The Chilldren Of The Devil (J34)

The exchange between Jews who first believed
And Jesus at the temple grew hotter;
The more truth He spoke, the less they received;
Now they bickered o’er who was their father!
“God Himself is our Father,” they declared;
“Your father is Satan,” Jesus replied;
“If he were God, more for me you would’ve cared;
From the beginning, the devil has lied!
He speaks his native language when he lies;
I tell you truth, but you don’t believe me;
If God were your Father, you’d be more wise;
You’d hear what I say—the sender was He!”
They did not truly believe He was sent;
They should have heard each word He did present!

Scripture Quoted: John 8:42-44 (NIV)
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I come from God and now am here. I have not come on my own, but He sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer [here Jesus means it is Satan that plans to kill Him, with their help] from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’ “ [Brackets added]

Commentary on: John 8:42-47 (NIV)
It appears strange that Jesus would antagonize these Jews who had indicated belief in Him, but He was keeping fixed firmly to His mission, which meant His human life would be taken by the Jewish nation in a few months. These Jews were not sincere believers in Him, because they grumbled about His statement that they were slaves to sin. Like the five thousand that came after Him for the selfish human desire of more free food, these particular Jews could not discern spiritual truth, such as they had been in slavery to sin, and still were. The same thing would hold true today; if ten persons “cme down the aisle” in response to an invitation to believe, most of them would not mourn their sinful past, or repent, because of their human pride. These Jews did not accept the spiritual language He taught them with, as, ”You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free!” Instead, they proudly proclaimed they were not anyone’s slave. A sincere belief in Jesus as Lord requires humility, not pride. Sincere belief would have kept the five thousand and these in Jerusalem from supporting their Pharisees in their wish to kill Jesus, also. The Savior knew these Jews were not ready to be His disciples by their failure to understand what He was trying to teach.

Notice also that the real culprit behind the Jews was Satan, the traitor-angel that was in open rebellion to God. He fights God by filling his human followers with lies. He was in the form of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and he lied to Eve, saying, “You will not surely die if you eat the forbidden fruit” (See Genesis 3:4). They surely did die, and so do we, as punishment for Adam's eating the wrong fruit. Now, though, Satan was whispering into the ears of the Jewish leaders that no prophet comes from Galilee! This was another of his lies, meant to stymie the Savior’s mission of atoning for the sins of men. Jesus did die, but He arose the third day, achieving His purpose and defeating Satan and his helpers.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)