The People, II

John 7:²⁴ “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

In John 7:1-27 [please read], we see seven categories of people. Yesterday, we listed the first three categories; The Clueless, The Puzzled, and The Rulers. The fourth category is The Temple Guards. The temple guards are the ones that carry out the mission of the rulers. The temple guards are agents of the enemy; they could be your colleagues, but they have an assignment to arrest you. They could be your neighbour, but they have an assignment to hinder you or to bring you in. The fifth category is The Brothers of Jesus. These are the ones that will mock at you saying things like, “You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” [John 7:4]. If you do not listen carefully to what they are saying, you will think they are promoting you and your interest. You would not know that they are actually mocking you. The brothers are brethren, but they will mock you.

Category six is The Disciples. John and Co, those that followed Jesus. Then category seven is The Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour. In this light, we should be the disciples. When we have a mission of Christ, we should be the ones pushing it. We should be the disciples that are backing it up. We should be the disciples that are supporting the Master and being there for Him. We should be His hands, be His legs, be His voice, be His eyes, and be His feet. However, sometimes God wants you and I to be the Christ. That may sound like blasphemy, but it is not. Sometimes, God will want you and I to be the saviour. There are situations God will put you in for you to redeem the situation. So, Christ in you the hope of Glory actually redeems the situation.

Everybody has a destiny to fulfil in Christ. When you find yourself in the path of destiny, you are going to have these other six categories of people around you. You are going to have the brothers that mock you, the disciples that support you, the temple guards that try to arrest you, the rulers that are anti-you, there will be the puzzled that know enough but cannot connect the dots, there would also be the clueless that are like, ‘What is going on? Who is this lady? Who is this man? Who does he think he is? But in the perspective of being followers of Christ, what category do you fall into? Are you clueless, puzzled, a ruler, a temple guard, the brethren, or the disciples? God wants us to be disciples and that is why we must remain in His Word.

John 7:³⁰ “Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.” No one will kill you before your time. It will be impossible for any force to take you out before your time in the Mighty Name of Jesus. However, people die before their time every day. Why do people die before their time? I did not say why do people die young; Jesus died at thirty-three years and it was His time. I did not say why do people die old; Moses died at one hundred and twenty years and it was his time. No one will kill you before your time.

Prayer: Father, help me function consistently as a disciple of Jesus, in Jesus Name. Amen!