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by Sandy Shaw
What is it that keeps so many people away from Jesus Christ? When Jesus Christ loves men and women, with the love of God, and heals people, and ministers to ALL kinds of needs, forgiving sins, and removing many of the consequences of sin, why is it that so many keep as far away from Him as possible?
What is it that keeps so many people away from such a loving powerful merciful healing compassionate comforting Christ?
These verses in John Chapter 7 give us part of the answer to these piercing and penetrating and profound and upsetting questions.
These are the questions I find difficult!
Six months have elapsed since the scenario in John Chapter 6.
In John Chapter 7, it is the autumn Festival in Jerusalem, the Feast of Tabernacles. It was the time of remembering the forty years in the wilderness, and once a year over one million people would gather in Jerusalem, and live in tents and booths and tabernacles in the surrounding hills, reminding them of these 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and in the desert, with no fixed abode.
There was a plot to kill Jesus Christ, and Jesus knows about it.
Jesus’ brothers say to Him – you ought to leave here – leave the north – and get into the heart of things in Jerusalem. Go and be famous. Advertising pays!
Your disciples need you. You need a larger platform than away up here in the country. Move out into the open. Your gifts are wasted up here in Galilee.
This was really a form of temptation, as His family could not figure Him out. Jesus knew His time had not yet come and His timing is perfect.
His brothers try to tell Jesus Christ what to do. There are people today who continue to try to do that. No. No. He tells us.
There are some people who think they could improve upon the ministry of Jesus.
In one sense, here is a glorious opportunity. Did they want to have someone famous in the family? Or, was it jealousy, because, in verse 5, we read that his brothers did not believe in Him!
Do you really believe in Jesus, or do you just know Him or know of Him in some remote distant way?
They had grown up with Jesus. It is almost as if they are over familiar with Jesus.
It is possible to be familiar with Jesus without having believing faith.
Jesus says – You go to the Feast. If you go, you will not have men hating you. You will not be persecuted. There is no plot to kill you.
Jesus knew what was going on and Jesus still knows what is going on.
When you come to believe in Jesus and become really committed to him, people soon treat you differently, peculiarly, in a funny way, and I am not sure we ever become used to that!
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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