More than a Prophet

In his hands he gently lends us, rescues us from all our foes. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, widely as His mercy flows. He will tell what to my Lord for me.

Please be seated. At that point, some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, Isn't this the man they're trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they're not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from.

When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from. Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, and he who sent me is true.

You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him, and he sent me. At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. Still many in the crowd put their faith in him.

They said, When Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man? The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent a temple guard to arrest him. Jesus said, I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me.

You will look for me, but you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live, scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What did he mean when he said, You will look for me, but you will not find me? Where I am, you cannot come.

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Up to that time, the spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. On hearing his words, some of the people said, Surely this man is a prophet. Others said, He is the Christ.

Still others asked, How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived? Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why didn't you bring him in? No one ever spoke the way this man does, the guards declared.

You mean he has deceived you also, the Pharisees retorted? Has any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? No, but this mob that knows nothing of the law, there is a curse on them. Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, and who was one of their own number, asked, Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he is doing? They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee. And as we've been going through this particular series, which as you'll note it from our bulletin is entitled, Generally Jesus, The Whole Truth, we're now on the latter part of the seventh chapter and thinking about Jesus as being more than a prophet, which is actually what is said of him as you read through these verses.

He is more than a prophet. And I think I would put a little additional title, a sort of postscript to that more than a prophet and suggest that we consider the subject puzzled about Jesus. Puzzled about Jesus.

Let's be Chinese for a moment and start at the end and then come to the beginning of the passage because the end which Joyce didn't read is the fifty-third verse, which spills on contextually into the eighth chapter. Then each went to his own home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. This was the end of a day, a memorable day.

I wouldn't say the greatest day that there ever was, but if you could bunch the great days of history into, say, a group of seven, then maybe this vies for a place. It's not the day when our beloved Lord was crucified. That was the most remarkable period in history.

Or vying with that the day of his resurrection. But it was the end of a tremendous day when he uttered a great claim. For on the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, our Lord Jesus claimed to be able to supply the needs of every sensitive seeking man or woman who desires to have their spiritual thirst satisfied.

More of that in a moment. This chapter actually deals with what we would call a religious celebration, and it also brings us face-to-face with a mixed congregation. Let's take the latter for a moment or two.

As for the mixture of this congregation, you will have gathered from Tim on the last occasion we preached from this particular passage, that there in Jerusalem are people who have actually come from Galilee, and they have made this journey down to the Holy City because, well, it's such a vital point in the Jewish year. And generally speaking, in this mixed congregation, the folks who come from Galilee, they are for Jesus Christ in a qualified fashion. And then, within the congregation, well, you discover from the 25th verse, there are the Jerusalemites.

They are basically suspicious of the Lord Jesus, generally speaking, against Him. And then? Then there are the police, who have actually come from this Sanhedrin, which is being convened illegally at this particular point in the ministry of Jesus. And they buzz Jesus and the disciples in a very antagonistic fashion.

So, you've got this mixed congregation. And what's more? It's a religious celebration. The Feast of the Tabernacles.

There are seven specific feasts, which the Jews kept regularly. But of those feasts, three in particular each year were important. And each of these feasts has something to say about our Lord Jesus.

Now, no prizes for getting the first two. That's quite easy. The Feast of Passover.

Later on in the ministry of our Lord Jesus, at the end of His earthly life, as He is put on a cross outside Jerusalem, you remember an Old Testament scripture that seems to speak to that occasion. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And then some 40 days later, there is the Feast of Pentecost.

And the pouring down of God's Holy Spirit in fulfillment of what our Lord Jesus said. When He'd left the disciples, He would in a remarkable way come again. So, the Old Testament of Passover and Pentecost has a New Testament fulfillment.

Now, if you happen to go to Deuteronomy in chapter 16 and verse 16, you'll find there an injunction made to spiritual Jews not to go to Jerusalem once a year or twice a year, but three times a year. And the third occasion would be for the maintaining, or if you like, the commemoration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, at the beginning of this chapter, you will remember Jesus' natural brothers, that is the natural sons of Mary and Joseph, they come to Him and they say, look, you ought to go to Jerusalem because it is the Feast of the Tabernacles.

And Jesus seems to disarm them from that particular suggestion. The reason being, well, at the human level, He's safer in Galilee than what He is in Jerusalem. Jesus went around in Galilee purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take His life.

You remember last time He'd been in Jerusalem? He'd healed a paralyzed man. And as a result of that, in more than just one sense, the Jewish authorities were at cross-purposes with Jesus. And He goes back to His native Galilee.

Well, it's the Feast of Tabernacles. And according to Moses, every sensitive Jew will be there. It's that particular feast when the Israelites remember God's faithfulness to them when they'd left Egypt and they were wandering around Sinai, wandering around the wilderness.

They had no permanent dwellings. Sometimes they used bits of scrub and made crude shelters so that they would get some relief from the oppressive heat of the Middle East. On occasions they were thirsty.

On one remarkable occasion, Moses, you remember, struck a rock and from that rock came water. And the Jews always remembered the time when God had blessed them in such a fashion in the wilderness. He brought them safely out of the bondage of Egypt.

He brought them safely from their pilgrimage in Sinai into the Promised Land. And now they had their own dwellings. And now they had a sufficient water supply.

And now every year they brought in the fruits of the harvest. And the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated that. And sensitive Jews would go from Galilee or from Judea or wherever to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

So you see, it's not surprising that you find that our Lord Jesus privately rather than publicly does come to Jerusalem at this particular occasion. Verse 14, halfway through the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus goes into the temple courts and there He begins to teach. And they've been looking for Him.

The people He antagonized last time. Verse 11, at the feast the Jews were watching for Him and asking, where is that man? So Jesus comes. He comes at a time of celebration to a mixed congregation.

And He starts to speak. And as a result they debate. Who He is? What do you make of this man? I mean, the inquiry that they engaged in yesteryear, every thinking person today ought to copy.

For perhaps the most important question is, who is Jesus Christ? For if He is who He says He is, then it should make a significant difference to your life. I go so far as to say this, if Jesus Christ is who He claims to be and you do not respond to that, you are a fool. If, however, you're convinced that He is a pretender, a good man but deranged, or at worst an imposter, then at least you have some sort of fleeting logical basis on which to build your arguments against Him.

But if there is one particular suspicion in your mind that He might be who He claims to be, the Son of God who comes into this world to do for you what nobody else can do, then you need to respond to what He has to say about the value of His life for your life and embrace it and benefit from it. Well, here He is, halfway through the feast. He's in the temple area, probably near the court of the Gentiles, along by Solomon's porch where there would be a lot of conversation and some of the rabbis would make the practice of teaching.

And our Lord commences another piece of His ministry. We only get a summation of it from the 16th and 17th and 18th verses. We get the immediate reaction of the crowd in the 20th verse, but for our purpose this morning, we take up His ministry from the 25th verse.

And there are three different speeches which Jesus makes. They're all linked together, but let me take them separately to help you. From verse 28 to 29, those of you who take notes, this is the heading.

Authority. Whence Jesus came and who Jesus is. Verse 33, the second address.

Destiny. When He is going and who cannot come. Jesus said, I'm with you for only a short time and then I go to the one who sent me and so forth.

And finally, the longest speech. Verse 37 to 39, ability. About what Jesus was doing and who might benefit.

If you didn't get that at the first attempt, you'll get it now because I'm going to explain it further. Here is our Lord and He's at Jerusalem at this very important time, this period of celebration, and He's addressing this congregation that is somewhat mixed. They're surprised.

The Jerusalemites, verse 25, that Jesus is actually allowed to preach unhindered by the public authorities. Isn't this the man they're trying to kill? Here He is speaking publicly. And they come to the conclusion, though it's only a fleeting one, and they dismiss it.

Have the authorities actually recognized that there is something bona fide about Jesus? No, they say, that cannot be. He cannot possibly be the Messiah because when Messiah comes, we won't know where He's come from. And to some degree, we don't know where He's going to.

But as for Jesus, we know where He comes from, Galilee. And His hometown is Nazareth. Now look, the Lord Jesus always knows the thoughts that go in your mind.

He knew them then and He knows them now. He has what theologians call the attribute of omniscience. Look at verse 28.

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I think that there, there's a mixture of deliberate irony and what possibly might be considered blasphemy. Jesus did know what these people were saying about Him.

Actually, their understanding was very feeble. Oh, you say you know me? Ah, yes, you know me. Ah, but our beloved Lord in irony is indicating there is far more about me than you really do know.

And what is more, He goes on to say, and here is a claim for deity, that He is not just an ordinary person. He is not just an ordinary rabbi. I am not here on my own, but He who sent me is true.

You do not know Him, but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent me. Now that seems to be the language of a puzzle. Unless you are aware of His teaching before in Jerusalem.

You remember encapsulated in John 3.16 is a summary of it. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Says Jesus, I came from God.

You don't know Him. I know Him. He who sent me is true.

And I know Him because I am from Him and He sent me. How do I know it's blasphemy? Well, what is blasphemy? Blasphemy is taking the name of God in vain. Blasphemy in this context is attributing to yourself honors that could only logically apply to someone who is an extension of God.

And that is what Jesus is claiming here. I can prove it because of the reaction of the crowd. Look at verse 30.

At this they tried to seize Him. Why do they try to seize Him? Well, for the same reason as they did so in chapter 5 and the same reason as you will find them doing so in chapters 8 and 9 or the end of chapter 8. Jesus there, you remember, uses the divine name and He says before Abraham was, I am. When Jesus forgives sins, the Pharisees are quite right.

It is an improper thing to do unless you have the authority to forgive sins. No one can forgive sins apart from the one who is sinned against. Who has been sinned against? God Himself.

So when someone comes and forgives sins, they are saying that they have the authority of God so to do. And on a number of occasions, our Lord Jesus claims that authority and here it's exactly the same. When did I come? I came from God.

To whom am I going? I am going to God. Now look, Jesus didn't say this in a sort of quiet voice. I mean, He wasn't exercising diplomacy.

Here He is in one of the three major festivals of Judaism. The temple is thronged with people and we are told verse 28 that Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out. Here is emotion.

Here is volume. Here is our Lord letting all thinking Jews realize He is making a claim to being unique. He is the Messiah.

More than a prophet. More than a good man. More than a great teacher.

They seize Him and they discover, incredibly as you'll find on a further two occasions in the chapter, that they don't actually have the power. You see, our Lord is not a pawn. I want to make it very clear that the gospel that we offer to you in the name of the Lord Jesus is not to be conceived of as something cheap.

Something where you can take your pick, you know. God's doing me a favor. It doesn't really matter whether I respond or not.

All the authority, all the power is on my side. It is not. You are finite.

You are feeble. You have utterly no rights upon God whatsoever. And when the Son of God came into the world, He did not come as a pawn.

He is not there ready to be pounced on by the police as though just at their own will they can march Him off. If He is arrested, it will be because He is compliant to that arrest. What happens to Jesus is programmed into a timetable set by the one who sent Him into this world.

They tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him. Why not? Because His time had not yet come. Now when Jesus makes claims, there will always be opposing reactions.

Some will respond positively, others negatively. That is always the case with the Gospel. Some people will come here and they will hear Tim or myself or Eric or Nick or what have you preach.

And they will be impressed. Not by what we have to say in terms of our own personalities or abilities, but impressed by the logic of the Gospel. This is what I wanted to hear.

This makes so much sense. And others? Well, as the first group are switched on by the Gospel, so they are switched off. It's always the case.

The Gospel unites those who will believe and it divides the dissenters. And some here are impressed. They said, when the Christ comes, will He do more miraculous signs than this man? Now the Sanhedrin is being chaired on this occasion.

It's an illegal gathering because it's the eighth day of the feast. The seventh day is reckoned to be a Sabbath and also especially the eighth day. Now, Jerusalem is aware that Jesus might come to this feast.

They've been waiting for Him. The Pharisees hear the whispers of the crowd. They can't cope with a positive reaction to Jesus.

And so there's a further delegation sent, verse 32b, from the chief priests and the Pharisees to arrest Jesus. And in the first piece of speech, He's put down a claim for authority. He's told us when He came, whence He came, and who He is.

In this second speech, He's going to tell us a little bit about destiny. Where He is going and who cannot come. Look at it.

I'm with you for only a short time. Remember, they've sent this police group to arrest Him. And Jesus speaks to them as though He is in control of the situation, as indeed He is.

I am with you only for a short time. And then I go to the one who sent me. Now, that's easy, isn't it? You and I, we're in on the end of the story.

We know of the crucifixion. We know of the resurrection. I will go to the one who sent me.

You will look for me, but you will not find me. And where I am, you cannot come. Now look, I used to be an English teacher until I opted for an easier life, like going into the ministry.

Now, just from the skills of the past, which are a bit rusty, let's analyze verse 34. Let's take the verbs. You will look for me, but you will not find me.

Why is not the next tense a future? And where I will be, you cannot come. He doesn't say that. He says, and where I am, you cannot come.

Linguistically, well, it makes sense, but it's not the Queen's English. Campbell Morgan says, here is our Lord's cosmic consciousness. Here, merging in the person of Jesus Christ, is the concept of the past, and of the present, and of the future.

In front of him, there's Calvary, and the resurrection. In front of him is, if you like, the significance of Passover, and Pentecost, and then beyond that, eternity. Now, the name of Jesus is the same as the name of the Father.

The Father never changes. It's said of our Lord Jesus, I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. Here, Jesus is positing the future as though it was the present.

Here is the merging of all the phases that you and I know, past, present, and future, which constrict and confine us because we're limited human beings. But our Lord is not a human being in that sense. He is Son of Man.

He is also Son of God. And He speaks of the future as though He is completely in control. You have come to look for me.

The day will come when you won't find me. The day will come that where I am, you cannot be. What excludes people from being in God's tomorrow? What excludes people from having an eternal relationship with God the Son? Rejection of Jesus.

There will be a time, He speaks prophetically to the Jewish nation, when you will want me, but you can't have me. Not as the Messiah in your own fashioning. For there is only one program that I have come to fulfill.

It is the program of Him who sent me. And so, in this remarkable Feast of the Tappernacles, our Lord discloses this piece of information, where He's going, who cannot come. It's ironic, isn't it? That human agency is sent to arrest Him who has all authority.

And in the language of eternal consciousness, He sees them off. He is the logos incarnate. All the majesty of the eternities, all the authority of God, merge into Jesus Christ and are indicated in this speech.

And the result? They don't understand. Do they? They take Him literally. Where does this man intend to go? We can't find Him.

Will He go to the Jews who are scattered around the Middle East? The Dispersia? The Diaspora? What does He mean when He says, You will look for me, but you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. What does He mean? Paul will tell you that the carnal man cannot understand the things of God.

You see, you take another fellow or a girl, he comes into the tavern and immediately the gospel is explained and they respond. They're granted that spiritual insight. Others come and they find the sermons so wearying.

They don't understand. What's the distinction? Well, there are those who want to know, those who have a spiritual concern. And there are those who deal with the things of the gospel in a cavalier fashion.

Our Lord, on the final day of the feast, gets up and He speaks. Verse 37. And once again, He cries.

He cries in a loud voice. And He cries in the feast on that last day. Now, on the first seven days, the priests would go down to the Pool of Siloam or down to the Kidron Valley and they would go with their golden pitchers and they would take water and bring it back to the temple area and they would outpour the water in commemoration of God supplying water when the Jews were in the wilderness wanderings.

But on the eighth day, there's no pouring out of water. Why not? Well, you see, water is no longer required in Jerusalem itself. But there's also something else.

There is the anticipation that one day in the Messianic era, water, so to speak, will flow out from Jerusalem to all the world. If you read Ezekiel or Joel chapter 3, you will find reference to this effect that Jerusalem will become a sort of spiritual headquarters and water, understood in a spiritual sense, will bubble out to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west. When will that happen? Jesus says it is now beginning to happen.

On the last day of the feast, Jesus says, I will pour out water to the world. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.

By this he meant the spirit with whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the spirit had not been given since Jesus had not been glorified. You see my point? Jesus fulfills Passover.

You knew that. The blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary for your sins for mine. Jesus fulfills Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit falls upon the assembled company. Jesus also fulfills tabernacles because prophetically in that feast is the concept of Jerusalem being a blessing to the whole world. And the gospel from Jerusalem, from the lips of Jesus, has blessed not just Jew but Gentile.

On what basis are people blessed? Well, acknowledging their thirst. Any man who is thirsty, recognizing their need, having a longing, come. This is the language of invitation.

Do with your will what you would do with your feet if Jesus was present. Thirst? You acknowledge that? Then come. Come to Jesus and drink.

What does that mean? Making the benefits of Christ's life and death and resurrection your own. And out of your innermost being will flow streams of living water. Our Lord Jesus can satisfy the deepest desires within the heart of a man.

Now look, if you followed, you will have the same reaction probably and with this we'll close, as those temple guards. You see, the temple guards have listened to what Jesus had to say. In fact, they've triggered off what he had to say because they've tried again to arrest him.

And they go back, verse 45, to the chief priests and the Pharisees to this illegal meeting of the Sanhedrin. And the members of the Sanhedrin said, well, why don't you bring him with you? Or why didn't you bring him with you? And what did they say? Well, you know, he's got such a crowd of muggers around that we were scared for our lives. You know, he did such supernatural activity that it really did scare us to death.

They didn't say that at all. What did they say? Why didn't you bring him in? No one ever spoke the way this man does. They heard things that he has never heard before.

They heard language that no man had ever dared to use. He addresses the world, a thirsty world, and says, come to me. He suggests that what he has to do will slake the thirst of every man or every woman who has a desire to come.

Nobody speaks like this unless they're a liar, unless they're a lunatic. And neither of these options seem to be open to these gods. Why didn't you bring him in? No one ever spoke like this.

You mean he's deceived you also? Game, set, and match? Has Jesus won? And the fact of the matter is that for many of us, yes, when we listen to Jesus, it's game, set, and match. He has won. I came to Jesus and I drank of that life's giving stream.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want. All my need in thee is found. Don't you see Jesus Christ is the prescription for the problem that baffles and bemuses you? Jesus Christ has come into this world in the authority of God with his destiny secure in the purposes of God to offer to you the benefits of the obedience of his life and death and mighty resurrection.

They dismiss the gods. You've gone with the sight of the Galileans and there's a curse on them. Verse 49, they know nothing.

They're not like us theologians instructed in Judaism. What does the crowd know? A curse on them and you're in their company. Nobody of any stature has ever believed in him.

And then there's a sort of divine humor. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at midnight, now in the twilight of his spiritual awakening, says, does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he's doing? Deal with Jesus justly, says Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus at midnight, here it's twilight.

Give it six months and it will be daylight. And Nicodemus will take the bloodied body of our Lord Jesus from off the cross and with the courage that he found along with Joseph of Arimathea, he will give Jesus a decent burial. They said, are you from Galilee to look into it? You'll find a prophet never came out of Galilee.

Then what about Jonah? What about Nahum? What about the Bible that you claim to believe? The Sanhedrin finish in disgrace. And everyone goes to his own home, some perhaps with consciences that won't allow them to sleep that night, some with curiosity aroused, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. He had no home.

Foxes of holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to go. And yet he did. He went into the presence of God to commune with him where the olive groves are, on that mount outside Jerusalem.

And he gives you a sort of little picture as to the blessings that can be yours if you side with him and acknowledge who he is. He goes in the night to find peace and strength from God, his Father. And he can take you to the Father so that you can find strength and peace in your lives.

That was a great day, a memorable day. Jesus, Lord of Passover, Lord of Pentecost, is also Lord of the tabernacles. From him, from Jerusalem, from the Prince of Jerusalem, flows rivers of salvation that benefit the Jew and the Gentile.

Have you responded? Are you a Christian? I... I am a Christian.