Meditation
July 22, 2017
“Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”
“Nicodemus saith unto them, (He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” John 7:47-51
What hardness of heart is expressed in the above words from Holy Scripture!
The officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees returned empty-handed. The bitter envy and deep hatred of the rulers sent these officers of the temple to arrest Jesus and bring Him to them. So they went, to carry out their orders. But when they heard Jesus’ preaching, they were so filled with awe and wonder at His teaching that they could not lay their hands on Him. They brought back their report: “Never man spake like this man.”
Their simple, straightforward report brought the exasperated retort: “Are ye also deceived?”
The disciples: deceived! The multitudes: deceived! The officers: deceived! Fools! Blind!
Believing on Jesus! Only one man! One, over against the rulers, the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees.
These are the educated. These are the trained and schooled. They know the law.
They do not believe. They will not believe. They are too well-trained to be taken in. They are too intelligent to be deceived.
“But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”
One among this gathering one speaks up. One of them. One of the rulers. One of them who know the law.
As Nicodemus knows the law, so he speaks of the law. “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”
And as he knows and speaks of the law, so he has done. He came to Jesus by night. Jesus he heard. Jesus he understood. Jesus he believed. By Jesus and in Jesus he was blessed.
By Nicodemus, this one Pharisee teetering between fear and boldness, is his company’s hardness of heart fully exposed.
“Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?”
Yes! Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night.
Who, then, is deceived? Who is so foolishly blinded? Who is truly cursed in their blindness?
The Pharisees and rulers, who know not the end of the law, Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees and rulers, who foolishly use the law to justify themselves, clinging to their own self-righteousness.
Let us forsake the foolish blindness and the deception of self-justification. Let us flee from the curse of knowing the law without knowing the end of the law.
Let us flee with Nicodemus, to believe on Jesus Christ, the end of the law. Redeemed from the curse of the law by His blood, and blessed with His righteousness imputed to us, let us walk humbly with our God in the way of His law.
“Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”
“Nicodemus saith unto them, (He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” John 7:47-51
What hardness of heart is expressed in the above words from Holy Scripture!
The officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees returned empty-handed. The bitter envy and deep hatred of the rulers sent these officers of the temple to arrest Jesus and bring Him to them. So they went, to carry out their orders. But when they heard Jesus’ preaching, they were so filled with awe and wonder at His teaching that they could not lay their hands on Him. They brought back their report: “Never man spake like this man.”
Their simple, straightforward report brought the exasperated retort: “Are ye also deceived?”
The disciples: deceived! The multitudes: deceived! The officers: deceived! Fools! Blind!
Believing on Jesus! Only one man! One, over against the rulers, the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees.
These are the educated. These are the trained and schooled. They know the law.
They do not believe. They will not believe. They are too well-trained to be taken in. They are too intelligent to be deceived.
“But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”
One among this gathering one speaks up. One of them. One of the rulers. One of them who know the law.
As Nicodemus knows the law, so he speaks of the law. “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”
And as he knows and speaks of the law, so he has done. He came to Jesus by night. Jesus he heard. Jesus he understood. Jesus he believed. By Jesus and in Jesus he was blessed.
By Nicodemus, this one Pharisee teetering between fear and boldness, is his company’s hardness of heart fully exposed.
“Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?”
Yes! Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night.
Who, then, is deceived? Who is so foolishly blinded? Who is truly cursed in their blindness?
The Pharisees and rulers, who know not the end of the law, Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees and rulers, who foolishly use the law to justify themselves, clinging to their own self-righteousness.
Let us forsake the foolish blindness and the deception of self-justification. Let us flee from the curse of knowing the law without knowing the end of the law.
Let us flee with Nicodemus, to believe on Jesus Christ, the end of the law. Redeemed from the curse of the law by His blood, and blessed with His righteousness imputed to us, let us walk humbly with our God in the way of His law.
