What Old Testament prophecies align with the people's questions in John 7:25? The People’s Whispered Question “Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, ‘Is this not the man they are seeking to kill?’” (John 7:25) The crowd knew the leaders wanted Jesus dead. That suspicion triggered memories of prophecies describing a righteous One whom the authorities would plot against. Below are key Old Testament passages that align with what the people sensed in that moment. Prophecies of Opposition and Plots to Kill the Righteous One • Psalm 2:1-3 – “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed…” • Isaiah 53:3-7 – “He was despised and rejected by men…Like a lamb led to the slaughter…By oppression and judgment He was taken away.” • Psalm 22:12-18 – David’s prophetic psalm pictures violent encirclement, mocking, piercing of hands and feet, and casting lots for garments—foreshadowing both plotting and execution. • Psalm 31:13 – “I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.” • Jeremiah 11:18-19 – The prophet, a type of Christ, laments: “I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter…‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit.’” These texts laid a foundation for the idea that God’s chosen Servant would face murderous hostility. Prophecies Hinting at a Hidden or Surprising Origin • Micah 5:2 – The Messiah would spring from insignificant Bethlehem, yet His “origins are from of old, from the days of eternity.” • Malachi 3:1 – “The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.” The suddenness fed the rabbinic notion that Messiah’s appearance would seem mysterious. • Isaiah 9:6-7 – A child would be born, yet He would bear divine titles—another clue that His earthly beginnings would mask an eternal nature. Because Jesus was openly known as “Jesus of Nazareth,” many thought He could not fit the expectation of a Messiah who would appear suddenly, with an origin hidden in God. How the Prophecies and the Crowd’s Question Converge • The leaders’ intent to kill Jesus (John 5:18; 7:1) mirrors the hostility foreseen in Psalm 2, Isaiah 53, and the Jeremiah “lamb” passage. • The crowd’s surprise that Jesus still taught publicly despite death plots echoes the suffering-but-protected Servant theme (Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:2). • Their uncertainty about His birthplace (John 7:27, 41-42) collides with Micah 5:2—Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem, though raised in Nazareth, satisfying the prophecy while preserving an aura of puzzle. • The assumption that “no one will know where He is from” flows from Malachi 3:1’s sudden appearance motif. Jesus—in their midst, yet from heaven (John 6:38)—perfectly fulfills both the hidden and the revealed aspects. Takeaway Connections 1. Old Testament prophecy prepared Israel for a Messiah both mortal and divine, both targeted for death and ultimately triumphant. 2. The very rumors and objections voiced in John 7:25-27 unintentionally confirm that Jesus fit the prophetic template. 3. Far from disproving His messianic claim, the leaders’ murderous designs and the crowd’s confusion actually align with Scripture’s foretelling of the Anointed One’s path. All of Scripture harmonizes: the plotted death, the surprising origins, and the public teaching of Jesus in the temple courts together display God’s faithful fulfillment of His Word. |
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