With Dale Ratzlaff
John 7:1-24
After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him. So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee. But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret. So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.” Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews. But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. “For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment”.
As we pick up this new chapter we note that Jesus recognizes the hostility of the Jews. He had given them sign after sign and had taught them who He is, but they were unwilling to believe. Jesus was not foolhardy, purposely going where He might be killed. Rather, we can see by the text that His every move was in harmony with the will and timing of the Father. Not only were the Jews antagonistic to His teaching, but His own (half) brothers became agents of temptation urging Him to go up to the feast to show off His works. Perhaps they, like the other Jews, thought that the coming Messiah should do His signs in Jerusalem. John records that not even His brothers were believing in Him. “Were believing” is in the continuous tense indicating that their unbelief was an ongoing attitude. However, the fact that they asked Jesus to do His signs in Jerusalem indicates that they were aware of His powers even if they had not seen a miracle.
In answer to His brothers, Jesus said,
My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.
First, we note again that Jesus is on a time-table. When He spoke these words, The Father had not given Him the green light to go. There is an interesting side note to this statement. Some claim that Jesus did not tell the truth here. In verse eight Jesus says,
Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come (Jn. 7:8).
However, in verse ten we read.
But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret (Jn. 7:10).
Two things can be said of this incident. First, the manuscript evidence is divided. In verse 8 the KJV renders it,
Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet fully come.
Some think that the first “yet” was added to make it not a contradiction. Many of the new versions leave out the first “yet”. Second, I think it makes little difference. Jesus did not go up to the feast when the brothers asked him to go. Nor did he go up to the feast in the way His brothers had suggested. Rather, He went secretly and in fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts (Mal. 3:1).
Later in John we get evidence of the close connection between the Father and Jesus regarding Jesus’ words and the timing of His works.
For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me (Jn. 12:49-50).
Jesus knows that His time had not yet fully come for Him to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. When referring to the events surrounding the coming crucifixion, Jesus often says, “My hour has not yet come” (Jn. 7:30; 8:20), or “Knowing that His hour had come” (Jn. 12:23, 27; 13:1). Here, however, He speaks of his time not being fully come. By using “time” he refers not to the passion of the cross, but to the timing directed by the Father for Him to go up to the feast.
Jesus invites His brothers to believe as their time is “always opportune”. Here is a promise that holds true for unbelievers. The calling of God, the wooing of the Holy Spirit, the development of faith may take years. His brothers were then unbelievers, even hostile to Him. They were part of the “world” which hated Jesus, yet after the resurrection Jesus’ brother, James, became the elder of the Jerusalem church and a second brother, Jude, wrote his short epistle to encourage believers to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints, and to expose false teachers entering the church. As long as there is life, there is hope. Today—as long as it is today—if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
Some time after Jesus’ brothers went up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus went up in secret. Later, when His time had come, He would enter Jerusalem publicly, riding on a donkey with the acclaim of His followers, but not now.
The Jews were seeking Jesus at the feast. There were those there who had seen Jesus perform signs and heard His teaching, wondering just who He was. There was a division in the crowd with few being willing to make a public demonstration of support. Little has changed today. If political leaders take a strong stand for righteousness, there will often be immediate and hateful response. The forces of evil hate the light because it points out their sin.
Then, in the midst of the feast, Jesus went into the temple and started teaching truth. His presentation confounded His hearers. How did he learn these things? Jesus responds with two profound truths.
My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.
The Jewish leaders of the day were much like scholars today. When they made statements of fact they were linked to some ancient Rabbi’s teachings. Support was needed for what was said. The same holds true today; when writing a scholarly paper there should be footnotes showing the source for statements of fact that are made. Jesus fits into the same mode, not because He is following Jewish custom, but because He is following exactly His Fathers will. So, the first take away in the above reference is that these words are the words of God, Himself. He is the source of the teaching of Jesus. Second, and this applies to every one of us, if we are willing to do His will, we will know that the teaching of Jesus is from God the Father. We might ask what is meant by “willing to do His will”? On its face this attitude is open ended, no matter what His will is, we are willing to do it. On the one hand,
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them (Jn. 6:44).
Yet we also read that Jesus is,
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world (Jn. 1:9).
We again come back to the question, what is the will of God in this context? In John there is no question that it is to believe, to have faith and trust in who Jesus is and what He did on the cross.
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:29).
Here we face something of a paradox. We cannot correctly evaluate the truthfulness of the words of Christ or the teachings of Scripture from the position of being an unbeliever using only the principles of logic. That is exactly what the Jews listening to Christ were doing. In the evangelistic book of John, we find signs and witnesses to the truth, but to fully understand Christ’s teaching we must “jump in” by a decision to do God’s will. We have enough evidence to take the leap of faith. Once in Christ, then the Holy Spirit confirms our faith and enlightens our mind to the Truth.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16).
Jesus gives yet another test of truth.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
In context, Jesus has in mind the learned Jewish teachers who are seeking to destroy Him. Their teaching, even of Scripture, was often for their own glory. They were more concerned for their own reputation than making clear the Word of God. How many of those of us who teach Scripture fall into the same trap? How often do we write and teach with mixed motives? It is human nature to want to do a good job for the praise of men. Jesus cuts out this approach. It is the one who seeks ONLY for the glory of the One who sent Him who is the True Teacher. Paul echoes the same truth.
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).
Jesus now sets about to show that none of the Jewish leaders keeps the law. He asks, “Why do you seek to kill me?” To understand this question we need to remember the incident of the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda recorded in John 5. Jesus not only healed this man completely, but He did it on the Sabbath and then asked the man to “pick up his bed and walk”—a clear violation to the written law. In John 5:18 we remember this statement.
For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (Jn. 5:18).
Here Jesus violated the ritual law of Sabbath. However, the Jews had placed moral value on Sabbath observance, and they saw Jesus’ actions as a direct affront to their law which caused them to want to kill Him. Now Jesus shows that they, too, violate not only the ritual law of Sabbath, but the moral law of murder. First, they have hate in their hearts and are moving toward murder. Second, by practicing circumcision on the Sabbath they also break the law so that one member of the body may be healed. By contrast Jesus, in healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda, made the entire man whole.
Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (Jn. 7:21-24).
Both sabbath and circumcision are ritual laws connected with the Sinaitic Covenant. True, circumcision was from the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). In the matter of importance, circumcision takes precedence over sabbath. Breaking ritual law is allowed for higher moral necessities. The ministry of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels represents the transitional period between the old covenant and the new covenant. All seven of Jesus’ questionable Sabbath activities recorded in the Gospels are an anticipation of the true Sabbath rest as taught in Hebrews 4 which is a true rest of soul that one enters at the moment of saving faith. “For we who have believed enter that rest (Heb. 4:3). “Have believed” is in the aorist tense indicating a point of time, not a recurring period. Hebrews also teaches that one can enter that rest “today”. One does not have to wait until the next sabbath. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
We bring this section to a close with the statement of Jesus,
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (Jn. 7:21-24).
The way this is translated in the NIV is probably the closest to the Greek construction.
Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly (Jn. 7:24).
The force of this statement is requiring the cessation of the action, not merely the prohibition of the action. They are to stop looking at superficial criteria and move to higher moral principles, namely the gospel of Christ. They will soon learn that Jesus is the one who fulfills both circumcision and Sabbath, and all the law as well.
…and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col. 2:11-12)
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ (Col. 2:16-17).
For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near (Heb. 10:1).
Application
- While we may not be able to have the same direct communication Jesus had with His Father, we should be open to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit guiding us and prompting us to do or not do certain things. Following these promptings should always be done in harmony with the teaching of Scripture.
- We should not purposely place ourselves in harm’s way doing God’s will.
- We should recognize that we, like Christ, will often be hated by the world because our values testify that its deeds are evil.
- We should ask ourselves if we are really willing to do God’s will.
- It is only after we make a commitment to follow God and are born of the Spirit that we will be able to understand the truths of Scripture correctly.
- In our witnessing and teaching let us evaluate our motives. Are we seeking to do “a good job” for the acclaim of those we teach or witness to, or are we doing it solely for our Lord and Savior?
- Let us recognize that no one is able to keep the law. It was not designed to be a method of salvation, but a means to point out sin and drive us to the gospel of God’s grace so that our sins may be forgiven.
- Let us be clear what is ritual and what is moral and not get bogged down dealing with superficial rituals.
Prayer,
Father, thank you for sending your Son to live and die for me. Thank you that I have believed and know that your teaching through Christ is true and can be trusted. Help me to exult your glory in all of my teaching and writing.
In Jesus name.
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