So, why couldn’t the religious leaders of the day recognize the Messiah God had promised to send them? Well, in spite of their prayers and their sacrifices, Jesus said they were actually of the world (8:23), governed by their senses and by what their human reason could understand. Because Jesus didn’t fit into their preconceived notions of what the Messiah should be and do, they rejected Him, even though He really was from above, the Messiah sent from the Father in Heaven (8:23, 18).

And because they rejected Jesus, that meant they really didn’t know anything about God (8:19), no matter how much intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures they may have possessed, and no matter how scrupulously any of them may have observed the Old Testament rituals.

And Jesus Himself still remains the only way for anyone to gain true knowledge about God, for He is the One Who tells us what He has heard from the Father (8:26, 28). And His life remains the only true measure of holiness, for He always does the things that are pleasing to the Father (8:29).

So, in spite of all the conflicting truth claims swirling around us today, the only way for any of us to make our way through the darkness and confusion is to come to Jesus, the light of the world (8:12). And the good news is that if we will submit to Him on His terms, acknowledging Him as our Savior and bowing the knee to Him as our Lord, we will not die in our sins, but will have the light of life (8:21, 12).

John 8:12-30 (ESV)

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.
26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.
28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.