Daily Good News – God’s Timing

May 20, 2015 1532

 

“No one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come” (John 7:30).

There were many in the crowd who would have liked to see Jesus permanently removed. Jesus had shocked both the ordinary people and the authorities with his statement that they might know that he came from Nazareth, and they might know his family, but ultimately he had come direct from God. Then he claimed to know God.

The people to whom Jesus was speaking believed they were God’s special people. They believed they had a special relationship with God. Here was this man from Nazareth claiming that he had a unique relationship with God and that he alone knew God’s will. This was the ‘ultimate sin’ in the eyes of the Jewish priests and rabbis: the sin of blasphemy. No person had the right to speak like this.

They were right: no ordinary person can make these claims. Only Jesus as the Son of God could claim to come from God and to know his will.

‘His time’ refers to Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. Until the time was right for that to happen, Jesus was safe, and free to go about his work of preaching, healing and telling people the real story of God, as opposed to the false story their leaders had constructed over the years.

That truth applies to all God’s servants who share the truth of the gospel with others. Our lives are in his hands, and only when our task is completed will he lay us down and tuck us in for our long sleep.

 

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