John 7

John 7:1

V. THE SON OF GOD’S THIRD YEAR OF MINISTRY: JERUSALEM (7:1-10:39) A. Jesus Rebukes His Brothers (7:1-9) 7:1 There was a lapse of some months between chapters 6 and 7. Jesus remained in Galilee. He did not want to stay in Judea, which was headquarters for the Jews, because they sought to kill Him. It is generally agreed that the Jews referred to in this verse were the leaders or rulers. They were the ones who hated the Lord Jesus most bitterly, and who sought opportunities to kill Him. 7:2 The Feast of Tabernacles was one of the important events in the Jewish calendar. It came at the time of harvest, and celebrated the fact that the Jews lived in temporary shelters or booths after they came out of Egypt. It was a festive, joyous holiday, looking forward to the coming day when the Messiah would reign and the saved Jewish nation would dwell in the land in peace and prosperity. 7:3 The Lord’s brothers mentioned in verse 3 were likely sons born to Mary after the birth of Jesus, (some say cousins or other distant relatives). But no matter how close the relationship to the Lord Jesus was, they were not thereby saved. They did not truly believe on the Lord Jesus. They told Him that He should go to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem and perform some of His miracles there so that His disciples might see what He was doing. The disciples spoken of here were not the twelve, but rather those who professed to be followers of the Lord Jesus in Judea. Although they did not believe on Him, they wanted Him to manifest Himself openly. Perhaps they wanted the attention that would come to them as relatives of a famous person. Or more probably, they were envious of His fame and were urging Him to go to Judea in hopes that He might be killed. 7:4 Perhaps these words were spoken in sarcasm. His relatives seemed to imply that the Lord was looking for publicity. Why else was He performing all these miracles in Galilee if He did not want to become famous? Now is Your big opportunity, they say in effect. You have been seeking to become famous. You should go to Jerusalem for the feast.

Hundreds of people will be there, and You will have an opportunity to perform miracles for them. Galilee is a quiet place, and You are practically performing Your miracles in secret here. Why do You do this when we know that You want to become well-known? Then they added, If You do these things, show Yourself to the world. The thought here seems to be, If You are really the Messiah, and if You are doing these miracles to prove it, why don’t You offer these proofs where they will really count, namely, in Judea?7:5 His brothers had no sincere desire to see Him glorified. They did not really believe Him to be the Messiah.

Neither were they willing to trust themselves to Him. What they said was said in sarcasm. Their hearts were not right before the Lord. It must have been especially bitter for the Lord Jesus to have His own brothers doubt His words and His works. Yet how often it is that those who are faithful to God find their bitterest opposition from those who are nearest and dearest to them. 7:6 The Lord’s life was ordered from the beginning to the end. Each day and every movement was in accordance with a pre-arranged schedule. The opportune time for manifesting Himself openly to the world had not yet come. He knew exactly what lay before Him, and it was not the will of God that He should go to Jerusalem at this time in order to make a public presentation of Himself. But He reminded His brothers that their time was always ready or opportune. Their lives were lived according to their own desires and not in obedience to the will of God. They could make their own plans and travel as they pleased, because they were only intent on doing their own will. 7:7 The world could not hate the Lord’s brothers because they belonged to the world. They took sides with the world against Jesus. Their whole lives were in harmony with the world. The world here refers to the system which man has built up and in which there is no room for God or for His Christ: the world of culture, art, education, or religion. In fact, in Judea it was particularly the religious world, since it was the rulers of the Jews who hated Christ the most. The world hated Christ because He testified concerning it that its works were evil. It is a sad commentary on man’s depraved nature that when a sinless, spotless Man came into the world, the world sought to kill Him. The perfection of Christ’s life showed how imperfect everyone else’s life was. Just as a straight line reveals the crookedness of a zigzag line when they are placed side by side, so the Lord’s coming into the world served to reveal man in all his sinfulness. Man resented this exposure of himself. Instead of repenting and crying to God for mercy, he sought to destroy the One who revealed His sin. F. B. Meyer comments: Ah, it is one of the most terrible rebukes that Incarnate Love can administer, when it says of any now, as it did of some in the days of his flesh: The world cannot hate you. Not to be hated by the world; to be loved and flattered and caressed by the worldis one of the most terrible positions in which a Christian can find himself. What bad thing have I done, asked the ancient sage, that he should speak well of me? The absence of the world’s hate proves that we do not testify against it that its works are evil. The warmth of the world’s love proves that we are of its own. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (John vii. 7; xv. 19; James iv. 4). 7:8 The Lord told His brothers to go up to this feast. There was something very sad about this. They pretended to be religious men. They were going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Yet the Christ of God was standing in their midst, and they had no real love for Him. Man loves religious rituals because he can observe them without any real heart interest.

But bring him face to face with the Person of Christ and he is ill at ease. Jesus said that He was not yet going up to this feast because His time had not yet fully come. He did not mean that He would not go to the feast at all, because we learn in verse 10 that He did go. Rather, He meant that He would not go with His brothers and have a great and public manifestation. It was not time for that. When He would go, He would go quietly and with a minimum of publicity. 7:9 So the Lord remained in Galilee after His brothers had gone up to the feast. They had left behind the One who could ever impart to them the joy and rejoicing of which the Feast of Tabernacles spoke.

John 7:10

B. Jesus Teaches in the Temple (7:10-31) 7:10 Sometime after His brothers had gone up to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus made a quiet trip there. As a devout Jew, He desired to attend the feast. But as the obedient Son of God, He could not do so openly, but as it were in secret. 7:11 The Jews who sought Him at the feast were doubtless the rulers who sought to kill Him. When they asked, Where is He? they were not interested in worshiping Him, but rather in destroying Him. 7:12 It is clear that the presence of the Lord was creating quite a stir among the people. More and more, the miracles which He performed were compelling men to make up their minds as to who He really was. There was an undercurrent of conversation at the feast as to whether He was genuine or a false prophet. Some said, He is good; others said, No … He deceives the people.7:13 The opposition of the Jewish rulers to Jesus had become so intense that no one dared to speak openly in favor of Him. Doubtless many of the common people recognized that He was truly the Messiah of Israel, but they did not dare to come out and say it because they feared the leaders would persecute them. 7:14 The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for several days. After it was about half over, Jesus went up into the outside area of the temple (known as the porch where the people were allowed to gather) and taught. 7:15 Those who heard the Savior marveled. Doubtless it was His knowledge of the OT that impressed them most. But also the breadth of His learning and His ability to teach attracted their attention. They knew that Jesus had never been to any of the great religious schools of that day, and they could not understand how He could have such an education as He did. The world still expresses amazement and often complains when it finds believers with no formal religious training who are able to preach and teach the Word of God. 7:16 Once again it is beautiful to see how the Lord refused to take any credit for Himself, but simply tried to glorify His Father. Jesus answered simply that His teaching was not His own, but that it came from the One who sent Him. Whatever the Lord Jesus spoke and whatever He taught were the things which His Father told Him to speak and to teach. He did not act independently of the Father. 7:17 If the Jews really wanted to know whether His message was true or not, it would be easy for them to find out. If anyone really wills to do God’s will, then God will reveal to him whether the teachings of Christ are divine or whether the Lord was simply teaching what He Himself wanted to teach. There is a wonderful promise here for everyone earnestly seeking the truth. If a person is sincere, and truly wants to know what is the truth, God will reveal it to him. Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge.7:18 Anyone who speaks from himself, that is, according to his own will, seeks his own glory. But it was not so with the Lord Jesus.

He sought the glory of the Father who sent Him. Because His motives were absolutely pure, His message was absolutely true. No unrighteousness was in Him. Jesus was the only One of whom such words could be spoken. Every other teacher has had some selfishness mixed in his service. It should be the ambition of every servant of the Lord to glorify God rather than self. 7:19 The Lord then made a direct accusation against the Jews. He reminded them that Moses gave them the law. They gloried in the fact that they possessed the law. They forgot that there was no virtue in merely possessing the law. The law demanded obedience to its precepts or commandments. Although they gloried in the law, evidently none of them kept it, for even then they were plotting to kill the Lord Jesus. The law expressly forbade murder. They were breaking the law in their intentions concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. 7:20 The people felt the sharp edge of Jesus’ accusation but, rather than admitting He was right, they began to abuse Him. They said that He had a demon. They challenged His statement that any of them was seeking to kill Him. 7:21 Jesus now went back to the healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda. It was this miracle that stirred up the hatred of the Jewish leaders against Him, and it was at this point that they began their vicious plot to kill Him. The Lord reminded them that He did one work, and they all marveled at it. Not that they marveled at it with admiration, but rather they were shocked that He should do such a thing on the Sabbath. 7:22 The Law of Moses commanded that a male child should be circumcised eight days after birth. (Actually, circumcision had not originated with Moses, but had been practiced by the ‘fathers’, that is, by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) Even if the eighth day fell on the Sabbath, the Jews did not consider it wrong to circumcise the baby boy. They felt that it was a work of necessity and that the Lord allowed for such a work. 7:23 If they circumcised a child on the Sabbath, in order to obey the law of Moses regarding circumcision, why should they find fault with the Lord Jesus for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? If the law allowed for a work of necessity, would it not also allow for a work of mercy? Circumcision is a minor surgical operation performed on the male child. Needless to say, it causes pain, and its physical benefits are minor. In contrast with this, the Lord Jesus made a man completely well on the Sabbath. And the Jews found fault with Him. 7:24 The trouble with the Jews was that they judged things according to outward appearance and not according to inward reality. Their judgment was not righteous. Works which seemed perfectly legitimate when performed by themselves seemed absolutely wrong when performed by the Lord. Human nature always tends to judge according to sight rather than according to reality. The Lord Jesus had not broken the Law of Moses; it was they who were breaking it by their senseless hatred of Him. 7:25 By this time, it had become well-known in Jerusalem that the Jewish leaders were plotting against the Savior. Here some of the common people asked if this was not the One whom their rulers were pursuing. 7:26 They could not understand that the Lord Jesus was allowed to speak so openly and boldly. If the rulers hated Him as much as the people had been led to believe, why did they allow Him to continue? Is it possible that they had come to find out that He was truly the Messiah after all, as He claimed to be? 7:27 The people who did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah thought they knew where He came from. They believed He came from Nazareth. They knew His mother, Mary, and supposed that Joseph was His father. It was commonly believed by the Jews of that day that when the Messiah came, He would come suddenly and mysteriously. They had no idea that He would be born as a Baby and grow up as a Man. They should have known from the OT that He would be born in Bethlehem, but it seemed that they were quite ignorant of the details concerning the coming of the Messiah.

That is why they said, When Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.7:28 At this point Jesus cried out to the people who had gathered and were listening to the conversation. They did indeed know Him, He said, and knew where He came from. Here, of course, He was saying that they knew Him simply as a Man. They knew Him as Jesus of Nazareth. But what they did not know was that He was also God. This was what He went on to explain in the rest of the verse. As to His humanity, He lived in Nazareth. But they should realize, too, that He did not come from Himself but that He had been sent from God the Father, whom these people did not know. In these words, the Lord Jesus made a direct claim to equality with God. He did not come of Himself, that is, of His own authority and to do His own will. Rather, He had been sent into the world by the true God, and this God they did not know. 7:29 But He knew Him. He dwelt with God from all eternity and was equal in all respects with God the Father. For when the Lord said that He was from God, He did not simply mean that He was sent from God, but that He always lived with God and was equal with Him in all respects. In the expression He sent Me, the Lord stated in the clearest possible way that He was the Christ of God, the Anointed One, whom God had sent into the world to accomplish the work of redemption. 7:30 The Jews understood the significance of Jesus’ words and realized He was claiming to be the Messiah. They considered this to be sheer blasphemy, and attempted to arrest Him, but were not able to lay hands on Him because His hour had not yet come. The power of God preserved the Lord Jesus from the wicked schemes of men until the time came when He should be offered up as a sacrifice for sin. 7:31 Actually many of the people believed on the Lord Jesus. We would like to think that their belief was genuine. Their reasoning was this. What more could Jesus do to prove He was the Messiah? When the Christ came, if Jesus was not the Messiah, would He be able to do more numerous or more wonderful signs than Jesus had done? Obviously from their question they believed the miracles of Jesus proved Him to be the real Messiah.

John 7:32

C. The Enmity of the Pharisees (7:32-36) 7:32 As the Pharisees moved in and out among the people, they heard this undercurrent of conversation. The crowd was murmuring about the Savior, not in the sense of complaining against Him, but secretly revealing their admiration for Him. The Pharisees were afraid that this might enlarge into a great movement to accept Jesus, and so they sent officers to arrest Him. 7:33 The words of verse 33 were undoubtedly spoken to the officers who came to arrest Him, as well as to the Pharisees and to the people in general. The Lord Jesus did not weaken His previous claims at all. If anything, He only strengthened them. He reminded them that He would only be with them a little while longer, and then He would go back to God the Father who sent Him. Undoubtedly this only made the Pharisees the more angry. 7:34 In a coming day, the Pharisees would seek Him and would not be able to find Him. There would come in their lives a time when they would need a Savior, but it would be too late. He would have gone back to heaven, and because of their unbelief and wickedness, they would not be able to meet Him there. The words of this verse are especially solemn. They remind us that there is such a thing as the passing of opportunity. Men may have the opportunity to be saved today; if they reject it, they may never have the opportunity again. 7:35 The Jews failed to understand the meaning of the Lord’s words. They did not realize He was going back to heaven. They thought that perhaps He was going on a preaching tour, ministering to the Jewish people scattered among the Greeks, and also perhaps even teaching the Greeks themselves. 7:36 Again they expressed their wonder at His words. What did He mean when He said that they would seek Him and would not be able to find Him? Where could He go without their being able to follow Him? The Jews here illustrate the blindness of unbelief. There is no heart as dark as the heart that refuses to accept the Lord Jesus. In our own day, we have the expression there are none so blind as those who will not see. This was exactly the case here. They did not want to accept the Lord Jesus, and therefore they could not.

John 7:37

D. The Promise of the Holy Spirit (7:37-39) 7:37 Though not mentioned in the OT, the Jews had a ceremony of carrying water from the Pool of Siloam and pouring it into a silver basin by the altar of burnt offering for each of the first seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. On the eighth day, this was not done, which made Christ’s offer of the water of eternal life even more startling. The Jewish people had gone through this religious observance, and yet their hearts were not satisfied because they had not truly understood the deep meaning of the feast. Just before they departed for their homes, on the last day, that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out to them. He invited them to come to Him for spiritual satisfaction. Pay particular attention to the words.

His invitation was extended to anyone. His gospel was a universal gospel. There was no one who could not be saved if he would simply come to Christ. But notice the condition. The Scripture says, If anyone thirsts. Thirst here speaks of spiritual need. Unless a person knows he is a sinner, he will never want to be saved. Unless he realizes he is lost, he will never desire to be found. Unless one is conscious of a great spiritual lack in his life, he will never want to go to the Lord to have that need supplied. The Savior invited the thirsting soul to come to Himnot to the church, the preacher, the waters of baptism, or the Lord’s Table. Jesus said, Let him come to Me. No one or nothing else will do. Let him come to Me and drink. To drink here means to appropriate Christ for oneself. It means to trust Him as Lord and Savior. It means to take Him into our lives as we would take a glass of water into our bodies. 7:38 Verse 38 proves that to come to Christ and drink is the same as to believe on Him. All who believe on Him will have their own needs supplied and will receive rivers of spiritual blessing that will flow out from them to others. All through the OT it was taught that those who accepted the Messiah would be helped themselves and would be channels of blessing to others (e.g. Isa_55:1). The expression out of his heart will flow rivers of living water means out of the person’s inward parts or inner life would flow streams of help to others. Stott points out that we drink in small gulps or sips, but these are multiplied into a mighty confluence of flowing streams.

Temple warns: No one can be indwelt by the Spirit of God and keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is, He flows forth; if there is no flowing forth, He is not there.7:39 It is clearly stated that the expression living water refers to the Holy Spirit. Verse 39 is very important because it teaches that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ also receive the Spirit of God. In other words, it is not true, as some claim, that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell people sometime after their conversion. This verse clearly and distinctly states that all who believe on Christ receive the Spirit. At the time the Lord Jesus spoke these words, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given.

It was not until the Lord Jesus went back to heaven and was glorified that the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost. From that moment on, every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

John 7:40

E. Divided Opinion Concerning Jesus (7:40-53) 7:40, 41 Many who listened were now convinced that the Lord Jesus was the Prophet of whom Moses spoke in Deu_18:15, Deu_18:18. Others were even willing to acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. But some thought this was impossible. They believed that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and there was no prophecy in the OT that the Christ would come out of Galilee. 7:42 These Jews were right in believing that the Christ would come from the town of Bethlehem and be descended from David. If they had just taken the trouble to inquire, they would have found that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and that He was a direct descendant of David through Mary. 7:43 Because of these differing opinions and because of their general ignorance, there was a division among the people because of Christ. It is still the same. Men and women are divided on the subject of Jesus Christ. Some say He was simply a Man like the rest of us. Others are willing to admit that He was the greatest Man who ever lived. But those who believe the Word of God know that Christ … is over all, the eternally blessed God (Rom_9:5). 7:44 Efforts were still being made to arrest the Lord Jesus, but no one was successful in taking Him. As long as a person is walking in the will of God, there is no power on earth that can hinder him. We are immortal until our work is done. The Lord’s time had not yet come, and so men were unable to harm Him in any way. 7:45 Now the Pharisees and chief priests had sent officers to take Jesus. The officers had returned, but did not have the Lord with them. The chief priests and Pharisees were annoyed and asked the officers why they had not brought Him. 7:46 Here was an instance where sinful men were compelled to speak well of the Savior, even if they did not themselves accept Him. Their memorable words were, No man ever spoke like this Man! Doubtless these officers had listened to a good many men in their day, but they had never heard anyone speak with such authority, grace, and wisdom. 7:47, 48 In an effort to intimidate the officers, the Pharisees accused them of being deceived by Jesus. They reminded them that none of the rulers of the Jewish nation believed in Him. What a terrible argument this was! It was very much to their shame that leading men in the Jewish nation had failed to recognize the Messiah when He came. These Pharisees were not only unwilling to believe on the Lord Jesus themselves, but it is clear that they did not want others to believe on Him either. So it is today. Many who do not want to be saved themselves do everything in their power to prevent their relatives and friends from being saved also. 7:49 Here the Pharisees spoke of the mass of the Jewish people as ignorant and accursed. Their argument was that if the common people knew anything at all about the Scriptures, they would know that Jesus was not the Messiah. The Pharisees could not have been more wrong! 7:50 At this point Nicodemus spoke to them. It was he who came to Jesus by night and who learned that he must be born again. It would appear that Nicodemus had actually trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved. Here he stepped forward, among the rulers of the Jews, to say a word for his Lord. 7:51 Nicodemus’ point was that the Jews had not given Jesus a fair chance. The Jewish law did not judge a man before it heard his case. And yet that was what the Jewish leaders were doing at this very point. Were they afraid of the facts? The answer was obviously that they were. 7:52 Now the rulers turn on one of their own company, that is, on Nicodemus. They asked him with a sneer if he was also one of Jesus’ followers from Galilee? Did he not know that the OT spoke of no prophet as coming out of Galilee? Here, of course, the rulers showed their own ignorance. Had they never read of the prophet Jonah? He had come from Galilee. 7:53 The Feast of Tabernacles was now over. The men returned to their own homes. Some had met the Savior face to face and trusted in Him. But the majority had rejected Him, and the leaders of the Jewish people were more determined than ever to do away with Him. They considered Him a threat to their religion and way of life.