THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part XXII: Trusting In Christ Due To His Messianic Identity In His Human Earthly Origins

(John 7:37-52; 8:12)

I. Introduction

A. John's Gospel presents Jesus as Messiah and Son of God that men might trust in Him to be saved, John 20:31.

B. However, His early ties to Galilee and ignorance of His human origins led many to doubt He was the Messiah, so John 7:37-52 and 8:12 [with textual criticism] gives full cause for us to trust in Jesus regarding these issues:

II. Trusting In Christ Due To His Messianic Identity In His Human Earthly Origins, John 7:37-52; 8:12.

A. Jesus made a startling announcement that caused many in Israel to think He was God's Prophet, John 7:37-40:

1. On the last, great day of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2), the only day that water was not carried from the Pool of Siloam and poured out in a basin at the base of the altar (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to John 7:37-39), Jesus startled the crowd, calling, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water," John 7:37-38.

2. John explained that Jesus here spoke figuratively of God's provision of the Holy Spirit that believers would receive when the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost following Christ's glorification in heaven, John 7:39.

3. This startling announcement by Jesus caused many of the Jews to think Jesus was truly the Prophet like unto Moses Who had been predicted to come into the world, John 7:40 with Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

B. Yet, many rejected this view due to what problem they thought existed concerning Jesus' origins: they thought Scripture taught the Messiah would come from Bethlehem of David's line, not from Galilee, John 7:41-52.

C. Actually, it was Israel's ignorance of Scripture and the historical facts that led to this unbelief (as follows):

1. John 8:12 initially immediately followed John 7:52 as shown by textual criticism: the Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 302 claims "(a)lmost all textual scholars agree that these verses [John 7:53-8:11] were not part of the original manuscript of the Gospel. . . The style and vocabulary of this passage differ from the rest of the Gospel, and the passage interrupts the sequence from 7:52-8:12. It is probably part of true oral tradition which was added to later Greek manuscripts by copyists." (brackets ours) It is likely "a rare extrabiblical authentic tradition about Jesus" (Ibid., p. 346) to be viewed by itself.

2. Thus, Jesus in John 8:12 directly answered the Pharisees' objection in John 7:52 about Jesus' connection to Galilee, showing that the Messiah was indeed Scripturally to be identified with Galilee (as follows):

a. When in John 8:12 Jesus claimed He was the "light of the world" immediately following the Pharisees' charge in John 7:52 that no prophet was to arise in Galilee, He referred to His fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1-2 that "Galilee of the nations" in the borders of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali would see "a great light."

b. That "great light" is explained in Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV to be a "child" that "is born" unto "us," a "son" who "is given" unto "us" Who would be called "Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" to rule "upon the throne of David" as the Messiah, B. K. C., O. T., p. 1052.

c. Hence, Jesus in John 8:12 indicated that Israel's Pharisees were ignorant of how Isaiah 9:1-6 in Scripture foretold the connection of Israel's Messiah with a ministry in Galilee!

3. Also, other New Testament Gospel testimonies reveal that the people's view that Jesus had not been born in Bethlehem of the line of David erred due to ignorance of Jesus' early human history, John 7:42 et al.:

a. When John wrote his Gospel record, the content of the "Synoptic Gospels" [Matthew, Mark and Luke] (Ibid., p. 268) had already been written and was widely circulating in the Church, Ibid., p. 267,16, 99, 199.

b. Thus, John's readers would already have known that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem from Matthew 2:1 and Luke 2:1-11, and that He was humanly from David's line from Matthew 1:6-17 and Luke 3:23-31.

c. The errant idea, then, that Jesus, being raised in Galilee, was not born in Bethlehem of David's seed, is an error that arose out of ignorance of Christ's early human years, and John did not bother to defend the fact that Jesus did fulfill Scripture here as he knew his readers already realized it from the Synoptics!

Lesson: Many in Israel were ignorant of (1) Jesus' historical origin in Bethlehem of David's line and (2) of the Scripture that predicted that He as the Messiah would minister in Galilee, so (3) they rejected Him as the Messiah.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation based on the fact that His human origins and identity with Bethlehem, David's line and Galilee are fully Scriptural and historical. (2) May we also escape the error of many in Jesus' day by by INVESTIGATING SCRIPTURE and HISTORICAL FACTS to DISCERN the TRUTH!