toll you that then ye shall most surely know that I am, by reason of the miracle of my resurrection, and the destruction of Jerusa- lem. When ye have been driven away from your place of wor- ship, and it is not even allowed you to serve God as hitherto, then ye shall know that He doth this to avenge Me, and because He is wroth with those who would not hear Me."
Augustine takes the other side, and says: "Without doubt Jesus saw there some whom He knew, whom in His foreknowl- edge lie had elected together with His other saints before the foundation of the world, that after His passion they should believe."
Euthymius, agreeing with Chrysostom, remarks how the crowds that saw our Lord crucified, and returned home smiting their breasts, — the centurion who superintended His crucifix- ion,— the chief priests who tried in vain to stifle the report of His resurrection, — and Josephus the historian, who attributed the misfortunes of the nation to their murder of Christ, — were all witnesses to the truth of this verse. When too late they knew who our Lord was.
Alford thinks that the words admit of a double fulfilment, and that the Jews were to " know " that Jesus was the Christ, in two different ways. Some would know by being converted, some by being punished and judged.
The expression " lifted up," both here and elsewhere in St. John's Gospel, can mean nothing but our Lord's crucifixion and lifting up on the cross. (John iii. 14, and xii. 32.) It is never used in any other sense, and the modern habit of talking of Christ as " lifted up," when magnified and exalted in the pulpit, is a total misapprehension, and a play upon words.
Bollock and others think that the phrase "lifted up" may fairly include all the consequences and effects of our Lord's crucifixion, such as His second advent to judge the world, and that this will be the time when the unbelieving will at last know and be convinced that Christ is Lord of all. But the idea seems far-fetched.
The expression " then ye shall know" may possibly refer both to our Lord's resurrection as well as his crucifixion. Certainly the rising again from the dead silenced our Lord's enemies in a way that nothing else ever did.
The expression "that I am he," here as elsewhere, might be equally well rendered " that I am ; " that I am the great " I AM," the Messiah.
The phrase " that I do nothing of myself" is the same that we have had frequently before, as in John v. 19, 30. It means "that I do nothing of My own independent authority." The reference is to the perfect union between the Son and the Father.