A division occurred because of Him

John 7:31-53 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. ³³ Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? ³⁶ What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰ Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? ⁴⁸ No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? ⁴⁹ But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, ⁵¹ “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” ⁵² They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” ⁵³Everyone went to his home.

There was a debate about Jesus identity as the Messiah based solely on the town or region He lived in. Some argued that He could not be the Christ because He was from Galilee. The text says:      Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?   Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”  So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.     In our culture, our society and even in much of the church we also tend to disqualify people based on where they have come from. Perhaps we don’t do this so much based on their geographical history but surly we judge their social history. Throughout scripture we see accounts of God calling the least of men to greatness. Jesus Himself was born in poverty, in a stable. Who He was, His social standing among men had no bearing on who He is, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords; Emmanuel, God with us.

One of the things which led to the debate and the error on the part of some was their knowing and relying on only one part of scripture. Scripture, the prophets, did indeed say that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, from the line of David. There were also prophetic references to the Messiah being from Nazareth, Galilee and even Egypt, Jesus fulfilled all of these. Biblical scholars will say that Jesus fulfilled over 300 hundred Messianic prophecies. In today’s text many were misinterpreting one of those and disqualifying Jesus based on their understanding or misunderstanding. In the same way we should not try to build our doctrine and our belief system, we should not try to identify Jesus based on singular verses of scripture but rather on the whole text and context of God’s word. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals the heart and character, the nature of God. It also reveals His love, His plan to redeem, reconcile and restore mankind to Him and His will. 2 Timothy 3:16 says:  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.       When the New Testament writers and even Jesus Himself referred to scripture, it was Old Testament scripture they referred to. Surly we should not base our doctrine or how we identify God based on any single or even small group of these accounts or verses, but rather on the complete revelation the whole of God’s word provides.  

Our finite minds tend to view things as either or. God must either be gracious and merciful or a righteous judge. In truth, He is both. We cannot and should not try to understand, identify or represent God and Jesus as less than He is.  He is the Alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is all in all.  We cannot fully understand and comprehend the infinite, all in all God with our finite minds, our human understanding. We cannot identify or represent Him as either or He is all in all.

In today’s text it says:   Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.     To understand, to comprehend, to identify and represent Christ we must believe in Him. Then we can receive the Spirit and the living water. Jesus says: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."(John 4:24) Only by the Spirit can we fully understand and know who He is. Only by the Spirit can we represent Jesus and the Father to others.

God is not concerned with who we were or where we came from. He is only concerned with who we are in Christ, who we have become, redeemed, reconciled and restored, filled with His Spirit. We are to be His ambassadors, representatives of all He is.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, I am thankful that You do not see or judge me based on who or where I was, but rather on who You created and called me to be, on what You have restored me to. I am thankful that because I believe, living water can flow from me. I yield to You. May it always be You, Your living water which flows from me. May I not wrongly represent You as only part of who You are but rather may I understand, identify and represent You as all in all.   Amen