Scripture Reading: John 7:37-46
In the chapter from which our passage is taken we find much about how different people regarded Jesus. His brothers did not believe on Him, and yet they urged Him to put on a bold face and go up to the feast. Just what their motive was we are not told. They seem to have wanted him to make a display of His power at Jerusalem, to show the people there what He was and what He could do. Or perhaps they only taunted Him, professing to believe in His power. Jesus knew that the Jews at Jerusalem were plotting to kill Him, and as His “hour” was not yet come, He declined to go to the feast, but said to His brothers that they should go up. The world did not hate them — no one was plotting for their lives. They would not be molested if they went.
Later, however, Jesus did go up to the feast and taught in the temple. There was a great deal of discussion about Him then, and all sorts of opinions were expressed. The Jews wondered at the wisdom of His teaching, since He had not been trained in their schools, had not sat at the feet of their great rabbis, nor learned wisdom from them. Jesus gave the honor to His Father, saying, “My doctrine in not mine, but His that sent me” (v.16). The people wondered who He could be. They sought to take Him, to arrest Him, but no one laid His hand upon Him. There was a divine protection about Him, “because His hour was not yet come” (v.30). God watches over the lives of His servants who trust Him, who are doing His work in the world, and lets no evil touch them. “Every man is immortal till His work is done.”
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