Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 424
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
7:24-45
of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the
Sabbath? Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other,
“Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? But here he is, speaking in public,
and they say nothing to him. Could our leaders possibly believe that he is
the Messiah? But how could he be? For we know where this man comes
from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know
where he comes from.”
While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know
me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The
one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. But I know him because
I come from him, and he sent me to you.” Then the leaders tried to arrest
him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they
said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than
this man has done?”
When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things,
they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. But Jesus
told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the
one who sent me. You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot
go where I am going.”
The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is he planning to go?” they asked. “Is he thinking of leaving the country and going to
the Jews in other lands? Maybe he will even teach the Greeks! What does
he mean when he says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You
cannot go where I am going’?”
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the
crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in
me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water
will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of
the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit
had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely
this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” Others said, “He is the
Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from
Galilee? For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the
royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”
So the crowd was divided about him. Some even wanted him arrested, but
no one laid a hand on him.
When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the
leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
