The Offspring of David; John 7:40-52

 

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Introduction

 

Once again we are reminded that our Lord Jesus divides men, one from another. We are reminded that division is not inherently a bad thing, certainly when it comes to the person and work of Jesus Christ. For it is only in dividing over Christ that we can truly be united in Him. Throughout the ages, men have divided over Christ. The council of Nicea in 325, the council of Chalcedon in 451 – important ecumenical councils hammering out vital definitions of who Jesus is. There are many petty things in this world that men have wrongly divided over. There are many things that divide churches that ought not to divide churches, and it is to their shame. But there are some things worth dividing over. And if there is anything worth dividing over, it surely is the most important person in all of time, history, and eternity – the Lord Jesus Christ. Even me putting “Lord” in front of Jesus and “Christ” after, are places of division for many. And they are necessary divisions. We don’t divide because we like division, but because we love our Lord.

The People’s Response to Jesus, v. 40-44

You will notice there are some who say “This is the Prophet.” This of course is hearkening back to Deuteronomy 18, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen…” So so far we can agree, yes Jesus is THE Prophet. He is not merely a prophet, but He is The promised prophet of old, as He is our Prophet, Priest, and King, necessary for our Salvation. 

But then there are other people who say, “This is the Christ,” of course meaning here “This is the Messiah.” And to that we say yes and amen. As modern readers we may not understand the distinction going on here. You see there were many Jews of that day who believed that the long awaited Prophet and the long awaited Messiah were two different people. So some are saying, “Hmm, He sure fits the bill to be the Prophet that Moses promised.” And others are saying, “Hmm, He surely must be the Messiah.” And this is in contradiction to one another. Many here were yet to realize or believe that Jesus actually fulfilled both roles and prophecies. They were both speaking about Him. He is the long awaited Prophet promised by Moses who speaks a better Word – the Words of God – indeed He is the Word made flesh. He is not just the Prophet, but our long awaited Messiah, our full redeemer. He is Prophet, Priest, and King.

There were still yet others, who apparently believed neither of these things who wanted to arrest Him. This possibly could be the officers that we see reporting back to the Chief Priests and Pharisees in the next section, or may be indicating that some of the people wanted him arrested, as the officers seemed to not want to arrest him based upon their reporting back to the Pharisees.

Nevertheless we are told that no one laid hands on him. We are reminded yet again that what man wants cannot stop what God wants. One of the themes running throughout the ministry of Jesus is the sovereign decree of God being upheld and carried out amidst the most hostile of crowds and situations. Statements like this that we find throughout John’s gospel remind us that Jesus was not a helpless victim, but God in the flesh, here to fulfill a plan and a purpose, and that His life was not taken from Him, but He laid it down of His own accord. It shows that Jesus is a higher authority than that of the Chief Priests and earthly authorities. And that is just what I would like to talk about next. 

There is an interesting exchange in verse 41-42. When some people say that Jesus is the Christ, there is a little debate that takes place. The response begins, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?” Now this, to these Jews would have been a rhetorical question, that would have been a “no” to them. Look at how the response continues in verse 42, “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So the argument is this: The Scripture says that the Christ will be a descendant of David, and born in Bethlehem, so it can’t be Jesus, because Jesus is a Galilean. 

Jesus of course was from Nazareth, which was in the region of Galilee, while Bethlehem was in the region of Judea. But here, as they have shown in other places, they are ignorant as to from where Jesus comes. Yes, Jesus is a Galilean from Nazareth, but we also know that He indeed was born in Bethlehem. 

David’s Son

 

 

Now, what Scripture are these people getting these things from – that the Christ would come from the line of David and from Bethlehem? Let’s consider the first claim that He is to come from Bethlehem? Is this true? The Prophet Micah (5:2-5) tells us:

^2 [a] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
⁵ And he shall be their peace.

This prophecy is true that the Christ would come from Bethlehem. I know we all know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but I want you to see afresh the details documented surrounding Jesus’ birth, to see how God shows the fulfillment of these prophecies in Luke 2:1-17:  

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,^[b] who was with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.^[c]

The Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, and Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem. This is an incredibly important Scriptural discussion these people are having. But what about the Christ coming from the line of David? Well, if you were paying attention, we saw the answer in Luke 2, it was noted there for us. 

But why was that a thing? What prophecy were the people looking for fulfillment of that the Christ would come from the line of David? Psalm 89:3-4, “You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: “I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.”’” So there we have the covenant that God has sworn to David that He will establish his offspring forever and build his throne for all generations. We saw in Luke 2 that Jesus came from the line of David, but I want to show you one other important place that talks about this. Matthew chapter 1, verse 1 opens: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This is a theological statement. Matthew then goes on to give the genealogy of Jesus.

 

Davidic Covenant

 

Now why does Matthew start his gospel account this way? Matthew was writing his gospel primarily to a Jewish audience. He begins with this royal genealogy to show that Jesus is King – that Jesus comes from the line of David and is the rightful heir to the throne. Throughout Matthew, more so than the other gospels, Matthew emphasizes the gospel of the kingdom. Why? Because the Jews were expecting a King! They knew Psalm 89 that Yahweh made a covenant and swore to David that He would build his throne and offspring forever and all generations. That is exactly the discussion going on here in John 7. They’re like, “Wait a minute, this can’t be the Christ, because the Christ is supposed to come from the line of David, born in Bethlehem.” And they were right! They just did not realize here at this point that Jesus was indeed from the line of David and was born in Bethlehem.

 

 

God swore a covenant to David that He would establish his offspring and throne forever and it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God has established David’s offspring and throne forever in David’s Son and David’s Lord, Jesus Christ. The people were looking for a Messiah who would be king. Remember back in John 6, Jesus does a kingly thing in providing for the people, and the crowds then wanted to force Jesus to be king. They were looking for a king, but for the wrong kind of kingdom. They were looking for a literal earthly king and kingdom like David, when the promised rule of David’s Son would be a greater rule than David. They were looking for a throne on earth, instead of a throne at the right hand of God over all. Psalm 110:

The other element the Jews were missing, was a very important element that made Jesus greater than David. Jesus was not only to be from the line of David, established on His throne forever, but He was also to be a priest king, after the order of Melchizedek. David was a man of war, unfit to build the temple, but Jesus is our great priest-king. As Priest-King, Jesus was to provide forgiveness of sin for His people. Jesus is a covenant King who represents His people, taking their sin and guilt upon Himself, and laying down His own life in place of His people for their sin. Our Priest-King, Jesus Christ, was nailed to a cross, mocked with a crown of thorns piercing His brow, He entered the holy of holies, offered Himself up as the once and for all sacrifice for sin, the veil was torn, He said it is finished, and died. But His last breath wasn’t His last breath. After dealing with sin, He whipped death into subjection and came out of the grave. He then ascended into heaven, to receive His kingdom, having made His priestly sacrifice for sin. Just as Daniel saw in Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” The Kingdom of David’s greater son is a greater kingdom. It is not a temporary rule in Jerusalem over Israel, it is a throne in heaven ruling over all the nations. Last week we talked about the rivers of living water theme throughout Scripture and we looked at Revelation 22 where the river runs out from the throne in heaven, there indicating to us the kingly rule of Christ is one that gives life to the nations.