John 7:34 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”

NIV: You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.'

NASB: You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.'

CSB: You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."

NLT: You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.'

KJV: Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.

NKJV: You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

In the prior verse, Jesus made a statement which would have been easily misunderstood by those who rejected Him. Later, Jesus will tell His disciples that He was about to go back to God the Father, in preparation for His eventual return (John 13:31—14:7). Here, He is referring to the same sequence of events. In verse 33, this included a warning to Israel that their time to decide was short. Soon, Jesus would be "going to him who sent me," which those who did not believe might have interpreted as an intent to commit suicide. This would resolve the problems He has been causing the religious leaders.

The second part of Jesus' comment, given here, may have led to a second misinterpretation: that He intended to travel far away from Jerusalem, so far away that He would not be found. This, also, would have solved the problems of the local religious authorities. Their real concern was for their own power and influence—the opinion of people living far from Jerusalem was irrelevant to them (John 7:52).

All of these misunderstandings may have contributed to the failure of the Pharisees' men to successfully arrest Jesus (John 7:44–47).

John 7:25–36 is a milestone in the plot to kill Jesus. Jesus continues to criticize the local religious leaders, who are unable to successfully arrest Him. This leads the people to wonder: are the Scribes and Pharisees in agreement with Jesus or too weak to stop Him? That crisis of confidence will make the Jewish leaders more convinced that they need to silence Jesus at all costs. Even so, misinterpreting His comments in the passage presents a possible solution: if Jesus is going somewhere they cannot follow, perhaps the problem will resolve itself.

Six months after the feeding of thousands, and the public debate which followed, Jesus plans to attend the Feast of Booths (Festival of Tabernacles). Rather than going publicly, He chooses to arrive privately, and after His family. While teaching and preaching there, Jesus once again comes into conflict with local religious leaders. The crowds take note of His profound words, history of miracles, and the inability of the religious leaders to silence Him. This causes the people to openly question their spiritual leaders. This embarrassment is a milestone in the effort to permanently silence Jesus.

John chapter 7 is the beginning of the end of Jesus' public ministry. The feeding of thousands in chapter 6 was the pinnacle of His earthly popularity. That enthusiasm was dampened when Jesus explained the true meaning of His ministry. Here, in chapters 7 and 8, Jesus will confront His critics at a major Jewish festival, using metaphors drawn from ritual celebrations to highlight themes from His preaching. The following chapters include additional miracles and teachings from Jesus, as His eventual crucifixion draws nearer.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.