Could this be the Christ?

John 7:25-31

This morning as I read this Scripture, I revisited the French philosopher and author Blaise Pascal who lived from 1623 – 1662, and these are some of his thoughts:  “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.”

“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

As I was reading John 7:25-31, it seemed like Pascal understood the dilemma that many in the crowd in Jerusalem were going through, “Can this be the Christ?”  And if we believe it is, what will they do to us?  Many in Jerusalem had been looking for the Christ, the promised Messiah, so listen to what they were saying, “Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?  And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him!  Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? (John 7:25-26)  “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.”  Pascal understood the predicament they faced, it was a battle of some knowledge coming up against the light for those who wanted to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.  And in verse 27, we have the shadows that blind those who don’t.  Listen; “But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

It is very interesting that Jesus’ reply is not a statement, but a question, “You know me, and you know where I come from?  But I have not come of my own accord.  He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.  (Note: Jesus has moved the conversation from a question to a statement.)  I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”  And now the rest of this story; “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.  Yet many of the people believed in him.  They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

In the second quote of Pascal, he asks the question what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false?  He is referring to the eternal not the temporal because in the temporal it cost many of them a great price.  Many were disowned and put out of the family and friends acted as if they had died.  In Hebrews 11:36-38, we have this account; “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they where sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”  That is an eyewitness report of what happened to many who took the wise wager of belief in Jesus Christ.

Now we no longer live in the time that Jesus walked on planet earth, but we still have the same dilemma that many in the crowd in Jerusalem were going through, “Can this be the Christ?”  And in the world we live in, it will cost you to place your trust and faith in what He has promised.  At this time many are being disowned by parents and family and in many parts of this world they are being jeered and flogged, some are being put in prison and others or being murdered.  And yet in most areas of the United States, we seem to have a faith that cost very little, maybe someone is making fun of you, or you have been turned down for a promotion, if you stand for the things of God.  But if you have not noticed, things have changed, what was once good is now being called evil, and what was evil is now being called good.  God sent a prophet named Isaiah to tell us about such a time, and about such a people, I believe we are in that time, and there is evidence that declares we are those people.  You will find that in Isaiah 5:20!
 
“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice