Can this be the Christ?
Can This be the Christ?
Prayer This weeks scripture is John 7:25-53 (2253)
In last weeks study Jesus and His brothers had gone to the yearly event of the "Feast of Booths" in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus had intentionally arrived late and had gone immediately to the temple and began to teach. His brothers had wondered if He was indeed the Messiah, The people were confused, and the authorities were scheming to have Him killed.
Scripture (John 7:25-52) Continuation from last week with Jesus still in the temple teaching and the people continue to be confused about the true identity of Jesus, and if He is actually the Messiah, while the Jewish authorities continue to try to find a way to put Him to death.
The following discussion about the identity of Jesus as the Messiah arose from the comments in last week's study.
VERSES 25-27: - "Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from." Here is something interesting I found concerning why Jesus may have decided to be late. Some bible scholars have pointed out that there was a tradition, that the Messiah would be hidden for a time before he would appear, and thus no one would know where he was from. Some of the people were still trying to decide exactly who Jesus was. They were confused and wondering why, if indeed Jesus was a deceiver, the authorities hadn't arrested Him. Did they actually know that Jesus was the Christ?
On the other hand they said "we know where this man comes from," and, according to the Jewish teaching, no one would know where the true Messiah would come from.
VERSES 28: - "So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know."
Jesus might have said, sure, you know what town I'm from, but it is obvious that God is the one who sent me, but you apparently don't know Him either. The expression used here, "sent" means that Jesus was a commissioned agent, and authorized representative of the Father.
VERSE 29: - "I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me." God sent Jesus, but the people had failed to understand His mission and perhaps what was most important was that He had been sent by God' that He was the Messiah who prophesied by many prophets over hundreds of years; He was "God the Son" on a mission from heaven, and had come to save the world.
And in fact verse 30-31 say: VERSE 30-31: - "So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"
They were actively trying to find Him so they could place Him under arrest, and John simply says it didn't happen because His hour had not yet come," it wasn't in God's timing. Even though it looked bleak for Jesus and that things would not work out as planned, the events proved that God was in complete control. Regarding verse 31, speaking of the Messiah they said: "will he do more signs than this man has done." According to most Jewish traditions, the Messiah would not be known as a miracle worker, and would only do the works of a new "Moses" which would validate his prophet claim to lead the people. If you remember, the people on the shores of Galilee, when He fed the five thousand, had recognized him as being this prophet.
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus VERSE 32: - "The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him." This verse infers that an informal meeting of the Sanhedrin had been held and a warrant issued for His arrest, because here the chief priests and Pharisees had sent officers to arrest Jesus. As a matter of interest: In Jesus day the Pharisees had no authority to arrest anyone, but the chief priests did. History shows that decades later, after 70 A.D., the main Palestinian opposition to the Christians came from the Pharisees.
VERSE 33: - "Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. It's quite clear that in this verse Jesus was looking beyond His crucifixion to the time when His divine mission would be complete and He would return to His home in Heaven. Wonder what He was feeling and thinking? Was he thinking it won't be long, and "I can't wait to get back home," or "there's not much time left and looks like you guys are going to miss out?" Knowing what we know of Jesus, it was probably the latter wasn't it. And in saying "I will be with you a little longer" He was again telling them their time was running short. And He goes on in verse 34 to say:
VERSE 34: - "You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come."
Their time with Him was running out, He would soon be gone. "Where I am you cannot come" was still another attempt to help them understand who He was. (He would soon be home in Heaven)
So verse 35 speaking of the authorities says: VERSE 35: - "The Jews said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?"
Here again the people were unable or unwilling to understand. The dispersion mentioned is where some of the Jews were scattered, dispersed, or mixed among the Greeks. They actually suspect that He might use these foreign Jews, as they called them, as a base of operation to reach the Gentiles. What is so unusual and ironic is that we can see in the book of "Acts", that this did happen to some degree.
VERSE 36: - "What does he mean by saying, You will seek me and you will not find me, and, Where I am you cannot come?"
Just more of the same, still not realizing that Jesus was God and that He was saying that soon He would no longer be with them, because Hew would be gone back to Heaven,
Rivers of Living Water VERSES 37-38: - "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
For the first seven days of the feast , priest would march in processions carrying water from the Pool of Siloam to the temple and pour our water at the base of the altar. The last day of the feast included a water ritual which was connected to the need for rain during the following year. But as was so often the case, Jesus was using the idea of thirst in a spiritual sense. Water usually symbolized Torah, law, or wisdom in Jewish texts, but John followed the Old Testament in using it for the Spirit, as in Is 44:3; written almost 700 years earlier: "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
If you remember, this is was very similar to what Jesus told the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4:14, "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." And in verse 38, by His' saying "whoever believes in me" makes it clear that this spiritual water is available only to believers. Jesus was using water metaphorically with the spirit which is available to all who believe.
VERSE 39: - "Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." He was definitely speaking of the future, after the crucifixion, to the time described by John as "glorification," a time when he would be raised to honor.
In the following verses His explanation only seems to bring about further discussion concerning His identity.
Division Among the People VERSES 40: - "When they heard these words, some of the people said, This really is the Prophet." The "Prophet" is the prophet like Moses (John 6:14-15) VERSE 41: - "Others said, "This is the Christ. But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? At this point in this study isn't encouraging to know that at least some believed "this is the Christ" VERSE 42: - "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"
The people knew the prophets had said that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David, as well as the city of David, Bethlehem. Evidently they were not aware that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. In Luke 12:10-11, "And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"
VERSE 43-44: - "So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. So, here for the third time in this chapter the desire to arrest Jesus, all ending in failure.
VERSE 45-46: - "The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him?" 46The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" These officers had clearly failed to carry out their orders, which was a serious offense within itself. But, there are two views here: One View is That: To begin with the officers here were more than like "Temple Guards;" which would meant they were trained Levities, and knowing the word would have recognized the truth in Jesus' teaching. In that era listening to public speakers was a form of entertainment as well as of learning. Powerful and wise speech was highly regarded and there is no doubt here, that what Jesus said had impressed these guards.
It was common practice in Jesus' time for the teachers to come to the temple to speak,or teach. Being constantly in or near the temple these guards would have heard many teachers, including the most powerful scholars in the land, and, speaking of Jesus, they said "no one" had ever spoke like this man. The Other View: There was a fear among the Jewish leaders and authorities that the people who believed in Jesus might rebel, which might cause the Romans to put down the uprising, and possibly even more important to the authorities, was that they would then deal with them, and possibly causing them to lose their positions. So it is difficult to know if their decision not to arrest Jesus was out of fear that His arrest might provoke an uprising among the people, of if it was His teaching itself which created so deep an impression on the guards.
VERSES 47-48: - "The Pharisees answered them, Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? Seems the Pharisee were thoughtless, arrogant, and even rude to everyone, and were accustomed to having the last word in the law, even with the temple guards.
And in verse 49 the Pharisees say: VERSE 49: - "But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."
Still more arrogance. We are told that the trained rabbis in that time often looked down on the people of the land. They believed, and reasonably so, that one could not live the law without knowing it, and they didn't think the people of the land knew it. But, remember, these officers were trained Levites.
VERSE 50-51: - "Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51"Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" Here is our old friend Nicodemus. If you remember, earlier in our studies, in the Third Chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus spent what must have been a good part of one night teaching Nicodemus how that it was possible to be born again. And here he is attempting to stick up for Jesus, pointing out their inconsistencies and telling them that their approach to the law, and their attitude was out of step with the true intent and spirit of the law; which was very similar to what Jesus had told them.
And in verse 52 speaking to Nicodemus:
VERSE 52: - "They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee"
Here they have turned against Nicodemus and said, are you from the wrong side of town too, are you also from Galilee? Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem He did grow up, and live His adult life in Galilee. This is said to be more of a regional preference to the Pharisees than knowledge of the scriptures; because it has been established by later rabbis that prophets had actually arose from every tribe in Galilee.
VERSE 53: - "They went each to his own house," So the feast is over and they all go home, but we know that Jesus isn't through trying.
Something, maybe that we need to mention, but not be concerned about, but just so you will know is that
Some claim that Verse 53 through Chapter 8: verse 11, the account of "the Woman Taken in Adultery," was not included in the earlier manuscripts. Some scholars think it should not be considered a part of the Gospel of John. But it is included in the ESV, KJV, the NKJV,ASV, NIV, and so far as I know, all the rest include it. So it's in the bible and it fits right in with all of Jesus' other teachings, and I think we should disregard the opinion of the few and go with what we have.
For Next week we can read: John 8:1-30, what do you think?
The Woman in Adultery, Jesus again defends His message, and again predicts, or prophesy's His departure.
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