Whoever keeps my word will never see death. Perhaps it was not such a good idea for Jesus to engage the Jews on some of the topics such as him being the light of the world, the bread of life, or him having existed before Abraham did. For even as Jesus continued to engage them on these topics, they continued to misunderstand him and even label him crazy. The Jews were bound to misunderstand Jesus because they were stuck in their “worldly’ thinking and stubbornness (cf. John 8:23-24). They were having a problem understanding the message of Jesus because they were yet to open themselves to who he was. Jesus had reminded them that it is this stubbornness of theirs that will lead to their death and utter destruction. For it was due to their stubbornness that they turned their backs on the commands of God. It was because of their stubbornness that they got to replace the commandment of God with human traditions (cf. Mark 7:8). It was because of their stubbornness that they continued to stray from God. And anyone who strays from, and separates the self from God, is dead.
Jesus has come to show us the way back to God so that we might live again. He does this by teaching us how to live the commandments of God. For it is by living the commandments of God that we grow closer to God and can rightly claim knowledge of God. The Jews that Jesus was addressing claimed knowledge of God but their actions showed a people whose hearts were far from God. Keeping the word of Jesus means staying close to God for one who keeps the word of Jesus lives in God and God in him/her (cf. I John 4:16).