Jesus Origin
June 26, 2019
Commentary
Many Jews falsely understood that no one would know the origin or birthplace of the Messiah, and since they knew of Jesus’ origins, He could not be the Messiah. They knew where the Messiah would be born, but they also knew that His birth would be supernatural (Isa. 7:14). In other words, they would not know where He was from. The record states that Christ was born of the virgin Mary, but the Jews would not believe this.
Some of the local people were amazed at His bold public teaching. They knew of a plot to kill Him (vv. 25-26). Yet the leaders were not doing what they said they would do. Why? Had the authorities changed their minds? People were confused over the lack of leadership in the nation. They felt that if He was a deceiver, He should be locked up, or if He was the Messiah, they should accept Him.
The crowds assumed that Jesus was only a Galilean carpenter from the city of Nazareth. They also believed that the Messiah would be unknown until His public appearing (v. 27). A reader of the Gospels recognizes that Jesus is more than a Galilean; He was virgin-born in Bethlehem. Yet He was relatively unknown until after the Cross and the Resurrection.
Christ tells them He was sent from the Father and that if they knew the Father, they would know the Son (vv. 28-29). His enemies did not know Jesus or God (Matt. 11:27), Jesus knows the Father because of His origin (John 1:1, 14, 18) and mission in life. They knew where he had his birth, but they didn’t know from whom he came. It says twice that he was sent of his Father.
Application
I must accept Jesus fully or reject Him absolutely. There is no sitting on the fence.
John 7:25– 29 (NET)
25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. Do the ruling authorities really know that this man is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from. Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You both know me and know where I come from! And I have not come on my own initiative, but the one who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him, because I have come from him and he sent me.”
Illustration: The Farmer Who Buried a Busload of Politicians
A busload of politicians was driving down a country road. Suddenly, the bus ran off the road and crashed into a tree. Seeing it happen, a farmer went over to investigate. He then dug a hole and buried the politicians. Several days later, the sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus and asked the farmer where all of the politicians had gone. The farmer said he had buried them. The sheriff asked, “Were they ALL dead?” The farmer replied, “Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you know how them politicians lie.” (Source Unknown, Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author).