See or Taste Death

Dr Stoamos Started our first philosophy lecture with what he wanted to do when he died.

Buried under a tree that fruited apples. inspired by a man of fredrich Nizche.

For Nietzsche, the problem begins with the death of God. We’ve discussed this concept before, but in brief, it is Nietzsche’s realization that an increasingly secular and scientific society can no longer turn to Christianity to find meaning. In ages past the meaning of everything was assured by God. Without the ability to turn to God, where could modern man find meaning?

Nietzsche found this concerning, as the typical person would be driven to nihilism without help. While mass movements would be able to provide another structure to find meaning in, Nietzsche, ever the individualist, rejected this notion as being a real solution. Instead, he offers us three solutions that we, as individuals, can try to use to find meaning in our post-God lives.

A cultural revolution

Nietzsche, who was an atheist, understood that religion was useful for providing meaning, community, and helping to deal with the problems of life. His first suggestion was to replace religion with philosophy, art, music, literature, theatre, and other parts of the humanities to provide similar benefits.

The void created by the death of God is a major one and one which we must strive to fill. The humanities offer us the ability to contextualize our sufferings, our efforts, and a chance to see our lives as not so different from those around us. They can offer insights into how we might tackle problems we all must face.

However, it is important to not just study them as bone-dry academic subjects. They must be seen as tools for living. Don’t read history for facts; see it as a way to edify yourself. Tragic plays are not just for entertainment, they are to teach you how to see the beauty in sad events.

What if we don’t like the humanities? Or they don’t seem to help?

That’s fine. He has other ideas. No discussion of Nietzsche is complete without reference to the Übermensch. The Superman that creates their own meaning and values without reference to outside influences. Such an individual can overcome the problem of the meaning of life by simply inventing their own meaning and taking full responsibility for it. Nietzsche offered us a few examples of men who came close to being an Ubermensch; Jesus, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Buddha, and Goethe among them, but felt that none of them quite hit the mark.

Nietzsche was not a happy person. He hated his family, was eternally lonely, women rejected him, his books didn’t sell, he lost his mind, his sister hijacked his publishing rights, and then his ideas were taken up by a bunch of far-right ultra-nationalists who utterly missed the meaning of his individualistic philosophy. His ideas are not designed to make you “happy”, they are designed to help you find meaning in your life. For Nietzsche, these things are going to be at odds, since anything worth doing is going to involve some level of suffering. “Only great pain is the ultimate liberator of the spirit….I doubt that such pain makes us ‘better’; but I know that it makes us more profound.”

Ultimately He died of pshyphilus fearing death more than anything in this world.

“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark” ( Francis Bacon, The Essays, 343)

1. Lies and Murder (8:48-50, 59)

John 8:48–50 (ESV): 48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

John 8:59 (ESV): 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple

Throughout John 8 Jesus challenged their conceptions and beliefs about him and the Jews’ go to response was to insult Jesus by saying “he has a demon” or was a “Samaritan.” We’ve seen both of these insults earlier on in the gospel. They claim he had a demon because they’re trying to explain his miraculous works and at the same time explain away how he disregarded their interpretation of the law. The insult of being a Samaritan comes from how Jesus grew up in the Northern part of the country (he did not grow up in Samaria) and how he spent time in the region of Samaria and showed compassion and taught the Samaritans. The Jews did not like this because the Samaritans were not ethnically or religiously pure people in their eyes and not people worthy of such compassion. Just as the devil is ready to lie and kill, so too are the Jews when Jesus challenges their beliefs about him.  After Jesus told them about his eternal origins when he said, “Before Abraham was I am,” they got so angry that they picked up rocks to execute him by stoning. They wanted to murder him, which was behavior they learned from their father, the devil. You’ll notice that the group that picked up stones to throw at Jesus were the same group who “believed in him” at the beginning of John 8. The thing they could not accept about Jesus was his eternality as God the Son and pre-existing their spiritual Father Abraham.  We all have “that thing” that is hard to accept about Jesus and his demands, and someone who keeps on believing is put into a position of needing to trust when they may not fully understand. Despite their lying and evil desires, Jesus still held out the message of grace, truth, life and reconciliation.

a. Who is your father?

John–Acts 8:48–59. Offspring of the Evil One

The Jews respond to this claim as we expect a hostile crowd would. They understand what Jesus is saying. They counter his claims with the assertion that both Abraham and the prophets died, asking Jesus if he is greater than Abraham, asking just who he thinks he is (v. 53). The Jews understand that Jesus is claiming to be greater than Abraham, because Abraham died; greater than the prophets, because the prophets died. They fully understand that Jesus is claiming that his word will give life.

John–Acts 8:48–59. Offspring of the Evil One

In response to their questions about who he thinks he is, Jesus says that his glory is not based on his own assertions about himself (v. 54). Rather, the Father is the one who glorifies him, the very Father they claim as their God. What Jesus is claiming is not suspended on his mere assertions but hangs on the Father’s own purpose to seek the glory of Jesus (v. 49)

The Eternal One Offers Eternal Life (John 8:51-58)

John 8:51–58 (ESV): 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.

Those who keeps the words of Jesus will never see death (John 8:51). This means that Jesus words invite us into a life giving, reconciled relationship with God the Father.  Earlier in John 8:31 Jesus talked about the need to “abide” in his word (stay, remain, live). This is not to say that our eternal salvation relies on our ability to live disciplined and obedient lives on our own effort. To abide in the words of Jesus is the same thing as to abide in relationship with him. It is to live in such a way that we desire to know his will and heart and to let those things transform us. Jesus is using this phrase to demonstrate a need for true faith that believes and keeps believing.  The Jews objected because they read his statement as literally instead of literately. They took “death” as physical death and not spiritual death or separation from God. Abraham and the prophets all died, did that mean they did not abide in the words of God? Were they somehow inferior or lacking? No. Jesus told us in John 8:56 that Abraham looked forward to Jesus and to the cross in faith, Abraham “rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad (notice the past tense here). How did Abraham see it?! Because all the promises God made to him would later be fulfilled in Christ. Abraham knew there would be an offspring from his family line who would bring blessing to the world. That was the core of the promise God made to Abraham and he believed it although at times imperfectly, but still his faith persevered.  The Jews respond to Jesus’ literal words rather than his intended meaning. "How can you say you've seen Abraham, you’re not even 50 years old!!??” As if a 70 year old Jesus could have seen Abraham… Jesus told them one more time about his eternal nature when he said “Before Abraham was, I am.” This is a loaded expression that causes the reaction in the crowd where they want to kill him for blasphemy. The first century Jews would not have wanted to kill Jesus if he was just a good moral teacher, no, here he is claiming to be the incarnate God. To say “I am” is to go back to Exodus 3 where Moses asked God what his name was and God responded that he was Yahweh, “I am.” Jesus is saying he is their very God in flesh, standing before them. Jesus is the eternal one offering eternal life.

a. What does this promise mean?

Exalting Jesus in John What Does This Promise Mean?

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (3:16)

Exalting Jesus in John What Does This Promise Mean?

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (11:25–26)

Exalting Jesus in John What Does This Promise Mean?

When we think about the fear of death, we really fear two things: death’s uncertainty and its significance. When we receive the life that Jesus promises, the uncertainty is gone. We may not know when or how our physical death will take place, but we are certain about what will happen the moment it takes place.

Exalting Jesus in John What Does This Promise Mean?

“Death is only the introduction to the nearer presence of God” (Barclay, John, 2:38)

b. Who Is This Promise For?

This promise is conditional. It begins with the word if. Something must be done in order for this promise to apply to us. Jesus says in John 8:51, “If anyone keeps my word …” So this promise is only true for those who keep his word. To keep Jesus’s word means that we embrace and hold to what he says. We hold to the teaching of Jesus that apart from him we are lost, sinful, spiritually dead, and without hope. We must recognize the only remedy for our sin is to turn from that sin and to Jesus Christ as our Savior. To believe in him is to reject any and all attempts to reach God on our own and to trust singularly in his saving work on our behalf.

The beauty of this promise is it’s free and available to all men (v. 51). He said “anyone.” Jesus excludes no one from this offer of salvation. No one is excluded because of being too bad to be given eternal life through Jesus, and no one is included because of being good enough to earn eternal life apart from Jesus.

We each relate to God in one of two ways. While Jesus was on earth, he interacted with people from all different backgrounds, but the Gospel writers and Jesus himself lump them into these two broad categories. We could call them the sinners and the self-righteous.

The sinners were those who knew they were lost and cut off from God. They would be the nonreligious, the men and women who either didn’t care that they were sinners or thought they weren’t salvageable.

The self-righteous were those who thought their good behavior and good works earned favor with God. They kept from the “really bad sins” like immorality, stealing, and murder. On the outside they looked good. However, each good deed they did was their attempt to put God in their debt. With each righteous act, they grew more confident in their own efforts to please God.

Jesus told both groups the same thing: “You’re spiritually dead, and apart from me you can never experience spiritual life. However, if you turn from your sin and from your self-righteousness and place your faith in me alone, I will give you eternal life. You will never be cut off from God” (my paraphrase). In John 3 Jesus spoke one-on-one with a religious leader, and in chapter 4 he had a private conversation with an immoral outcast. As different as they were on the outside, they shared a common state: spiritual death, a common future: separation from God, and a common need: a Savior. Jesus gave them both the same message—the message he gives these Jews in chapter 8, and the message that applies to us today: believe on me and you will not see death.

c. Why Should I Beleive This Promise?

You don’t believe everything you hear or read. What criteria do you use to determine what’s believable, to decide who’s trustworthy? A couple of criteria guide all of us. First are a person’s qualifications. What about them makes them trustworthy? Jesus lists his qualifications in verses 54–58. He’s the one and only Son of God who came down to this earth as a man to save mankind from the penalty that our sin demands. But he’s not just the Son of God; he’s God himself.

Abraham had been dead for nearly two thousand years, and Jesus claimed to exist prior to him. Jesus is not to be regarded as a good man or a moral teacher but as God in the flesh. Jesus demonstrates he is God by taking the divine name and claiming it as his own. In the Old Testament God revealed himself using the name “I AM” (Exod 3:14). Here Jesus takes that name to himself (John 8:58). Jesus is not a man God adopted. He himself is divine. Jesus is also the promised Savior (v. 56).

When God created the world, he created it perfect. Mankind was made to live in perfect harmony and communion with God. We were designed to worship and enjoy him in his presence forever. However, man sinned, and with that sin came the awful penalty of death—separation from God. In that moment when God revealed to the first humans the penalty for their sin, he also made a promise that one day he would send a Savior who would reconcile man to God, who would restore that broken relationship (Gen 3:15). A number of generations later, God promised Abraham that this Savior would come through his offspring and that through this child all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen 12:3). The rest of the Old Testament is tracing this lineage with anticipation for the fulfillment of this promise.

The New Testament begins with a record of births. From Abraham’s line of descendants, Jesus of Nazareth was born. But he was no ordinary baby. God had sent his own Son to take on human flesh and be born as a man. This was the fulfillment of God’s promise. The coming of Jesus as the Savior of mankind was what Abraham was rejoicing about. He believed God would fulfill his promise of a Savior who would reconcile sinners to a perfect God. We can believe Jesus’s promise because he is the Son of God who came to this world to bring life. His qualifications are impeccable.

A second reason we believe someone is because of their experience. If you’re scheduled to have surgery and are nervous about it, the best people to talk to are a doctor (because of his qualifications) or a patient who’s successfully gone through the procedure (because of his experience). Best of all would be a doctor who had the surgery successfully performed on himself. We not only believe Jesus’s promise of victory over death because of who he is but also because of what he’s done.

Sadly the religious leaders rejected Jesus Christ and attempted to kill him (John 8:59). Though this attempt failed they would later succeed. The religious leaders would turn Jesus over to the Romans to die the cruel death of a criminal. He was beaten, mocked, tortured, and then stretched out to hang on a cross until dead in chapter 19. If the story ended there, we’d have no reason to believe his promise. But in chapter 20 a woman visits his tomb and finds it empty. She weeps, thinking his body has been stolen. All of a sudden, Jesus, resurrected from the dead, appears to her. He’s no longer dead; he’s alive!

We believe his promise of victory over death because he has experienced it. He has triumphed over death—both physical and spiritual—and now he stands ready to allow us to experience the same victory. If we turn from our sin and trust in him as our Savior, then we too can be assured that death will not conquer us because Jesus has conquered death. The separation from God that our sin demanded was taken by Jesus upon himself so that we don’t have to bear it, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ has left death powerless. “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54).

Isaiah 28:18 (ESV): Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

Because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we have nothing to fear—we will never see death. His death in our place has freed us from the paralyzing fear of physical death. The beautiful lyrics penned by Henri Malan, a nineteenth-century Swiss pastor and hymn writer, capture the confident hope available to every Christian.

Exalting Jesus in John Why Should I Believe This Promise?

It is not death to die—to leave this weary road,

and join the saints who dwell on high who’ve found their home with God.

It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears,

and wake in joy before Your throne delivered from our fears.

It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust

and rise with strong and noble wing to live among the just.

It is not death to hear the key unlock the door

that sets us free from mortal years to praise You evermore.

O Jesus, conquering the grave

Your precious blood has power to save.

Those who trust in You will in Your mercy find

that it is not death to die.

Response

Exalting Jesus in John Reflect and Discuss

How does the gospel change the significance of physical death?