John 8:28 Commentary and Bible Study

Now, as we read this verse, we might assume – and this would be correct in measure – that it means something like this: after Christ is crucified, once this has happened, as people then reach the end of their lives, the day will come, as their soul takes its flight from time into eternity, when it is too late to repent, too late to act, then it will be realised by them, that Christ was God, and he was Saviour, and they have left it too late. That’s how the verse is generally interpreted, and that is undoubtedly correct, or at least it has a large measure of truth in it: that it refers to the death of all those who crucified him and, indeed, all of us who hear about him and reject Him. But it means a little more than that, also. Even at the time of Christ’s crucifixion there will be a realisation given to people that they have done the wrong thing, that they have crucified the Saviour, that he was their rightful Lord and Saviour. Many of them, on the Day of Pentecost, would feel this so deeply they would repent – 3,000 in one day. But you know, even as Christ hung on Calvary’s cross and died, never forget the three hours of darkness – that mysterious and frightening experience that all the on-lookers and the Jewish leaders had. As it were, they were fixed, rooted to the spot, and complete darkness came over the land, and there was a terrible hush. And don’t you think that in those moments, with that miraculous event, they knew, it was blazoned on their hearts, that this was God’s Son, their Messiah. And yet, so hardened were they, that the instant the light returned they pushed it out of their hearts, out of their minds, and began to shout abuse at him once again. It is a picture of the hardness of the human heart, but, of course, it won’t be possible to speak against this realisation when it happens in the last day of life, when we pass into eternity. And if we have rejected him and refused Him, we realise that we could have been saved by Him, and now we’re doomed, and we must be judged for the life which we’ve lived.