As he spake these things, many believed on him.
Christ spoke and many believed, not by their own power, but by His omnipotent grace. He planted, watered, and gave the increase. Immediately He waters these new plants with counsel: abide in My word, and you shall know the truth that makes you free from blindness, hardness, and rebellion.
AI summary
He had piped grace to them; they would not dance. Now He mourns in wrath, to see if they will lament. Four terrors fall on the stubborn: His departure, their enmity to the true Messiah, their fruitless seeking, and their inability to follow Him. Worse than war or plague, these spiritual judgments destroy the soul itself. Ichabod, the glory departs when Christ goes.
AI summary
Commenting on John 8:21-30
They answered him,.... Not the believing Jews, whom he peculiarly addressed, but the unbelieving Jews, who were present, and heard these things: we be Abraham's seed; this the Jews always valued themselves upon, and reckoned themselves, on this account, upon a level with the nobles and the princes of the earth. "Says R.