John 7:32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. So the Pharisees and the priests (the supposedly good and holy religious rulers) dispatch officers to take Jesus. They couldnt afford to let this thing get out of hand! Isnt religion a wonderful cloak to hide evil people and their deeds? 33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. This threw the flesh-minded so-called religious scholars into a frenzy. 35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? One thing you will notice about this verse is the common knowledge that the tribes of Israel had been scattered abroad. It would be to these 12 scattered tribes that James would write his letter. James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. Most of our people today do not know where those 12 tribes are. But their whereabouts is really easy to document, so if you dont know and would like some help, get a copy of the little booklet written by E. Raymond Capt, The Abrahamic Covenant at artisanpublishers. You will find that the Israelite tribes migrated into Western/Central Europe, and eventually other Christian nations today. John 7:36 What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come? They are clueless. 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. This would be on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. But you first have to be thirsty and then you must go to Him to drink of the living water! Do you remember Jesus said the very same thing to the woman from Samaria at Jacobs Well in chapter 4? John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And once again, the qualification is given in verse 38. You must believe on Him! And IF you do, you WILL BE both hungry for the bread and thirsty for the water that comes only from the Word of God. Do you really understand what that means? The bread and water are ALWAYS tied to BELIEVING ON HIM! And weve already witnessed the miracle seekers who followed Christ and were hungry for bread, but it was not the bread from above. They were looking for signs and a religious experience. The bottom line is this: You may go to church once or twice a week, but if you do not study the Word of God, then you are not hungry for the bread and you are not thirsty for the water that comes from Him! Therefore, you do not believe! Jesus said that If any man (no gender implied) thirst, let him come unto Him, and DRINK. He then said: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) One must first drink the water in order to get it into his belly. That is exactly what Christ is saying. IF you believe on Him, youll be thirsty and want to drink that water which comes from Him, and so you will, IF YOU BELIEVE. But if you go to the Word of God, which contains the living water, and instead of drinking from Him, you just carry the Bible to and from church and maybe take a couple of teeny tiny sips on Sunday morning, youll never get a belly full of water, the Holy Spirit of God, will you? You should now truly know the in-depth meaning of the most quoted verse in all of Christianity, John 3:16, and what it means to Believe on Him. You should now see that its not those who say they believe in Jesus, it is those who do, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, those who eat the daily bread and drink the living water! John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father and therefore the comforter was not yet sent. Again, notice who it is that receives the Holy Spirit. It those that believe on Him. John 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. The Prophet they are referring to is the One who was prophesied to come in Deuteronomy 18:18, i.e. Jesus Christ. Deut. 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Of course not everyone agreed. John 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Will the Messiah come out of the low rent district? 42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? Yet it does, so why doesnt someone go ask Jesus where He was born instead of assuming He is from Galilee? It is the most amazing thing when you talk to a Biblically uneducated Christian, one who doesnt eat the bread and drink the living water, and tell them what the scriptures say regarding a matter. They usually will say something like, Im going to ask my preacher about that. And if you then say, Why dont you go ask Jesus?, they will look at you like youre nuts. They dont understand how that is possible since they dont think He is here to go ask.They obviously think that the Written Word of God and the Living Word of God are two different things! Do you? The word Beth-lehem means house-of-bread. It was to this location that the Bread came down from heaven. (John 6:33, 58) 43 So there was a division among the people because of him. Well now theres a surprise! People being divided over Jesus. What shall we call it, denominationalism? 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. They were simply awe-struck by Jesus Christ, both by His boldness and His powerful teaching. Not to mention He was no 100 lb weakling in whose face they could kick sand. Neither did they mess with Him when He went into the temple and overthrew the moneychangers tables. Jesus had to be a very strong physically fit individual to have survived the Roman scourging He received just prior to His crucifixion. Most men didnt make it. They died! 45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? Boy, some things never change! Good help is just plain hard to get! 46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. You should have heard this man! His teaching was incredible! 47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Dont tell us you guys believe him, too? 48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? Actually, yes, some of the rulers and Pharisees did! There was Nicodemus who was a ruler and a Pharisee? (John 3:1) And then there was Joseph of Arimathaea, Jesus uncle. 49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. You know just from the character of these religious hypocrites who harbor murder in their hearts that this is an arrogant and condescending remark about the people. Welcome to the world of the kenites! But there is one among them who actually possesses some wisdom, who personally spent some time with Jesus, and he now speaks up: 50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) 51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? Well, I guess we know whose side Nicodemus is on. Notice the brilliant reference to the point of law. He was a very sharp individual, and it would be this man, Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathaea, who would defend Jesus at the illegal midnight trial before the council of 70 and win His acquittal by a majority vote. This would throw Caiaphas, the high priest, into a rage and he would then seek to have Christ tried in a Roman court. So the chief priest and the Pharisees completely ignored the point of law made by Nicodemus and changed the subject. 52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. OK, lets search and look. Lets see, there was Jonah, he was a prophet and he was from Galilee (II Kings 14:25), and Hosea was from Galilee, and probably Elijah, Elisha and Amos. What then can we say about the scholarship of the chief priests and the Pharisees? Not much! They should have known this just as they should have known many other things. They were always asking Christ questions they should have known the answers to. That is why Jesus usually prefaced His answers to them with, Have you not read?, or It is written. 53 And every man went unto his own house. John 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. So after Nicodemus brilliant introduction of wisdom into the conversation they broke up their meeting and went home, while Jesus went off to the Mount of Olives.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 03:45:52 +0000
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