Daily Scripture Reading John 7:32 - 8:2
For Christians, the Bible is the final authority for our lives. The Bible educates us regarding God’s values and priorities. It defines wisdom and foolishness. The Bible teaches us what to believe regarding God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, demons, man, sin, salvation, church, the future, and the Bible itself. The Bible gives us instructions on how we should live our lives.
Many evangelical leaders claim the Bible is their final authority and most church attenders accept that. However, in the 7th chapter of John we see some flawed thinking on the part of the Jewish leaders that caused them to reject the truth about Jesus. That flawed thinking also exists in modern day Christianity, which means the Bible may not actually be the final authority for those who lead the church today.
During the Feast of Booths, Jesus went to Jerusalem secretly. The crowd was divided between those who thought Jesus was a good man and those who thought He was leading the people astray. Then Jesus began teaching in the temple. The crowd was not sure if this was the Man who had been teaching and healing in Galilee. They started speculating whether He was the Christ.
John 7:32 ¶ The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him.
The fact that the crowd was whispering indicates the fear the people felt. The phrase “these things” refers to the debate about whether Jesus was the Christ.
This verse informs us there was some intrigue surrounding Jesus. The crowd was afraid to openly talk about Jesus. Meanwhile, the religious leaders knew the crowd was whispering, so they probably felt like they were losing control.
John 7:33 Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me.
John 7:34 You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
From our perspective in the 21st century, we know Jesus was talking about going back to His Father who was in heaven.
John 7:35 The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? Is He intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
The Jews did not grasp any heavenly meaning from what Jesus said.
John 7:36 What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”
John 7:37 ¶ 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.
John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
Notice the phrase “as the Scripture said”. This is probably a reference to Isaiah 44. In that passage Yahweh spoke of streams on the dry land as a picture of the Spirit being poured out on the descendants of the Jews.
Note the phrase “believes in Me”. The only ones who receive the rivers of living water are those who believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus means believing what the Bible tells us about Jesus.
John 7:39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The beginning of the book of Acts tells us about the coming of the Spirit.
Again, we see the word “believe”. The only ones who receive the Spirit are those who believe in Jesus. The Spirit is not received simply by asking for it or going to church. Admitting we are sinners is not quite enough either. People have to adopt a well-defined belief system in order to be saved and receive the Spirit.
John 7:40 ¶ Some of the crowd therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.”
John 7:41 Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “No, for is the Christ going to come from Galilee?
John 7:42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
As we know, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
John 7:43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.
Pay attention to the word “division”. We know from the previous verses the division was due to differences of opinion as to who Jesus is.
Many people today think religion should always unite people. They think it is awful if religion ever causes strife or conflict. Many Christians want to water down the truths of Christianity in order to avoid division.
However, the identity of Jesus must cause division. In order to be saved people need to believe Jesus is God and Master. There are many who refuse to believe that and are not saved. There must be division between those who believe the truth about Jesus and those who do not believe.
John 7:44 Some of them were wanting to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
John 7:45 ¶ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?”
Verse 32 tells us the scribes and Pharisees sent officers to seize Jesus. Verse 44 tells us no one laid hands on Jesus. The priests and Pharisees were not happy when the officers came back without Jesus.
John 7:46 The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken like this!”
The officers understood that Jesus was a force they had never dealt with before.
John 7:47 The Pharisees then answered them, “Have you also been led astray?
This question assumes that believing in Jesus is equivalent to being led astray. That was not true.
John 7:48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?
This question assumes that if the rulers or Pharisees did not believe in Jesus, then Jesus was not who He claimed to be. That was also false.
We have a similar problem in evangelicalism. Many evangelical leaders believe that if a position on theology or an interpretation of scripture is not held by those who have formal Bible College or Seminary training, then it can’t be true. In other words, when presented with an interpretation of a passage of scripture, most church leaders evaluate it based on what other leaders believe, not based on what the Bible actually says.
That is not the correct approach. Each passage of scripture should be interpreted based on what the Bible actually says, not what a bunch of so-called trained theologians think it says.
Just as the Jewish leaders in the 1st century AD were corrupt, so too it is possible in all time periods for the religious leaders, including Christian leaders, to be corrupt.
Today’s evangelical leaders claim the Bible is their final authority. However, the reality is their real final authority is the consensus of their fellow evangelical leaders.
John 7:49 But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.”
The religious leaders looked down on the crowd. The religious leaders thought they were superior because they thought they knew the law while the crowd did not. The Pharisees accused the crowd of being accursed.
John 7:50 Nicodemus (he who came to Him before), being one of them, said to them,
John 7:51 “Does our Law judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing?”
John 7:52 They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”
The religious leaders in Jerusalem believed it was not possible for a prophet to arise out of Galilee. This was haughtiness and arrogance.
John 7:53 [Everyone went to his home.
Notice the opening bracket at the beginning of this verse. This begins a section that does not appear in many of the manuscripts of the Gospel of John, raising legitimate questions as to whether this section was actually written by John or added at a later date.
John 8:1 ¶ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
John 8:2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.
What are some Biblical issues where church leaders reject what the Bible actually says simply because tradition and the conventional wisdom of Christianity claims something different?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”