John 8:21-27 (WEL) Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me and die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that why he says where I am going, you cannot come?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below. I am from above. You are from this world. I am not from this world. 24 “That’s why I said to you, that you shall die in your sins, for if you don’t believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins.” 25 Then they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Even what I said to you from the beginning. 26 “I have many things to say and condemn you for, but he who sent me is true. I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him.” 27 They didn’t understand that he was talking about the Father.
V21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me and die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
Jesus is telling these Jews that their Messiah is planning on leaving. Then, they will seek Him, not find Him, and since they have not believed and trusted in Jesus, they will die, go to Hades, and eventually the Lake of Fire for an eternity of God’s wrath.
They are not allowed in heaven. Only what is clean and holy are allowed into heaven. Without the Lord Jesus, the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), there is no salvation.
Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all, as well as holiness. Without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
J. C. Ryle: “These solemn words are invested with peculiar solemnity when we consider from whose lips they came. Who is this that speaks of men dying “in their sins,” unpardoned, unforgiven, unfit to meet God,—of men going into another world with all their sins upon them? He that says this is no other than the Savior of mankind, who laid down His life for his sheep,—the loving, gracious, merciful, compassionate Friend of sinners. It is Christ Himself! Let this simple fact not be overlooked.”
V22 Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that why he says where I am going, you cannot come?”
These Jews are so ignorant of the Scriptures. The prophets spoke of Messiah and His ministry.
Many interpreters feel their verbal response is given in mockery.
Matthew Henry:
“The jest they made of this threatening. Instead of trembling at this word, they bantered it, and turned it into ridicule (John 8:22): Will he kill himself? See here, 1. What slight thoughts they had of Christ’s threatenings; they could make themselves and one another merry with them, as those that mocked the messengers of the Lord, and turned the burden of the word of the Lord into a by-word, and precept upon precept, line upon line, into a merry song, Isaiah 28:13. But be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.”
V23 He said to them, “You are from below. I am from above. You are from this world. I am not from this world.
The below refers to this earth while above refers to the third heaven where God has His throne. When Jesus states that He is not from this world, He means that He is more than a man. When fully studied in the New Testament especially, Jesus is clearly revealed to be 100% God and 100% human male.
AskAndyAI summarizes:
“Jesus is 100% God and 100% man because, in the incarnation, the eternal second Person of the Trinity took to Himself a true human nature without losing or exchanging His divine nature. In other words, at the virgin conception humanity was added to eternally existent deity — it was an addition, not a subtraction — so that one Person, Jesus Christ, truly possesses two complete natures: divine and human. This doctrine is called the hypostatic union.
Key points that explain what that means and why it matters:
• Eternally divine: Jesus existed from all eternity as the Son (the Word). His deity is not begun or diminished by the incarnation. He is fully God, sharing the same divine essence as the Father and the Spirit.
• Truly human: At the virgin conception, the Son assumed a genuine human nature — a human body and soul — so He lived a fully human life (hungered, thirsted, wept, grew in wisdom), yet without sin.
• One person, two natures: Those two natures are united in the one Person of Jesus. They are not mixed into a third kind of nature, nor are they separated into two persons. Jesus is one indivisible Person who is fully God and fully man.
• Why this was necessary: Only someone who is both God and man could mediate between God and humans and accomplish our salvation. He had to be truly human to represent us and bear our penalty, and truly God to bear infinite worth and to conquer death.
• Practical consequences: Because Jesus is fully human, He can sympathize with our weaknesses; because He is fully God, His life, death, and resurrection are efficacious for salvation. He lived under real human limitations yet never sinned.
In short: the eternal Son of God added true humanity to His eternal deity at the virgin conception, becoming the unique God‑man — fully God and fully man in one Person — qualified to be our mediator and Savior.
See John 1:1-14, 1 Timothy 2:5, and Philippians 2:6-8.
V24 “That’s why I said to you, that you shall die in your sins, for if you don’t believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins.”
They, these Messiah-rejecting Jews (not all Jews, mind you), cannot go into heaven or the Kingdom of God just because they were born Jews, nor can they go to heaven by keeping the Law. They will die without having their sins atoned for; these people are not justified in God’s eyes.
Belief is the condition. Belief is not a work (Romans 4:1-5). Jesus does not say, “for if you are not one of the unconditionally elect, you will die in your sins.” He states that they will die in their sins because they refuse to believe in Jesus for salvation or that He is the Messiah. They actively rebel against God by not believing.
The condition for salvation is believing that Jesus is the “I AM,” that is, God in the flesh as the Passover Lamb.
The phrase “I AM” is used as a title for the one and only God; He is the eternal now and life itself. See the first use in Exodus 3:14. In Exodus 3:14, Moses asked God what His name was, and God replied, “I AM Who I AM.”
(Zondervan King James Version Commentary, Old Testament) “The name YHWH stems from a form of the Hebrew term “to be,” indicating that the Lord is the timeless One, the Ultimate Cause, the ever-present One. This theological use of the term I AM (v. 14) is the designation Jesus used with reference to His divinity (John 8:58).”
V25 Then they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Even what I said to you from the beginning.
What a stupid question! Jesus has taught, lived, and fulfilled the prophets’ predictions before their very eyes many, many times. They simply refuse to believe.
The beginning refers to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. These Jews who reject Jesus as the predicted Messiah are always wanting Jesus to tell them “Who are you?” in order to trip Him up in some way.
V26 “I have many things to say and condemn you for, but he who sent me is true. I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him.”
These are fearful words, “I have many things…to condemn you.” Compare John 7:28 where Jesus clearly tells them that He has taught them who He is, where He is from, and who sent Him. These people will have no excuses. Jesus spoke, they refused to believe.
Condemnation comes at the Great White Throne, where all those from Cain to those at the end who refused to believe in Jesus will be judged by Jesus Christ, exposed, condemned, and sent to the Lake of Fire, where they will suffer conscious torment in complete darkness, heat, lack of peace, loneliness, no needs met, fear, anger forever and ever without end (Revelation 20:11-15). Compare Daniel 12:1-2, Matthew 18:8, and Matthew 25: 41.
Matthew 7:21-23 (WEL) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only the one who is doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, haven’t we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many miracles in your name?’ 23 “Then I will openly declare to them, ‘I never knew you [John 10:14-15], get away from me, you workers of wickedness.’
All their sins will be revealed at the final judgment—the Great White Throne judgment. See Revelation 20:11-15.
My summary:
• Setting: Great White Throne
• Characters:
• Jesus Christ, God the Son, the Judge
• All those who did not believe in Jesus for salvation
• The evidence: All the books of their thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.
• The verdict: If they are in the Lamb’s Book of Life—heaven. If not, the Lake of Fire. All of these people go to the Lake of Fire. All the earlier judgments were for believers (Bema Seat, Tribulation saints, and believing people and Jews from Adam to the Thief on the Cross (if he was the last).
V27 They didn’t understand that he was talking about the Father.
They don’t understand because they do not want to understand. The Father is the one who sent Jesus.
Isaiah 9:6 For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us, and the government shall be on His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Also see: John 3:16-17, John 10:36, and Isaiah 48:16.
We learn:
- Mocking Jesus is not a good idea.
- Sin has consequences.
- Faith alone in Jesus alone brings salvation.
Questions:
- Have you ever mocked God? How did you do it?
- Are you concerned about the consequences of your sins?
- Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation?