“Jesus Knows what is in Man.”

John 2:23-25

The title someone placed above these verses in my English Standard Version of the Bible is: “Jesus Knows what is in Man.”  It is important to understand these verses are not referring to how we were designed, for our Designer has full understanding of His design.  In Psalm 139:13, we are told, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”  And in the same chapter verse 16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.”  So this heading is not addressing livers, brains, kidneys, or any other visible parts.

Jesus is referring to what Scripture calls the heart, and lets be clear He is not talking about that organ in your chest that pumps blood, He is not addressing something seen, but the real you, and the Bible addresses this as the heart or the Soul of a person.  Your Soul is unseen and cannot be removed by a medical doctor or changed from bad to good but your Creator, Jesus Christ will when invited, do just that.  The Scripture is very clear on this, that man has a choice to invite or reject this gift of life offered by Jesus.  But that does not make Christian robots, they still must choose how to walk in this world: according to the flesh, or in the Spirit.

So when it is states in John 2:24-25, “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” Jesus being the designer saw the Soul of people, He designed them with mind, will, and emotions, we often see the reaction of the Soul, but none of us have the ability to look into a person’s soul, or heart.  One of the best examples of this is found in the gospel according to Mark 2:1-12.  Mark gave this account of Jesus returning to Capernaum and when the neighbors found out that he was at home so many came that no one else could get in and Jesus was preaching the word to them; that is when four guys showed up with a paralytic, and when they could not get into the house they removed the roof above Jesus, and after making an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

Picking up Mark’s account in verse 5, “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”  Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that?”  He is blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” –he said to the paralytic – “I say to you rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”  And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

As a side note; I want friends like these four men who brought their friend to Jesus, who healed him.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice