Tag: Where Did This Man Get This Wisdom

True story. The crowds were abuzz over Jesus’ teaching and His works. “Surely this man is the Prophet,”¹ some said. “He is the Messiah,”² countered others. Either way, the chief priests and the Pharisees had had enough: Send the temple guards to arrest the man. Sometime later — perhaps days — these enforcers returned to their leaders emptyhanded! Let’s listen in.
Pharisees: “Why didn’t you bring him in?”³
Temple guards: “No one ever spoke the way this man does!” ⁴
Hysterical! And ironic, for it was not scholars and leaders who recognized otherworldly wisdom when they heard it, but the gatekeepers, “the muscle.”

Wherever He went, Jesus amazed the gathered crowds: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”⁵ A great question, wisely asked. “By [the Son] all things were created,”⁶ says Paul, and Solomon reveals the manner in which He did so: “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place.”⁷ So the Father’s Son possessed wisdom since before the beginning of time; in fact, it is His nature — “in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”⁸ Moreover, Isaiah foretold the Messianic incarnation in like terms: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”⁹ No wonder Jesus’ teachings — divine truth, every word — resonated so deeply among the people. No wonder they stir in us still today!

There is, by contrast, a glut of faux wisdom in the world — baseless, Christless, worthless. It tickles our ears but blinds our eyes. Laments Jeremiah of its purveyors, “Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?”¹⁰ And Paul warns us, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.”¹¹ Human wisdom, according to James, is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”¹² (How sobering! Be careful!) The apostle continues, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”¹³ All of this because it is true.

Resisting the evil one’s temptation, Jesus spoke Scripture: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”¹⁴ May we also live entirely on God’s Word, for it is wisdom, and He is true.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”¹⁵ — Jesus

Father, please fill us with Your wisdom, and lead us in the truth; your word is truth¹⁶. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ John 7:40 NIV
² John 7:41 NIV
³ John 7:45 NIV
⁴ John 7:46 NIV
⁵ Matthew 13:54 ESV
⁶ Colossians 1:16 ESV
⁷ Proverbs 3:19 NIV
⁸ Colossians 2:3 ESV
⁹ Isaiah 11:2 ESV
¹⁰ Jeremiah 8:9 NIV
¹¹ 1 Corinthians 3:19 NIV
¹² James 3:15 ESV
¹³ James 3:17 ESV
¹⁴ Matthew 4:4 NIV (see also Deuteronomy 8:3)
¹⁵ Matthew 7:24 ESV
¹⁶ John 17:17 ESV