Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Seven

                                                                                                                                               Verses 25-29

Some of these Jews began to debate among themselves about who Jesus was and where He came from. They wondered why their rulers had not already ordered Jesus' arrest. They displayed their ignorance of the scripture when they said that no one could know from where the Messiah would come. Micah 5:2.

Jesus must have been annoyed by their ignorance because He began to preach louder in the Temple. Jesus told them that they already knew fully well who He was, and He admitted that He knew that they knew that He came from Galilee to Judea. But they evidently did not know Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would begin His preaching in Galilee. Isaiah 9:1-2. Perhaps Jesus did not correct their ignorance by quoting Micah's and Isaiah"s prophecies because He knew that deep in their hearts they already knew that He was the Messiah, but if they were too stubborn to ask Him exactly where He was born, then they would refuse to believe even if He told them. The excessive pride within humans can often cause them to reject the truth so that they can still cling to their religion. Jesus told them that they really did not know His Father, because if they did, they would recognize that He demonstrated the very same mercy and compassion of His Father which should bring them to an outward faith in Him as being their Messiah and Savior.

                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                             Verses 30-36

The debate among the Jews and the Pharisees then became even more intense. Some of them decided to arrest Jesus, but they were not able to do so. Many others of them began to believe in Jesus as the Messiah because they reasoned rightly that the true Messiah could not do more miracles than Jesus did. The Pharisees became fed up with all the murmuring among the people, so they sent officers to arrest Jesus.

Jesus told them that He would be with them on the earth only for a little while, and then He would go back to His Father. Jesus implied that they should believe in Him while He was with them because after He was gone they would still seek for their Messiah, but they would never be able to find Him because He would be in Heaven where they would never be able to go without faith in Him as their Savior.

Many of these Jews still clung to their material ways of thinking because they thought that Jesus had said that He would travel to preach to the Gentiles. Because of their stubbornness and pride, these Jews simply could not open their spiritual natures to hear the spiritual truths that Jesus preached.