The Lord continues His teaching of the people, but not without allusion to the incident which had just occurred, or rather to the character in which He had dealt with it. Nothing can be more evident than the True Light which was then shining and lightening every man. It is the more striking because the word “light” does not occur in that transaction; but the fact is thoroughly in harmony with what immediately follows.
“Again then Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall in no wise walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (Ver. 12.) His rejection by the Jews always brings Him out in a still larger character of blessing and glory to others. In our Gospel however the Spirit speaks of what He is personally or independently of all circumstances. He is “the light of the world.” His glory, His grace, could not be confined to Israel. He is come to deliver from Satan's power and give the enjoyment of God. Hence, whatever be the darkness of men, and it was now profound among the Jews, “He that followeth me shall in no wise walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The Christian is not only called out of darkness into God's wonderful light, but he becomes light in the Lord, a child of light, and he walks in the light, being brought to God who is light; and in the light, as John says, we have fellowship one with another, for in Him is life as well as light; or, as He says here, His follower has “the light of life.” He has Christ who is both.
So energetic a testimony rouses the pride and enmity of those who listened. They could not but feel that He spoke of a privilege and blessing which they did not enjoy. “The Pharisees therefore said to him, Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true.” (Ver. 13.) They turn His own words in chapter v. 31 against Himself, but most unfairly; for there He was speaking of testimony alone and human, such as vanity gives itself; here, as He proceeds to show, He has the very highest support in God Himself. “Jesus answered and said to them, Even though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came, and where I go, [but] ye know not whence I come or where I go.” (Ver. 14.) They were wholly ignorant of the Father as of the Son. They never thought of heaven. The Lord had the constant consciousness of the truth of His person and mission; and His witness was inseparable from the Father's. As He says elsewhere,” I and my Father are one” He never lost the sense for a moment whence He came and whither He was going away, whereas they never had a thought of it. They were in utter darkness, though the light was there shining in Him. How truly then He could say, “Ye judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. And if also I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.” (Ver. 15, 16.)
Self is the source and object of all the activity of the flesh, according to which the Jews were judging. Christ brought love as well as light into the world. He was judging none; He was serving all. This made Him intolerable to the self-complacent. Yet is He to be the judge of all. In His resurrection God has given the pledge that He is to judge the world, even as in His own person He is the fitting one to do so, being Son of man as well as Son of God. “And if also I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.” (Ver. 16.) It was an admitted principle that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word should be established. To this the Lord here appeals: “And in your law too it is written that the witness of two men is true.” (Ver. 17.) How much more then the testimony of the Father and the Son. “I am he that testifieth concerning myself, and the Father that sent me testifieth concerning me.” (Ver. 18.) Of this too the Lord had spoken before (in chap, 5) but they had not heard to receive it, but only to despise Him.
“They said to him then, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me nor my Father. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” (Ver. 19.) Such ignorance of the only true God and of Jesus whom He sent is death, eternal death; and the more solemn, because it was said not to the heathen but to Jews who had the oracles of God. And these things they were saying because they knew not the Father nor the Son; as the hour would come when they would think to render God service by killing Christ's disciples. Their sayings and doings betrayed their state of utter alienation from and ignorance of the Father. All that followed of persecution and hatred, whether for Christ or for the church, was but the consequence. “These words he spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple; and no one seized him, because his hour was not yet come.” (Ver. 20.) Their malice was as manifest as it was deadly; and it was against the Father as much as the Son.
But, spite of will, they were powerless till the time was come. Then was He given up to their murderous iniquity; then too still deeper counsels were in accomplishment through the sacrifice of Himself. If on the one hand He was cut off and had nothing of His Messianic rights in the midst of the Jews in the land, He was on the other suffering for sins, just for unjust, to bring all who believe to God, to be glorified on high and to have a bride given Him associated with Himself in His supremacy over all things. But this would carry us into the apostle Paul's teaching. Let us pursue the line given to John, where we behold the Word made flesh, and His divine glory shining through the veil of humiliation, and in this chapter particularly, first as light convicting, then as the light of life possessed by His followers; but if His word were rejected, no less was He the Son who alone can make free, yea the I AM, let men avail themselves of His manhood to scorn and stone and crucify Him as they may.