30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” John 7:30-36
In so many ways, we are constantly reminded that we live in a world where we are in a battle between good and evil. We either factor in for good or for evil on any given moment. We do well when we carefully evaluate whether we are factoring in for the advancement of good or not. When we do this, we can be assured that we are abiding in His truth. This is the key for advancing good in this world: having His word abide in us and us abiding in Him.
In our text today, we are told, the religious leaders wanted to seize the Lord Jesus and kill Him. Yet, "many in the crowd believed." Herein is the battle between good and evil on display. Many of the people recognized the Lord Jesus was sent by God. The Pharisees heard the crowd speaking well about the Lord Jesus, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest Him with the goal of getting rid of Him. This is what we do to those who are not easily controlled; we find a way to get rid of them.
The Lord Jesus then said in v.33-34, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." The Lord Jesus was fully aware of the sovereign plan of the Father. He knew the Father was invisibly protecting Him. He was confident that no one could touch Him until His hour to glorify His Father, and so He continues His ministry with the awareness that all the opposition against Him could go no further than God's will for Him.
This is always true for us, His followers. We can be confident
Then the Jews said to one another in v.35-36, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” This response from the Jews underscores why we miss the leading of the Lord: we think as men rather than as followers of the God of the universe. It also explains why the religious leaders wanted to kill the Lord Jesus: they could not understand or control Him. This is how we usually respond to those in our lives like this.
There is a quote that applies to this very well: "The tighter we squeeze the less we have." The more we try to hang on to something or “strangle” it, the more hurtful it can be or hard it is to hang on to. If we close our fist, how can we grab anything, whereas, if we open our hands, it will be very easy for something to fall into them. The more we walk in His truth, being defined by it, the more we will see Him with our hearts. The key, once again, is He is defining our lives.
I close today's blog with a quote from Mike Yaconelli, "I want a lifetime of holy moments. Every day I want to be in dangerous proximity to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning and is filled with adventure, wonder, risk, and danger. I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus, not knowing whether to cry or laugh."
