Thought from today’s Bible reading from John 11.
After receiving word that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees met to determine what needed to be done about Jesus. They were concerned that if He continued, all men would believe Him, which would invite the wrath of the Romans (John 11:47-48). So the high priest, Caiaphas, offered some counsel.
“But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.’ Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him” (John 11:49-53).
Notice what the Scriptures tell us about what Caiaphas said. He had received a divine prophecy that “Jesus was going to die for the nation” (John 11:51). This was true. Jesus indicated that He was going to die as well (John 3:14-15; 8:28). Yet even though his message agreed with Jesus’ about this, Caiaphas and his allies were enemies of Christ. How?
The problem was that Caiaphas and the others only believed part of the truth. Notice what Jesus told Nicodemus:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die (be lifted up), but he did not believe that eternal life would be found through Jesus. Without believing that, it is not surprising that he and the chief priests and Pharisees concluded that it would be “expedient” to try to put Jesus to death.
This is the danger in only believing part of the truth. Without the full truth, our conclusions will often be wrong, putting us in direct opposition to God’s will. Let us be careful what we believe. We must never be content with believing some of God’s will. We must strive to learn, understand, and believe all of God’s will.
Tomorrow’s reading: Luke 17:11-18:14
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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