In the Beginning: The Book of John

((John 7:28-36[HCSB])

28 As He was teaching in the temple complex, Jesus cried out, “You know Me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You don’t know Him; 29 I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

30 Then they tried to seize Him. Yet no one laid a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come. 31 However, many from the crowd believed in Him and said, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this man has done, will He? ”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple police to arrest Him.

33 Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. Then I’m going to the One who sent Me. 34 You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go so we won’t find Him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does He? 36 What is this remark He made: ‘You will look for Me, and you will not find Me; and where I am, you

You know Me!

There was a growing sense, I am sure, that maybe Jesus was exactly who and what He claimed to be. As with any group of religious thinkers there is no way to effectively make the whole assembly clones of one another. Yet those who believed, as it is today, are in a distinct minority … they are a peculiar few. Note: within the organized Jewish religious fraternities like the Sanhedrin and the Temple Priesthood there were two distinct mindsets: one camp believed that the Messiah would come from an unknown place while another camp believed the origin of the Messiah was foretold. Jesus was taking advantage of this division when He taunted all of them with His words, “You know Me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You don’t know Him; I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

I am convinced that we must set aside the words of secular, or even well-meaning religious authority, and explore the very words of Jesus.

We will need the support of those who have devoted their lives to such things, but in the end there is no substitute for the very words of Jesus to convict our hearts with a Spirit that penetrates our whole being like a great sword … one that cuts through the outer layers of our being and exposes our very spirit to His own.

And never forget that we are phenomenally blessed to have the words of Jesus, and to also know the outcome of His prophetic words. In their day the authorities and the disciples could not have known this truth in the way that we do.