25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Introduction
A major theme of John’s gospel continues here, that of the divine origins of the plan of redemption. The people think they know Jesus and where He is from. They know His earthly parents, but there is much they don’t know about where Jesus comes from and His Father who sent Him. One of the points the gospel writer seeks to make throughout his gospel, and one of the shortcomings we continue to see with the Jews, is that in order to understand who Jesus is and what He has come to do, you must understand from where He comes, and who sent Him. John chapter 1 begins with a divine genealogy if you will, of course that is not at all to say that Jesus was created, He was not ; “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” This is from where Jesus came, and the Jews failed to realize this, and thus continually stumbled over who this man was, and what He came to do.
In the first part of our narrative today, the people fail to understand from where Jesus came. In the last part of our narrative today, the people fail to understand where He is going. Failure to know where Jesus comes from, results in failure to understand where He is going. In the midst of all this is a failure to understand what it is that He came to do. Thus, the same is stressed to us modern readers. A proper Christology, a proper trinitarian theology, is so important to understand who Jesus is, and so important to our understanding of His work of redemption. Jesus has been constantly referring to the covenant of redemption when He says that He was sent to do the Father’s will, and they don’t understand it.
The past couple weeks we have noted how things continue to progress and tensions continue to rise among the Jewish leaders toward Jesus. In our passage today, we continue to see, bit by bit, the plan of redemption unfold. In fact, I believe we see four elements to the plan of redemption at play in our passage today: The Sovereign Plan of Redemption, the Effective Plan of Redemption, the Global Plan of Redemption, and the Urgent Plan of Redemption.
The Sovereign Plan of Redemption, v. 30
In verse 25-27 the people are questioning who Jesus is. “Is this really who the authorities want to arrest? Why aren’t they doing so? He can’t be the Christ, we know His parents.” Jesus then proclaims as He is teaching in the temple, a familiar refrain, “I have not come of my own accord.” It’s interesting, the first phrase Jesus says, “You know me, and you know where I come from” could actually be phrased as either a question or statement according to the Greek construction. But either way, the point remains – they have a very limited knowledge of who Jesus is and where He comes from. Jesus proclaims, “He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” Verse 30 then tells us, “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him…” Now, if they were seeking to arrest Him, why did no one lay a hand on him? We are told: “because his hour had not yet come.” This is one of those statements where we see so clearly how in control God is. How do you fail at arresting someone who is openly teaching in the temple, and the crowds are wondering why you’re not arresting him? It must be that there is one higher that says “no.” Psalm 2, right? “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
So here the Jewish leaders are plotting in vain. They are completely unable to lay a pinky on His robe until it is God’s appointed time. God’s plan of redemption is a sovereign plan of redemption. It was not an undercover mission that was extremely risky with a probability of failure. It was not a mission that could be stopped by man, slowed by man, or suspended by man. They were all a perfect part of that plan.
They could not put a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. He had an hour in which He was indeed to be delivered up to death. He had an hour set apart beforehand to go unto. He had an hour appointed by God to be taken into custody, unjustly condemned, beat, mocked, and crucified. He had an hour, but it was not yet. His hour came not too soon and not too late. He had an hour that would not be hastened or halted. It came at the right time. For it was at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
This shows us that Christ was not a helpless martyr. He was not taken to the cross unwillingly, but He willingly gave up His life. He loved me and gave Himself for me. Jesus was not taken by surprise at the timing of His death. He came in flesh knowing He would go to the cross, it was His purpose and plan from the beginning.
This should be great comfort for us in our lives. There are many things we are tempted to fear, many worries are tempted to indulge in. While we are not aware of God’s plan for our lives, we know that He has one, and that He is sovereign there too. There is no enemy, or trial, or virus that can or will put a hand on us, unless and until God tells it to. And then in such a case it is quite a comfort, for what we have and all that happens to us is from the hand of God, who is our Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus, who loves us and gave Himself for us. He is not our enemy seeking our destruction – but a Heavenly Father working all things for our good. Think of all that Job lost and suffered and how he attributed it to God: “though you slay me, yet I will praise you.” That’s huge – all that befell him, he said, God did it, but blessed be the name of the Lord. He gives and takes away, blessed be His name. That is the Christian faith. If God wants to slay us with a virus, it will be good, and it will be our eternal joy, reward, and glory, if we are in Christ.
Each one of us has an hour appointed in which our lives will run out. Before we were born there was an hour appointed for our death, along with the exact manner of death being appointed. And there is nothing we can do to change that. We can’t stop it, we can’t slow it, we can’t hasten it. It will take place precisely at the appointed hour. Thus we should not lose hair in worry over it. While we live we, we should spend our lives living unto the Lord. And then when death comes we can die, and go and be with the Lord. For our Lord, Christ holds the keys to death and hades in His hands. He has unlocked death, so that we are not held there, but gone to be with the Lord.
So we can face life and death with the calm composure of our Lord, as He openly proclaimed the Word of God in the temple, trusting Himself to God’s sovereign plan. We can entrust ourselves to the same.
The Effective Plan of Redemption, v. 31
Not only is God’s plan of redemption a sovereign plan of redemption, it is an effective plan of redemption. This was a theme we talked a lot about in John 6. John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me…” John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me…” John 6:40, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…” John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” John 6:47, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” I could go on, but you get the point: it is an effective plan of redemption. This goes hand in hand with it being a sovereign plan of redemption.
In verse 31, despite the unbelief and desire to arrest Jesus, it says, “Yet many of the people believed in him.” It is easy to get caught up in the opposition Jesus faced, and miss these little statements peppered throughout John’s gospel that many believed in him. It is an effective plan of redemption. Despite the opposition, despite the slander, despite the false accusations, despite the rumors, despite the misunderstandings, there were yet many who believed in Him. The Jewish leaders could not hasten Christ’s death, and they could not hinder belief in Him for those who were called of God. Acts tells us, “all who were appointed to believe, believed.”
Of course we know that it was the devil working through the apostate Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. Jesus said they were sons of their father, the devil. Of course man can’t stop God’s plan of redemption in Christ, but neither can the devil and his angels. They’ve tried and failed. Satan is now chained, no longer to deceive the nations. That is not to say that there is zero satanic and demonic activity, it is just to say that it is chained, it is on a leash as it were, only able to do so far as God lets out the leash. They cannot stop the gospel and the advance of Christ’s kingdom. Christ’s kingdom is armed and built by a gospel that is power, a cross that is effective, and a Word that will not return void. Try as the world may to arrest Christ’s ministers, persecute Christ’s church, censor Christ’s Word, and mock Christ’s doctrine, it cannot stop in the slightest the effectiveness of God’s effective plan of redemption. His death brought life. His blood atoned for sin. His work was finished. Despite the loudness of the world’s unbelief, yet many believe in Him. Not a few crazy wierdos, though it may feel like that sometimes – but many. God’s promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore – and we are all sons of Abraham by faith. There are a lot of us – too many to count. God’s promise is kept. God’s plan – effective.
The Global Plan of Redemption, v. 35
Along these lines we see that God’s plan of redemption is not only a sovereign plan and an effective plan; but it is also a global plan of redemption.
In verse 33-34 Jesus tells the Jews in a little while He will be going where they cannot come and they will seek but not find Him. Then it tells us in verse 35, “The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?’” So they are confused about what Jesus is saying, and they wonder if He means that He is going to go among the Dispersion. The Dispersion was just that – a dispersion of Jews who lived out among the Greeks. So they are wondering: “Is Jesus going to go there and teach the Greeks?” Now, strictly speaking I think they are off here. I think Jesus was talking about when He ascends to heaven after His resurrection.
However, while the Jews certainly don’t intend to be making a prophecy here, they nevertheless utter words that are quite prophetic in relation to the extent of Christ’s plan of redemption. “Does Jesus intend to go among the Dispersion and teach the Greeks?” Yes, even to the Dispersion, even to the Greeks, yes, unto all the nations Christ will go with His gospel and Kingdom, making a people for Himself of every tribe, nation, and tongue. Christ’s plan of redemption is a global plan of redemption. “For God so loved the world…” “For Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” And this is all throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah 2:2-3, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’” In Daniel 2 the Kingdom of God is compared to a stone that becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth. God’s plan of redemption is global as is effective. Who will do this? How can this be? The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do it. Jesus Christ, who the Jews betray and deliver to the Romans to die, was lifted up on the tree, that would be for the healing of nations. All may come to Him and find life. That’s why we are here today, because Christ is the Savior of nations, and Christians have obeyed, yet not completely fulfilled the great commission our Lord gave to us to go and make disciples of all the nations. That is His plan He commissioned us to participate in. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, so upon that authority, make disciples of all nations.” In Psalm 2, the Father tells His Son, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” So in the great commission Jesus is essentially saying, “The nations are mine; go get them.”
The Urgent Plan of Redemption, v. 33, 36
Lastly this afternoon, God’s plan of redemption is a sovereign plan, an effective plan, a global plan, and also an urgent plan – meaning it is an urgent message upon it’s hearers.
In verse 33 and 34, “Jesus then said, ‘I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.’”
I believe that the immediate application which Jesus speaks of here is His ascension and the fact that He would no longer be on earth physically where they could find Him. But importantly, we should also note here that the fact that Jesus would be going to a place where the Jews could no longer find Him, is not merely a geographical statement, but also a spiritual warning – a warning to not reject Him, but to seek Him while He may be found. It will soon be too late. They will deliver Him up to death, He will rise from the dead, and ascend to the throne in Heaven, and return in judgment upon them to punish them for their rebellion, apostasy, and wickedness. There is an appointed time for everything. A time to live and a time to die. And our time here on earth is short. Is fleeting, like the wind, we cannot catch it and bottle it up and save it for later.
We must heed this same urgent warning and call of the gospel, to seek Him while He may be found. We will not have forever. We may not even have tomorrow. We have no idea when our time is up. Our nation as a whole is being confronted with the idea of death, that our culture has become so numb to and has done everything to avoid the thought of. But God is reminding them of this reality. And the world is panicking. They don’t like the thought. They cannot handle the thought of death without Jesus Christ. We are a nation not ready to die. The true Church of Jesus Christ has much work to do in America today. Even though our time is short, Jesus Christ holds out pierced hands of salvation today, receiving each sinner that would come unto Him. He is still saving today. His plan of redemption is still unfolding today. His plan of redemption is still sovereign today. His plan of redemption is still effective today. His plan of redemption is still global today. And His plan of redemption is as urgent as ever to its hearers today. Do not delay. Today is the day of salvation. Your sins may be turned white as snow today. Do not delay, do not foolishly think that you have all the time in the world to come to Jesus Christ, boys and girls. You don’t know. But we do not that God’s plan of redemption in Christ marches forward. Would you be a part of it today? Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
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