As we continue our study of the Gospel of John, we pick up at Verse 37 of Chapter Eight. The Apostle records the words of Jesus as He debates the Religious Leaders of the day. The debate was about who He was, and who they were.
Jesus said, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill Me because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill Me, a man who told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God Himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, God sent Me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in Him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me! Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8: 37-47)
God had called out Abraham, and made him the founder and father of the Jewish nation. Because of the fact that these leaders were descendants of Abraham, they considered themselves to be children of Abraham. Not true. No more than someone is a Christian because their forefathers were Christians.
We think in terms of the physical. God looks at us in the heart, the soul, the spirit. God is Spirit. (John 4:24) We are His in Spirit and in truth through accepting His Son, Christ Jesus. God is Love. He is Truth. If we are His child we operate in truth and love because we hear Him. We hear Him because we are One with Him in Spirit. We speak His language just as a child speaks the language of his or her Mom and Dad. Thank God for His grace. We may not always do what He says, but we hear Him, and eventually will.
Those who do not hear God, who refuse to listen because of pride, or self assurance, or complete misunderstanding of Who He is, or for whatever reason the enemy is using to keep them from hearing, sadly operate in lies because they do not know the truth. They are not aware of it, because the enemy is a master thief and steals the truth from them. That is the language he speaks. He is a liar. He is the father of lies. There is no truth in him. He wants to steal, kill and destroy God’s children because he hates God. Those who follow him walk in darkness.
This is why the Lord has commissioned us to go and tell the Good News. Our voice, our actions, our love, can be the Light they need to see; the truth they need to hear, to come out of the darkness, and into His Love.