John 7:30-32 -- So they were seeking to arrest Him; and yet no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has done, will He?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest Him.
We're back to early morning quiet time, which feels good. After a tough week that ended up with some amazing blessings from the Lord for my wife's health, it's nice to be up early, with the Lord, and spending time with Him before the day starts. Time with Him is time with Him but there is something special to start the day in His presence.
Jesus had continued to teach and affirm who He was and where He was from. Now we see the reaction of the crowd is they begin to believe. Even in the face of many doubters and even hostile religious leaders, there are many of the crowd who are drawn to the truth He speaks.
Christian, it's easy to hesitate or hold back on sharing the Gospel, asking if someone knows Jesus, or bringing up the Bible in today's world that does not want to hear it. It's easy to be held in check by fear of rejection, fear of persecution, or fear of not knowing everything. However, we should be encouraged to see that Jesus, The Way, The Truth, The Life, the very Word Himself, found doubters, scoffers, non-believers, false believers, miracle only believers, haters, outright hostiles, and always wedged in there were true believers. If Jesus Christ, the Messiah Himself, had these results, then we should be emboldened knowing we have the honor to stand up for His truth in the same manner.
Yesterday we saw some who doubted Jesus could be the Messiah because of their false familiarity of who He was humanly. We find in the verses today some questioning the number of signs or miracles Jesus had done. They expected He'd do more. What's wild is he'd completely healed the man who'd been sick and feeble for thirty-eight years. He'd done countless other signs, yet for some it wasn't enough.
Beloved, if the only thing you ever received from Jesus was the forgiveness of all your sin, would that be enough for you? Now that's not how our God is, but stop and think if that was it, is that not good enough? Does there have to be more in order to give Him the place of not just Savior, but Lord and King?
I close out with a snippet from Guzik's commentary:
1. They spoke with clear logic when they asked, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?” It is fair to ask, who has done more than Jesus?
i. If Jesus isn’t the Messiah, then when Messiah comes, will he…
· Do more miracles than Jesus?
· Teach with more insight and authority than Jesus?
· Love more remarkably than Jesus?
· Suffer with more courage than Jesus?
· Atone for more sinners than Jesus?
· Raise from the dead with more triumph than Jesus?
· Ascend to heaven in greater glory than Jesus?
· Present a greater Gospel than Jesus?
· Change more lives than Jesus?
· Free more addictions than Jesus?
· Comfort more grief-stricken hearts than Jesus?
· Heal more broken hearts than Jesus?
· Restore more marriages than Jesus?
· Triumph over more tyrants than Jesus?
· Gain more followers than Jesus?
ii. None of this is possible. No one can do more than Jesus did, and He deserves all our confidence, life, and faith as Messiah.
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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