Anchor My Faith

TiThe Officers Did Not Arrest Jesustle

Scripture: John 7:45-52

We ended the previous lesson wondering what happened to the officers (temple police) who were sent to arrest Jesus. We are about to find out.

^{Jn 7:45} “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”’

Our speculation about the officers was correct. They went to arrest Jesus but paused long enough to listen to him teach and were amazed. They apparently stayed to the end of his teaching session and then returned to the chief priests and Pharisees without Jesus, disobeying orders because of what they heard Jesus say. It is true that “No one ever spoke like this man!” because no other man in history has been fully God and thus able to speak with the infinite knowledge and authority of God himself. His teaching was so much more profound than what these officers heard from their teachers that they were unwilling to arrest Jesus.

^{Jn 7:47} “The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”’

The Pharisees believed that Jesus was an imposter and were unwilling to carefully examine what Jesus was teaching and doing and test it against the Scriptures they knew so well. The Pharisees were unwilling to ask the officers what Jesus said, or did that convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah, but instead accused them of being deluded. Their minds were made up and anyone else who accepted and embraced the teachings of Jesus were considered to be deceived and a victim of false information and were accursed. These Pharisees were blind to the evidence Jesus was presenting to them because of their pride and hardness of heart.

^{Jn 7:50} “Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”’

The answer to the question the Pharisees asked the returning officers was actually yes. Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, had gone to talk with Jesus, now stands up for Jesus. He claims that these Pharisees had judged Jesus without first giving him a hearing and learning from what he does. They were not willing to listen to Nicodemus and asks if he is also from Galilee like they assumed Jesus was. If these Pharisees were willing to investigate the birth of Jesus they would have found that he was virgin born in Bethlehem, just as the Scriptures said he would be. The fact that Jesus grew up in Galilee was enough proof for the Pharisees to not investigate any further and to reject him as the Messiah.

Conclusion

It is amazing the kind of logic a spiritually dead person can embrace in making choices. These Pharisees are examples of those in Romans 3:10 – 12 who do not understand and do not seek for God. They have turned aside and have become worthless and have replaced good with evil. There is also a warning here for believers who do not know the word of God and thus are not using it as a guide for their lives.