John 7:45-52 Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.
“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law - there is a curse on them.”
Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”
They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee” (NIV).
The temple guards listened to Jesus. But the leaders of the Pharisees did not listen to the temple guards, rather they insulted the guards.
Then those leaders made a generalization saying that none of the Pharisees had believed in Jesus. Yet did Nicodemus believe in Jesus? Whether he did or not at this juncture, he gave a rational response about their rejection of Jesus. But the leaders of the Pharisees did not listen to Nicodemus either. Instead they insulted him also.
Wild enough, this emotional string of insults exposes an evil mode of those involved in the insulting. I preface that mode to say there is a minuscule chance those leaders could have been unaware of what was written in Isaiah 9. Yet it is more likely they were ignoring and distorting Isaiah 9. What evil for those leaders to be ignoring and distorting Scripture.
Tragic.
Here is the Scripture they were ignoring:
Isaiah 9:1-2 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (NIV).
Indeed, the prophet Isaiah foretold of a great light which would come out of Galilee. This prophecy must have seemed bizarre at the time, because Galilee was part of the kingdom of Israel. Yet after the fall of the northern kingdom, Israel became flooded with Gentiles. Isaiah was correct.
Isaiah gave a prophecy of much hope in telling of a great light. That great light was the Messiah!
Yet the Pharisees diverted that truth or ignored that truth.
Tragedy continues two thousand years later as people ignore, distort, or even reject the revelations of Scripture.
Yet even in our time, many adhere to the revelations of Scripture! For example, verses or messages from Isaiah 9 are sung and stated often in Christian worship services all over the world during the Christmas season.
Though he was not born in Nazareth, it was the hometown of Jesus. Thus out of Galilee, at about age thirty, came the Messiah!
Hunter Irvine
Scripture Love Blog
