Episode 2206 - Lesson 6 - Thursday Nov. 07 - The Witness of the Crowd

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7:37, 38, NKJV). John recorded, numerous times, Jesus making bold statements about Himself, about who He was and what He came to do. The lines quoted above from John 7:37, 38 are another example of what Jesus claimed about Himself and about what He would do to all who come to Him. These were astonishing claims, as well. When Jesus spoke to the Jews attending the Feast of Tabernacles, what was the response of many in the crowd? (See John 7:37–53.) Some said He was the Prophet like Moses predicted long ago (see Deut. 18:15–19). Others thought Jesus was the Christ. But this brought the argument that the Messiah would not come from Galilee, that He had to be of the Davidic line, and that He had to be born in Bethlehem—all of which were true about Jesus (compare with Matthew 1–2), though many did not seem to know this! Even the arresting officers were stymied by Him and the eloquence of His words. The Pharisees responded to the officers with another question. “ ‘Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?’ ” (John 7:48, NKJV). This question from the Pharisees gave John the opportunity again to bring in Nicodemus, who, after having had his meeting with Jesus, was seeking to protect Jesus from their machinations. “ ‘Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?’ ” (John 7:51, NKJV). Did Nicodemus ever accept Jesus as the Messiah? Though this scene does not prove that he had, between this act and what he did after Jesus died (see John 19:39, 40), the Bible gives us solid evidence that Nicodemus did in fact come to believe in Him. And so, the answer to their question was, yes, in fact, one of the Pharisees did believe in Him, after all. Read John 7:49. What were the leaders saying that showed their disdain for the masses who followed after Jesus? What lesson might be here for us?