#10 – Knowing God Better – John 7
I hope you’re enjoying these! Today I’d like to start by reminding you of a few points made earlier.
- Jesus came from God (Son of God), sent by the Father.
- The Old Testament contains prophecies about Jesus.
These points are going to come up again in John 7, in a very cool way.
In John 7, Jesus is at a large religious feast. Again, the people are questioning his identity. They’re trying to figure out if he is the Christ, the Messiah. You can read this in verses 1-36.
We’re going to skip those and start at verse 37.
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'”
40 When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”
41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”
43 So the crowd was divided about him. 44 Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
[The Pharisees replied] Search the Scriptures and see for yourself–no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”
Jesus, in fact, did grow up in Galilee. But he was BORN in Bethlehem!
Here’s what happened.
Just before Jesus was born, a tax law required Mary (and Joseph who was engaged to Mary) to go to their ancestor’s place of birth to be registered for the tax. That required them to travel to “the city of David” which is Bethlehem, which is where Jesus was born. (You can find this in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels.)
Also, the Gospels show that Jesus was of the royal line of David.
Do you know people who spend a lot of time arguing over the Bible, and miss the main point?
What did Jesus talk about, regarding where he came from? Did he talk about Galilee, or Bethlehem? No.
Q – One way to study the Bible is to notice when something is repeated many times. What does Jesus say repeatedly? (see below)
A –
John 5:23: Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.
John 5:24: …those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life.
John 5:30: I carry out the will of the one who sent me
John 5:36: The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.
John 5:38: you do not believe me–the one he sent to you.
John 6:44: For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me
John 6:46: only I, who was sent from God, have seen him
John 7:28: The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him John 7:29: I come from him, and he sent me to you
John 7:33: I will return to the one who sent me.
I think you get the point.
Here’s a statement from Jesus that I’ll leave you with today. It’s after Jesus’ resurrection. He is talking to his disciples.
John 20:21: As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.
Wow. Huh? Jesus has a mission for us – to tell others about him.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Adamson
director of EveryStudent.com
and StartingwithGod.com