Conversation with Jesus

Such depths in these verses! Jesus taught about knowing God, seeking his truth, our hearts, and the Holy Spirit’s role in believers’ lives. How do we apply these things as we go about daily tasks? This week more than once I’ve experienced asking God a (simple) question, and he answers. The truth is he desires relationship and conversation with us, as demonstrated here in a lengthy conversation Jesus engages in with people. People who might not like him, who questioned and doubted, who weren’t sure they agreed with anything he said.

Read John 7:25-27.

• In the previous chapter, Peter confessed his belief Jesus was from God, “the Holy One of God.”
• The people expressed confusion (John 7:20). They heard Jesus ask those in the temple courts why they wanted to kill him (John7:19).
• They acknowledged Jesus spoke boldly with complete freedom to say what he pleased.¹
• Observers noted no one obviously threatened Jesus at that moment.
• Therefore, had public opinion of him shifted?
• They answered their query by stating they knew Jesus’ origins.
• By their own theology, wouldn’t the Anointed One come from God?
• The word “know” here refers to experience, “knowing God is … more than just knowing about Him” … “He who believes also knows” God.²
• The dialogue in these verses sounds less like false ignorance and more like a trap to catch Jesus in false teaching and/or claims about himself.

*Why did they think no one would know where the Messiah would come from?

*How does this description of knowing God apply to our lives? 

Read John 7:28-32.

• Jesus confirmed they knew him as a man who lived here on earth, from a physical location.
• This placed him solidly in human history, not merely a mythical figure.
• He reminded them God sent him.
• Although they knew Jesus in the flesh, they did not know God, who had sent him.
• They did not know God [because] he is Truth, and they relied more on their opinions and personal experience than truth.

[Later} “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‛If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32).

• Jesus subtlety reminded those who had ears to hear not only did God send him, but he came from

“He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:2).

• God’s Plan was upheld: they attempted to seize Jesus but were prevented from laying a hand on him.
• The people still trusted in miracles more than God as proof of Jesus’ ministry.
• Such wonders and miracles [were] wrought by Jesus … in proof and deliverance of [his] divine mission.”³
• They compared what they had witnessed Jesus do with their perceived notions of Messiah and wondered.
• And the Pharisees overheard. More than attempting to seize Jesus, they sent guards to arrest him.

*What does it mean to hold to Jesus’ teaching and be set free by truth?

*What role did Jesus’ miracles play in his divine mission? 

Read John 7:33-36.

• Jesus emphasized they had no control over God’s Plan.

“… it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake” (1 Peter 1:18-20).

• The people would seek Jesus through inquiry to discover more but not find him.⁴

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

• Where he would go they could not come.
• They wondered if Jesus would go to Jews scattered among Greeks, an interesting foresight into Jesus’ ultimate mission.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).

*Why did the crowd question the meaning of what Jesus said?

*Why would the people in this scene not find Jesus?

*How does seeking God with our whole heart help us find him? 

Read John 7:37-44.

• Jesus taught again on the last day of the Feast.
• Jesus preached to Jews as well as Samaritans.

“… whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

• Such people would “desire [God] ardently.”⁵
• More than that, Jesus’ followers were to allow living water to flow from
• Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit of God who will teach, enlighten, and guide Christians in their faith and practice.⁶

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

• Jesus was not yet glorified, in that his crucifixion and resurrection would “make evident to all … He was … God incarnate, all … He claimed to be.”⁷
• The people questioned who Jesus was… the Prophet?

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

• Others claimed he was indeed the Messiah.
• But some questioned how God’s promised Anointed One could come from Galilee.
• The Jews there that day were divided in mind, into contentious or self-seeking [some political] groups.⁸

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, …” (Isaiah 11:1-2).

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

“For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—‘” (Matthew 10:35).

• Again, they didn’t succeed in capturing Jesus before his time had come.

Additional reading: Ephesians 1:4-12

*What is the significance that he taught on the greatest day of the Festival?

*Why was it important that Jesus’ time had not yet come?

*How does the Holy Spirit teach us today?

*What does God want to say to us through this passage?

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (AMG Publishers, 1992), 1124.
2. Zodhiates, 373.
3. Zodhiates, 1286.
4. Zodhiates, 682.
5. Zodhiates, 473.
6. Zodhiates, 1183.
7. Zodhiates, 482.
8. Zodhiates, 1353.