IF YOU TRULY WANT FREEDOM, IT COMES FROM KNOWING THE LORD JESUS AND THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM IN SCRIPTURE.

John 8:13-30

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, John designed his account of Christ's life so that 3 wilderness pictures of Jesus are presented in sequential order in chapters 6, 7, and 8.  In chapter 6, manna was given as a picture of the Lord, the True Bread of Life Who came down from Heaven.  In chapter 7, the water from the rock in Horeb was given as a picture of the Living Water (the Spirit), Who only Christ, the Rock can offer.  In chapter 8, the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night which led Israel in the wilderness is used to present a picture of the True Light of the world, the Lord Jesus - the Shekinah Glory veiled in Human flesh.

Jesus made a claim to Messiahship and Deity when He said He is the Light of the world.  The Jews were set on disproving His claim publicly.  The Law said a person's word of testimony with regard to himself was not acceptable in a judicial court unless other witnesses substantiated it.  This latest challenge and the Lord's response to it for the subject for this second half of a two-part study on "The Light of the World".

We discuss "The Lord's Witness" (8:13-16), "The Law's Witness" (8:17-20), "The Lord's Way" (8:21-24), and "The Lord's Word" (8:25-30).

Another prediction of His upcoming crucifixion is found in John 8:28, which literally reads, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I AM" (the pronoun "He" is not in the original manuscript)!!  Another powerful lesson regarding the Person of Jesus Christ, the Lord!

John 8:12, 20a

Although this lesson only covers 1 and 1/2 verses, it is packed full of Bible "meat"!

After the adulteress woman episode, in which the religious rulers failed miserably to trap Jesus, they tried another approach.  When they heard Him make yet another claim to Deity when He said, "I am the Light of the world,"  they tried to prove Him false, and the result was "The Light of the World Sermon" (8:12-58) - to be covered through Lesson #92 (and illustrated as being TRUE in Lessons #93 and #94 regarding Christ's healing of a man born blind).

There is simply too much to "spell out" in this brief synopsis; you just need to hear it all for yourself, probably more than once!

John 8:1-11

In John chapter 8, we find the nation of Israel represented symbolically as God's adulterous wife.  This lesson is the well-know account of the adulteress brought before Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees to present Him with a seemingly impossible dilemma.  They figured He could not resolve this situation without either publicly disregarding the Mosaic Law (by saying, "Let her go") or by disappointing the people for not demonstrating compassion and mercy (by saying, "Stone her to death").

Incarnate Truth (Christ) cannot set aside the divinely inspired Law; Incarnate Grace (Christ) cannot ignore the hopelessness of the sinner.  How could grace flow from Jesus without doing damage to either justice or holiness?  Omnipotent Wisdom provided the solution!  He had the right to offer the woman grace because He was going to be condemned in her place!

John 7:32-53

Jesus stood in the Temple, raising His voice to people who thought He could not possibly be the Messiah because they "knew" His origin (birthplace and parentage), but they were wrong.  He gave repeated claims to His Deity (7:28, 29), which enraged the religious rulers, especially when many people did believe Jesus was Who He claimed to be.  The Jews felt it was time to send for the Temple guard to arrest Him.  In this lesson, the Lord spoke a prophecy to the religious rulers, "Ye shall seek Me and shall not find Me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come" (7:34).  They sarcastically said among themselves that he must be going among the Gentiles, for they would not "lower" themselves to associated with Gentiles.  

John recorded the events of the last day of the Feast of Taberncaldes.  We talk a lot about the rituals and ceremonies involved in celebrating this feast and how Jesus used them to point to Himself as the Fulfillment - for example - of the Rock smitten by Moses in the wilderness out from which flowed life-giving water!  He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.  He that believeth on Me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (7:37, 38).

There were three kinds of responses to His words - some heeded it; some hindered it; and others hated it.  Interestingly, the Temple officers sent by the Sanhedrin Council to arrest Jesus did not arrest Him; instead they returned to the Council with this testimony, "Never man spake like this man" (7:46)!  Then, too, one of their own Council members spoke up in defense of Jesus!  His name was Nicodemus!   This is a great lesson!  Lots of "meat".

John 7:11-31

In this lesson, we discuss the various debates about Jesus taking place in Jerusalem both before His arrival there and following His appearance in the Temple in the midst of the festival week (the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted 7 days).  There are five main divisions to this lesson: (1) Arguments about Christ's Character, (2) Astonishment at Christ's Doctrine, (3) Accusations of Christ's Person, (4) Anger Over Christ's Word, and (5) Ambivalence Over Christ's Origin.

Find out why it is impossible to conclude that Jesus was just a "good man"!  Also, learn how you can KNOW if what Jesus taught is true!  He gave the answer in John 7:17 and 7:18.  Learn how He pointed out yet another hypocrisy in the Jewish religious leaders concerning their supposed "love" for Moses and the Law!  Learn what particular "work" and what particular claim Christ did and made that made the Jews (rulers) so indignant that they wanted to kill Him.  The Jews could take no more of Christ's claims to Deity, so they sought to lay hands on Him to arrest Him, but they could not.  Why?  The answer is found in John 7:30, ". . . because His hour was not yet come"!  He had six more months of ministry remaining, and nobody could touch Him until it was the divinely appointed time for Him to give His life - willingly!  That time was the Passover.

Luke 9:51-56; John 7:1-10

The Lord now came to the end of His Galilean ministry.  In Luke 9:51, He is headed toward Jerusalem of Judea, and we read these words, "And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem".  It was near to the Feast of Tabernacles with only six months before the Feast of Passover - the one in which Christ would be the Passover Lamb!

Knowing His time was growing short and also knowing what awaited Him when He arrived in Jerusalem, nonetheless, He set His face like flint to complete the work He set out to do.  He had put His hand to the plow, and He would NOT turn back!  He was "On the Road to Rejection," and it would begin sadly.  It began with the rejection of His own half-brothers, which is what we look at first, "Spurned by His Siblings," and as He passed through Samaria, He was also "Spurned by the Samaritans".

Matthew 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62

The Lord said His yoke is easy and His burden light, but it does not mean He makes easy and light demands of those who would be His followers (disciples).  He also said those who follow Him in committed discipleship must be willing to deny self and take up their cross.  In this lesson, the Lord encountered three "would-be" disciples - men who claimed they wanted to follow Him.  However, by way of these three living illustrations (and their "excuses"), we see just how real the demand of Christian discipleship are and how few people are truly willing to commit completely to Christ's service!  

In His conversation with the three "would be" disciples, we learn of the three most common barriers to total Christian commitment:  (1) The Barrier of Present Resources, (2) The Barrier of Future Riches, and (3) The Barrier of Past Relationships.

Matthew 18:21-35

The last section of the Lord's "Sermon on Being Children of God" came as a result of a question posed by Peter.  After hearing Jesus teach about the necessary steps believers must take in regard to the discipline of an offending brother, Peter became curious about the number of times a sinning brother should be forgiven.  Thinking he was being very generous, he then suggested his own number - 7 times.  In answer to Peter, the Lord spoke about the importance of forgiveness in the Christian's life.  This is the subject of this lesson, forgiveness is the Key to Family Unity!

Included in this lesson is the Lord's "Parable of the Wicked Servant" (Matthew 18:23-34).

Matthew 17:15-20

This is a difficult lesson (often ignored by many churches and Christians), for it on "Discipline With the Family" (speaking of the family of God).  It is the Lord's instructions for how to properly engage in church discipline.  He presented the necessary and sequential steps involved in godly, Biblical discipline of believers who have stumbled into sin by offending or despising a "brother or sister" in Christ.  These principles for preserving family unity are still applicable today!