Judica—He Who Is of God Hears God’s Words
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:47)
Jesus said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)
Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:57–58)
Then they took up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:59)
God made great and wonderful promises to His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel. He called Abraham out of paganism and idolatry of his father's house, and promised to him, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1–3)
After God led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt through Moses, and after establishing the covenant at Mount Sinai in the giving of the Law, God renewed these promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when He told Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’” (Exodus 33:1)
The Lord promised that He would bring them to the promised land, give them bountiful harvest, peace, victory over enemies, and multiply their offspring. After listing these promises, God said, “I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” (Leviticus 26:11–12)
God dwelled among His people in the ark of the covenant, in the tent of meeting, and in the wilderness, leading them to the promised land, and eventually the Lord would dwell in the temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built. His glory would rest there, where He would be there to bless His people.
But then the people ran after false gods. They committed other abominations in His holy temple. God told the prophet Ezekiel, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” (Ezekiel 8:6)
“Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” (Ezekiel 8:9)
Ezekiel went in the temple and saw every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel carved on the walls of the temple. Ezekiel saw women weeping for Tammuz, which was the Sumerian fertility god, like the Greek Adonis.
He saw men with their backs toward the temple, so facing away from God's dwelling place, and instead facing east as they were worshiping the sun. (Ezekiel 8:10–16)
For all their sin, rebellion, violence, and false worship, the Lord would show Ezekiel another vision. Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart the temple. (Ezekiel 10:18–19)
And we know that the glorious temple built by Solomon would eventually be destroyed, and then the second temple would be destroyed. Tragically, this is fulfilled once more as God's chosen people, according to the flesh, refuse to hear the Word flowing out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We heard it this morning in our Gospel. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reject their own promised Messiah, and the promises God made to them in all the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning the Lord Jesus, the true Messiah, their God. (Luke 24:44)
It is tragic because, as Paul tells us, these Jews in the Gospel who are convicting Jesus of sin and calling Him demonically possessed, “who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Romans 9:4–5)
That's tragic that all of this was given to them and entrusted to them, and they hear the word of truth coming out of their Messiah's mouth and say He is a Samaritan and has a demon, and they want to stone Him just for speaking the truth of God's Word to them.
They cast these promises aside, the oracles of God that were given to them, the Torah that was given to them at Mount Sinai. They cast it aside by rejecting the Word of God proceeding from the mouth of God in the flesh.
God called Israel His servant, Jacob His chosen one. (Isaiah 41:8) God called Abraham His friend. (James 2:23) Of Moses it is said that the Lord spoke to him face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33:11)
So these who were friends of God, according to the flesh, by descent, genetic descent, these are the ones that are rejecting our Lord Jesus and His Word. You see the descendants of these true friends of God seeking to murder their God and Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Just before the Gospel reading that we heard this morning, Jesus said this, “I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:37–44)
The descendants of the friends of God, Abraham and Moses, are called by God Himself children of the devil, brood of the serpent.
In Revelation, as Jesus speaks to the church in Smyrna, He says, “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:9)
Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia, “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” (Revelation 3:9)
It is a tragedy. God's chosen people and the Lord's own blood relatives seek to stone Him for speaking the truth that He has heard with His own ears at the side of the Father in the divine council.
The Lord Jesus tells the truth that those who hear God's words are of God, that He honors His heavenly Father and bears witness to Him. He tells them whoever keeps His Word shall never see death, promising to them that His Word has power in itself to give eternal life.
He tells them the truth that Abraham rejoiced to see His day and he saw it and was glad, that Abraham knew that God would not demand the death of his son, but would provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. His only begotten Son, His only beloved Son, the Seed of the woman and God from eternity. That's the day that Abraham saw, and Jesus tells them so.
And He tells them the truth that He is the I AM. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not that He is a god or would become a god or that He was a great prophet. Jesus is God in the flesh, the one true and only living God who created all things.
He is saying ego eimi in Greek. He is saying Yahweh in Hebrew and in English. You heard it this morning. He is saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)
That is what He is saying. He is saying He is the one true living God, the same God that revealed Himself in the burning bush to Moses and Abraham before. The same I AM that saved Noah and his family. The same I AM that created all things. The same I AM that called Abraham and made the covenants with him, Isaac, and Jacob. The same I AM that in ancient times did give the Law in power and majesty and awe, like our Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The I AM, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (Revelation 1:8; Romans 9:5)
After hearing these truths concerning the Trinity and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His Word to save a person from eternal death, the descendants of Abraham, according to the flesh, attempt to stone Him, and Christ hides Himself from them and departs from the temple.
In a way, we remember this tragedy by hiding images under veils, like you saw Luke and I do this morning, that Jesus hid Himself from these people after they rejected the teaching of His true divinity and the teaching of the Most Holy Trinity. We hide these images, and we don't sing the Gloria Patri, this great hymn of praise to the Trinity, because of the same thing, their rejection of the Trinity, for these next two weeks until Easter.
We remember, as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14–16)
Those students of the Law of Moses could not see the clear teaching of the Trinity that had already been revealed in the Law. They didn't have to wait for Jesus. They didn't have to wait for the Baptism of our Lord, when you saw and heard the Trinity revealed there. They could not, these great students of the Law of God, see the Trinity revealed even before Jesus came in the flesh, that the triune God is manifest from the very first verses of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1–2)
Then God, by means of His eternal Word, His only begotten Son, spoke the word, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3)
They could not see the triune God manifest in the story of the Lord Yahweh, I AM, appearing to Abraham by the terebinth trees, when Abraham saw three men standing by him and addressed the three men as Lord, not lords, but Lord. (Genesis 18:1–3)
Or the Angel of the Lord saying to Abraham in our Old Testament for today, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12)
Showing us that the Angel of the Lord is the eternal Word, the Son of God, begotten from eternity, and is the one who told Abraham to go up there. And yet the Bible calls Him the Angel of the Lord, the messenger of Yahweh.
They deny the Son, and Scripture clearly says, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:23)
And they who had been given God's Word on Mount Sinai but rejected the only Son from the Father were broken off because of unbelief. God's glory departed from them. He hid Himself from them and departed from their temple.
They did not hear the words of God, and so they were not of God. They were not true descendants of Abraham. They were children of the devil.
In this Gospel today, through Jesus' words and the example of His own people rejecting those words and seeking to kill Him for these words, we are given both a warning and a promise. The Lord says whoever is of God hears God's words. If you are not of God, then you are of the devil.
Concerning the apostolic teachers, Jesus says, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16)
So the warning: if today you hear the voice of God in the Scriptures, do not harden your hearts. Do not seek to stone the Lord Jesus with your words and works when the Word of God comes to you in a word that is difficult for your sinful flesh to bear. Every word of Scripture is the Word of the living God and must be accepted with the obedience of simple faith. Do not harden your heart when you hear it.
To respond in any other way than amen to what God says in Scripture is to show we are not of God, that Abraham is not our father, but the devil is our father. To spurn the words of Scripture is to spurn the Son of God. It is to seek to put Him to death so that you no longer have to hear His voice, which is why they want to stone Him. They don't want to hear the truth.
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
‘Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” (Hebrews 3:12–15)
We are not exceptional if we hear the Word of God, no matter the word, and we buck against it, scoff at it, choose to ignore it, or twist the application of that Word of God so that we might justify our actions or our lack of righteous action. We are no different than those who persecute our Lord Jesus and condemn Him for speaking the truth.
But if we hear His Word, do it, keep it, treasure it, cling to it, hold fast to it, if we abide in His Word and continue in it, we will be freed from slavery. We shall never see or taste death. We will receive every promise our Lord makes to those who hear His Word and keep it. That's the promise.
When you hear the Word of God telling you what you are to say and how you are to say it and when you are to say it, what you are to do or to leave undone, the kind of preacher or church you are to have, the kind of spouse you should look for, or any other commandment of God, hear it. Truly say amen to it, strive with all your might to obey it.
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.” (1 John 2:1)
When you hear the Word of God clearly showing you how you have failed to obey the Word of God and to live a life of love toward Him and your neighbor, do not try to relax His Law, ignore it, or explain why that particular word doesn't apply to your particular situation, and so you are in the clear. Hear the Word, say amen to it, confess your sins, repent, and trust in the triune God, who also tells you in that same Word that He says you must hear and keep, “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2)
He who is of God hears God's words. “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” (John 8:51)
You who hear His Word this day, believe it. When it tells you how to live, believe it. When it shows you your sin, believe it. When it tells you what the Lord Jesus suffered for your sake to put away your sin forever, believe it and believe it. When it trains you as a redeemed saint to live a godly life in this evil age, you who hear God's Word in this way are most certainly of God without a doubt.
And you, even though you may one day suffer temporal death, death in this life, will never see or taste eternal death, but have eternal life with the Lord Jesus who loves you so dearly that when He hid Himself and departed from that temple, He was not departing from His human creatures to give up on them. No, He was departing from that temple made with hands so that He might come to His people who were afar off through their sin and unbelief and their rebellion against His Word of truth, children of the devil by nature, children of wrath, so that He could come and put their sins away forever by entering that more perfect tabernacle and temple not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13–14)
That is why He departs that human hand-built temple, to enter a more perfect one for each of you.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we regard the noble little evangelical statement of comfort from today's Gospel to be a powerful prescription imparted to us from Your heavenly apothecary, which from the beginning of the world has been found strong for all believers against eternal shame, death, and misery, and reads thus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” (John 8:51) We heartily implore You to grant to our hearts true faith, that we may firmly hold fast to Your holy Word and the right use of the most worthy Sacraments, so that eternal death may have no share in us, and that we in death, life, and dying may be refreshed in body and soul through the power of Your Word and may gallantly hasten to You, our Savior, through all misfortune and may steadfastly be united with You in eternal company; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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