John 7:32-36 – Faith in Jesus, the starting point of belief

The scheme of the Jewish leaders now found expression. When they perceived what the people thought of Jesus, they sent the temple guards to arrest Him. The Pharisees and the chief priests here refer to the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish council. At this point, the Passover was about six months away. In verse 32, Jesus was making allusion to His impending departure. Here He anticipates His death and resurrection, and return to the Father. It would be during the period of His absence that they would be searching for Him and would not find Him. If they persist in their unbelief they would certainly not be able to go to where He was returning to, the side of the Father. Here we see Christ was totally unconcerned about the plot they had against Him. He knew that His destiny was entirely in the hand of the Father and not the Sanhedrin. Jesus’ whole thought was wrapped up in accomplishing the mission He was sent to do. What would we have done in similar situation? When we face opposition to what God had called us to do, will we look beyond the circumstances and stay focused on the mission? Like Christ we must.

Thinking naturally, his hearers were puzzled. They were not able to distinguish His heavenly origin. They could only understand His language from their human perspective. They were probably thinking that Jesus wanted to avoid the atmosphere in Jerusalem and Judea that had become increasingly hostile. They thought He wanted to take His teaching abroad to more receptive audiences. So they wondered what He meant. They concluded that perhaps Jesus was going to the Jews scattered throughout the Roman Empire. There were many Jews who had returned to Palestine from the Babylonian exile when permission was granted. But they were also those that didn’t return. They thought Jesus was talking about going to that group of people, and then from there He would launch into proselyting the Greeks. Verse 36 tells us that they were truly confused. They just did not get what Christ was talking about.  

Looking from the natural level, it becomes difficult to understand the teaching of Jesus. If we want to discover where Jesus is and be with Him, the starting point would be to believe in Him. It is only by believing in Jesus can we find Him and be with Him. The key to knowing God is faith. We cannot fully understand everything in this life, but if we come by faith to Jesus, we can accept Him. It’s only then that our spiritual perception of Him will be opened and we will be able to see Him for Who He really is.