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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict, Jesus Urged to Go to the Feast of Tabernacles, Part VII, John 7:24-29 - Lesson 54
Last time we met we discussed the judgment of Jesus that the Jews had displayed regarding the healing of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda.
At the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus boldly declares the they are not judging him righteously.
They are unrighteous in their judgment.
They judge him based upon a false and distorted understanding of the Law.
A blind and distorted view of the scriptures.
He tells them in John 7:24, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
So Jesus instructs the Jews who were so like robots or clones when it came to thinking for themselves apart from the system that they were enslaved in.
He tells them that God expects them to use the brains that they were given and don't just follow their crowd when it comes to judgment.
He exhorts them to be fair and to take into account all the circumstances, to weigh all that God's word revealed about the sabbath.
The scripture that says, "In it thou shalt not do any work", was not to be taken absolutely: other scriptures plainly modified it.
The priests plainly performed duties on the sabbath and the instructions regarding the circumcision of a boy on a particular day that the law required it, were cases in point.
But the Jews had judged by appearance.
How did this look?
What would people think if we allowed this to be done?
This is a threat to our control and power over the people.
They had not considered the incident of the healing of the crippled man on its merits and in full consideration of what the scripture said about the sabbath.
Hence their judgment was unrighteous, it was unfair and false.
We are not to judge by how it makes us look or how it makes the ministry look or by what people will think of us by judging in a particular way.
If we do, then we do not righteous judgment!
John 7:25,26, Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Some in the crowd are confused.
They have heard of the conspiracy to kill Jesus.
Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? they ask.
But here he is preaching in the temple.
He continues to speak boldly and nothing is said to him by the rulers.
Do they know something we don't know, they ask?
Have the rulers concluded that he is the Christ?
Perhaps since his last visit to Jerusalem the authorities have received new evidence proving that this man is the Messiah.
How else could his bold preaching be explained?
Here he was preaching on the doorstep of the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious power in Israel.
They were not interested enough to find out for themselves whether Jesus was the Messiah.
They sought shelter behind the rulers.
What do the rulers think?
We will think the same.
In verses 3-5 his brethren are exposed as unbelievers, in verse 15 the Judean leaders display their carnal nature, then in verse 20 the people show their hearts and now in this passage the inhabitants of Jerusalem show us that their hearts deceived them.
The common people were no better off than the rulers.
Human nature has no bounds.
It is the same from one class to another class.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There is none righteous, no not even one.
The only thing that makes one differ from another is the grace of God that is found in Jesus Christ.
But their were many there that were not looking for grace.
These immediately dash any thought that Jesus was the Christ by stating in:
John 7:27, Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
They said, the rulers may be confused but we know that he cannot be the Christ because we know his background; we know where he comes from.
He is merely a man from Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
They judge by appearance.
They take not the time to judge righteous judgment.
They say they know that this man was born with a Father, but the Messiah will be born of a virgin as Isaiah 7:14 declares.
He will be from Bethlehem and this man is from Nazareth.
The Rabbis had taught that the Messiah would appear suddenly after being hidden, not applying to Jesus who had been hidden in Nazareth for 30 years and now has suddenly appeared on the scene. These were Jews who claimed to know the Bible.
They may of known their Old Testament but they did not know the Christ when he stood before them.
They used the scripture to back up their own unbelief.
Jesus said, Seek and ye shall find.
God does not encourage lazy sons and daughters.
Jesus Christ is truth, but God expects us to search.
He does not drop his truth into our heads.
He expects us to seek.
These Jews were lazy.
They looked at the surface information and did not arrive at truth about Jesus Christ.
Their conclusions were faulty.
How wrong we can be when our pride blinds us.
They said they knew, but they knew nothing.
John 7:28,29, Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
Jesus speaks ironically here.
Let me Paraphrase this passage:
Jesus cried loudly in the temple so all would hear. He lifted up his voice.
You know me and you know where I come from?
You may think you do but in fact you do not know.
I did not come on my own initiative, I was sent by God.
I have come from him who is altogether true, the very source of truth; and when I speak the words which he has given me to speak, I speak the truth.
But you do not know him, and therefore you do not really know where I come from.
He speaks in the temple.
The place in Israel where God had made himself known over the centuries.
This situation reminds me of a passage in Proverbs concerning wisdom.
Here again is an example of Proverbs lived out in the life of Christ.
This is what is happening in Jerusalem:
Prov 1:20-33, Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words,saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
He knows that they boast of knowledge about him but he knows they know nothing.
Truth is revealed and truth was talking here and he knew he had not revealed truth to them.
They did not know where he came from, because they did not know by whom he was sent.
They did not know the Father because they did not know Jesus Christ. |