Category Archives: Wednesday Bible Study

Last week, we left Jesus and His disciples with a man born blind. The disciples had asked Jesus if it was sin of the father or of the son that had caused this man’s blindness. A valid question for it was taught in the Pentateuch, specifically Exodus 20 verses 4 and 5, that the sins of the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. You’ll note that Exodus 20 is where we derive what is called the 10 Commandments. Basically what came down the mountain with Moses after Yəhōwā had used His finger to write His law onto a stone tablet. So, by asking their Rabbi this question, you can discern that these boys had not really gotten to the point of understanding the lessons that Jesus had been teaching them. Remember, they had been with Christ for about 2 and a half years now. Being a Jew, they had a lot of cultural baggage to drag around and hinder their understanding. Jesus told them, “No, it was neither, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.“ (John 9:3)

And then because Christ was always teaching, He said “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” (vv. 4, 5) He may have said what He did because it is possible that it was late afternoon when they had encountered this man and Christ seemed to always use the real world as a practical example, to illustrate a larger truth. It would be curious to know the blindman’s thoughts as he sat there listening to this dialog going on about him. Pharisees that would have walked passed him would more than likely have spoken out loud about how this man was a sinner because he was blind, and that was that.

Not so with Christ, He sees the afflicted, the downtrodden, the harlots and tax assessors as those needing redemption and healing. Jesus leaned down, spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes. (v. 6) Then he told the man to go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which the man did and he came back seeing. (v.7)

Now the scripture tells us that this man’s neighbors see this man walking around and seeing, questioning “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” (v. 8) But others, not willing to believe their lying eyes, said “No, but he is like him.” The man, now seeing and was also not deaf, kept saying “I am the one.” (v. 9) Now starts the trouble, his neighbors say fine, if now you can see, “How then were your eyes opened?” (v. 10) He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” (vv. 11, 12) I think what might be going on here is, to this guy’s neighbors, he was always a beggar and more than likely a sinner to boot. Now he is walking around and no longer a beggar and they sound like they are a little affronted by him being their equal now. By whose authority were you allowed to change your social status. And if you are telling us it was this Jesus guy, whom I am sure they had at least heard about, where is He now? I don’t think I like his neighbors much. They had never treated this guy well when he was a blind beggar and now they are giving him the third degree about how he came to see.

These neighbors then get the Pharisees involved. (v. 14) They can’t have people just up and starting to see when they never had before. And now we find out it is the Sabbath and is probably the whole reason for the conflict. You are not allowed to do many things on the Sabbath. Healing is on the can’t do list and Jesus healed this guy on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” (v. 15)

Some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. Note that in their division, they were united in their being against Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. Their precious Sabbath which they had written rules and rules and more rules of what you can and can’t do.Their hearts could not abide people being healed on the Sabbath. You would think they would rejoice at this man’s sight being given to him. Instead, they continued to question the man. They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” (v. 17)

The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” (vv. 19, 20) The Jews mentioned here are the Pharisees. Demanding answers to their nonsensical questions. We see this today, where truth is presented and rejected by those who rule us. Truly nothing is new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” (v. 21) The parents are terrified of the power of these Pharisees. This is referred to in the next verse: His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. (v. 22) If you were put out of the synagog you were in for hard times. You would not be permitted to buy in the market or sell. It would be similar to you not being permitted to shop at Walmart or any other of the supermarkets or businesses. Everybody would know you are banned and if they let you shop, they would then be kicked out of the temple too. Similar to what is going on today with our Caesars telling us you need to be vaccinated to fly anywhere, you have to wear a mask to shop and 6 feet of social distance is safe but 5.5 feet is not. Pharisees then, Pharisees now.

This was the reason that the parents of the blind man told the Pharisees to ask their son to answer their questions. (v. 23) They were scared to be put out of the temple. I wonder at their behavior. Their son had done nothing wrong, yet they were not sticking up for him. He was a recipient of Grace, not the instigator. However anyone associated with this event was to be judged guilty by these Jews.

So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” (v. 24) He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (v. 25) It is refreshing to see someone that up till now did not know the Grace of our Lord, having truly seen it (pun lovers, rejoice!) now defends it. The Pharisees continue with being stupid, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” (vv. 26, 27)

Have you ever been so mad, you couldn’t see straight? This is where these Jews are now.
They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” (vv. 28, 29) They claim to be disciples of Moses, yet they did not live as Moses did. Moses gave them their law, and they turned around and added rules to this law that God did not command or condone. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I am commanding you. Deuteronomy 4:2 They were lost in the forest of God’s laws, because they kept running into the tree of self proclaimed righteousness.

The Holy Spirit now lends the man his closing argument and he answered them. “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (vv. 30-34) It was more than the Pharisees could bear. They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. (v. 35)

I do believe that this convert to Christ is the first to be kicked out of the temple. Contrast this with another Sabbath healing. The one at Bethesda with a man who was lying by the pool for a very long time. This is in John 5 and when the man gets healed and is walking around with his pallet, some random Pharisee accosts him and tells him “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” (John 5:10) When he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. (John 5:11-13) Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. (John 5:14-16) The implication here is, Jesus finds him, knows his heart and then warns him to be careful and sin no more, lest something worse happens to him. This healed man takes this information, that it was Jesus that healed him and tells the Pharisees who it is. Here is a sermon by John MacArthur that gives a great overview of this whole event. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/43-25/the-damning-power-of-false-religion

So the man at the Bethesda pool went back to the Pharisees to tell them what they wanted to know. He did not get kicked out of the temple and stayed within the cold and unloving embrace of his Jewish religion. Safe from persecution, and healed. Back to John 9, this once blind man stood up for this Rabbi that had healed him and infuriated the Pharisees with his answers.

Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” (vv. 35-37) Another occasion when our Lord declares who He is.

And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” (vv. 38, 39) This statement was not just for the now healed man, it was also for the disciples that were around him and for the people walking by.

Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (vv. 40-41) Their sin was glaringly obvious to Christ but they were convinced of their righteousness.

So what of our obvious sins? We have the same log in our own eye, just a different context. First off, do you think of yourself as a good person? The Pharisees did, certainly. Christ said it plainly in Mark 10:17, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone”. Our culture relentlessly promotes the idea of being good. The scripture refutes this in Romans 3:10-18 , Psalms 14:1-3 and Psalms 53:1-3. You need to put that notion away and seek your Redeemer. Pharisees were big into works beget righteousness. You do things, good things and they are credited to your being good with God account.

What about us? I think that quite a few people go to church, because that is what good people do. What happens when you are called to account, like this man who was once blind? Will you stand up to those persecuting you? He did, he was just a beggar and when the time came, the words of the Holy Spirit entered his mouth and he spoke truth to those that would not hear it. Like it or not, we live in the same world today. We have rulers that condone evil and persecute good. We also have the same Holy Spirit that this man did and when God is on your side, you can not lose. Sure, he got kicked out of the temple, but he gained eternal life. Where do you think the Pharisees that kicked him out of the temple are right now? In darkness and torment, is where they are, for eternity. It has been told to us that if we believe in Christ, that He died on the cross and was raised up again, that we obey and follow His commands, we who believe will have eternal life. Repent, Believe, Obey and Continue. It’s as easy as that. Go forth and do so.

We finished out John 8 last week, Jesus had just spoken the words that testified as to who He was: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (v. 58) Abraham, as we found out, was held in high esteem by these people. Through him, they claim their inclusion into righteousness, belonging to a people claimed by God. The fact that they wrote their own rules as to what constituted righteousness and did not do what Abraham or even Moses did, obey God, made them blind to God actually standing in their midst, speaking truth to their lies. So when they heard this truth, it caused them anger that this Rabbi would dare to tell them their entire way of life was wrong. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (v. 59)

We come now to John 9 and find that the disciples are now mentioned again. They have been absent from this gospel for the last 2 chapters. Jesus has been focused on working with the crowds of people who were in Jerusalem to attend the Festival of Booths. Jesus has been interacting with the people, demonstrating who He is, declaring who He is, making pronouncements about His identity that are supported by His power expressed in the miracles that He did. He has been working with the people and with the leaders and there has been no real need to speak of the disciples following Him around, observing their Rabbi. 

I am pretty sure they’ve been about. We see in John 6 after Jesus had spoken what is characterized as “hard words” in verses 55 and 56: “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Because of that, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:66-69) All of that leads me to believe that anything short of the cross, would not keep these men from He who has eternal life. Their learning would all become clear after Christ had ascended and the Holy Spirit had indwelt them. As He does with us, those that truly believe. This is where the cross separates the Old Testament from the New Testament. The Old Covenant ended with the symbolic tearing of the curtain in the temple. (Luke 23:45, Mark 15:38, Matthew 27:51)

Theologian Timothy Luke Johnson says that the tearing of the temple curtain could symbolize “the end of the old covenant of atonement through animal sacrifice and the beginning of a ‘new covenant’” (Johnson 379). In this “New Covenant” a priest would no longer be needed.

But we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves. The scripture states: As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  They are still in Jerusalem and walking about, although I am not sure how much time has passed from the last event. The one where the people picked up stones to throw at him and He demonstrated His deity by disappearing from their midst. Try that the next time you get in an uncomfortable situation. 

The disciples question Jesus because of their acknowledgment of Him having the Words of Life. They have seen by now a seemingly endless parade of healing and casting out of demons. It was a valid question for them who grew up believing that if you had a malady or deformity or something bad happened to you, it was the result of sin in the life of those afflicted. They also believed that it could be from the sins of the father that could be visited on the life of the son. This belief more than likely comes from Exodus 20 verse 4 and 5 or what we know as the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” We had quite a bit of discussion last week of this commandment, and a wee bit of unhappiness of my interpretation of the first part of this commandment. 

Be that as it may, many if not most of the Jews believed that the sins of the father could be visited on the son. I think that today, if you questioned people about this, they would call it karma, which is just a foolishness, but many people endorse that kind of foolishness. Jesus told His men “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (v.3) I am sure that was news to these boys because the predilection to believe in what you’ve been taught and everybody professed know, was strong. 

What is said next is something that if the boys were paying attention, they probably would have understood, but up till now, had not shown any real understanding except the obvious and sometimes not even then. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

He identifies the disciples with Himself in the redemptive work of His mission. There is before them a striking instance of the power of evil. He and they are there to manifest the power of good. They must gird themselves to the task. If we are right in placing the whole section from John 7:37 to John 10:21 on the same great day of the Feast (comp. Note on John 9:14), then this work must have come near the close of the day. The sun sinking to the west may have reminded them that the day was passing away, and that the night was approaching. He was reminded of the day of life, and the night of death. He will not be long in the world (John 9:5). That night will be the close of His human work, and the shadows of evening are already falling upon Him.

From Benson Commentary

The night cometh, when no man can work — As if he had said, I see death approaching, which, as it puts a period in general to human labours, so will close the scene of such labours as these, and remove me from the converse and society of men. The period of his opportunity for doing the will of his Father, and glorifying him on earth, was at hand, and therefore he would lose no time, but be active and laborious. Thus, the consideration of our death approaching, should quicken us to a diligent improvement of all the opportunities of life, both for doing and gaining good. The night cometh — It will come certainly, and may come soon and suddenly: and when it comes we cannot work, because the light afforded us to work by will be extinguished, and the time allotted us to work in will then be expired. When the night comes, the labourers must be called. They must then show their work, and receive according to the deeds done in the body: for then the time of probation will be ended, and the time of retribution begun.

These 2 commentaries bring home, to us at the very least, seek the Lord while He may be found. (Isaiah 55:6) The time to seek Him is now, while we are still walking on this earth. For none know the span of their days, illustrated by Psalm 39:4-6.

“Lord, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
“Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.
“Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.

When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. (vv. 6-7) Another miracle by He who is the Light of the World and we discover the fallout of that and compare and contrast another earlier miracle by Our Redeemer next week.

We finished our last week’s bible study with this statement from Christ, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:47) Spend time pondering this, if you will. These words are from our Savior, Redeemer and King. If you go back to John 1: 1-5, you’ll find that this God-man created us. He was sent down to us by the Father, to redeem us from our sins. Something that which the law, given unto them through Moses, could never redeem them, only shows them what miserable sinners they actually were. Christ was sent to us as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29) So when He tells these Jews who question how He got His knowledge and keep demanding that He show them a sign of who He really is, “you question Me this way because you are not of God.” Christ speaks with authority. Which all who heard him found to be the case. 

So, how much authority does Christ have in your life? This book I am teaching from tells us that Christ has been given dominion over all, (Daniel 7:14, Matthew 8:27, Mark 1:27, John 3:35, Ephesians 1:22, 1 Peter 3:22) does He have dominion over you? I ask this because for the longest time, I did what was right in my own eyes. Just like Judges 17:6. Just like a majority of people you meet in your day to day life. Then I became accountable to Him. I was watching someone on the computer, somebody who claimed to be a healer, because that is how I entered into this whole “waking up and finding Jesus” thing. I had just found out that I had ALS and I wanted it cured. While this guy never claimed to be able to do that, I was interested in what he was doing. This particular time, he went through the scripture, I don’t even remember which scripture, but when he got done, he said to the camera, now that you know and understand that, you are now accountable. (Matthew 12:36, Romans 14:12, Acts 17:30, Romans 3:19) 

It’s a funny thing about how God uses people and other things, to convey a personal message to YOU. Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. I truly became accountable at that point. These Jews heard words that should have caused them to be accountable, but their hearts had been hardened by their devotion to the Law of Moses and being of the line of Abraham. Neither of which did they follow, what those two individual men of God had taught. Head knowledge, not heart knowledge, and that is a real problem today, we all know a bit of something about the bible and church, but for most that as far as it goes. There are people out there that have read the whole bible and can quote it to you, but they still do not believe or submit to the one that redeems us. These Jews knew what they knew, what they had been taught in the temple, but their heritage and tradition and the hate they had in their heart for others not of the Jewish lineage, kept them from hearing what Christ said. 

This was evidenced by how they responded to Christ:  “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” They had seen countless signs and wonders from this Son of Man, yet it was not good enough. Also, here is seen the hate they have for those that are not of them. Samaritans, yet it was among the first of Christ converts, a Samaritan woman who happened to be a harlot and her village. (John 4:1-42) If they knew that He had chosen them first, instead of these Jews, that would be a deal killer. 

Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (vv. 49-51) 
The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’  Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” (vv. 52-53) They were trying to use His words to convict Him. Many people do this today. Using scripture to validate their claims and you have to wonder, who are they serving here, themselves or Christ?

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” (vv. 54-56) These Jews had all the proof they needed standing before them. Everything the Old Testament pointed to. We have the whole scripture, all of the Good News and there are still many in this nation who do not believe. Some even call themselves Christians, as I did, but until you are accountable and live in obedience to His word, that is not the case.

 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” (v.58) Matthew 13:14 quotes Isaiah 6:9, Seeing they will not Perceive, Hearing they shall Not Understand! As true now as it was back then. And there are those that think this dusty old book could not possibly have anything of use to them, when in fact you could predict their entire life with the information contained within. That is true for all of us.

When the people heard what Christ told them, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. (v. 59)

From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Concerning John 8:54-59 Christ and all that are his, depend upon God for honour. Men may be able to dispute about God, yet may not know him. Such as know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put together, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. All who rightly know anything of Christ, earnestly desire to know more of him. Those who discern the dawn of the light of the Sun of Righteousness, wish to see his rising. Before Abraham was, I AM. This speaks Abraham a creature, and our Lord the Creator; well, therefore, might he make himself greater than Abraham. I AM, is the name of God, Exodus 3:14; it speaks his self-existence; he is the First and the Last, ever the same, Revelation 1:8. Thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds, Proverbs 8:23; John 1:1. As Mediator, he was the appointed Messiah, long before Abraham; the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13:8. The Lord Jesus was made of God Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption, to Adam, and Abel, and all that lived and died by faith in him, before Abraham. The Jews were about to stone Jesus for blasphemy, but he withdrew; by his miraculous power he passed through them unhurt. Let us steadfastly profess what we know and believe concerning God; and if heirs of Abraham’s faith, we shall rejoice in looking forward to that day when the Saviour shall appear in glory, to the confusion of his enemies, and to complete the salvation of all who believe in him.

As you’ve just witnessed, Matthew Henry was a much more eloquent writer than I, but he’s dead and I’m here, so you go with what you got. It was made clear to those malcontent Jews that by His claim, Jesus was Christ and all that that meant. To their dead ears and shriveled hearts that was blasphemy. When you think of yourself as righteous, anything that besmirches that will cause your indignation and anger. They, without even having a trial, picked up stones to stone Him with. I get the strong impression that in all areas of habitation, there were piles of stones placed about, on the off chance of someone suddenly needing to put down some heresie or such. They, the Jews were always demanding that He show a sign of who He said He was, and they got one. The scripture tells us: “but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (v.59) It does not say that Christ disappeared miraculously, but He was standing amongst them, about to be stoned and then He was gone. We are left to draw our own conclusions. Here we are at the end of John 8 and will start chapter 9 next week.

Notes of interest:
Feasts for which all Jewish males were required to travel to the temple in Jerusalem.

*Passover (One day) Leviticus 23:5
Nisan (March – A ru)
Reminder of deliverance from Egyptian bondage;
Need for lamb without blemish; OT (Exodus 12) NT Significance(1 Peter 1:18-19)

Unleavened Bread
(Seven days) Leviticus 23:6-8
Nisan (March April)
OT (Exodus 13:1-10) NT Significance (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

Firstfruits
(One day) Leviticus 23:9-1 4
Nisan (March- April)
OT(Leviticus 23:10-11) NT Significance (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

* Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) (One day) Leviticus 23:15-22
Sivan (May-June)
OT (Lev. 23:15-16 & Deut. 16:9-10) NT Significance (Acts 2:1-4 & 41b)

Trumpets
(Rosh Hashanah) (One day) Leviticus 23:23-25
Tishri (Sept. October)
OT (Lev. 23:24 & Num. 29:1-6) NT Significance (1 Thess. 4:16-17 & I Cor. 15:52)

Day of Atonement
(Yom Kippur) (One day) Leviticus 23:26-32
Tishri (Sept.- October)
OT (Leviticus 23:26-32 & 16:20-22) NT Significance (Hebrews 9:7 & 28 & Gal. 3:13)

* Tabernacles (Booths)
(Seven days) Leviticus 23:33-43
Tishri (Sept.- October)
OT (Leviticus 23:40-43) NT Significance (John 14:1-3 & Rev. 21:1-3)

Link to The Feast of Booths information: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/feast-booths/

We ended last week’s bible study with Jesus telling these Jews “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” (John 8:38) This can also be seen in Matthew 3:7, when John the Baptist encountered Pharisees coming to his baptism, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” I confess to this verse being one of my favorites. So we have the herald to the Lamb of God, and the actual Lamb of God Himself, 2 uncompromising men, speaking the unvarnished truth to these righteous appearing Jews. Which those Jews rejected angrily. Then, like in Matthew 3, their claim, piously made, was to be sons of Abraham. (v. 39)

Jesus countered them “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” (vv. 40-41)

Have you ever been so sure you are right about something and then somebody comes along and tells you, no, the sky is in fact blue. How does that make you feel? Nobody likes being told they are wrong, and if you are prone to being full of yourself, an authority on the very subject you’ve been told you’re wrong about, that might very well blind you to the actual truth and entrench your wrong headed ideas all the more. We see it today in many areas of our current culture. Call it the chicken little syndrome, shouting to all that the sky is falling.

We see it 2 millennia ago when an entire people were sure that being of the direct line of Abraham, how could they not go to heaven? They follow the law, sacrificing as the law demands, certain of them endowed with extra special righteousness, wrote many more rules to be obeyed, in a sense putting a fence of protection around the Law, that none may sully it. Now, this rabbi that consorts with tax collectors and other low lifes, is telling them they have got it all wrong, you are in fact doing the work of satan. That might irritate you and your friends enough to make you think you should maybe do something about this irritant, like kill this rabbi that speaks to them this way.

That’s exactly where these Jews were, when Christ was talking to them. They responded to Jesus, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” (v. 41) Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (vv. 42-47)

There it was, right out in front. If they were truly claiming God as their Father, they would love Him. Because instead of loving this Son of Man, they were plotting to kill him. The very law they upheld with such reverence, convicted them. We see a reference to it Galatians 4:4
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”. They followed the letter of the law, but not the true intent of the law. Verse 44, You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.

Does it shock you that while you walked in sin, your father was satan? None of us have stepped outside the bounds of sin, however there is a redeemer that took our sins, past, present and future and shed His blood over it to cover it, so that we that believe, will truly be sons and daughters of the Father and have eternal life. Does that mean we can go about life as we please, because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are free to live life as we see fit? No, we are now accountable to our Father and because we are no longer slaves of sin, we do our very best to obey and love Him and give Him the glory of all that we do. Repenting daily our sins: Acts 3:19
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

This book I am getting my bible studies from, given to us by our Father, you might ask yourself, is it required of me to read? Yes, I would say so. You are interested in what the Father is doing, are you not? But that is an old book, things have changed since then. I would counter that God does not change, nor does His law, only we who sin and make excuses do. Maybe you don’t like to read. Fine, there are audio versions of the bible available or maybe somebody could read it to you. But, you say, you’re too busy trying to live… Note what is said about excuses up above. Are you speaking the words of your father? The Pharisees did and were not prepared to listen to anything told to them differently. None can drag you to the cross and make you believe. Either you repent, believe and obey He who created you, or listen to the words of your father, who “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” (v. 44) Examine yourself and see who you are accountable to. If you are not happy with the answer, there is One who is always available to hear your prayers and a book to read. Repent, Believe, Obey and Continue.

We are in John 8 and Christ is at His work. As stated in the scripture, after spending time at the Feast of Booths and at the temple where He cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38), He then traveled to the Mount of Olives. I have always been curious as to just where all these places are, like the Mount of Olives and such. I have been told by those that have been to the Holy Land that it is a rather compact area where Christ did His work in Jerusalem.

https://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Rel211/jerusalem.htm

1. The Temple
2. Southern Wall and Royal Stoa
3. The Mount of Olives
4. The Kidron Valley
5. City of David (Mt. Ophel)
6. The Pool of Siloam
7. The Tyropoean Valley
8. Lower City (Poor section)
9. Upper City (Wealthy section)
10. David’s Tomb
11. The Theater
12. The Market Place
13. Herod’s Palace
14. Antonia Fortress (NT – Castle)

The Mount of Olives is located at number 11 on the map and the temple is at number 1, which is really hard to see and is directly below the Mount of Olives with a large wall around it. So, Jesus spent the night up on the hill and then walked down to the Temple, early in the morning and began to teach. (vv. 1-3) All the people came to Him and this was when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, which we covered last week. I am not sure why that passage, verse 3 to 11 of John 8 is not found in the earliest manuscripts, but it is possible that it was part of the oral teaching of that time and it is in keeping with the teachings of Christ. If you are troubled by it, ask God for greater understanding of His Holy word. And understand, that if you were to remove this and a few other grammatical errors from the Bible, it would not change the content of the message one bit. Let God handle the details and you won’t go wrong.

Jesus is at the temple, teaching and said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (v. 12) This caused the Pharisees to dispute with our Lord. They said to Him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” (v. 13) Jesus answered them, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (vv. 14-18)

These Pharisees were very righteous, in their own eyes, but had no love in their hearts for any but themselves. When this rabbi comes along and performs many signs and wonders, and then calls them to account for their wretched sinful ways, telling them straight out, they judge according to the flesh, which we have numerous examples of, they hated Him for showing them what was in their stone dead hearts. What about our hearts? We are very quick to judge, are we not? A simple trip to Walmart and how many times did you judge what happened before you? I am not saying we should not have a discerning mind, but where is the Love in your heart for your fellow man? I include myself in this and it troubles me. We are steeped in sin and this book from which I am teaching, calls us to account, does it not? Nobody likes their sins pointed out, but you have to recognize that you are a sinner before God before you can repent. This is what the Pharisees refused to do in their Lord’s very presence. Instead of repenting, they plotted to kill God. The hubris of man knows no bounds. We see it today, writ large across the news. The Pharisees trusted in themselves and their twisted understanding of the scripture.

They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” (v. 19) A more valid question they should have asked themselves is “Who is our Father?” They deceived themselves with a confident reply of Abraham. (Matthew 3:9) Which is where their pride lies, that which they belong to. In actuality it was satan, the father of lies.

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” This seemed incredulous to these prideful men. How could this simple carpenter tell them anything about belief? Blinded by their pride is something that can be seen down through the ages. It seems to never go out of style.

All these things were spoken in the treasury, part of where these Pharisees held their true power over the people, but no one arrested Him, because his hour had not yet come.

The application of this lesson is to not bind yourself to satan, recognize your sinful state and know who your true Father is. For most of those in this once great nation, it would be satan. The good news is your God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross and be raised again for those that would believe. Believe in Him that is the light of the world and apply yourself to that belief. Repent your sins to the Father, then Accept, Believe and Continue. How you continue is reading from this book He wrote for you. Consider it homework for the soul, keeping in mind that His Holy Word is not meant to tickle your mind in entertainment but to educate you and guide you to a greater understanding of God and what He wants from us. Which is what a penitent sinner should thirst for and not be cajoled into.

From MacArthur’s Devotionals: Righteousness begins with salvation and continues in sanctification. Only after you abandon all self- righteousness and hunger for salvation, will you be cleansed from sin and made righteous in Christ. Then you embark on a lifelong process of becoming as righteous as Christ—a process that will culminate when you are in His presence fully glorified (Rom. 8:29-30; 1 John 3:2). There’s always need for improvement in this life (Phil. 3:12-14), but satisfaction comes in communing with Christ and growing in His grace.

You can know if you’re hungering and thirsting for righteousness by asking yourself some simple questions. First, are you dissatisfied with your sin? Self- satisfaction is impossible if you are aware of your sin and grieve when you fall short of God’s holy standard.

Second, do external things satisfy your longings? A hungry man isn’t satisfied until he eats. A thirsty man isn’t satisfied until he drinks. When you hunger and thirst after righteousness, only God’s righteousness can satisfy you.

Third, do you have an appetite for God’s Word? Hungry people don’t need to be told to eat. It’s instinctive! Spiritual hunger will drive you to feed on the Word to learn what God says about increasing in righteousness.

Fourth, are you content amid difficulties? A hungry soul is content despite the pain it goes through because it sees every trial as a means by which God is teaching greater righteousness. If you react with anger or resentment when things go wrong, you’re seeking superficial happiness.

Finally, are your hunger and thirst unconditional? The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 knew there was a void in his life but was unwilling to give up his possessions. His hunger was conditional.

Christ will fully satisfy every longing of your heart, yet you will also constantly desire more of His righteousness. That’s the blessed paradox of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. “Copyright 2007, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.”

So where are you in this respect? Are you hungry for His word, do you seek His Peace and Joy, knowing that prayers and repentance will bring blessings upon you? Or do you find it a job to read from His Word and have chosen to rely on the mouthings of man to keep you in good stead? If you find you lean a bit too heavily to the man side of things, there is still time to repent and pray to the Father. He wishes none to be lost. (2 Peter 3:9) Get busy, there is no time to lose. Start with your Pastor, or Deacons of the church you go to. If you find you’ve chosen poorly and do not go to a church that expounds from the Bible, contact our pastor Aaron: pastor@firstbaptistgrovecity.org and he will be glad to talk to you. You can even contact John MacArthur from Grace Church: letters@gty.org. Do any or all of these things but don’t sit on your hands. Accept, Obey and Continue or get ahold of someone to help you out. And yes, you can contact me also: rb3@americanloon.com.

I grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer, which is also called the Disciples Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). In our Lutheran Church, we said it every Sunday and you knew after that had been said, you’d be in the parking lot within 10 minutes. I have fond memories of saying that prayer. It always brought a familiar comfort and that is a problem. When we do something like that with great regularity, we cease to use it as a prayer and just enjoy the feeling of everybody saying it together. In the Baptist church we now attend, that prayer hangs on the east wall, but we rarely say it. It was told to me by Pastor Pete that the reason for not using that prayer was to not take it for granted, to actually use it to pray to God which is what Christ had meant when He gave it to the disciples. It should be used as a framework for how we pray to God. The devotionals I read every day from Grace Church had this recently:

The implications of the Disciples’ Prayer are profound and far-reaching. An unknown author put it this way:

I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment. I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day. I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His Word. I cannot say “in earth as it is in heaven” if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say “give us . . . our daily bread” if I am dishonest or an “under the counter” shopper. I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say “thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do. I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself. I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.

My hope here is for you to look at how you use this prayer, given to the disciples and to us, and if you have fallen into the trap of just speaking these words with no more meaning than ordering fast food at a drive up window, stop right now and repent to God. Renew your relationship with He who created you and strive to be Holy because He is Holy. (1 Peter 1:16)

We are finishing up John 7 this week. When Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’”, (v. 36) the people began to talk among themselves. Some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? (vv. 40-41). Most all of them were following Him for the spectacle of healing and supernatural acts. Of the comment about Galilee, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers has this to say:
It has often been asked, sometimes in the spirit of objection, sometimes in the spirit of inquiry, how the Apostle, if he really knew the history of our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem, could record these questions without a correction. But in these verses he is giving the feelings and opinions of the multitude, and it is a mark of the truthfulness of his narrative that he gives them just as they really occurred.

The scripture states that there was division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (v. 43) The temple police who had been sent to arrest Jesus came back to their masters, the chief priest and Pharisees were incredulous and very angry with them for not arresting Jesus. You see, those sent to arrest this Son of Man had been amazed at what they heard. “No one ever spoke like this man!” they exclaimed, when asked why they hadn’t arrested God. (vv. 45-47)

The Pharisees answered back to them “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (vv. 48-52) Interesting that Nicodemus, after his shocking encounter with Jesus, (John 3:1-15) has the courage to speak out with those that would kill He who has come to redeem those that would believe.

Verse 53 states that “They went each to his own house”. And here starts a part of the scripture that I have struggled with. In most new translations of what I read, that being the NASB and ESV, this part of the scripture is listed with an asterisk and brackets: [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] This is what’s known as “The Woman Caught in Adultery”

Here it is:
[[8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

The lesson here is, now that you know of your sins, that you are held to account and convicted through the scripture, go now and sin no more. Believe, Obey and Continue. Do this and you will have eternal life. Or put more directly: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our only hope. So go forth and act upon that knowledge. Believe, Obey and Continue.

Last week we learned of Jesus being at the Feast of Booths. (John 7:10) He started preaching at the temple and the people marveled at what He was telling them, they then started to wonder at where this simple carpenter, whom they knew, where did He receive His knowledge? (v. 15) Jesus told them “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” (v. 16) He ended His answer to them with this: “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” (v. 19)

This did not sit well with those He was teaching. They prided themselves with claiming Moses and Abraham as their fathers and when they were told that they don’t follow the law that was given to them, they got mad at He who would call out their sins to them. So they shouted out “You have a demon!” This was the claim of the Pharisees and is mentioned in Matthew 9:34, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22 and Luke 11:15. It is also pretty much at this point when Jesus stopped teaching in anything but parables. After the telling of the parable of the seed and the soils, His disciples asked Him why He taught like that. Christ answered them: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:10-17)

Jesus taught in parables, not to explain spiritual truths to the crowds, but to keep spiritual truths from the crowds. Lest we doubt or misunderstand Christ’s answer here, Jesus noted that the veiling of spiritual truths from the unbelieving crowds is actually a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy given at Isa. 6:9–10. Note Luke’s account of this narrative, as he refers to Jesus’ citation of Isa. 6:9, and writes,

And Jesus said to the disciples, ‘To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, so that, “Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand”’ (Luke 8:10; cf. Mark 4:11–12).

Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy by telling parables, for He knew the hearts of men and their unbelief. Back to the lesson, all of this caused people to grumble, some against and some for Christ. (vv. 30-31) All this grumbling caught the attention of the Pharisees and they sent their temple police to arrest Jesus. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” (vv. 33-34) And this last statement caused them to wonder: “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? (vv. 35-36)

Jesus, on the last day of the feast, which the scripture states it was a “great day,” stood up and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” When the bible states that He cried out, it does mean that He did this in a loud voice. He wanted them, all of them, to hear what He said. Jesus is appealing to them, yet again. And to us.

From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: “On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the Jews drew water and poured it out before the Lord. It is supposed that Christ alluded to this. If any man desires to be truly and forever happy, let him apply to Christ, and be ruled by him. This thirst means strong desires after spiritual blessings, which nothing else can satisfy; so the sanctifying and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit, were intended by the waters which Jesus called on them to come to Him and drink. The comfort flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the opposition of doubts and fears. There is a fullness in Christ, of grace for grace. The Spirit dwelling and working in believers, is as a fountain of living, running water, out of which plentiful streams flow, cooling and cleansing as water. The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit we do not expect, but for his more common and more valuable influences we may apply. These streams have flowed from our glorified Redeemer, down to this age, and to the remote corners of the earth. May we be anxious to make them known to others.”

Christ’s time was growing short and even though He knew their hearts, He was calling to them, put away their sin and follow Him with a true heart. He offers a comfort that flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the opposition of doubts and fears. It is a message that we should heed today, with all that 2020 and now 2021 has brought to us. He was here in this world as the Son of Man for a limited time, but now that limited time is ours. You may think that you’ve got time, time to enjoy life and you’ll have time to get right with God. Let me remind you of Luke 12:20: “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” When will your life be required of you? The time of salvation is NOW! Seek God while He may be found. (Isaiah 55:6)

If you think “I’m good with God,” I think maybe you better examine that belief, if all you want to do is listen to the word, with no fruit of the spirit. Christ said “Take up your cross and follow Me” which means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called “dying to self.” It’s a call to absolute surrender. After each time Jesus commanded cross bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25). Although the call is tough, the reward is matchless.

In Luke 9:57-62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them further, their commitment was half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None was willing to take up his cross and crucify upon it his own interests. How about you? Are your interests in your salvation, half hearted at best? Examine yourself and “Get right with God.” You’ve got no time to lose!

We are in John 7 and Jesus is at the Feast of Booths. You can find more information about that much beloved festival here: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/feast-booths/
Jesus had let his brothers go without Him to Jerusalem while He told them it was not yet His time. (vv. 2-8) After they had been gone a bit, Jesus went there unannounced and then started to teach at the Temple. (v. 14) This caused many people to talk, some for Him and some against Him (vv. 11-13) He tells them the truth, His teaching is not His, but from the Father and He asks them “Why do you seek to kill me?” (vv. 16-19), for the Pharisees were eagerly searching for Him to lay hands on Him. (v. 11)

The people answered back to Jesus with the starkness of their unbelief. “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” (v. 20) What do you say to such a thing? This Man that spoke with such authority and clarity, now He has a demon and delusional, thinking that people are trying to kill Him. I have used this from Solomon “There Is Nothing New Under The Sun,” found in Ecclesiastes 1:4-11.

We are in the same condition today, speaking nonsense from the very top of our government down to our local authorities. Many churches have been shuttered for a good part of a year at the behest of our authorities and just now opened with the threat of further closings if they say so. What would Christ, He who created all (John 1:3) and Groom of the Church (Revelation 19:7) say to this? We see what is happening in Hebrews 12:27. God is shaking that which can be shaken and by the looks of it many of the churches have been shaken to their core. Education, Corporate structure, Government, Western Culture, the list goes on. You may disagree with that assessment, but point to any one of them and see if they are operating with Christ in mind. You say that is too high of standard, that nobody does that. And that, I point out is the problem, it should be our standard, yet it is not sought. Ok, let’s take it down a couple notches and ask if what we hear and see from our society is working in the realm of common sense? Or Truth? Not so much, I would say. Hence, the wrath of God for a people He has given up to their sins. We have blown well past the warnings of abandonment listed in Romans 1 verse 18 to the end of the chapter, and still we wonder at what’s going on around us.

Hebrews 12 also says that what can be shaken will be removed and that which remains unshaken will remain. So, how shaken are you and who do you turn to for hope? We the Called will remain unshaken, or at least we should be, and that is what Christ was looking for in the people that were following Him around. Some believed, but most were the stiff necked Jews of old. He told them to “Not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment,” but that for the most part was unheeded.

We are now up to where we left off last week.

Many of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” (vv. 25-31)

It is interesting that the people had a fair amount of knowledge of the Christ. I am sure it was talked about because John the Baptist was operating in the area and with what the Temple authorities had been saying. We do not have that kind of general biblical knowledge in our society. You see it by the silly things people believe in. Part of folk wisdom as it is, has a saying, If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything. You see a lot of that these days. Not the same situation as back then, but they had the Pharisees and all their additional laws that they had said would protect God’s word from abuse. The real abuse came from their additional laws and how they enforced them.

The Pharisees, who seemed to be always around looking for an infraction of their highly esteemed law to enforce, heard the people muttering about Jesus and sent officers to arrest God. They refused to acknowledge the Kingdom walking and talking in their presence and were angry and insulted at Jesus’s supposed flaunting of their sabbath rules. (v.32)

Jesus of course knew of all that was going on and said “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” (vv. 33-34) Which the people promptly misunderstood. “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?” (vv. 35-36) When you are a pagan, you think and act like a pagan. Again, look around you in this current day, what do you see, and more importantly, are you in support of what is being said and done? I keep bringing this up not to rub your nose in it, but to show that this is nothing new and to wake up those sleepwalking through life, thinking a minimum effort will magically give you a maximum result. Christ never offered easy terms to follow Him. I believe His terms were “Pick up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24-26)

The last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (vv. 37-38) That scripture He quoted might refer to Exodus 17:6 where Moses hit a rock with his rod at God’s request and the water flowed. We’ve also seen this at the well in Sychar, to the Samaritan woman. (John 4:1-28) And now I ask you, are you seeking the Waters of Life? You can’t do that, standing on the bank of that river, not wanting to get your toes wet. Jump on in, the water’s fine.

We are now in John 7 and it starts out with “After this…” indicating a period of time elapsing between the last event listed in the previous scripture and this new one. It states that Jesus was walking about Galilee and would not go to Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. (v. 1) These Jews were the Pharisees and scribes, those who ruled the people, that had seen the signs and wonders that Jesus had done and were not moved to believe, only hate Him for violating their rules and making their false righteousness evident to all. His brothers, those born from Mary, so really half brothers came to him: “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (vv. 3-4) It also said that His brothers did not believe in Him. (v. 5) From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: “The brethren or kinsmen of Jesus were disgusted, when they found there was no prospect of worldly advantages from him.”

This tells you how entrenched these people were to their rebellious attitudes. Something that is a hallmark of their heritage. A good portion of the Old Testament deals with Jews rebelling and God warning them to repent. Read it, it’s a very instructional story. (Genesis 1 to Malachi 4)

During this time, the Feast of Booths was going on, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or by its Hebrew name, Sukkot, this celebration was the last of the fall festivals and was held at the end of the agricultural year when the grapes and olives were harvested in Israel. This was a time to thank God for all of the preceding year’s provisions and to pray for a good rainy season, which lasted from October through March. Sukkot was designed to remember the wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan, when God made the people live in booths (Lev. 23:33–43). It was a beloved festival that the people looked forward to.

Jesus responds to His brothers: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” (vv. 6-8) After telling them this, Jesus remained in Galilee. (v. 9)

After His brothers go off to the feast and know this Feast of Booths lasts 7 days, Jesus goes also to the feast, but in private. (v. 10) Many people were looking for Him. The Pharisees because they wanted to kill Him, but others also were looking for Him and talking about Him. Some said He was good and others said He led people astray. And nobody said anything too loudly because they feared the Pharisees. (vv. 11-13)

During the middle of the feast, Jesus went up and began to teach in the Temple. (v. 14) The Jews, and I think this means all of them, marveled at what He said and the authority in how He said it. They knew who He was and where He was from and also knew that a simple carpenter could not have this knowledge. “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” (v. 15)

Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” (vv. 16-19) Jesus, when asked a question, always answered in a way that would educate those that would listen, these people had ears to hear, but they could not. (Isaiah 6:10, Jeremiah 5:21, Ezekiel 12:2, Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27, Romans 11:8)

One of the things that has been perpetrated upon us is the perception that Jesus was a meek and mild and slightly effeminate man that just wanted to be your friend. Nothing could be further from the truth. Joshua 5:13-15 is an example of the pre-incarnate Christ, with a sword drawn, leading God’s people. Go Read It and disabuse yourselves of what has been pushed upon us, that of a mild Christ that just wants to love us and be our friend. He is our King and Savior!

Jesus never shied away from schooling those that confronted Him. He was never confrontational but the Truth is as hard as a brick wall when you run into it. And that’s all the Jews ever did, run into the Truth and it made them stupid. As evidenced by what comes next. The crowd shouted back to Him “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” (v. 20) This man cured many many people, (Luke 4:40) fed thousands (Mark 6:30-44, Matthew 15:32-39) and cast out demons, (Luke 4:35, Matthew 8:32) now they’re claiming He has a demon. Like I said, stupid, sin makes you stupid. Nehemiah 9 is where the people have returned from Babylon and they are repenting their sins. They recite a brief chronology of knowing God, rejecting God, being punished by God, repenting to God. Rinse and repeat. Read it, it is a short chapter and will give you a better understanding of these Jews and their stiff necks. We share in their stiff necked ways.

Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (v. 21-24) We should also pay attention to this lesson in this day and age. Do not judge by appearances. We base most of our judgement on looks. Even Samuel the High Priest was fooled when told to view Jesse’s sons. Samuel picked what he thought looked good, but no, God wanted somebody with a good heart, not tall and handsome. Read the story in 1 Samuel 16, it’s a good one. So, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (v. 24)

I think we are going to stop right here and let you read about young David being chosen in Samuel 16. Also think about how you judge things. And while you’re at it, read about how you should judge not lest you be judged. Judgement, in my opinion, is one of our major faults and sins. You can use these scriptures for study: Mat 7:1-5, Luke 6:37, Romans 2:1-2, James 4:11-12, Romans 14:10-13, Luke 6:41, 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, Romans 14:3-4, Ezekiel 16:52-56 Enjoy your time enriching your mind with God’s Words and reap the blessing of your obedience to Him.

For a more thorough unpacking of this portion of John 7, I enjoin you to watch this sermon by Ben Merkle. He does a very good job of explaining the scripture and you come away with a much better understanding of Christ and the unbelief of Him and His teachings in this part of the scripture. I count this as Providence that this sermon popped up in my YouTube feed while I was writing this. God is working in all of our lives, you just have to pause and recognize it, then pause again to praise and thank God for His work in you.

We are still in John 6 and we left off with verse 51: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” This perplexed the creatures He was talking to. They knew Him as Jesus, son of Joseph and now this rabbi is telling them things, with such authority, (Matthew 7:29) it seemed incredulous. They were basing their knowledge of what they knew from what was being taught in the synagogues and those things imposed on them from the Pharisees. It is similar to today, where our Pastors teach us from the Bible, which is becoming much less of a given everyday, and our secular government imposes rules for living safely, trying hard to take the place of God and wanting the same trust and faith that God wants from us. Many of our church leaders seem fine with letting the government tell them what to do.

The Pharisees were mostly concerned with outward appearances and claiming Abraham as their father. They truly thought that being of that particular lineage plus all their rules, their ritual washing and tithings and fancy clothing made them a sure thing for Heaven. When confronted by Jesus and told that none of what they were doing was going to get them into heaven, they didn’t take it well. In fact, they plotted to kill God. (Matthew 12:14) When put that way it sounds strange, but that is the essence of it. They had invested their whole culture into living out their righteousness in laws they imposed, the rituals they enforced and the clothing and attitude they adopted. The people noticed this and you could say it rubbed off on them. And Jesus was never one to sugar coat the path to heaven. (Matthew 19:24). I think Ephesians 2:8-9 says it the way I like it best: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. By Grace through Faith. That passage is really what the Reformation was about. You are saved by Grace through Faith, by God, not by a religious body that claims it and it alone is the only authority for dispensing and interpreting the word of God. If you’ve lived under a rock for most of your life and don’t know what I’m talking about, it is the Catholics and their claims of such authority.

What Jesus was doing with Him saying “The bread I give you for the life of the world is my flesh” is known to us because we have the whole word of God, breathed out into the Bible. The Jews of that day were stiff necked and unwilling to believe what He told them. And Christ was not going to offer the “greasy grace” or better known as easy believism. They grumbled amongst themselves saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (v. 52)

To better understand where this negativity in His message came from, let us turn to Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers written in 1897:
Some of them have spoken of eating His flesh. Others may even have pressed this to the reductio ad horribile. Eat His flesh! Shall we, then, drink His blood too? In no less than seven passages of the Pentateuch had the eating of blood been forbidden (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:26-27; Leviticus 17:10-14; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16; Deuteronomy 12:23-24; Deuteronomy 15:23); and we find in later times the strength of the feeling of abhorrence, as in 1Samuel 14:32, and Ezekiel 33:25, and in the decree of the first Judæo-Christian Council (Acts 15:29). In the fullest of these passages (Leviticus 17:10-14), the prohibition is grounded upon the facts that the blood is the physical seat of animal life, and that the blood maketh atonement for the soul. It was the life-element poured out before God instead of the life of the soul that sinned. Such would be the thoughts of those who strove among themselves as to what His words could mean; and to these thoughts He speaks with the “Verily, verily,” which ever expresses a spiritual truth that He alone could reveal.

Much of their law was wrapped up into what they could and could not eat. For the average Jew following Jesus around, for mostly entertainment purposes, they would fall back on what they thought they knew, which when you look at it in the whole, was not much.

Jesus told them “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. (vv. 53-59)

So what are we to make of Christ’s statements? From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:
The flesh and blood of the Son of man, denote the Redeemer in the nature of man; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the way to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life. These are called the flesh and blood of Christ, because they are purchased by the breaking his body, and the shedding of his blood. Also, because they are meat and drink to our souls. Eating this flesh and drinking this blood mean believing in Christ. We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith. The soul that rightly knows its state and wants, finds whatever can calm the conscience, and promote true holiness, in the redeemer, God manifest in the flesh. Meditating upon the cross of Christ gives life to our repentance, love, and gratitude. We live by him, as our bodies live by our food. We live by him, as the members by the head, the branches by the root: because he lives we shall live also.

Just so you’d know, that chunk of text was originally written in 1706. He is one I go to quite often for understanding scripture. “We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith” Those Jews heard what they heard and recoiled at what Christ had said. Jesus knew their hearts would not believe, so He told them the truth of the matter, yet put it in a way that they would not understand. So that their ears would not hear and eyes not see. (Matthew 13:15)

It was not just the common Jew that was grumbling about Christ’s statements. The disciples were starting to get nervous:

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (vv. 60-65)

The message that we are granted to Christ, by the Father, is a strong one and throw in by Grace through Faith and you’ve got the entire understanding of your salvation, one granted by the Father, as a gift of grace. Square that with what the Pharisees did, works and looks and who you belonged to. The disciples had heard some of this before and this, as they said, was a hard message and one alien to the Jews way of thinking.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (vv. 66-69) Jesus was culling those who He knew would not accept His message. We are also tested in our Faith. Who do you turn to when tested? Does your Faith waiver?

I have not known personally, a person who claimed to be a believer, and then turned away and never came back when things got challenging. This is what some of the disciples did, walk away when their rabbi started talking in such a harsh manner. It is a classic “Sower of the Seeds” parable. Their seeds had been cast into the weeds and when they were tested, they had no depth to their roots and their faith left them. Then Simon Peter speaks for the 12 and with some divine knowledge.

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. (vv. 70-71)

So how does this apply to you? Christ is the Bread of Life. In fact, He is our only Hope. And that Hope brings Faith, granted by Grace, given to us by the Father. In your day to day life, do you feel that Hope? Is your Faith strong enough to withstand a test of it? Do you talk to your Father about your concerns? This should generate an interest in reading what our Father wanted us to read. How else will you know what God wants of us? Ponder on where your roots of Faith are planted. As I said before, if you have an interest in God, He’s already had an interest in you. The very Creator of the universe has an interest in you! Are you going to squander that because it’s not entertaining enough? “Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom” (James 4:9). From MacArthur’s Devotionals:
Humor has always had a place in popular culture. But in recent decades a more worldly side to humor has emerged. Situation comedies dominate the list of top-rated TV shows, but many are far from what’s really best for people to view. The shows’ contents so often pander to the immoral and tend to put down scriptural values. Meanwhile, the world also runs headlong after activities that stress fun and self-indulgence. Most people just want to enjoy life and not take anything too seriously.

God’s Word acknowledges that there is a proper time and place for joy and laughter: “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccles. 3:4). The psalmist tells of one appropriate time for laughter and happiness: “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting” (Ps. 126:1-2).

But the Lord requires that anyone who would have a relationship with Him must begin on a sober, serious, humble note. In today’s Scripture, James urges sinners to exchange worldly laughter and frivolity for godly mourning and gloom over their sin. The laughter spoken of here is the kind that indicates a leisurely indulging in human desires and pleasures. It pictures people who give no serious thought to God, to life, death, sin, judgment, or God’s demands for holiness. Without mincing words, it is the laughter of fools who reject God, not that of the humble who pursue Him.

James’s message is that saving faith and proper humility consist of a serious, heartfelt separation from the folly of worldliness as well as a genuine sorrow over sin. If these characteristics are present in your life, it is fairly safe evidence that you are one of the humble (see 1 John 2:15-17).

So you see, God takes our salvation seriously, so seriously that He sent His Son to die on a cross and be raised again, all for us that would believe. I would ask that you would approach your salvation with the same intent. Don’t sit back and let your Life in Christ pass you by.