Previously,
Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, Sadducees and chief priests, but now He is
talking to the crowd (people). The crowd
was made up of believing Jews and gentile converts who had traveled to
Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles combined with the Jewish
believers who lived in Israel.
At that point some of the people of
Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here He is
speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to Him. Have the authorities
really concluded that He is the Christ?” John 7:25-26 The crowd obviously knew of the
religious leaders hatred toward Jesus and their desire to kill Him. Now Jesus
is standing right in front of these religious leaders and they are not saying a
word! This confuses the crowd of Jewish believers. They think that perhaps the “authorities”
have concluded that Jesus is the Christ. What further confuses the crowd is
that they knew that Jesus came from Nazareth. The Jews thought that God’s
Messenger would come suddenly and unexpectedly and no one would know where He
is from. Malachi 3:1: “See I will send
My messenger who will prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire,
will come,” says the Lord Almighty. Jesus, God’s Messenger and carrier of the New Covenant,
is standing in the court of the Temple just as God had said through the prophet
Malachi.
The crowd
continues, “but we know where this man
is from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from.” John
7:27 They thought they knew Jesus because they knew his physical home, but
Jesus tells them that they do not know Him or His spiritual home. Then Jesus, still teaching in the Temple
courts, cried out, “Yes, you know Me, and you now where I am from. I am not
here on My own, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, but I know Him
because I am from Him and He sent Me.” John 7:28-29 Jesus who is
all-knowing wants them to know His spiritual, heavenly origin. Jesus is telling
them that He is sent by God, not by His own doing. He is the Sent One of God –
the Supreme Apostle—the authorized Son of God who operates in the full power of
God. Jesus is the Eternal One who existed with God and the Holy Spirit in glory
before anything was created – the Great I Am. Jesus used “I am,” the name God
revealed about Himself to Moses. (see Exodus
3:14)
The fact that Jesus came in a flesh body did not
diminish or change His divinity. He remained divine (holy) because He was
without sin. His flesh did not make Him less than God. Jesus even in His flesh
body operated under the full power of God because He is holy. “All things have been committed to Me by My
Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the
Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” Luke
10:22 Only the Father knows the Son in fullness because they are Divine and
only the Son of God – Jesus – knows the Father wholly. Jesus is the One who reveals Truth. Jesus not only knows the heart of God, but also the hearts
of humanity and wants to reveal the ways and will of the Father to us.
When Jesus was
praying for His disciples just before He was about to be arrested, judged and
crucified, He said, “I have revealed you
to those whom you gave Me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to
Me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given
Me comes from you. For I gave them the
words you gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came
from You, and they believed that You sent Me. All I have is Yours and all You
have is mine. And glory has come to Me through them." John 17:6-10 All that belongs to the Father belongs to
the Son and vice versa. They are One. Jesus says that because they believed in Him, accepted
and obeyed His Word, they knew with certainty that He came from God and have
brought Him glory. In John 7, there was uncertainty and the
crowd didn’t know Jesus, but now the disciples Jesus is praying for truly know
Him. They have received His Word, believed it and obeyed it.
His Time Had Not Yet
Come
At this they tried to
seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His time had not yet come. V30
They were powerless
against Jesus until God’s timing. Many in the crowd put their faith in Jesus.
Some still doubted and said, When the
Christ comes, will He do more miraculous signs than this man?”
The Pharisees heard the crowd
whispering such things about Him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent
temple guards to arrest Him. Notice they specified
who sent for the temple guards who would arrest Jesus.
Jesus Speaks of His
Death, Resurrection and Ascension
Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and
then I go to the One who sent Me. You will look for Me but you will not find
Me, and where I am you cannot come.” John 7:33-34 Jesus will return to His Heavenly
Father. But first He must shed His blood and die for the sins of the whole
world. Those who heard His words started questioning His words. “Where does this man intend to go that we
cannot find Him? Will He go where our people live scattered among the Greeks,
and teach the Greeks? What did He mean when He said, “You will look for Me but
you will not find Me, and “Where I am, you cannot come?” vv33-34 They are
looking with “natural” eyes but Jesus is going to a spiritual place. The natural eye cannot see the spiritual unless Jesus and the Holy Spirit open our spiritual eyes.
(Next week: Last Day of the Feast of
Tabernacles and the Water Pouring Ceremony)
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