August 4, 2026 • 14 mins
A murder plot is already circulating in Jerusalem and somehow Jesus is still teaching in public. That contradiction sparks the question we lean into today: if the religious authorities think He’s a fraud, why can’t they stop Him and what does that reveal about who He is?
We’re in John 7:25-36 at the Feast of Booths, where the the thoughts of the crowd are split. Some wonder if the leaders quietly know Jesus is the Christ. Others dismiss Him because they think they “know where He comes from.” We unpack how that argument works, why a popular tradition about the Messiah’s mysterious origins shaped public opinion, and how familiarity can become a mask for spiritual blindness. Knowing details about Jesus’ life isn’t the same thing as knowing Him.
From there we follow Jesus’ own words as He presses the issue: He did not come on His own, and the Father who sent Him is true. That takes the debate from hometown facts to divine origin, the relationship between Jesus and the Father, and the gospel claim that to know Jesus is to know God. We also explore the line “his hour had not yet come,” the failed attempts to arrest Him, and why His signs lead many to believe.
If you’ve ever felt torn between opinions, pressure, and the pull of truth, this passage will meet you there. Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
Grace and peace to you.
Thank you again for joining mefor the mysteries of God's Word.
Today we are in John chapterseven, and we will begin at
verse twenty five.
If you were with me last week,Jesus showed up about the middle
of the feast, and that was thefeast of the booths, and he
(00:35):
began teaching at the temple.
Shortly after he began, he wasconfronted by the Jewish leaders
about how he could have suchknowledge when he'd never
formally studied.
And Jesus went on to confrontthem, teaching them where true
knowledge comes from, and tomake right judgments, not to
(00:56):
judge just by outwardappearances.
Picking up in verse twenty fiveof that same chapter, some of
the people of Jerusalemtherefore said, Is not this the
man whom they seek to kill?
And here he is, speaking openly,and they say nothing to him.
(01:17):
Can it be that the authoritiesreally know he is the Christ?
But we know where this man comesfrom.
And when the Christ appears, noone will know where he comes
from.
Here in verses twenty fivethrough twenty-seven, that the
plot to kill Jesus was becomingknown publicly.
(01:38):
The people in Jerusalem knewabout the plot.
And Jesus boldly teaching inpublic and calling out these
religious leaders for theirhypocrisy really began to make
people question just who Jesuswas.
They're asking, do they knowthat he is the Christ?
(02:00):
There was great debate and therewas conflict amongst the people
at this feast.
Some believed he was the Christ.
Others believed he had a demonand was a false teacher.
But the question in everyone'smind was why are they not
arresting and silencing Jesus ifhe's really a fraud?
(02:25):
Could it be that the religiousleaders do believe that he is
the Christ?
The scripture does tell us thatsome of the rulers like
Nicodemus and Joseph ofArimathea did come to believe.
That tells us that there musthave been at least some debate
(02:46):
and confusion even amongst theleaders of the Jews.
One of the arguments that wasoften leveled against Jesus
being the Messiah was thatpeople knew him.
They knew him his whole life.
They knew his earthly fatherJoseph, and they knew his
earthly mother Mary.
(03:07):
His father was a carpenter wholived in Nazareth and was known
in the region of Galilee.
The scriptures only reveal thebirthplace of the Messiah to be
in Bethlehem, and there was atradition that had developed
amongst the Jews that theMessiah would suddenly appear,
(03:28):
that his origins would beunknown, and he would suddenly
bring salvation to the nation ofIsrael.
The Jewish leaders, of course,were quick to point out that
they knew Jesus and they knewhis father.
They were using that traditionto try and destroy Jesus'
credibility.
(03:49):
As I pointed out last week, ifthey would have investigated the
matter with due diligence, theywould have discovered the virgin
birth and the incarnation.
Picking up in verse twentyeight, so Jesus proclaimed as he
taught in the temple You know meand you know where I come from,
(04:14):
but I have not come of my ownaccord.
He who sent me is true, and himyou do not know.
I know him, for I come from him,and he sent me.
In verses twenty eight andtwenty nine, Jesus responds with
(04:34):
more teaching, and as heteaches, he addresses their
concerns about knowing him andknowing where he comes from.
But this statement Jesus says isa little bit sarcastic.
Some translations actuallyrender the statement, you know
me and you know where I am fromas a question, rather than a
(04:57):
statement, because these wordsstand in direct contrast to what
Jesus says later when he says,You neither know me nor my
father, because if you knew me,you would also know my father.
While the people knew whereJesus was from in an earthly
(05:18):
sense, they were blinded to histrue origins.
And Jesus is calling out thissuperficial knowledge of him,
and he is declaring his trueorigins.
Jesus says, I have not come ofmy own accord.
He who sent me is true.
(05:39):
Here Jesus begins to declare hisdivine origins and his
relationship with the Father.
But then Jesus says Him you donot know.
These Jewish leaders thoughtthey were so spiritually minded
and spiritually oriented, butJesus is telling them you don't
(06:01):
know the Father, because youdon't recognize that I am from
the Father.
As Jesus has said many times, Iand the Father are one.
To know Jesus is to know theFather.
As Jesus says in verse twentynine, I know him, for I come
(06:22):
from him, and he sent me.
Jesus speaks about theforeordained plan of God to send
his only Son into a rebellious,condemned world, to reveal the
nature and truth of who theFather is and bring salvation to
all who would believe.
(06:43):
This is the eternal covenantbetween God the Father and God
the Son.
The Son of God came to do thewill of the Father, and to show
mankind the exact representationof the Father, sacrificing
himself in our place for oursin.
(07:05):
Picking up in verse thirty.
So they were seeking to arresthim, but no one laid a hand on
him because his hour had not yetcome.
Yet many of the people believedin him.
They said, When the Christappears, will he do more signs
than this man has done?
(07:28):
We see in verse thirty thatthey're looking to arrest Jesus.
There were actually multipletimes during the ministry of
Jesus that the enemies of Jesussought to put an end to what
they considered blasphemy andfalse teaching.
However, God the Father wasalways sovereignly in control,
(07:48):
and he kept the enemies of Jesusfrom touching him until his
ministry on earth was complete.
As it reads, because his hourhad not yet come.
Jesus often spoke of his hour orhis time, which he used to
describe the Passion Week andHis crucifixion.
(08:13):
And at this time in Jesus'ministry, many people were
believing.
The crowds themselves weredivided.
Many wanted to arrest Jesus, butyet some genuinely came to
believe in him as the Messiah.
Throughout all of history therehas always been a remnant of
(08:35):
believers that existed amongstthe crowds.
People were saying, When theChrist appears will he do more
signs than this?
In the Old Testament prophecies,the Messiah was expected to be a
prophet like Moses, to performmany miraculous signs.
(08:56):
Jesus had already healed thesick, driven out demons, he had
fed the five thousand.
Clearly, the Messiah could notdo greater signs than Jesus was
doing.
And we learn later in the Gospelof John that one of the main
reasons for Jesus performingmiracles is so that people would
(09:19):
recognize him as the Messiah.
John chapter twenty, versesthirty through thirty one read
Now Jesus did many other signsin the presence of his
disciples, which are not writtenin this book, but these are
written so that you may believethat Jesus is the Christ, the
(09:43):
Son of God, and that bybelieving you may have life in
his name.
Picking up in verse thirty two.
The Pharisees heard the crowdmuttering these things about
him, and the chief priests andPharisees sent officers to
arrest him.
(10:05):
In verse thirty two, the crowd,wondering if this might be the
Christ because they're notarresting Jesus, prompts the
chief priests and the Phariseesto send officers to arrest him.
Just a little note on the chiefpriest and the Pharisees.
Historically, those two groups,the chief priests and the
(10:28):
Pharisees, don't get along.
Most of the chief priests wereSadducees, and they were the
political and religiousopponents of the Pharisees.
You could consider the Phariseesthe hard right and the Sadducees
the far left in the Jewishpolitical system.
Yet here in the Gospel of John,we see them repeatedly linked
(10:52):
together out of their mutualhatred for Jesus.
Both of these groups, the chiefpriests and the Pharisees,
feared those who were puttingtheir faith in Jesus as the
Messiah, because they wereleaving the Jewish traditions
behind.
They wanted this put to an end.
So the Jewish leaders sentofficers to arrest Jesus, so
(11:15):
that the people would againbegin to respect them and not
him.
However, as we will see, theirattempts will be unsuccessful
because his hour has not yetcome.
In verse thirty three we pick upJesus then said, I will be with
(11:37):
you a little longer, and then Iam going to him who sent me.
You will seek me, and you willnot find me.
Where I am you cannot come.
The Jews said to one another,Where does this man intend to go
that we can't find him?
Does he intend to go to thedispersion amongst the Greeks
(11:58):
and teach to the Greeks?
What does he mean?
You will seek me and you willnot find me, and where I am
going you cannot come.
In our last four verses fortoday Jesus says I am going to
him who sent me.
Jesus speaks of his futureascension into heaven.
(12:20):
Jesus is saying that he willreturn to the place from which
he came, the right hand of theFather.
This is a prophecy to theunbelieving Jewish nation that
they will one day long for andweep for their Messiah.
The time to believe on Jesus forsalvation is today, but there
(12:43):
will come a time when it is toolate.
Jesus says where I am you cannotcome.
Jesus says this becauseunbelievers cannot come to
heaven.
Unbelievers die in their sin,and they are sent to eternal
punishment.
(13:04):
The Jews, of course, do notunderstand this.
They see things only in terms ofthe flesh.
They mock Jesus, asking if he'sgoing to go amongst the
dispersion amongst the Greeks,which simply meant, are you
going to go outside of theJewish people?
Are you going to go to the RomanEmpire and beyond?
(13:24):
But my friends, seek Jesus whilehe can be found.
Trust on him.
Believe on his name for eternallife.
For if you confess him as yourLord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
Thank you for joining me today.
And God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you.
Thank you again for joining mefor the mysteries of God's Word.
Today we are in John chapterseven, and we will begin at
verse twenty five.
If you were with me last week,Jesus showed up about the middle
of the feast, and that was thefeast of the booths, and he
(00:35):
began teaching at the temple.
Shortly after he began, he wasconfronted by the Jewish leaders
about how he could have suchknowledge when he'd never
formally studied.
And Jesus went on to confrontthem, teaching them where true
knowledge comes from, and tomake right judgments, not to
(00:56):
judge just by outwardappearances.
Picking up in verse twenty fiveof that same chapter, some of
the people of Jerusalemtherefore said, Is not this the
man whom they seek to kill?
And here he is, speaking openly,and they say nothing to him.
(01:17):
Can it be that the authoritiesreally know he is the Christ?
But we know where this man comesfrom.
And when the Christ appears, noone will know where he comes
from.
Here in verses twenty fivethrough twenty-seven, that the
plot to kill Jesus was becomingknown publicly.
(01:38):
The people in Jerusalem knewabout the plot.
And Jesus boldly teaching inpublic and calling out these
religious leaders for theirhypocrisy really began to make
people question just who Jesuswas.
They're asking, do they knowthat he is the Christ?
(02:00):
There was great debate and therewas conflict amongst the people
at this feast.
Some believed he was the Christ.
Others believed he had a demonand was a false teacher.
But the question in everyone'smind was why are they not
arresting and silencing Jesus ifhe's really a fraud?
(02:25):
Could it be that the religiousleaders do believe that he is
the Christ?
The scripture does tell us thatsome of the rulers like
Nicodemus and Joseph ofArimathea did come to believe.
That tells us that there musthave been at least some debate
(02:46):
and confusion even amongst theleaders of the Jews.
One of the arguments that wasoften leveled against Jesus
being the Messiah was thatpeople knew him.
They knew him his whole life.
They knew his earthly fatherJoseph, and they knew his
earthly mother Mary.
(03:07):
His father was a carpenter wholived in Nazareth and was known
in the region of Galilee.
The scriptures only reveal thebirthplace of the Messiah to be
in Bethlehem, and there was atradition that had developed
amongst the Jews that theMessiah would suddenly appear,
(03:28):
that his origins would beunknown, and he would suddenly
bring salvation to the nation ofIsrael.
The Jewish leaders, of course,were quick to point out that
they knew Jesus and they knewhis father.
They were using that traditionto try and destroy Jesus'
credibility.
(03:49):
As I pointed out last week, ifthey would have investigated the
matter with due diligence, theywould have discovered the virgin
birth and the incarnation.
Picking up in verse twentyeight, so Jesus proclaimed as he
taught in the temple You know meand you know where I come from,
(04:14):
but I have not come of my ownaccord.
He who sent me is true, and himyou do not know.
I know him, for I come from him,and he sent me.
In verses twenty eight andtwenty nine, Jesus responds with
(04:34):
more teaching, and as heteaches, he addresses their
concerns about knowing him andknowing where he comes from.
But this statement Jesus says isa little bit sarcastic.
Some translations actuallyrender the statement, you know
me and you know where I am fromas a question, rather than a
(04:57):
statement, because these wordsstand in direct contrast to what
Jesus says later when he says,You neither know me nor my
father, because if you knew me,you would also know my father.
While the people knew whereJesus was from in an earthly
(05:18):
sense, they were blinded to histrue origins.
And Jesus is calling out thissuperficial knowledge of him,
and he is declaring his trueorigins.
Jesus says, I have not come ofmy own accord.
He who sent me is true.
(05:39):
Here Jesus begins to declare hisdivine origins and his
relationship with the Father.
But then Jesus says Him you donot know.
These Jewish leaders thoughtthey were so spiritually minded
and spiritually oriented, butJesus is telling them you don't
(06:01):
know the Father, because youdon't recognize that I am from
the Father.
As Jesus has said many times, Iand the Father are one.
To know Jesus is to know theFather.
As Jesus says in verse twentynine, I know him, for I come
(06:22):
from him, and he sent me.
Jesus speaks about theforeordained plan of God to send
his only Son into a rebellious,condemned world, to reveal the
nature and truth of who theFather is and bring salvation to
all who would believe.
(06:43):
This is the eternal covenantbetween God the Father and God
the Son.
The Son of God came to do thewill of the Father, and to show
mankind the exact representationof the Father, sacrificing
himself in our place for oursin.
(07:05):
Picking up in verse thirty.
So they were seeking to arresthim, but no one laid a hand on
him because his hour had not yetcome.
Yet many of the people believedin him.
They said, When the Christappears, will he do more signs
than this man has done?
(07:28):
We see in verse thirty thatthey're looking to arrest Jesus.
There were actually multipletimes during the ministry of
Jesus that the enemies of Jesussought to put an end to what
they considered blasphemy andfalse teaching.
However, God the Father wasalways sovereignly in control,
(07:48):
and he kept the enemies of Jesusfrom touching him until his
ministry on earth was complete.
As it reads, because his hourhad not yet come.
Jesus often spoke of his hour orhis time, which he used to
describe the Passion Week andHis crucifixion.
(08:13):
And at this time in Jesus'ministry, many people were
believing.
The crowds themselves weredivided.
Many wanted to arrest Jesus, butyet some genuinely came to
believe in him as the Messiah.
Throughout all of history therehas always been a remnant of
(08:35):
believers that existed amongstthe crowds.
People were saying, When theChrist appears will he do more
signs than this?
In the Old Testament prophecies,the Messiah was expected to be a
prophet like Moses, to performmany miraculous signs.
(08:56):
Jesus had already healed thesick, driven out demons, he had
fed the five thousand.
Clearly, the Messiah could notdo greater signs than Jesus was
doing.
And we learn later in the Gospelof John that one of the main
reasons for Jesus performingmiracles is so that people would
(09:19):
recognize him as the Messiah.
John chapter twenty, versesthirty through thirty one read
Now Jesus did many other signsin the presence of his
disciples, which are not writtenin this book, but these are
written so that you may believethat Jesus is the Christ, the
(09:43):
Son of God, and that bybelieving you may have life in
his name.
Picking up in verse thirty two.
The Pharisees heard the crowdmuttering these things about
him, and the chief priests andPharisees sent officers to
arrest him.
(10:05):
In verse thirty two, the crowd,wondering if this might be the
Christ because they're notarresting Jesus, prompts the
chief priests and the Phariseesto send officers to arrest him.
Just a little note on the chiefpriest and the Pharisees.
Historically, those two groups,the chief priests and the
(10:28):
Pharisees, don't get along.
Most of the chief priests wereSadducees, and they were the
political and religiousopponents of the Pharisees.
You could consider the Phariseesthe hard right and the Sadducees
the far left in the Jewishpolitical system.
Yet here in the Gospel of John,we see them repeatedly linked
(10:52):
together out of their mutualhatred for Jesus.
Both of these groups, the chiefpriests and the Pharisees,
feared those who were puttingtheir faith in Jesus as the
Messiah, because they wereleaving the Jewish traditions
behind.
They wanted this put to an end.
So the Jewish leaders sentofficers to arrest Jesus, so
(11:15):
that the people would againbegin to respect them and not
him.
However, as we will see, theirattempts will be unsuccessful
because his hour has not yetcome.
In verse thirty three we pick upJesus then said, I will be with
(11:37):
you a little longer, and then Iam going to him who sent me.
You will seek me, and you willnot find me.
Where I am you cannot come.
The Jews said to one another,Where does this man intend to go
that we can't find him?
Does he intend to go to thedispersion amongst the Greeks
(11:58):
and teach to the Greeks?
What does he mean?
You will seek me and you willnot find me, and where I am
going you cannot come.
In our last four verses fortoday Jesus says I am going to
him who sent me.
Jesus speaks of his futureascension into heaven.
(12:20):
Jesus is saying that he willreturn to the place from which
he came, the right hand of theFather.
This is a prophecy to theunbelieving Jewish nation that
they will one day long for andweep for their Messiah.
The time to believe on Jesus forsalvation is today, but there
(12:43):
will come a time when it is toolate.
Jesus says where I am you cannotcome.
Jesus says this becauseunbelievers cannot come to
heaven.
Unbelievers die in their sin,and they are sent to eternal
punishment.
(13:04):
The Jews, of course, do notunderstand this.
They see things only in terms ofthe flesh.
They mock Jesus, asking if he'sgoing to go amongst the
dispersion amongst the Greeks,which simply meant, are you
going to go outside of theJewish people?
Are you going to go to the RomanEmpire and beyond?
(13:24):
But my friends, seek Jesus whilehe can be found.
Trust on him.
Believe on his name for eternallife.
For if you confess him as yourLord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
Thank you for joining me today.
And God bless you this week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!