John 7:28, commentary and pictures

Those who heard him knew his human home and earthly background, but they did not know his true divine origin and mission as the One sent from God. He did not come or speak on his own authority, but was sent by the true Father, and his teaching carries the authority of the One who sent him. His hearers did not truly know the Sender, while he knows Him because he is from Him and was sent by Him. Their fixed expectations about how the Messiah should come blinded them to him, but those who lived by the Father's will would have recognized his Son when he appeared. He came from heaven bringing the true message of eternal life to all who receive it, a truth that sanctifies believers into obedience and is seen in their character and love.

Temple Confrontation and Claim

Jesus cried out these words as He taught in the temple at Jerusalem during the feast, while spies were watching and the rulers were seeking to silence and humiliate Him. The rulers had demanded His authority to teach, aiming to shift attention away from Jesus Himself to His right to teach and to their own authority. He taught publicly amid opposition and attempts to trap and seize Him. Yet some listeners believed because of His teaching and works.

“You both know Me, and you know whence I am” meant the hearers knew His human and earthly background. They claimed to know Him and where He came from in that earthly sense. But they did not know His true and divine origin and mission, nor the Father who sent Him. Knowing where He was from in an earthly sense did not mean knowing God who sent Him.

His declaration that He was not come of Himself means He did not come or act on His own authority but was sent by the true God and Father. His claim that His teaching comes from the One who sent Him establishes His authority. Unlike a self-seeking teacher, He seeks God’s glory and speaks God’s words. His hearers did not truly know the Sender. Jesus knows the Sender because He is from Him and was sent by Him.

Blindness and Discernment

The listeners were confident they knew what the Messiah's origin must be, and that very expectation prevented them from recognizing Jesus as God's Son. They thought they knew Him and where He came from in an earthly, human sense, yet they did not grasp His true divine origin and mission. Their minds were closed to the prophecies of how and when the Messiah would come, and spiritual blindness kept them from recognizing Him when He stood among them.

Those who lived in accordance with the Father's will would have recognized and known His Son when He appeared. Obedience to God prepares the heart to discern Christ, so that living by what the Father has revealed opens the eyes to the One He sent.

The same words expose leaders who claimed to know Him while not knowing God who sent Him, and who set themselves up as judges over those moved by the Holy Spirit. That judgment stood against a history of repeated disobedience to God's law and perversion of what had been entrusted to the nation. It also met their present failure to keep the law themselves and their rejection of the truth then being declared to them.

True Message and Life

He did not come on his own authority but was sent from heaven by the true God, and the One who sent him is true. He came from heaven bearing the gift of eternal life for all who will receive it. As he faced the cross his words affirmed that the message he brought was true, and delivering that true message cost him his life.

Those he sends likewise bear sacred truth from God. Those who receive and believe the Word are sanctified by its truth. That sanctification is shown in lives obedient to God's holy law.

His glory is his character, and that character is to be shown in the lives of his followers. Their love for one another as he loved them is evidence that they are not of the world. When he dwells in the heart, his joy becomes theirs.