John 7:14-53

January 12, 2014 The Gospel of John is one of the most offensive books of the New Testament. And I think John knows that and he doesnt try to hide it. Its a book about division. Its about grumbling disciples who cant go with Jesus teaching and angry leaders who wont stand for it. Its a book that separates light from darkness and the righteous from the wicked. The sheep are made known from the goats. The religionists are made known from the real children of God. This is all made obvious by the way they respond to the truth. The truth is Light: the wicked hate it and the righteous love it. The righteous are doers of the word and not hearers only (Jas. 1:22). The wicked embrace enough religion for comfort or benefit but they are not truly doers. They are the fig trees without figs. They the wolves dressed up as sheep. It is not by their knowledge that we know them but by their works. By their fruit. And John 7-12 is all about the Lords confrontations with the religious elite in Judea. He preaches truth and they prove their rejection and wickedness by their response: they want to kill Him. They make such a show keeping the little details of the Law that the weightier things like judgment, mercy, and faith are lost. They want to murder the man who healed on Saturday. Its now the Feast of Tabernacles; its a joyous celebration in Jerusalem. Jesus brothers go up without Him, but the people want to see Jesus. After about four days He arrives and makes Himself known: Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. 15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? This sets up the tension for the rest of the chapter. This man who shouldnt know anything seems to know everything. The Jews are blown away; Hes had no special teacher to show Him all this! But look at His response:
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Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Jesus didnt make this up. Hes speaking as one sent from heaven. This truth isnt earthly truth or man-made truth; this is the truth of God.
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If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 18He that speaketh of himself seeketh his

own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. This is an issue of the heart and of faith. Anyone who lives by faith wants to do the will of God. Anyone who is convinced in his heart will know true doctrine because it glorifies God and no one else. There is no unrighteousness in a man who glorifies God; this is just what Jesus has done and yet they want to kill Him for it. In this they prove their unbelief, their unwillingness to submit to Gods will, and their false doctrine; they are unrighteous.
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Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? They had everything necessary for knowing Gods will but they ignored it. They preferred to kill a man who didnt keep their traditions than to hear him. Youre using Moses in trying to kill me, but you have to disobey Moses to do that. This wasnt a religion of Gods and it wasnt for His glory.
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The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Theyre either blind or hypocritical but they refuse to admit anyones trying to kill Him.
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Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all

marvel. He only healed a man on the Sabbath one time but they cant get over it. But look at their hypocrisy:
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Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. 23If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? 24Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Its hypocritical that they allow their sons to be circumcised on the eighth day (even on a Sabbath) yet they will kill Christ for actually healing a man on that day. Why is cutting foreskin allowable but healing a man not? Why is the shadow allowed but the real deal isnt? Dont judge by things seen; judge with righteous judgment.

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Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Have the Jews changed their minds about killing Him? Here He is speaking boldly and no ones doing anything about it. Maybe they think Hes the Christ.
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Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. They dont think its possible for Him to be the Christ because they know all about His birth. At least they think they do. They think He came out of Galilee. But in reality He came from God.
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Then cried Jesus

The same Greek word is used in another source where it means to assail furiously.1 Jesus wasnt just speaking; He was assailing the crowd with H is words. He preached fervently: in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Theres a contradiction here: you know me and where Im from, and you dont know me or where Im from. You know me as the son of Joseph but you dont know Im also the Son of God and that the Father sent me. This is another case of seeing only the earthly. Theres more to Him than Joseph. The One who sent Him is true. That is, He is genuine and honest.2 This is the real origin they need to consider. This is the beloved Son who they should hear because He witnesses truthfully for Gods glory. Hes making Himself equal with God again. This was too much for them:
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Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. They wanted to kill Him but couldnt because it was not yet time. What a word of comfort for us who preach the gospel. It reminds me of all the prophets before who

1 2

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ekracen&la=greek#lexicon http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=alhqinos&la=greek#lexicon

nearly died but didnt. Their lives weren;t spared just for their sakes but because their time had not yet come. There was still some work left to be done.
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And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? They exercised faith with reason and came to this conclusion: were looking for the Christ; will He do more than what weve seen this man do? The time has come. And so they believe.
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The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. They had enough of all this nonsense and now their positions were threatened. Its time, they say, to arrest Him.
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Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. 35Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? 36What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come? They dont understand what Hes saying because they dont understand true doctrine. They dont believe He came from God so they dont understand that Hes going back up to God. But Hes telling them about the ascension. He came to seek and to save the lost; He came to die for them and heal them. But then He will go back with the Father that where He is we may be also! But they dont understand because they dont buy that He is the Christ and that He came from God. What they have is empty religion. Think about how the Jews hoped to enter into the kingdom of God; they cannot go unless they believe in Christ! They think He means to kill Himself!
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In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

This feast lasts eight days and every morning they poured water on the altar. This water came from a pool believed to have been the original source of Jerusalems water. Even today the water libation ceremony is practiced because man knows perfect joy only when he cleaves to the source of his life.3 And this was a day of joy: "Whoever has not seen the celebration of the water libation has never experienced the feeling of true joy - great lamps of gold were hoisted, with four golden bowls at the top of each lamp. Four young priests-in-training would climb to the top, carrying immense oil jugs with which they would fill the bowls. Once lighted, there was not a courtyard in all of Jerusalem that did not glow with the light that emanated from the celebration in the Temple courtyard. As the people sang, the righteous and pious men would dance before them while juggling flaming torches. The levites, standing on the fifteen steps that descend from the Court of Israel to the Women's Court, played on lyres, harps, trumpets and many other instruments. Two priests who blew silver trumpets stood at the top of the stairs on either side of the entrance to the great gate of the Court. All this was done to honor the commandment of the water libation."4

Note:

you can read more about this practice here: http://www.templeinstitute.org/sukkot.htm (do a CTRL+F word search for water) You can picture Jesus and all the people watching and then see Him raise His arms and shout, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink! Everything points to Christ. The Jews religion was empty without Him. It was nothing more than ritual and ceremony. The same thing happens in churches today. There are churches who believe that grace is conferred through bread and wine, but we know that these things are taken in remembrance of Him! This glorifies God.
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Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Jesus later asked, Who do people say that I am? and His disciples replied, Some say Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. These Jews could see He was unique but they werent ready to say He was the Christ.
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Others said, This is the Christ.

3 4

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4492/jewish/Water-on-Sukkot.htm http://www.templeinstitute.org/water_libation_festival.htm

These people could see more and confessed He was the Christ or the promised Messiah. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43So there was a division among the people because of him. 44And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. The officials were some of those who came to arrest Him but they left emptyhanded:
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Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? 46The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. 47Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? 48Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? To them the ultimate authority is what the commentators had to say. Its not a matter of reading for yourself or understanding by faith; they own religion and God and no one can know what to believe until they tell them what to believe. And when this man does miracles they cant refute them and they cant refute His teaching so they just rely on their expertise. No one smarter than you has drawn that conclusion. And this is the way it still works today. How many people reject truth because no one else believes it? It doesnt matter whats writtenthe smart ones dont agree. But God has put His word in our hearts and mouths and we have no need for any man to teach us. We know true doctrine when we see it because it glorifies God.
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But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

The officers were fooled by the people but the people were under a curse. The reason theyre under a curse is because they dont know the Law. The Pharisees however know the Law and so they arent cursed and the officers are taking orders from the wrong folks.
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Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) 51Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? 52They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. 53And every man went unto his own house.

Im sure the officers appreciated this interjection and picture them slipping quickly to the side. Whats he asking? He wants to do the law of God! He wants to do His will. But not the others; they are hearers but not doers. The only thing thy can do now is insult Nicodemus. Are you one of His followers too? Have you been duped? Are you as cursed as they and ignorant of the Law? But they prove their real nature by their fruit. They are lawless and their doctrine is empty. That is false doctrine. It hears but it does not do. Good religion obeys God and glorifies Him. It rests only on Christ and trusts fully on Him without adding or taking away. We are hearers and we are doers because Christ lives in us. He is the vine and we are the branches and in Him we bear much fruit. newgracebaptistchurch.wordpress.com