John 7:25-36 What do you know?
When Jesus accused the Jews of harboring murder in their hearts the crowd denied the accusation. But, now we see that some people of Jerusalem, people who lived there all the time and were more aware of the plots of the Sanhedrin, knew that they were trying to kill him. These people were confounded by the fact that Jesus was teaching openly and no one could stop him. They thought that this was the doings of the rulers, maybe because some of them believed in Jesus. They were ok with the plan to kill Jesus but even if some of rulers believed they were sure that Jesus could not be Messiah. They reasoned that no one would know where Messiah came from, which was true enough in the sense that Jesus came from Heaven and they didn’t know that, but they thought they knew where Jesus came from and this was their reason for rejection. Unbelief is always in search of a reason to justify itself. Their mistake, assuming that they knew Jesus and could safely deny his deity, has echoed through the millennia to today where people think they know about Jesus and don’t need to acknowledge him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus’ response points out that there are different kinds of ‘knowing’. Yes, they knew his name and they knew that he had grown up in Nazareth but they didn’t know him. Knowing facts about a person is a far cry from knowing them. Jesus again claims to be God sent from God. The proof that the Jews understood it that way is that they tried to seize him. The proof that Jesus spoke the truth is that they couldn’t seize him. The Jews knew about God but they didn’t, they couldn’t because of their sins, know God.
There were believers in the crowd who came to belief based on the miracles Jesus did. Belief, in contrast to unbelief, starts with honest observation, they saw the miracles, and responded with faith. It is faith that rests on facts while unbelief is a stone falling in a vacuum, bouncing from one unreasonable reason to the next without ever finding a foundation to rest upon. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11.
The Jews has been unsuccessful in their attempt to seize him so they send guards to do their dirty work. Evil is never satisfied in the corruption of a soul but it must spread and entangle as many as possible. As the guards close in Jesus drops another bomb on the crowd. I’m going home (Heaven) and you will never come there. The Jews pretend they don’t understand by clinging to their paradigm that they are right and that makes anyone who opposes them wrong. They would never stoop so low as to leave Judea and go out into the world and so by pretending that that was what Jesus said they could feign superiority. They knew perfectly well that Jesus had just said, I am God and you are not going to heaven. Does that sound harsh? They were looking for a way to kill him and Jesus knew that they would succeed a few months later. Unbelievers must often pretend to misunderstand the gospel in order to persist in defiance of grace. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. They become like Pharaoh who hardened his heart against God over and over until he was compelled to reject God’s messages even though it ruined his country, decimated his people and destroyed his army. Without the intervention of grace we all pursue destruction.
Psalm 14:2-3
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Ecclesiastes 7:29
This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.
Read Romans 3:21-26
brotherpayne 