8:17,18
Even on the grounds of the Law itself Jesus testimony was valid, because He had His own testimony and the testimony of the Father. The real question anyone needs to answer about Jesus is whether or not He was sent by the Father. Doe he have the Father’s approval or not?
8:19,20
The Pharisees continued in their lack of understanding. “Where is your Father?” Joseph was dead by this point. There could even be a snide aspect to this remark, harking back to the unusual circumstances of Jesus’ birth. Jesus tells them that they do not know Him. If we know Jesus then we know the Father, if we know the Father we know Jesus. They come as a package, and Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Jesus was teaching this openly in the temple, but no one would arrest Him. The timing was in God’s hands, not the hands of men.
8:21
These words are not encouraging for the Pharisees! Jesus tells them He is going away and they will not be able to find Him, but will die in their sin. Then He tells them that they cannot come where He is going. After Jesus rose from the dead the Pharisees wanted to know what had happened to the body, having no idea what had really happened, or not wanting to face up to the truth. As long as they carried on in their current way the Pharisees could not enter heaven. Now consider this. Sceptics, liberals and atheists love to debate and argue about how heaven ought to work, who should be allowed in and who should not (even though they often don’t believe in the existence of heaven!). But they do not decide the rules, God decides the rules! We do well to remember this.
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