<\/p>\n
40\u00a0<\/sup>When they heard these words,\u00a0some of the people said, \u201cThis really is\u00a0the Prophet.\u201d<\/span>\u00a041\u00a0<\/sup>Others said, \u201cThis is\u00a0the Christ.\u201d But some said,\u00a0\u201cIs the Christ to come from Galilee?<\/span>\u00a042\u00a0<\/sup>Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes\u00a0from the offspring of David, and comes\u00a0from Bethlehem, the village\u00a0where David was?\u201d<\/span>\u00a043\u00a0<\/sup>So there was\u00a0a division among the people over him.<\/span>\u00a044\u00a0<\/sup>Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n 45\u00a0<\/sup>The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, \u201cWhy did you not bring him?\u201d<\/span>\u00a046\u00a0<\/sup>The officers answered,\u00a0\u201cNo one ever spoke like this man!\u201d<\/span>\u00a047\u00a0<\/sup>The Pharisees answered them,\u00a0\u201cHave you also been deceived?<\/span>\u00a048\u00a0<\/sup>Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?<\/span>\u00a049\u00a0<\/sup>But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.\u201d<\/span>\u00a050\u00a0<\/sup>Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,<\/span>\u00a051\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cDoes our law judge a man without first\u00a0giving him a hearing and learning what he does?\u201d<\/span>\u00a052\u00a0<\/sup>They replied,\u00a0\u201cAre you from Galilee too? Search and see that\u00a0no prophet arises from Galilee.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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 \u201cLord\u201d in front of Jesus and \u201cChrist\u201d after, are places of division for many. And they are necessary divisions. We don\u2019t divide because we like division, but because we love our Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n The People\u2019s Response to Jesus, v. 40-44<\/b><\/p>\n You will notice there are some who say \u201cThis is the Prophet.\u201d This of course is hearkening back to Deuteronomy 18, \u201cThe 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\u2026\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But then there are other people who say, \u201cThis is the Christ,\u201d of course meaning here \u201cThis is the Messiah.\u201d 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, \u201cHmm, He sure fits the bill to be the Prophet that Moses promised.\u201d And others are saying, \u201cHmm, He surely must be the Messiah.\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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, \u201cIs the Christ to come from Galilee?\u201d 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, \u201cHas not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?\u201d So the argument is this: The Scripture says that the Christ will be a descendant of David, and born in Bethlehem, so it can\u2019t be Jesus, because Jesus is a Galilean.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n David\u2019s Son<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, what Scripture are these people getting these things from – that the Christ would come from the line of David and from Bethlehem? Let\u2019s consider the first claim that He is to come from Bethlehem? Is this true? The Prophet Micah (5:2-5) tells us: <\/span><\/p>\n 2\u00a0<\/sup>[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,<\/span> 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\u2019 birth, to see how God shows the fulfillment of these prophecies in Luke 2:1-17: \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In those days\u00a0a decree went out from\u00a0Caesar Augustus that all the world should be\u00a0registered.<\/span>\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>This was the first\u00a0registration when[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0Quirinius\u00a0was governor of Syria.<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>And all went to be registered, each to his own town.<\/span>\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>And Joseph also went up\u00a0from Galilee, from the town of\u00a0Nazareth, to Judea, to\u00a0the city of David, which is called\u00a0Bethlehem,\u00a0because he was of the house and lineage of David,<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0who was with child.<\/span>\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup>And she gave birth to her firstborn son and\u00a0wrapped him in swaddling cloths and\u00a0laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in\u00a0the inn.[c<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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, \u201cYou have said, \u2018I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: \u201cI will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.\u201d\u2019\u201d<\/em> 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: \u201cThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.\u201d<\/em> This is a theological statement. Matthew then goes on to give the genealogy of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Davidic Covenant<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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\u2019re like, \u201cWait a minute, this can\u2019t be the Christ, because the Christ is supposed to come from the line of David, born in Bethlehem.\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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\u2019s offspring and throne forever in David\u2019s Son and David\u2019s 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\u2019s 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. <\/span>Psalm 110:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0says to my Lord:<\/span><\/span><\/em> 2\u00a0<\/sup>The\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0sends forth\u00a0from Zion<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>who are too little to be among the clans of\u00a0Judah,<\/span><\/span>
\nfrom you shall come forth for me<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>one who is to be\u00a0ruler in Israel,<\/span><\/span>
\nwhose coming forth is\u00a0from of old,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>from ancient days.<\/span><\/span>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore he shall give them up\u00a0until the time<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>when she who is in labor has given birth;<\/span><\/span>
\nthen\u00a0the rest of his brothers shall return<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>to the people of Israel.<\/span><\/span>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>And he shall stand\u00a0and shepherd his flock\u00a0in the strength of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>in the majesty of the name of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0his God.<\/span><\/span>
\nAnd they shall dwell secure, for now\u00a0he shall be great<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>to the ends of the earth.<\/span><\/span>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>And he shall be\u00a0their peace.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSit at my right hand,<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nuntil I make your enemies your\u00a0footstool.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>your mighty scepter.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Rule in the midst of your enemies!<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>Your people will\u00a0offer themselves freely<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>on the day of your\u00a0power,[a<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0holy garments;[b<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nfrom the womb of the morning,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>the dew of your youth will be yours.[c<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>The\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0has\u00a0sworn<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and will\u00a0not change his mind,<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n\u201cYou are\u00a0a priest\u00a0forever<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>after the order of\u00a0Melchizedek.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n