“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37b-38.
“Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, ‘Truly this is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ,’ but some said, ‘Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?’ So there was a division among the people because of Him.” John 7:40-43.
Once again, Christ causes division.
“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Luke 12:51-53.
Possibly in no other place was this more vividly displayed than in Israel when Christianity began to sweep through Judaism by the apostle’s message.
However, even today this powerful statement is true; look at your own family, if you are not a Christian and some in your family are, do you get along? If you are a Christian have you been rejected by your family?
Do you see? By your own experience, the words of Jesus are true. Yet it is not His desire, it is our own hard hearts that cause division, everyone has to choose whom they will serve, Christ or Satan.
Search as you may, there is no middle ground; even when you serve yourself, you have sided against Christ and it is not you but the devil you serve. Bob Dylan made that plain when he sang, “Gotta Serve Somebody”.
Again there is the division of thought, some thought that Jesus was the Prophet, and He is, but not in the sense that they think He is.
These folks thought of the Prophet as a man like Moses who would come and lead Israel. But the meaning of the Prophet is that He would be God incarnate.
As a result, these folks missed the Christ by thinking of Him as a great man.
Others correctly realized that Jesus was the Christ. While still others correctly said that the Christ would come out of Bethlehem, but rejected Jesus because they did not bother to ask Him where He was born – in a manger in Bethlehem. Herod, on the other hand, did search to find out where Jesus was born.
“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”’” Matthew 2:4-6.
The prophecy quoted above powerfully confirms the deity of Christ and goes as follows.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2.
“Now when they [the wise men] had departed [from worshiping the Christ Child], behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.’” Matthew 2:13.
“Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying. ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.’” Matthew 2:19-20.
“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:23.
“Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.” John 7:44.
This passage takes us back to verse 30 discussed briefly in “He Speaks Boldly, John 7:30-36” posted on 10-3-17.
“Then they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.” John 7:30.
When all of history is summed up, all men will see that God’s sovereign will has prevailed over all opposition. It is unfortunate that many do not realize this and fret over it, or try to subvert it.
“Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?’ the officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’ Then the Pharisees answered them, ‘Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him. But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.’” John 7:45-49.
Have the rulers or the Pharisees believed; as if we are to believe something just because someone with a bunch of letters after his name says so.
There are thousands of PhDs who say evolution is a fact, this without fairly weighing the evidence; while there are many others who have studied it and reject it as unscientific.
All of these people are smart, but you do not just do a knee-jerk response and accept something that has a profound effect on your life without checking it out for yourself, never. The smartest people can and do let their bias affect their judgment.
“But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” John 7:49.
Who is the more accursed, the person who is ignorant and is dependent on a teacher, or the ones who have set themselves up as teachers and do not teach them God’s word?
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:13.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:15.
Pastors and teachers beware; many depend on you to teach them the truth, not gather followers with itchy ears.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10.
The above passage is a reference to a future meeting with Christ to discuss our earthly works as Christians. Nothing will be brought up which we had done before becoming Christians.
I am convinced that if anyone recognizes a sin in their life and confesses it and forsakes it (make sure it is forsaken), that sin will not be spoken of at the judgment seat of Christ.
As for the false teacher, your appearance before the great white throne on judgment day will be brief, terminal, and so horrendous that you would soil yourselves if that were possible.
“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15.
“Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, ‘Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?’ They answered and said to him, ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’ And everyone went to his own house.” John 7:50-53.
The Pharisees make the same error that the “accursed rabble” made; they do not bother to research the location of Jesus’ birth.
Their blunder is all the worse when they say that no prophet has come from Galilee, for the prophet Jonah was from that region. Concerning the Christ the prophet Isaiah is quoted in Matthew 4.
“And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” Matthew 4:13-16.
This Crowd is Accursed, John 7:40-53 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-15-12, updated on 10-8-17.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.