John 7

CHAPTER 7THEME: Jesus teaches at Feast of Tabernacles in temple (fifth word)This chapter contains the wonderful truths that Jesus is the Water of Life and that He promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who believe on Him.

John 7:1

JESUS TEACHES AT FEAST OF TABERNACLES IN TEMPLE (Fifth Word)“After these things.” This is a common expression with John who is giving us a chronological picture. The events of chapter 6 took place in Galilee at the Sea of Galilee; but before that, Jesus had been in Jerusalem where there had arisen the controversy concerning Him at the pool of Bethesda. It seems that the events of chapter 6 transpired about one year before the Cross in April; the events in chapter 7 occur about six months later, in October. Matthew 15-18 and Mark 7-9 and Luke 9 relate incidents which transpired during this period. During the last year of His ministry, Jesus confined His activities to Galilee. It says that He walked no longer in Jewry, that means in Judaea, because the religious rulers there had a plot to kill Him. Jesus is following a divine schedule which His Father had given Him. These men could not touch Him until His time was come. We are now entering the last six months of His life, and the first incident which John records in that period is this occurrence of the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse Joh_7:1 reveals that a storm is gathering about the person of Christ. Six months later that storm will break in all its fury upon Jesus on the Cross. Friend, that storm is still going on. There is more difference of opinion about Him than about any other person who has ever lived. They blaspheme Him and say the worst things about Him that ever have been said. He’s controversial today. Although the storm is gathering, Jesus chose this time to abandon His method of staying away, and He went up to Jerusalem because it was the Feast of Tabernacles.

John 7:2

There were three feasts which every male Jew was required to attend in Jerusalem. Our Lord kept the Law; He had to go up to Jerusalem during the Feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost. The Feast of Tabernacles is described in Leviticus 23. This was a feast of great joy to celebrate Israel’s wonderful deliverance out of the land of Egypt. Because they had lived in tents during the wilderness journey, this is a feast of tents, or booths. They didn’t have campers, you see, but they did camp out in booths.

There was the blowing of trumpets and seventy bullocks were offered. There was the pouring out of water in the temple, with a double portion on the last day of the feast to remind them that God gave them water from the rock in the wilderness. They brought the water from the pool of Siloam and poured out literally barrels of water. During this festival, they illuminated the inner court with a regular torch parade. This was commemorating the pillar of fire that guided the children of Israel by night as they wandered in the wilderness. Now we can understand that the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that led the children of Israel were both pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the feasts of Jehovah in the Old Testament have been fulfilled except the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be fulfilled when our Lord returns to the earth. Thus it symbolizes the great joy of that time.

John 7:3

These brethren are not His disciples but are His half-brothers. Their names are given to us in Mat_13:55: James, Joses, Simon, and Judas. His half-brother, James, is the one who wrote the Epistle of James; His half-brother, Judas, probably is the one who wrote the Epistle of Jude. That was much later, of course, and at this point His brothers do not believe in Him. They are giving Him advice that He can’t use at all.

John 7:6

They are advising Jesus out of their unbelief, but Jesus does not take their advice. He is moving according to schedule, but it is His Father’s schedule. He is not following the wisdom of the world, nor did He ever appeal to His own mindit isn’t that He doesn’t think it is the right time to go. He is on a definite schedule from the Father; He is doing His Father’s will. Notice the little word yet in “My time is not yet come.” Jesus did not say that He would not go down to the feast, but He was not going down with them publicly to win public favor by something spectacular, or whatever they wanted Him to do. He would go at His Father’s appointed time and in His Father’s way.

John 7:7

The world is hostile to Christ. The reason is that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. He turns on that Light, and that Light reveals everything that is wrong; it reveals sin. He condemns sin. That is the reason He is hated even today. He condemns sin by His very presence, by His very life. This raises a hostility in man because the heart of man is evil. Christ went to the Cross because He loved the human family. Redeeming love is what has broken the heart of hostile man. We see this so clearly in the life of Saul of Tarsus. He was breathing out threatenings. He hated the Lord Jesus and anyone who followed Him. But when he came to know the Lord Jesus as his Savior, it broke his heart, and he could say, “He loved me, and gave himself for me” (see Gal_3:20).

John 7:10

He probably traveled with His disciples on a back road and entered into the city through the sheep gate. I believe He always entered Jerusalem through the sheep gate until the time of His so-called triumphal entry when He appeared publicly, offering Himself to the nation and actually demanding that they either accept or reject Him.

John 7:11

The “Jews” are the religious rulersthey were looking for Him and expecting Him because the Law required that He come to the feast. There was a lot of discussion concerning Him, but it was all done quite secretly because anyone would be attacked for making any statement that would be inclined in His favor and would be in danger of arrest.

John 7:14

Quite suddenly, He appeared in the temple. This Feast of Tabernacles is in the calendar of God and sets before us the coming of Christ in His return to earth and the events and stages which lead up to that. This feast speaks of the consummation of all things. He will appear suddenly. “…and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple …” (Mal_3:1). This will be fulfilled in His return to the earth.

John 7:15

Have you noticed how often we find Jesus teaching? Note the priority which He gave to the Word of God. The Jews (these would be the religious leaders) were astounded because He had no formal training in the rabbinical schools. They marveled that He could speak as He did. Even His enemies were forced to admit, “Never man spake like this man” (v. Joh_7:46).

John 7:16

To reject the message of Jesus is to reject the message of God. In chapters 4 and 5, He has insisted that to reject Him is to reject God. Don’t ever tell me that He didn’t make Himself equal with God. You may reject that He is, but you can never say that the Bible does not declare Him to be equal with God.

John 7:17

“If anyone is willing to do His will” is the way Weymouth translates this. The Old Testament invites, “O taste and see that the LORD is good …” (Psa_34:8). We have an adage that says, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it.” Jesus invites you; come and make a laboratory test. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” There must be an attitude of love for the Word of God. Someone has said that human knowledge must be known to be loved, but divine knowledge must be loved to be understood. Here we have the steps: knowledge, love, obedience. That is what He asks you to do. It’s so easy to sit on the sidelines and be a Monday morning quarterback. We love to tell others how it should have been done or to speak our mind without really knowing. Jesus says, “Taste the Lord!” “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” That is the wonder of the Word of God. Friend, if you are willing, God will make it real to you. The Holy Spirit will confirm it to you.

John 7:18

The question is whether men want to hear God. If they do, then God will speak to them in His Word. Then they will accept Jesus Christ who came to speak for the Father. Unfortunately, men are often more interested in a man who is seeking his own glory. If Jesus Christ had been trying to found some new cult, these men would have listened. But Jesus was not glorifying Himself; rather, He was giving all the glory to the Father and so “…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co_2:14). Therefore, some people read the Bible and get nothing out of it.

John 7:19

Here is the hypocrisy of the legalist, the person who says the Sermon on the Mount is his religion or the person who says he lives by the Ten Commandments. The Lord Jesus says, “none of you keepeth the law.” The Law is a mirror to let us see that we are lost sinners. The Law is importantdon’t misunderstand meyou don’t kick the Law out the door. It expresses the will of God. But the purpose of the Law is to show us that we are sinners and that we need a Savior. The Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (see Gal_3:24).

John 7:20

Possibly they did not realize that there was a plot to put Jesus to death. Jesus refers to His work when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. This had aroused antagonism.

John 7:22

Circumcision is a rite which goes back to Abraham and is older than the Mosaic Law. He is showing them their own inconsistency in their practice. In trying to keep the Law, they broke the Law. If a child was eight days old on the Sabbath Day, they would break the Sabbath Law and circumcise the child. They have no reply to this! Then Jesus warns them against making superficial judgments. That is still a difficulty with most of us today. We make superficial judgments because we don’t have all the facts.

John 7:25

Again we note that there was a division concerning who Jesus is.

John 7:28

This is quite oratorical. Jesus is saying, “Do you really know Me? You think you know Me; you see Me, but you don’t really know Me. You think you know where I have come from, but you don’t really know.”

John 7:30

It’s interesting that even though they were anxious to take Jesus, they couldn’t touch Him until His hour had come.

John 7:31

Our Lord answered the Pharisees that they would take Him at the proper timenot until then. Then He tells them He will leave them. He is speaking of His resurrection and His ascension. They would never be able to touch Him again. Have you ever noticed that after His death upon the Cross, none but loving hands touched Him? None but loving eyes saw Him.

John 7:35

I think this is ridicule. They didn’t think that Jesus could hide from them. We come now to the last day of the feast, and it was on that day that they poured out a double portion of water in the temple. I think He could have been standing ankle deep in water when He said these words. They were celebrating the fact that God had given them water from the rock during the long trek of Israel through the wilderness. Paul tells us that the rock was Christ (see 1Co_10:4). He is the One who gives the real water, the Water of Life.

John 7:37

This is free will, friend. “If any man.” That means you. God is offering a gift to you. Also here is election: “If any man thirst.” The question is, “Are you thirsty?” Have you perhaps been drinking at the mud holes of the world, and have you been finding that they are not satisfying? “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” You can come to Him and receive Him as your Savior.

John 7:38

The Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Holy Spirit did not come until the Day of Pentecost. Then He came to indwell believers and to form them into one body. The coming of the Holy Spirit on that day assures us that Jesus had arrived back at the Father’s throne.

John 7:40

Some of the people believed and turned to Him. They drank and were satisfied.

John 7:41

We have the same thing today. Some believe, and some do not believe.

John 7:42

He was of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem. That was where He first touched down on this earth. It was “splashdown” for Him in that miserable little stable in that miserable little town. It’s not like the pretty pictures you see on Christmas cards. He began in Bethlehem, but He didn’t stay there for His earthly ministry. If these people had really wanted to know, they could have learned that His birth took place in Bethlehem and that He did fulfill the prophecies. He is the One who is giving them the invitation to come and drink, but they put up this objection. There will always be a division among the people over who He is until He comes to reign.

John 7:44

They couldn’t. His hour was not yet come.

John 7:45

What a testimony these men gave about Jesus, “Never man spake like this man.” He was the great teacher, but it is not by His teaching that we are saved. He saves us by His death and resurrection.

John 7:47

This is the Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. I think that Nicodemus trusted the Lord that night. He is a Pharisee, and he defends Jesus. They ridicule him with a joke, “Art thou also of Galilee?” That was a disgrace to them. It was like city folk making fun of the country folk. It is interesting to note that they did know the facts of their Scripture: “Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” In the true sense He hadn’t come out of Galilee, nor had He come out of Bethlehem. He had come out of glory. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa_9:6)the Son came out from heaven. “Every man went unto his own house.” No one invited Jesus into his home. It was a feast night, but Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives. As far as we know, He never spent a night in Jerusalem. How about you, my friend? Do you go to your own home and leave Jesus out in the cold? Or have you accepted His wonderful invitation so that you live in the love and light of His presence?