Verily, verily, I say unto you, If any one shall keep my word, he shall never see death.
Jesus said this in the temple courts, to men who were saying He had a demon. His promise raises two questions at once — what does it mean to "keep" His word, and how can a man who dies still never see death?
These words come at the end of a hard exchange. Jesus spoke past His accusers to anyone else still listening.
To reach the consciences of the people seemed hopeless. He had already shown them who their father really was, and nothing He could say would convince them of their error. But this talk was taking place in the temple court. Others there were not yet committed to rejecting Christ, and they might still be won. So He added, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death."
So what does it mean to "keep" His word? The answer starts deeper than behaviour.
What then is keeping the word of Christ? It is more than obedience. It is the thing obedience flows from. It is prizing a word so much that you treasure it up in the heart. There, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it shapes you. It produces divine thoughts and affections. It sanctifies through the truth — separating from evil, and purifying even as Christ is pure. Kept within the heart in this way, it becomes the light of the daily path, governing the whole life of the believer.
Why should a word have such power? The answer lies in where life and death each come from.
So He says, "If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death," for He was leading them up to God. This word was the power of life to men. If kept, it was eternal life. The power of death was in the lie and in the power of Satan. But life was in Jesus. If we die, we simply lose death in dying.
The wording is emphatic, and one writer draws out how far it reaches.
John 8:51 has it, "If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death." The exact force of the words is, "he shall not, no, he shall not see death for ever." Such is the power of the word of Christ when it is received, retained, and observed. It conveys to the receiver, and produces in him, its own object, with a force that even eternity does not lessen. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life," says the Lord.
Believers still die. So what does this promise mean? It turns on the verb Jesus used.
The Lord can say, "If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death" (John 8:51). The Lord does not say that he will not pass through it, but that he will not see it. Those standing around the deathbed of a dying believer may see death. But the one stepping down into the dark valley sees JESUS.
So the promise covers two freedoms at once:
Not only would such a person be delivered from the bondage of sin, but also from death, the wages of sin.
This promise also forced a question about the Speaker.
This put Jesus above Abraham and all the prophets. Who, then, was Jesus? For all their claims, the Jews were in great difficulty. They felt the force of His words. That can happen even where the will is not changed at all. But they tried to justify themselves in their own eyes by reading His words through human reasoning.
Their objection was that Abraham died. Their problem was pride, not lack of information. One writer notes what an honest listener would have done instead.
Any honest, serious person would have realised that the Lord's words had a deeper meaning than appeared on the surface. Such a person would have wanted to ask about it. But the Jews, in stubborn pride, say even more firmly that He has a demon. As proof they point to the death of Abraham and the prophets. They did not consider what the Lord had told the Pharisees. God is the God of Abraham, and He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:31-32).
One writer traces their confusion to which death was in view.
The Lord spoke, we believe, of the second death. The Jews only thought of the death of the body. That is why they did not understand Him.
- Word kept — treasure His word in the heart until it shapes thought and conduct. Obedience flows out of that; it does not replace it.
- Word as life — the word kept is itself the power of life; death draws its power from the lie and from Satan.
- Word forever — not, no, not see death, ever. Even eternity does not weaken what that word does.
- Word and dying — Jesus does not say the believer skips death, only that he never sees it. The onlookers see death; the believer sees Jesus.
- Word and the Speaker — this promise lifts Him above Abraham and the prophets. So their question turned from His word to His Person.
The Jews therefore said to him, Now we know that thou hast a demon. Abraham has died, and the prophets, and thou sayest, If any one keep my word, he shall never taste death.
The Jews answer with a verdict, not a question. They take the Lord's promise about keeping His word as proof that He is out of His mind, and they point to the graves of Abraham and the prophets as their evidence.
Their reasoning is simple and, on its own terms, airtight.
The unbelief of the Jews at once seizes on the Lord's words as conclusive evidence to them that He had a demon. They argue: if a man who keeps the words of Christ never sees death, how is it that Abraham and the prophets are dead? Does the Lord claim to be greater than Abraham? Whom does He make Himself to be?
Notice the words they open with — they now know.
Unbelief reasons from its own thoughts, and it is never so confident as when it is completely wrong. So the Jews misread the faithful sayings of the Lord Jesus. They seize on them in triumph as proof that Abraham and the prophets could not belong to His school, for those men, beyond dispute, were already dead. He must have a demon, then, to speak like this.
An honest hearer had another option:
Any honest, serious person would have realized that the Lord's words had a deeper meaning than appeared on the surface. Such a person would have wanted to ask about it. But the Jews, in stubborn pride, insist all the more strongly that He has a demon. As proof they bring forward the death of Abraham and the prophets. They did not consider what the Lord had told the Pharisees: God is the God of Abraham, and He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:31-32).
They could count funerals; that was the whole of their knowledge of death.
They meet it only with a shout of scorn. They know of no removal of death except one. Their conscience is never stirred, so they do not even know its sting — what makes death death.
The Lord and the Jews were not speaking about the same death.
The Lord was speaking, we believe, of the second death. The Jews thought only of the death of the body. That is why they did not understand Him.
The Lord had not offered an escape from the grave. He had offered Himself, in His word, as life.
Here He says, "If anyone keeps my word," for He was leading them up to God, "he will never see death." This word was the power of life to men. If kept, it was eternal life. The power of death was in the lie and in the power of Satan. But life was in Jesus. If we die, we simply lose death in dying... They saw only the outside of the Word, and the Man, and so the word was madness to them.
The Jews' objection is one any reader can feel: God's people are buried like everyone else.
The wages of sin is not simply the separation of soul and body. Death carries a "sting" and a "terror" that know no rest or comfort. The believer is so completely delivered from these things that he can say, "O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is "sin," and the precious blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, has removed it. The terror is gone too, because he knows that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So the New Testament does not call the believer's death "death" at all, but falling asleep in Jesus. This is why the blessed Lord said, "if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death" — "he will never taste death."
Why did He keep speaking to people who would not hear?
To think of Him, the Holy One of God, being assailed like this! Had He crushed them at once by His almighty power, who could have charged Him with injustice? But He showed He was the Son of God by His patience and long-suffering with the Jews... To reach the consciences of the people seemed hopeless. But this discussion was taking place in the Temple court. Others there had not yet firmly rejected Christ, and they might still be won.
- Charge. "Now we know" is unbelief at its most sure of itself — never more confident than when it is wrong.
- Blindness. They took His words from the outside only, so they sounded like madness. An honest hearer would have asked what He meant.
- Word. His promise was not escape from the grave. It was eternal life for anyone who keeps His word, because life was in Jesus.
- Death. They thought only of the death of the body, while He spoke of the second death. The blood of Christ removes death's sting, which is sin, so the New Testament calls the believer's dying falling asleep.
- Patience. "Whom does He make Himself to be?" they demanded. He answered not by crushing them but by patience, speaking on for anyone who might still be won.