John 8:21 Commentary and Bible Study

Here we have the judgement, the warning of Christ, to those who do not receive his person. He is clearly speaking about the time that will come when he will voluntarily allow himself to be taken, arrested and slain. Now, there are six, or seven at most, months to go before the Lord Jesus Christ allows Himself, in apparent weakness, to be arrested, and crucified. And so, He refers to that here. Of course, they were plotting to seize him at once, and to bring about his death; they wanted to do that immediately – the plot was well advanced. But he says, ‘I go my way.’ And he indicates to them that his demise will be at his bidding, in effect, when the time is right. It won’t be an immediate arrest, and death, such as they plot, the moment will be on his say-so – He will determine it, in line with the eternal plan. But because he says, ‘I go my way’ they look at each other and they say, ‘What’s he going to do, commit suicide? Is he going to foil us? Is he going to do away with Himself before we arrest Him, and get to Him?’, and they misunderstand Him. ‘And they shall seek him’, though not at once. Perhaps some of them will, but most of them will die in their sins. And you know the Greek at this point in verse 21 does not have sins in the plural, it has it in the singular. ‘I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin’, singular. Referring to their state of sin, more than their actual sins, which are referred to later. Here it is singular. ‘Ye shall die in your sin’, your state of sin. What solemn words! ‘Whither I go, ye cannot come.’When will they seek him? Well, the best answer is that they will seek him, the leaders of the Jews, in AD 70, when the Roman armies to surround Jerusalem, when the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple comes. Then in terror and alarm, they will be seeking for Messiah, that political Messiah. And of course, it is no good because they have rejected the true Messiah, who is Christ. And these words most probably refer to that seeking. ‘I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.’