v. 21 — He said therefore unto them again, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me and shall die in y…

That we must needs take hold of the present time for whatever one may receive profit from to oneself, does Christ herein well declare unto us. For to be too late in what is good and to take after-counsel for what is profitable, clearly brings no gain but ministers wailing befitting the neglect. Our Lord therefore being good and gracious, as it is written, both bears with those who dishonour Him and aids those who insult Him and is found as God superior to all the littleness of man. Yet does He for their good threaten to depart from them, and says plainly I go My way, that He may implant in them a more resolved mind, and that they considering that they ought not to leave their Redeemer when present frustrate of His work, He may whet them to pass on to the faith and may make them now at length more ready unto obedience. And having cried out, I go My way, and threatened departure from the whole nation, He subjoined economically the damage therefrom ensuing unto them. For (He says) Ye shall die in your sins; and we shall see the nature of the thing bringing in the truth of what is said. For they who did not at all receive Him Who came to us from Heaven that He might justify all through faith, how shall they not beyond all contradiction die in their sins, and not receiving Him Who can cleanse them, how will they not have lasting defilement from their impiety? For to die unredeemed, yet laden with the weight of sin, to whom is it any doubt where this will conduct the soul of man? For deep Hades will, I deem, receive such an one, and he will continue in great darkness, yea he will inhabit fire and flames, with reason numbered among those of whom it has been said by Prophet's voice, Their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be for a sight to all flesh. Whereof that they may escape the trial, Christ kept manifoldly calling them to a speedy turning away from their wonted unbelief, saying not only that He should leave them and go away, but also of necessity putting before them how great misfortune they will thence undergo. For ye shall die (He says) in your sins. But since He put in between, And ye shall seek Me, and hitherto we do not find the Jews seeking Him, we shall reasonably go to some other meaning: for He must needs be True. For even though they now in the body and yet in full enjoyment of the pleasures of the flesh, for their exceeding senselessness seek not their Redeemer, yet when they wretched fall into hell and have their abode in the place of punishments, when they are in the ill itself, then, then will they seek even against their will. For there (He says) is weeping and gnashing of teeth, each (it is likely) of those there wailing his carelessness in what was good, and well-nigh saying what is in the Book of Proverbs, I have not obeyed the voice of him that instructed me and taught me. Therefore as Paul saith, Let us therefore fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His Rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For we must run, that we may obtain, and not by our disbelief insult Him Who draws us out of bitter bondage, but submit ourselves and with upturned hands lay hold on the grace.

CyrJn 5.21.1

and whither I go, YE cannot come.

CyrJn 5.21.2

Not only does He say that they shall die in their sins, but declares clearly that, ascending not to the mansions above, they will remain outside of the good things of the kingdom: for they who received not Him Who came from above, how could they also follow Him ascending up? Double therefore is the punishment to them who believe not, and not in any single thing their loss. For just as they who have fallen into bodily loss of health must needs suffer and endure the trials of the suffering and besides be deprived of the pleasures of health; so and not otherwise do they who have departed into Hades, and there undergo punishment proportionate to the sins, both endure the state of punishment and lose the enjoyment of the hope of the saints. Most excellently then does our Lord Jesus Christ say not only that they shall die in their sins, but also that they shall not mount up to the mansions above: for binding them as by a twofold cord, does He haste to draw them away from their inherent ill-counsel. From all sides saving that which was lost and binding up the broken and raising up that which was broken down (for these are the ways of a Good Shepherd and One Who readily gives His Life for the salvation of the sheep) does He tell His own disciples, I will go and prepare a place for you, and will come again and receive you with Myself, shewing that the very heaven will be accessible to the saints and teaching that the mansions above have been prepared for them that love Him, but to those who have chosen to disbelieve Him, rightly and needs does He say, Whither I go YE cannot come. For who at all will follow the All-holy Christ, if he love not the cleansing that is through faith? or how shall he that is yet defiled and that has not cleared off the filth from his passions be with our Lord Who loves us? What communion hath light with darkness, as Paul saith? For I deem that they ought to be holy who would say to the All-Pure God, My soul cleaveth after Thee.

CyrJn 5.21.3

I think that this meaning has now too not amiss been put on the words before us, but if one must go about and view it differently, and say yet something else besides, we will not shrink from doing this too. Whither I go, YE cannot come. Being Very God, I am absent from no one, I fill all things, and being with all, I dwell specially in Heaven, gladly having abode with holy spirits. But since I am the human-loving Framer of all things, I deemed intolerable the loss of My creation, I beheld man going away to utter destruction, I viewed him falling from sin unto death, I must needs reach forth an helping Hand to him as he lay, I must needs in every way aid him overcome and falling. How then was it meet to save that which was lost? it needed that the Physician should be with those in peril, it needed that Life should be there present with the dying, it needed that Light should have its abode with those in darkness. But it were not possible that ye being men by nature should take wing to Heaven and have your abode with the Saviour. Therefore have I Myself come to you, I heard the Saints oftentimes crying aloud, Bow Thy Heavens o Lord and come down; I bowed the Heavens therefore and have come down; for in no other way could ye look to come hither. Yet do I endure to remain with you, do ye more resolutely lay hold of life, purify yourselves through faith while He is with you Who knows to, and can, compassionate with authority. For I shall go, yea shall return again whither YE cannot come; even though ye should seek the Giver of salvation by an untimely after-counsel, ye shall not find Him: what follows ye may see. For ye shall surely die in your sins, and weighed down by your own transgressions, shall go mourning to the prison-house of death, there to pay the penalty of your lengthened unbelief. The Saviour then being good and exceeding loving to man, compels the Jews by fears of future punishment even against their will to be saved.

CyrJn 5.21.4