25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.
John 7:25-29
Sometimes popular teachings develop that aren’t really true. They exist in our day, and they existed in their day. We see one of them in verse 27. Some rabbis had apparently taught that when the Messiah comes, he will just appear out of nowhere. He’d be like this mysterious man who just shows up and everyone knows it’s him.
But even here the Jews do not agree. They have different opinions. Look in verse 42: “But some said, ‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?’ So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him” (John 7:41-44).
He can’t be the messiah because we do know where he’s from. He must be the messiah because we know where his is from. Ha!
It is of course correct that Jesus, according to prophecy, was born in the lineage of David in the city of Bethlehem. But there’s an irony here that Jesus presses into. They know where he was born, but that is not the totality of his existence.
Verse 28: “So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.'”
You know where I was born, and my earthly family, yes. But I have been sent here. I am like you. But I am also unlike you. I have been sent here by one who is true; I have been sent by my Father. And you don’t know him.
That’s a stinging rebuke. Talking to the people of God, Jesus says, I have been sent by God. And you don’t know him.
Jesus is the Messiah, born of a virgin and sent by God the Father, fully man and fully God, come to make God known to his creation.
He enters into their theological debates to teach rightly on who he really is, where he’s really from, and what he’s really come to do.