About Jesus Steve Sweetman

About Jesus - Steve Sweetman

Unbelief Of The Jewish Leaders (ch. 7:45 - 52

In verse 45 we note that the Pharisees had sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus but they came back to the Pharisees empty handed.

In verse 46 the guards told the Pharisees that no man had ever spoken like this man. I believe the words Jesus spoke were entirely new to the guards. They had a lot to think about, yet beyond that, the words of Jesus were divine words, something these guards were not used to. The guards were obviously affected by what Jesus said, even though they did not understand or have a clue about what He said.

In verse 47 we see that the Pharisees believed that the guards had been deceived by Jesus. In reality, it was the Pharisees who were being deceived, not the guards.

In verse 48 the Pharisees asked the guards if any of the Jewish leaders had believed in Jesus. The implied answer was "no." The learned men of the Jews did not accept anything Jesus had said. It was only the ignorant and uneducated crowd that was beginning to accept Jesus as stated in verse 49.

Let's be clear about this; learned men and women aren't always right. That was the case back when Jesus was on earth and it's the case today.

The Pharisees weren’t all that accurate in their assessment of all the Pharisees not believing in Jesus. In verses 50 and 51 Nicodemus speaks up as one that was a learned man and was leaning towards Jesus’ direction. He suggested that the rest of the Pharisees should hear Jesus out because that is what their law required. They should not condemn a man without having a proper trial, without him having a valid chance to defend himself. So, we should note, like politicians today, the civil and religious Jewish leaders exaggerated for their own benefit.

We don't know for sure if Nicodemus experience a valid salvation, but, if I had to guess, my guess would be that he did. We might well see Nicodemus in Heaven.

In verse 52 we see that the Pharisees' anger turns towards Nicodemus. They ridiculed him by saying, "are you from Galilee too?" This was a put down on the part of the Pharisees. It is clear that the Jewish elite thought Galilee to be a place of no standing in comparison to Jerusalem . Centuries earlier, in 922 BC, the northern ten tribes of Israel broke away from the southern ten tribes. The south had no respect for the north, thus the reasoning behind the Pharisees sarcastic remarks spoken towards Nicodemus. Nothing good could ever come from the northern ten tribes. Of course, there were prophets in the Old Testament from these northern ten tribes.

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