“You will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come” (John 7:34).
When the Pharisees pursued Jesus for the sole purpose of putting Him to death, Jesus stood His ground. The time for Him to leave this world had not yet come. The Jews who were pursuing Him so feverishly would not catch Him until God Himself ordained it to he so. No matter how evil their intentions, they could not go beyond the hounds established by God.
How futile and pathetic were the efforts of the Pharisees to put Jesus on trial and condemn Him to death. How ironic that they pursued Him, searching for Him under the cover of darkness, yet for all the wrong reasons. They sought to persecute Him, to rid the world of Him because of their pride and jealousy. More ironic still, there will come a day when they will frantically search for Him without success. That day is judgment day. This is the day Jesus was referring to when He warned His hunters that where He was going they could not follow. A time is coming when those who rejected Him in the flesh will cry out to Him for salvation, when they will come before God’s throne, naked in their sin. exposed to His holy wrath and righteous judgment; and then, when it is too late, they will realize their need of Jesus and His righteous covering. But He will not be there. They will witness others following Him into the blessed realms of glory, but they will not be able to follow. Instead, they will be cast into the darkness. This was the warning Jesus gave, and it is a warning to unbelievers in every age: those who reject Christ in this life will look for His mercy in the life to come, but none will be there. All they will find is a closed door, sealed for all eternity.
When Jesus warned them that He would be going to a place which they could not follow, they mistakenly assumed He was talking about going to the scattered tribes of Israel in distant nations. So blinded were they by their sin that they could not heed the warning. The Jewish leaders’ mockery was their only response. May you see what those men refused to see. May you seek the Lord while He may be found. This is the day of salvation. If you have never put your faith in Christ, do not put off until tomorrow what needs to be done today. Otherwise, the day might come when it will be too late.
Read Amos 8:11–12 and Proverbs 1:24–33. What is the warning in these passages and how does it relate to Jesus’ warning in John 7? Read Hebrews 4:11–16. What does it say? Make a list of the things you must do to show God is giving you the faith “to enter that rest.”
