Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. Psalm 28:7.

Have we ever thought about what it was like for Jesus, the Son, to dwell with us and teach things our human nature, turned away from Him, refused to accept? We see human reasoning on display in our chapter, John 7. If we remember that the people hearing His words were hearing these things, so contrary to what they had been taught, without the benefit of thousands of years of refining and understanding as the Holy Spirit led. After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. v. 1-2. That feast was held in the fall. And we meet Jesus’ brothers. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him. So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” v. 3-8. At the feast, the Jews were looking for Jesus and saying, “Where is He.”…”He is a good man”…”No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray” v. 11-12. But when it was now in the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So He answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?” Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” v. 11-24. Again, listen to the reasoning of men…“Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?”…”Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they?”…”However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from.” v. 25-27. You can feel the turmoil. Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” v. 28-29. Can we understand the confusion? They believed God had always talked with them, His people…and Jesus said, You both know Me and know where I am from. But they didn’t understand. Some believed because of the signs Jesus did. The Pharisees wanted Jesus seized, v. 30-32. Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” v. 33-34. That confused them more. The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? What is this statement that He said, “You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am you cannot come?” Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. v. 35-39. And again the questions…“This certainly is the Prophet”…”This is the Christ”…”Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?”…”Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” v. 40-42. Being unsure, they can’t help but speak in questions. Their hearts are in turmoil. So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them), said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” Everyone went to his home. v. 43-53.

Reading this and the confusion of the people, I can’t help but think about Scripture…“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8. And the beginning of that chapter, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David….Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7. As Jesus said to His brothers, Your time is always opportune. And we have the blessing of always being able to turn to Him who speaks to us through Scripture and in our hearts turned to Him. We can have this heart in us…that we will always turn to Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, in trust. And He is here. Always. Trust Him to lead you faithfully. He knows.