John 07
The Feast of Tabernacles
7:1 After this Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He stayed out of Judea because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him.
Judea was the center of Judaism. The Jewish leaders were attempting to kill their own Messiah. The satanic world system does not appreciate the teachings of Jesus. Jesus stayed in Galilee for seven months. He spent most of this time teaching His disciples. The rest of the Book of John covers the last six months of the life of Jesus.
7:2 Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.
The Feast of Tabernacle was a fall feast and the favorite feast of the Jews. According to the Mosaic Law, all Jews were required to celebrate this feast in Jerusalem. Devout Jews from all over the Roman Empire would leave their homes to attend the feast. They would live in booths for seven days.
7:3 So Jesus’ brothers advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing. 7:4 For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 7:5 (For not even his own brothers believed in him.)
Jesus was virgin born, but His brothers were not. Therefore, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas were the half-brothers of Jesus. They were unbelievers at this time. James wrote the Epistle of James. Judas was most likely the author of the Epistle of Jude. The brothers gave Jesus bad advice. The brothers wanted Jesus to show His glorious miracles to the world. Jesus chose to show His humility on the cross.
7:6 So Jesus replied, “My time has not yet arrived, but you are ready at any opportunity!
The wisdom of the world wanted Jesus to show off His miracles and proclaim the glory of His messiahship. The wisdom of the world is foolishness. The sovereign plan of God was to reveal the Son of God in humility on the cross. The timing of God is wiser than that of men. Jesus does not need advice from the world, even if it was from His own family.
7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil.
The satanic world system will not tolerate divine viewpoint teaching. Jesus exposed evil, so the satanic world system came against Him. Jesus exposed evil even inside the Jewish synagogues. If a modern pastor-teacher exposes the evil which is inside of other modern churches, then he will find his own community, congregation, and family members come against him. The most evil thing that a church can do is teach false doctrine.
7:8 You go up to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast because my time has not yet fully arrived.”
Jesus was not working on a human clock. Human secretaries did not schedule His appointments. Elders, boards, or committees did not dictate His schedule. Jesus moved on the preordained schedule of God.
7:9 When he had said this, he remained in Galilee.
7:10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus himself also went up, not openly but in secret.
The Mosaic Law required that all Jews attend the festival. Even though the Jewish leaders were attempting to kill Jesus, He still attended the feast under the protection of His Father.
7:11 So the Jewish leaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” 7:12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” 7:13 However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders.
The Jewish leaders were hoping that Jesus would not show up, because they could accuse Him of breaking the Mosaic Law. Notice that some thought that Jesus was either a “good man” or a “deceiver,” Jesus was God in human form. Very few people recognized His identity at this time.
Teaching in the Temple
7:14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach.
The audience of Jesus was all of the devout Jews of the Roman Empire. They would take these teachings of Jesus back to their hometowns.
7:15 Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 7:16 So Jesus replied, “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me.
Jesus was not trained by Gamaliel, the Hillel School, or the Shammau School. He had no rabbinic training. According to the Psalms, Jesus was trained by God the Father every morning. Most modern seminaries and rabbinic schools are teaching Biblical error.
7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.
Only those following the will of God can understand the source and message of the teachings of Jesus. Even today in the modern church age, believers must be illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand God’s word. Illumination comes from gifted pastor-teachers who are, themselves, illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
7:18 The person who speaks on his own authority desires to receive honor for himself; the one who desires the honor of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Many of the rabbi were teaching for their own glory. Beware of pastor-teachers who have large congregations, large budgets, or author best-selling books for profit. Often, they must compromise their teaching in order to support the growth of their ministry,
7:19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill me?”
Murder was a violation of the Mosaic Law. The religious leaders were breaking the Mosaic Law by attempting to kill Jesus. Notice that Jesus exposed sin from the pulpit. This is frowned upon in today’s modern churches.
7:20 The crowd answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”
The Jews waited a long time for their Messiah. Now that He was here teaching them in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles, they called Him demon possessed.
7:21 Jesus replied, “I performed one miracle and you are all amazed.
Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath (5:1-9). This angered the Jewish leadership.
7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child on the Sabbath.
The Jews circumcised their children on the eighth day, even if it was on a Sabbath.
7:23 But if a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?
If a child is mutilated by circumcision on the Sabbath, then why can not a man be healed (or made whole) on the Sabbath? Jesus was pointing out to the Jewish leaders that their man-made Oral Law did not make sense.
7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment.”
Proper judgment came from the written Mosaic Law, not the man-made Oral Law.
Questions About Jesus’ Identity
7:25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?
The Jerusalem citizens knew that the Jewish leadership was attempting to kill Jesus on the grounds of demon possession.
7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. Do the rulers really know that this man is the Christ?
The Jerusalem citizens were confused about the decisions of the Jewish eldership. If Jesus is demon possessed, then why has He not been arrested? Why are they allowing Him to speak? Have they changed their mind about Jesus? Do they now think that He is he Messiah?
7:27 But we know where this man comes from. Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
Notice that Jesus is not called “Lord,” but He is called “this man.” The people thought that Jesus was only a Galilean carpenter from the city of Nazareth. They did not know that He was virgin born from the city of Bethlehem.
7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You both know me and know where I come from! And I have not come on my own initiative, but the one who sent me is true. You do not know him,
Jesus was omniscient. He knew the thoughts of the crowd. As questions popped up in their minds about His identity, Jesus answered their mental questions with His verbal teaching. Jesus told the crowd about His true origin. He was more than just a simple carpenter from the town of Nazareth. He was sent by God the Father in heaven. He was the Creator God whom these people did not know.
7:29 but I know him, because I have come from him and he sent me.”
God the Father sent Jesus to teach the crowd.
7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. Whenever He taught, the people grew angry. The entire crowd attempted to seize Jesus and stop His teaching, but all of them together were not able to do so. No one was even able to touch Jesus. This miracle should have convinced the antagonistic people that Jesus was sent from God.
7:31 Yet many of the crowd believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?”
There were also many believers in Christ.
7:32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about Jesus, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
The satanic world system was at work inside all of the Jewish synagogues. The satanic world system will not allow divine viewpoint teaching. The Jewish leadership attempted to arrest Jesus.
7:33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me.
Jesus would only spend six more months on this earth. After the six months, He would ascend to heaven and sit at the right hand of the Father. He will remain sitting there until Project Footstool is accomplished. Project Footstool is God the Father eliminating all of the enemies of Christ from the earth. After all of Christ’s enemies are eliminated then Christ will stand up, descend to earth, and establish the Kingdom of heaven upon the earth for 1000 literal years.
7:34 You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”
Jesus will be resurrected from the dead. The Jewish leaders will look for His physical body, but they will not be able to find it. Jesus will be sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Heaven will be off limits to all of those who reject Christ. Sin stinks. God is a holy and perfect God. He will not allow anything that stinks to enter into His heaven.
7:35 Then the Jewish leaders said to one another, “Where is he going to go that we cannot find him? He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?
The Jewish leadership thought that Jesus might go teach the Jews who were dispersed throughout the Greek cities of the Roman Empire. Paul would later take the gospel to these Jews of the diaspora during his second missionary journey.
7:36 What did he mean by saying, ‘You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”
The Jewish leadership did not understand that Jesus was going to return back to heaven as the second person of the Trinity.
Teaching About the Spirit
7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink.
The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the greatest day of the feast. A priest would lead a parade of believers from the temple to the Gihon Spring. He would fill a gold pitcher with water. The priestly choir would sing Isaiah 12:3, “Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of salvation.” Then the priest returned to the altar and poured out the water on the sacrifice. This ritual reminded the people of the water which came from the rock during the wilderness wanderings. This ritual also looked prophetically to the future days of the Messiah (cf. Zech. 14:8, 16–19).
Usually, the rabbi would stand when they read the Word of God, but sit when they interpreted the passage. Jesus did the opposite. He stood when He interpreted the passage, demonstrating to the crows that His verbal words were equal to the Word of God. His announcement was that He was the water of life. If anyone comes to Him, then they will never thirst. This was a claim of giving eternal salvation to anyone who would come to Him. This was a general call to all men, which every man rejects. No man will ever reject the efficacious call of God.
7:38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus was most likely making reference to Isaiah 55:1, “"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
During the seven days of the Tabernacle Feast, the Jews carried water from the Pool of Siloam to the altar in the temple. They poured out the water into a silver basin, which was located next to the altar of burnt offering. This ritual was not recorded in the Old Testament, but it was repeated every day for seven days. On the eighth day, Jesus poured out the water and claimed that He was the water of salvation. He did this standing up, declaring that His words were equal to the words of God.
7:39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Jesus would be glorified after His resurrection. The Holy Spirit would be given to all believers at the Feast of Pentecost.
Differing Opinions About Jesus
7:40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!”
Moses predicted that there would be another prophet like himself. Jesus was this prophet, but He was also God in human flesh.
7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” But still others said, “No, for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
Many believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Those who claimed that Jesus was from Galilee did not know that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
7:43 So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus.
This division was caused among the Jews because of a lack of knowledge.
7:44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
God the Father would not allow anyone to lay a hand on Jesus until the appointed time.
Lack of Belief
7:45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?”
The temple police were sent out to attest Jesus.
7:46 The officers replied, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
The officers were captivated with the words of Jesus. They could not arrest Him, until the appointed time.
7:47 Then the Pharisees answered, “You haven’t been deceived too, have you?
The Pharisees had rejected so much divine light that they could not hear and understand the Word of God. They even believed that they had the truth and everyone else was wrong. They believed the lies of their own man-made Oral Law.
7:48 None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? 7:49 But this rabble who do not know the law are accursed!”
The Pharisees were so proud that they thought they only had the truth. Everyone else to them was rabble who were not able to discern truth from error.
7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before and who was one of the rulers, said, 7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn a man unless it first hears from him and learns what he is doing, does it?”
Nicodemus was one of the greatest teachers of Judaism in Israel. He was also a secret disciple of Jesus. He came out openly and defended Jesus.
7:52 They replied, “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee!”
If one did investigate, then they would learn that Jesus was not born in Galilee. He was born in Bethlehem, just as Micah predicted.
7:53 And each one departed to his own house.
All of the proud Pharisees went home thinking that they had the truth and everyone else was rabble. These are the types of men that the satanic world system places in government and religious positions. Many politicians, pastors, and elders think exactly like the proud Pharisees.