Divine or Heretic

Today’s passage is one of confusion. There are 6 different questions the people ask regarding Jesus and his identity. though they identify Jesus as a good teacher they do not accept his teachings that He is from God and indeed is God in the flesh instead they will think him a heretic and blasphemer. They will reject him, choosing Barabbas over Jesus, and crucifying Jesus instead. Indeed in today’s passage they seek to arrest him yet fail because it was not in God’s timing. All the while they question who exactly is Jesus. Is Jesus the Christ or is he just a blasphemer and heretic. Look with me at John 7:25-36

John 7:25–36 ESV

Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 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? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 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. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 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? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Can This Be the Christ?

John 7:25–27 ESV

Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 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? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

Notice the first question here “is this not the man whom they seek to kill?

The crowds know the Sanhedrin the council of Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus yet remember last week we saw they questioned Jesus who wants to kill you do you have a demon

They now admit that someone is trying to kill Jesus and they knew it. This shows their hearts. The problem is they have a natural bias against Jesus they don’t want to hear his truth yet they can find nothing against him or his teachings. They do not like what they hear or what they see it goes against their traditions and their preconceptions so they reject it and they reject him

Yet he is teaching incorrectly and claiming to be God and committing blasphemy then is not the Sanhedrin required to take care of him and yet here he is teaching in the temple and they do nothing even after calling for his arrest and death. Their inaction must mean they believe him, right?

But then others claim that they know where Jesus comes from and no one will know where the christ comes from. The people here knew Jesus was from Nazareth and therefore thought they knew him and this must disqualify him as the Christ

Notice that each one of these questions has nothing to do with the Scriptures or the teachings of God. They are not seeking to know what God says about this messiah rather they are writing their own doctrines about who and what the messiah will be. They are seeking to dictate the plans of God. The very sins they will seek to pin on Jesus they are here committing as they question Jesus identity.

Jesus Response

John 7:28–31 ESV

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. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

I want you to notice his response.

Jesus acknowledges they are right to a degree

You know my parents my hometown, my brothers are here among you, yet this is not my identity.

This is who Jesus is

I did not come on my own accord - he is one sent a messenger a servant one assigned a task

God is true

Isaiah 65:16 ESV

so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

Psalm 31:5 ESV

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Numbers 23:19 ESV

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

God is truth - remember the words of God spoken at Jesus baptism

You do not know him

I do know him

I come from him

He sent me

This angers many in the in crowd so they try to arrest him but fail because his time had not come - again the hand of God is upon Jesus

Those that believe ask when the christ appears will he do more signs than this man- it seems almost a sarcastic response of if there is another christ then how could he do more than this man cant you see who he really is.

Jesus announces his departure

John 7:32–36 ESV

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 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? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Jesus says I am leaving soon to return from where I came

I am going back to God in heaven to be with him

You will look for me and find me not- because you are looking in the wrong place

Where I am you cannot come - why cant they come because they reject Christ

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

You reject Jesus you reject God you reject Jesus you cannot come to heaven thus the Jews rejecting Jesus means they cannot come to heaven Because he is the way to get there.

Notice they do not understand they thing he is going to leave Jerusalem for fear of the Sanhedrin and teach his strange doctrines and blasphemous ways amongst the Gentiles. They would never find him there because they would not go and look for the Jerusalem is the city of God and they are its people thus all revelation of God must come from them right.

Throughout this passage Jesus is claiming to be from heaven sent by God and the only one with intimate knowledge of who God is. He even goes so far as proclaiming that those who did not believe him could not enter heaven a decision that is God’s alone thus Jesus is claiming the authority of God himself that he himself is God in the flesh. It is for this reason the Jews become angry and seek to arrest him because he claims to be God himself. Thus he must be a blasphemer. Yet this is not the only possibility. In fact C. S. Lewis makes the observation based upon what Jesus says in passages such as this that Jesus claims to divinity are so clear that one is left with three possibilities. Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. Jesus either commits blasphemy here by stating he is God and I would say the claim that God would come in the flesh to be a sacrifice for man’s sin was heresy. The Jews had no concept whatsoever that God would so demean himself to be a man. Thus to them any claim by man to be God was idol worship and blasphemous, Jesus must be a liar. Yet it was possible that he might be crazy, he might not have been in his right mind and yet his arguments follow a logical thought and his teachings make sense so this one seems rather easy to toss out. Our last option is that Jesus is exactly who he claims to be and thus he is Lord God ruler and sustainer of the universe the giver of life and the redeemer of man.

Invitation

The question is who do you believe Jesus is? Do you trust him and what he says to be true, do you trust the hand of God on his life or do you reject him as a liar?

Personally I believe the evidence shows Jesus is who he claimed to be and I hope that you will to. The bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s perfection and we deserve death. Yet Jesus in his love for us came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross that we might be forgiven of our sins and be restored to a right relationship with God. He also promises that one day we will get to live with him forever in heaven. My prayer is you will admit your sins before God and place your trust in the sacrifice of Jesus and make him lord of your life that you too might be forgiven of your sins and live forever with God in heaven.

For those who are saved I ask you who are you sharing Jesus with are you seeking to help others to overcome their questions and doubts that they might find salvation in Jesus Christ He is the only way no one can come to God without him will you tell others about Jesus.