7:22
Jesus tells John’s disciples to inform John that “the blind receive sight, the lame walk ... and good news is proclaimed to the poor”. Notice the emphasis on the visible demonstrations of kingdom power, but also Jesus closing with “good news is proclaimed”. There is a false dichotomy in the church between signs and teaching. As we have already noted, the two go together with Jesus, and so they should in the church today. When the kingdom of God is at hand things happen! We should also note that miracles in no way guarantee conversion. The Israelites in Moses’ day witnessed many wonderful things yet the vast majority did not believe. In Jesus’ day people saw many things, but did not believe. Equally we should note that God still does miracles. Jesus urged people to believe because of the miracles. The apostles did signs and wonders. So if we think that just because there are miracles people will believe we are naive, but if we decide then that there should be no miracles we are going against the practice of the Bible and of Jesus. We do, we proclaim, and we teach.
7:23
Jesus is God. He is both God and man. He is unique. Jesus does not fit into any neat box, and He brings the kingdom, He brings revelation of God and of ourselves. He speaks from a Godly perspective, not man’s perspective. Therefore there will always be things that upset us or challenge us. When such times arise we have a choice. We can abandon Jesus, we take offence and go away. Or we can humble ourselves and let Jesus teach us and change us. If we choose the latter course then we are blessed.
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