“You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” -Jesus
These are the words that Jesus stated to the unbelieving religious leaders who sought to kill Him. Too many people today also respond to Jesus Christ’s message with hate and a desire to silence the message of the cross and they too will hear this phrase, “Where I am you cannot come.”
Those are chilling words, when one considers the alternative. Without Christ and His salvation, eternal damnation waits. Yet, Christ continued to speak truth into the lives of those who hated Him and sought to kill Him. He continued to demonstrate His love toward them as He would not stop sharing of His Kingdom and the salvation that He came to give. We too will have people in our lives that don’t want to hear the truth, who reject us and Jesus, but we have an example in Jesus, who continued to speak into the lives He encountered.
He calls us, who do believe in Him, to be His voice in this dying world. Just as Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”, we who know Him and have this living water, must share with our thirsty friends and family, who may reject the truth and not recognize their need, but we have the only One who offers life and eternal sustenance.
For us who have believed on Jesus, this message “You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come” does not apply but rather we have this promise and hope, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” We have the promised Holy Spirit, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Not only do we have the promise to receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus, but also the promise that when we seek Him, we will find Him and we will be with Him one day in heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father. This is our hope and the message we need to continually speak into the lives we encounter, even if their response is like that of the religious leaders. We have to keep offering the Words of Life to those who are dead in their ‘trespasses and sin’, for only in Jesus are the words of life. Live out the love of God toward people, put tangible action to your words, but also speak life giving truth into their lives as well.
Jesus and the Religious Leaders
The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”
Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,because Jesus was not yet glorified.