(John 7:1-8) After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. 3 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. 4 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.” 5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him. 6 So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. 8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.”
Like God has done for most things, Jesus eased into telling His disciples about His ultimate reason for coming to earth in order to prepare them...
(John 7:33) Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me..."
God always knew that the Israelites would reject and kill Him. God allowed this to happen and used this to bring about the greatest thing ever - the possibility of salvation to all people. According to the Abrahamic covenant - through the Israelites, all nations would be blessed! Even as we have been given "hindsight" from God's word - even in its simplicity, it's still not the easiest to explain sometimes. So, even when Jesus explained in a little more detail about His work on the cross and hinted that the Millennial kingdom would be put on hold - most of them still didn't understand...
(John 8:21-30) Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
In the following scriptures, Jesus was still preaching the kingdom of God to the people. Along with that, He was still healing people - which WAS a sign to them - - - but right after seeing a miracle - they asked Him for a sign!!! If they had actually seen the sign and saw and believed that Jesus was their Messiah, they would have gone into their Millennial kingdom, which is basically what Jesus told them in verse 20...
(Like 11:14-23) And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17 But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. 22 But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
Because of the Israelite nation's disbelief, and rejection of their Messiah the first time, their Jewish Age was put on hold. At some point, when their Jewish Age continues, their last seven years (called the Tribulation) will have great and terrible signs. They will have to be REALLY blind not to see and recognize those! And those not becoming believers during this time will be plundered - and will be scattered. What's that saying, "Some people gotta learn the hard way?" Well...
(Luke 11:27-28) While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Today's takeaway: what a weird shout-out to God! Probably one of those types of women who use phrases like "If Mama's not happy - no one is!" or "The wife is always right!"??? Mary only provided the human entity to Jesus. She was born a sinner like everyone else, then at some point (before she conceived Jesus), she chose to become a believer. One should never put her higher than God. One should never pray to her. She's only human. We, only ever, should look to and pray to God. How quickly people will invent new religions and cults just to avoid doing things God's way! And Satan will do anything to help divert our attention...
(1 John 4:1-17) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
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