John 8

Tweet .
John 8:14 -

Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going."

Ok, I'm going to take this in pieces and then we'll put them together at the end...
One of the most perilous Christian ministries (in my opinion) is the proclamation of the Word. Meekness, helping, bearing, holding your tongue, and listening are all crucial to the Christian's life; however, proclamation seems the most perilous because the speaker needs to be actively engaged in almost all of the disciplines to speak the Word. If you can't listen faithfully to a brother, how can he listen to you? If you don't have meekness like Christ, how will your brother respect you? If you're not helpful, how will a brother know your word is sincere? Speaking Truth is a perilous task! James 3:1 even says, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness."

The reason Christ claims his witness ("testimony," the truth he spoke) was valid is because he knew himself completely. Now don't you dare check out at this point and think this is a self-help message about knowing yourself. God have grace on my blogging soul if you do. But hang onto the fact that Jesus says, what I say is true because I know who I am.

What is the significance of Christ knowing who he was ("where I came from and where I am going")? John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh here to dwell among us. "... and the Word was God." So when Christ says that he knows who he is, he is saying he knows the Word and he knows God, "the Father."

Finally, putting the pieces together... Jesus says his testimony is true because he knows himself - the Word from God. Therefore, how can we know that we are speaking truth and even more that we are living in truth? Know the Word. Scripture doesn't just tell us over and over again of the importance of this spiritual discipline (1 Timothy 4:15, Matthew 4:4, 22:29, Acts 17:11, Hebrews 4:12), scripture also tells us that even our Savior leaned on it for his authority to speak!