Lesson 9 - John 7:14-18, 25-31, 33-36 - JESUS TEACHES AT THE FEAST
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in John 6:5-11, 26-31, 47-51, we studied the Fourth Sign reported in John's gospel, the miraculous feeding of 5,000 (15,000-20,000 when you includes wives and children) with five barley loaves and two fish in Galilee and the events immediately after it, when the crowd followed Him all the way across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, where they demanded that He perform another miracle for them. When Jesus explained that He was the "Bread of Life," sent by God the Father to offer them the "living bread" that leads to eternal life, they stubbornly refused to believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be and demanded that He show them another sign. From that lesson, we learned two important truths: (1) That Jesus doesn't seek followers who have misconceptions about who He is but (2) seeks those who are willing to believe in Him by faith alone.
This week, in John 7:14-18, 25-31, 33-36, we join Jesus as He travels again from Galilee to Jerusalem, this time in secret, to attend the Feast of Booths. While teaching and preaching there, Jesus inevitably comes into conflict with the local religious leaders. In these encounters, the crowds notice Jesus' profound words, the history of His miracles, and the inability of the religious leaders to silence Him. And for Jesus, it marks the beginning of the end of His public ministry. The first 10 verses of the chapter report that Jesus' brothers urged Him to go Jerusalem with them to "show Yourself to the world," even though they didn't believe in Him at the time (vv. 4-5). The crowds who had previously seen and heard Him were divided and confused about who He really was: Some said that "He is a good man" while others claimed He was "leading people astray" (v. 12).
Read John 7:14-18 - HOW HAS THIS MAN BECOME LEARNED?
14 But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?" 16 So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 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. 18 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.
v. 14: "But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach." - John's text today uses this occasion in Jesus' teaching ministry to reveal three major themes: Jesus' authority, His origins, and His destiny. Starting with this verse, John uses this section to introduce Jesus' teaching in the Jerusalem during this feast and to set the stage for the events that would transpire immediately afterward.
v. 15: "The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?" - While it wasn't all that unusual in those days for a male Jew to read and write, the Judean Jews were quite frankly astounded by Jesus' knowledge of the Scriptures and religious subjects. Moreover, they knew He had received no formal education in the rabbinic schools. Today, it would be comparable to a person who had never attended college explaining nuclear physics to a group of professors at M.I.T. To these educated Jews, there was only one accepted form of learning: the school of the Rabbis, and anything taught contrary to it was categorically wrong-blasphemous.
v. 16: "So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me." - Here, Jesus explains that His knowledge had not come from something He dreamed up or learned through self-study but came directly from the One who had sent Him-God the Father. In other words, all of His teachings stem from the divine authority of God rather than any type of human learning.
v. 17: "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." - Jesus further declared that the key to validating His claim in v. 16-that His teaching is directly from God-was His purpose and determination to obey God's will. The way the rabbis ordinarily settled such debates was through dialogues among themselves that ultimately led to an agreement (i.e., a compromise, like lawyers who settle lawsuits). Thus, Jesus is saying that the central issue is moral, not intellectual. The major point He makes is that submission to God rather than intellectual debate is the foundation for understanding spiritual truth, and in particular the truth of Jesus' teachings. In other words, spiritual understanding is not gained by learning facts or procedures (head knowledge), but living it out in obedience to God's known truth.
v. 18a: "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory;" - Here, Jesus rightly asserts that a person who advances his or her own original ideas is merely seeking to glorify self, not God.
v. 18b: "but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." - On the other hand, a person who seeks to elevate the ideas of someone else, ends up glorifying that person rather than himself or herself. Therefore, a person who seeks to advance the ideas of God, glorifies God, not self. So, Jesus sets the example for us and everyone else.
APPLICATION 1: People reject Jesus in spite of who He is because they refuse to obey God's will. If you want to know who Jesus is and whether He is the One sent by God, you have to be willing to obey God's will-i.e., to believe-as revealed by His Word. One commentator said it's difficult for us to believe because as sinners, it's difficult for us to obey God. This spiritual understanding can't be obtained by intellectual effort (head-knowledge) but only by obedience to God's known truth.
Read John 7:25-31 - I KNOW HIM BECAUSE I AM FROM HIM
25 So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? 26 Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? 27 However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from." 28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me." 30 So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, "When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?"
Note: Verse 1 previously explained that Jesus was aware of the fact that the religious leaders in Jerusalem were plotting to kill Him when the opportunity arose.
v. 25: "So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? " - This verse sets up the distinction between "the people of Jerusalem," who knew that the religious leaders, i.e., the Council, were plotting to get rid of Jesus, from the large crowds of pilgrims who were visiting the city for the feast and basically knew nothing about it.
v. 26a: "Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him." - The locals from Jerusalem were surprised that Jesus was being allowed to speak out and that the Jewish leaders were apparently doing nothing to stop Him.
v. 26b: "The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? - The local people assumed that if Jesus were a fake, the leaders would arrest him and lock Him up, but on the other hand, if He were truly the Christ-the Messiah, they would announce Him as such, wouldn't they? At this point, the locals see only two possible options: the authorities are either too inept to deal with Jesus as blasphemer or they are simply unsure about the truthfulness of Jesus' claims. And on the other side of it, the Jewish authorities feared how the people might react to any action taken against Jesus. They certainly didn't want to ignite a riot during this feast.
v. 27: "However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from." - Many people in Jerusalem did not believe that Jesus was Messiah because they had been told or taught that their human Messiah's origins would be unknown, which was, in fact, really just an unfounded tradition, folklore. And it was not scriptural because the OT clearly predicted that the Messiah' birthplace would be Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). Another misconception was the assumption that Jesus had been born in Nazareth, the same place He grew up.
v. 28a: "Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, - Whenever John's gospel says Jesus "cried out," it indicates that He is making an important public pronouncement.
v. 28b: "You both know Me and know where I am from;" - Jesus is saying here that they simply knew of his early origins as a man who came from Nazareth. They only knew him superficially.
v. 28c: "and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know." - Jesus announces that He did not come (to earth) by His own choice but came because God the Father sent Him for a purpose and a mission. They don't know God the Father because they don't know their Scriptures (OT prophecy), and they also don't know Jesus because they don't know the Father.
v. 29: "I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me." - This is radical: Jesus is not only claiming equality with God, but that He wasn't simply born into this world like other humans; He emphatically claims that He existed before He was born on earth and was sent here by the Father.
v. 30: "So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come." - Here, God clearly prevented Jesus' premature arrest. "His hour" referred to the time predestined for Jesus crucifixion and its consequences, and that time had not yet arrived.
v. 31: "But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, "When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?" - While "many...believed in Him," the text reveals their belief was incomplete. They had concluded He was the Messiah, but the common understanding of that title was that of a powerful human deliverer. Like Moses, the Messiah could perform miraculous signs as Jesus had already done. In any case, belief on the basis of signs was far better than no belief at all.
APPLICATION 2: Incomplete belief in who Jesus is better than no belief at all. The Lord will take us at a pretty shallow level and will deepen our faith as we come to understand more and more who He truly is. We were all 'baby Christians' at one time.
Read John 7:33-36 - WHERE DOES THIS MAN INTEND TO GO?
33 Therefore Jesus said, "For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come." 35 The Jews then said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? 36 What is this statement that He said, 'You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come'?"
Note: Verse 32 (skipped) indicates the Pharisees and priests were sufficiently alarmed over the crowd's awe of Jesus to send out officers to seek Him out and arrest Him.
v. 33: "Therefore Jesus said, "For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me." - Jesus is saying again, in different words, that His hour (v. 30) had not yet come. When it did, He would return to the Father. The Jews would search for Him but not find Him.
v. 34: "You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come." - Jesus was going where they could not come, namely to heaven. Death was not the end, but they could not come to where He was going in their present (unsaved) condition, which requires spiritual regeneration and translation (John. 8:21; 13:33). Therefore, time was running out both for Jesus to finish His work and for the Jews to believe in Him. The Jews had only a little time to place their faith in Him before He would depart and return to heaven. After this time, many Jews would seek their Messiah but not find Him. And that is what has been happening ever since Jesus ascended, and it will continue to happen until Jesus returns to earth at His Second Coming (Zech. 12:10-13; Rev. 1:7).
v. 35: "The Jews then said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He?" - Again, Jesus' Jewish listeners thought that he was referring to physical matters and earthly locations. The "Dispersion" (also known as the Diaspora) was a term used to describe Jews who had scattered from Palestine and were living elsewhere in the world. They mistook that Jesus was referring to Jews or even Gentile proselytes who were living in these areas.
v. 36: "What is this statement that He said, 'You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come'?" - These Jews did not understand where Jesus was going any more than they understood where He had come from (i.e., they still thought He was some upstart from Nazareth). They were so arrogant and narrow in their way of thinking that they thought it was very improbable that Jesus would actually leave Palestine. It's ironic that the apostles did just that: they ventured out to those very areas to preach the Christ whom the Jews had rejected.
APPLICATION 3: The most important thing in this life is to believe in Jesus as Lord while you still have the opportunity. Like many of the Jews in today's lesson, many people today refuse to believe Jesus' message and will end up facing God's awful judgment for rejecting His Son. They will not come where Jesus has gone-to an eternity in heaven-but will suffer eternal damnation. For all those still living today, however, there is hope because Jesus' invitation is still open. As saved Christians, it's our job to warn them that the time to repent and believe is RIGHT NOW, for tomorrow might be too late!
