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What does being free mean to you?

The Feast of the Tabernacles Lamp-lighting Ceremony. (Mishnah; Ex. 13:21-22; Num. 14:14; Zech. 14:7,8)

In that day (Day of the LORD) there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other have toward the western sea: it will be in summer as well as in winter. (Zech. 14:6-8)

If you haven’t seen the lighting ceremony at the feast of sukkot, you have never seen a wonder. (Mishnah)

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Seriously consider the two urgent life or death statements made at the end of Jesus’ last Feast of Tabernacles festival...

...he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)

1. “Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins" (8:24).

To the people... “ego eimi”

The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in the land of the shadow of death,
The light will shine on them. Is. 9:2

No longer will you have the sun for light by day,
Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;
But you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light,
And your God for your glory.
Your sun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning will be finished. Is. 60:19-20

Jesus’ self-disclosure “I AM the light of the world”, was as clear a statement of divinity as has been made (Is. 9:2; 42:6; 49:6; 60:19-20) and a direct reference to Christ as the “new” pillar of light and source of salvation.

Jesus alone leads people from the darkness of sin’s deadening journey into the light of God’s rescue from the journey to sin, in favour of the destiny of redemption—literally from death to life!

From the One, not of this world, to those worldlings... “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” (24; cf. Ex. 3:13-14; Is. 41:4; 43:10,25; 46:4; 47:8,10; 48:12; 52:6)

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Ex. 3:13-14

Who has worked and done it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘I, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, I am He.’” Is. 41:4

“You are My witnesses,” declares Yahweh,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no god formed,
And there will be none after Me.
“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins. Is. 43:10,25

“Hear Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called;
I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.” Is. 48:12

  Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’” Is. 52:6

- Pharisees, on the very edge of oblivion, call Jesus out on the legality of a testimony technicality.
I and My Father testify about Me—there’s your two witnesses! (18)

- Where is your Father?
That you don’t know Me, makes it impossible for you to know My Father. (19)

- Who are you?
“When you lift up (to the cross, from the grave, into the heavens) the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM...” (28)

Genuine faith in Jesus is your only hope of escape from the death in your sins.

Many came to “believe” in Him. (30)

2. “If you continue (abide) in My word, truly you are my disciples" (8:31).

To those Jews who had “believed” in Him...

No superficial belief or false sense of spiritual security was ever allowed to take hold in the kingdom Christ was building. God is not desperate for a crowd. No easy believism or Christianity-lite!

Obedience, not generational lineage or tradition is what counts. (8:31)
A real believer holds firmly to the scriptures and seeks to understand better... (Carson)
- Proving yourself real
- Frees you from sinning

When you walk away from the Scriptures, you walk away from being a disciple of Jesus—you have walked away from the truth—Jesus is the truth. When sins overwhelm you, and they will, you don’t know the truth—you are a slave to sin, not a son, not free.

Who’s your father? (who’s really illegitimate?)
- Stray, unhitch from, indifferent about, no room for Scripture?
- Explain, argue it away, rather than obey it?
- Enslaved to sin, guilty and insecure?
- Liar?

If God were your Father, you would love Jesus, remain in His word, and He would break the power of sin in your life and rescue you from the debilitating effects of sin’s guilt.

“He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (47)

“Before Abraham was born, I AM.” (59)

The Promise to be Set Free

If you walk in the light of Christ, following Him in His word, you will...

- Truly be a disciple of Jesus. (31)
- Know the truth. (32)
- Be made free from the enslavement to sin.(36)
- Will not die in your sins. (24)
- Will neither see death nor taste it. (51-52)

You know Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God—are you free? Has your “belief” moved to saving faith? You may be 12 inches away from eternal life.

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