John 7 - Incognito Savior
Sometimes having a vague idea of what the Bible says is worse than having no idea at all.
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John 7 (ESV)
1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him,
“Leave here and go to Judea,
that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
If you do these things,
show yourself to the world.”
5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
6 Jesus said to them,
“My time
has not yet come,
but your time is always here.
7 The world cannot hate you,
but it hates me
because I testify about it that its works are evil.
8 You go up to the feast.
I am not going up to this feast,
for my time has not yet fully come.”
9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast,
then he also went up,
not publicly
but in private.
11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”
12 And there was much muttering about him among the people.
While some said, “He is a good man,”
others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”
13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying,
“How is it that
this man has learning,
when he has never studied?”
16 So Jesus answered them,
“My teaching is not mine,
but his who sent me.
17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will,
he will know whether the teaching is from God
or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
18 The
one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory;
but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true,
and in him there is no falsehood.
19 Has not Moses given you the law?
Yet none of you keeps the law.
Why do you seek to kill me?”
20 The crowd answered,
“You have a demon!
Who is seeking to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them,
“I did one work, and you all marvel at it.
22 Moses gave you circumcision
(not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers),
and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
23 If on the Sabbath
a man receives circumcision,
so that the law of Moses may not be broken,
are you angry with me because
on the Sabbath
I made a man’s whole body well?
24 Do not judge by appearances,
but judge with right judgment.”
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said,
“Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him!
Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
27 But we know
where this man comes from,
and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
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.
29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
30 So they were seeking to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand on him,
because his hour had not yet come.
31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said,
“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
32 The Pharisees
heard the crowd muttering these things about him,
and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33 Jesus then said,
“I will be with you a little longer,
and then I am going to him who sent me.
34 You will seek me and you will not find me.
Where I am you cannot come.”
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?
36 What does he mean by saying,
‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’
and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
37 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.
38 Whoever believes in me,
as the Scripture has said,
‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
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.
40 When they heard these words,
some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said,
“Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ
comes from the offspring of David,
and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 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.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them,
“Why did you not bring him?”
46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
47 The Pharisees answered them,
“Have you also been deceived?
48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 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?”
52 They replied,
“Are you from Galilee too?
Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
53 They went each to his own house,
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Previous DIG DEEPER posts on John
John 7 Summary
As you begin reading chapter seven, it's important to remember how things were going at the end of chapter six. There Jesus slowed down His miracle output in order to teach the people at a deeper level, but once He struck a nerve with them and began talking about seemingly weird things like eating His flesh and drinking His blood, people begin to leave Him in droves (6:66).
Now even Jesus' own brothers kick Him while He's down as they demonstrate their unbelief by goading Him to jump back into the fray where the establishment wants to kill Him.
After initially ignoring His brothers' unwise temptations to draw attention to Himself, Jesus ends up going to Jerusalem incognito. He resumes teaching near the temple, so the establishment sends out their brute squad to arrest Him. Yet Jesus' teaching is so compelling that these goons return empty handed because even they were swayed by what Jesus said.
John makes one of the biggest understatements ever in v43:
So there was a division among the people over him.
That division continues today. Which group do you fall into: the crowd that wanted more spectacular miracles, the establishment that wanted Jesus out of the way, or the minority who truly believe and are ready to pick up their crosses and follow Him?
Dig Deeper
People often think they know what the Bible says, but can't remember exactly. Sometimes they're right, and just don't know the exact chapter and verse, while other times they'll quote a saying like 'a penny saved is a penny earned' as if it's Biblical.
The Jews in Jerusalem had the same problem. They thought they knew what Scripture said: that no one will know where the Christ will have come from (v27), and that the Christ certainly will not come from Galilee (v41).
The problem is that Scripture doesn't say those things. In this case, the Jews missed the most important person in history standing right in front of them because they had a poor understanding of the Bible.
What blessings are you missing out on if you don't have a firm understanding of God's Word?
AAA Prayer :
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the giver of the bread of life (v32)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God grants you the ability to do His work - that is believing with your whole being in the one He sent (v29)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
