Division Over Who Jesus Is

Jesus is Messiah…

John 7:25-44
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am 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 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Confusion and unrest. Law had blinded so many people  that they couldn’t see Him. They couldn’t see Jesus. They just kept reaching for understanding on this earth. They searched for proof and distorted it when they found it. The wool had been firmly pulled over their eyes. Sin blinded them. Jesus knew it. He tried to tell them, but they would not listen. For this reason, I am saved. For this reason He turned to the Gentiles and saved all.

I know you have experienced sin. You are human, and whether you know it or not you are cloaked in sin. Just as I am. More importantly, we have been covered in the blood of Jesus and cleansed of that sin. This happens when we believe in Him who God sent o save us. He has delivered us. The Jews that were confused by Jesus believed that if they followed the distorted law that they would be saved. Jesus came to earth as man and saved us, lifting the cloudy laws and clarifying it for us… He simplified it.

I don’t know what I would have felt on that day that Jesus stood up and announced that He was sent by God. I don’t know. I can tell you that I would have jumped on board with Him right away and believed, but I don’t know. I firmly believe in Him now. I know what He did for me. I know He saved me and that I will stand face to face with Him in Heaven and fall to my knees to worship for eternity. I do know that. But some days are difficult.

Somedays it takes all I have to pick up my Bible and read. Not because I don’t love Him with all of my heart. I do. But I get distracted by this world. By things that don’t mean anything. It takes discipline on those days. It’s starts with great fervor and energy, then comes the drudgery, then the discipline, then habbit. I know He is always with me, but honestly there are some days that I can’t feel Him with me and I have to go searching for Him with all I have. He has never failed to let me find Him. He knows just where to be so that I will find Him just at the end of my rope. That’s where the growth is. Hang on…He is on His way. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK