We first saw the reason why the Jews wanted to kill Jesus and mentioned that the Gospel of John only chose eight miracles according to its standards. He knew very well whether His time had come. For example, during the Feast of Booths, He had no intention of going to Jerusalem at first, but following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He finally went secretly. This is also what is expected from a human perspective. Second, He then began to teach people in the temple, explaining that His teachings came from God. In fact, that people can truly understand that the Old Testament is not something from their own learning, but only coming from God. Otherwise, they will not know even if they understand it wrong. When reading the Bible, you really need to be guided by the Holy Spirit, rather than relying on yourself! He used the Sabbath as an example to show us, not to keep the time prescribed by the Law, but to keep the true meaning of the Sabbath, and the same should be true for other Laws. People did not believe that He was the Christ even though Jesus made a loud statement that He was sent by God. They did not really know and could not see clearly what Jesus did. In the end we see that those who believed in Him saw what He had done, but the chief priests and Pharisees hardened their hearts and ultimately allowed Jesus to be crucified. Finally, we know that Jesus came in the flesh, and that His true home is in heaven, sitting at the right hand of God.
1. The Feast of Booths after Jesus’ mission
“After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.”(John 7:1)
After these things, it refers to the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, that is, when it was almost the Passover, because the Bible said, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.”(John 6:4) Before that, He healed a paralytic who had been ill for thirty-eight years (see John 5:1-9). Only the Gospel of John records this event. The man did not know at first that it was Jesus who healed him, but he found out later when he met Jesus (see John 5:10-14) “The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”(John 5:15) So some people think that the man is ungrateful, while others may think that he just told the Jews that it was okay for him to obey the command to take up his mat (see John 5:10-11). The Bible doesn’t clearly explain which one is true. Since God says we don’t need to know, why should we make random guesses about things that have no conclusion? It is really important that we respect God because in so many places we accidentally disrespect Him! For example, someone sees some miracles and thinks that God loves that person especially. This seems to be a good testimony, but the Bible clearly says, “For there is no partiality with God.”(Romans 2:11) Peter also said, “…I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.”(Acts 10:34) It may be out of good intentions to say that God loves me especially, but doesn’t it mean that the person does not believe in the words of the Bible? The important point here is “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”(John 5:18) This explains, “After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.”(John 7:1) In small places, we can see that what God tells us through the Bible is consistent.
We have repeatedly emphasized this point because it is the most important. Because I used to think that since the Bible is inspired by God, it should be the most important thing not to discount the words of the Bible. But now I believe what my mind tells me, but it is not the case. If the most important thing is not to discount the words of the Bible, there is no way to see why there are obvious contradictions in the Bible. Only by first believing what God tells us through the Bible is consistent, can we see why God inspired these obvious contradictions. We have discussed this in detail in “1111 The True Meaning of Biblical Inerrancy.” Please go to the website “https://a-christian-voice.com/” and click “Understanding of Spiritual Life” to find this article.
Since we have looked at some of the miracles mentioned in the Gospel of John, let us mention the criteria for selecting miracles (signs) in the Gospel of John. “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”(John 20:30-31) We see that his criterion for choosing miracles is to have people life, which is consistent with what Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”(John 5:39-40)
Based on this, the Gospel of John records only eight miracles, namely: (1) The water in Cana was turned into good wine (see John 2:1-11); (2) The healing of the son of a royal official (see John 4 : 46-53); (3) Healing a paralytic who had been ill for thirty-eight years by the Pool of Bethesda (see John 5:2-15); (4) Five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people (see John 6:3-13); (5) Walking on the sea (see John 6:16-21); This is the last miracle we have shared so far in the Gospel of John. It talks about Jesus walking on the sea. We here in the miracle saw that when Peter focused on Jesus, he could walk on the sea, but when he saw such a windy environment, he would sink! From a human point of view, Peter was able to walk on the sea. Obviously, his faith was quite great. However, Jesus said that he was a person of little faith because he was ultimately affected by the environment. So from a God’s point of view, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Thus we are ¹left with the last three miracles that we have not shared yet, which are (6) Healing the man who was born blind (see John 9:1-7); (7) Raising Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:1-44); and (8) After the resurrection, the net was filled with fish (see John 21:1-11).
Then it goes after these things, “Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him.”(John 7:2-5) No wonder “…Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.””(Matthew 13:57) We also see the importance of faith, that is, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”(Matthew 13:58)
“So Jesus said to them (His brothers), “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.”(John 7:6-9)
He knew very well that His time had not yet come. Didn’t He say this before at the wedding feast in Cana? “And Jesus said to her (His mother), “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.””(John 2:4) The Bible does not clearly explain why He finally made the changes to perform the miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. Yes, water turns into good wine. You can go online and see what people guess. While His time has not yet come, man can do nothing to Him. The following three scriptures clearly illustrate this point, “So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.”(John 7:30) and “These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.”(John 8:20) and “And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things (spoken by Jesus); and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.”(Luke 4:28-30)
He said very clearly, “…I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”(John 10:17-18) In terms of time, there is a sequence. The Father sends the Son, and the Holy Spirit will not come until the Son goes (see John 14:24-26). This scripture says that when the time comes, He will die and rise again.
He knew very well that when His time had come, the scripture says, “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem.”(Luke 9:51) “for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.”(Luke 13:33) We see that when the time came for His preparation for crucifixion, “Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.””(Luke 22:52-53) Now was darkness, His time arrived, so they could arrest Him. When He was arrested, He also said, “Or do you (Peter) think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”(Matthew 26:53-54) This once again proves that He really knew what would happen!
We have also seen that He was not originally going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths, “But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret. So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.” Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.”(John 7:10-13) We have shared before that this change is due to God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit. He has followed God all His life. As the scripture says, “…I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. …”(John 14:31)
At the end of this passage, we see that the Jews expected Him to go to the festival. Obviously from a human point of view, He should be there, but everyone was afraid of the Jews, so they could only talk secretly because of Him.
You see, some people knew they wanted to kill Him, and it was no use denying it. It’s just that they don’t believe that He is the Christ, even though Jesus made a very loud statement that He was sent by God, and wanted people to hear it and truly know it! But they didn’t really know, and they couldn’t see clearly that what Jesus did was really as good as what Nicodemus said, “…“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.””(John 3:1-2) Finally, he also became His disciple. We can see this from the fact that Jesus was crucified and died for us and was buried, because the scripture says, “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”(John 19:39-40)
2. Jesus began teaching in the temple
“But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”(John 7:14-18)
This verse clearly explains why Jesus’ teachings come from God. In fact, we can notice at the beginning of this passage that people do not need to learn the Old Testament to truly understand it, but only when the understanding comes from God, otherwise you are wrong without yet even knowing it. For example, “And He said to them (the two disciples who were going to Emmaus), “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”(Luke 24:25-27)
Regarding the point that it must come from God, this scripture clearly say that “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”(Luke 24:45) Today, only one person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, can use revelation to enable us to understand the Bible. Revelation either uses supernatural things to make us know in our minds, or through the words of brothers and sisters to wake us up. The latter is also the reason why I like to attend meetings, not just due to the requirement stated in the Bible, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; …”(Hebrews 10:25) Also it is because we don’t even know when God will give us revelation through the words of brothers and sisters. Therefore, when you can discern and confirm that it is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Do not quench the Spirit.”(1 Thessalonians 5:19). When reading the Bible, you really need to be guided by the Holy Spirit, rather than relying on yourself!
I would like to share with you my past experience of Bible study. It is almost correct to use printing to describe Bible study in a certain sense. If you print a color book, you usually have to print it four times. For example, the first pass may only have a black part, and the overall picture cannot be seen at this time. Then, the three primary colors will be printed once each, and the picture printed with each primary color will also be printed in the same way that you can’t see the overall picture. But after all four passes are printed, the overall picture appears clearly! It’s similar to reading the Bible. You can only understand part of the Bible in reading it each time. In this case, you would rather skip the parts you don’t understand than forcefully interpret that parts. You even have to discern the words that appear to come out of prayer, especially the words that are received in thoughts, so as to avoid being misled. We must use the words in the Bible and the concepts of the Bible as the absolute standard for discernment. The analogy is only correct in this sense. Because God is infinite and man is limited, He can open ours eyes anytime like what He did for the servant of Elisha (see 2 Kings 6:8-17) We can only read the Bible as many times as possible, and there will be no too much.
Speaking of discernment, we have shared before, but here we only mention one point, which is what the scripture says, “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”(Deuteronomy 18:21-22) So we often have to look back afterwards to see whether it has come true. This is by no means completely useless, because we can learn from failures, prepare ourselves for next time, and at the same time repent, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1:9) We must know that God does not always let us know in advance. For example, Eliphaz the Temanite misunderstood (see Job 4:12-21), thinking that he was doing something for us. As the result, he was working on Satan’s side. God is merciful and gracious, and in the end He accepted his repentance (see Job 42:7-9). When the Holy Spirit does not guide us, we must still use the words of the Bible as our absolute standard, and do not take them out of context. Stand with God. On the other side, we must believe that even if we accidentally make a mistake, we will be accepted by God again because of our repentance.}
Jesus then said, ““Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.””(John 7:19-24).
From these verses, we can see that one deed He said was referring to His healing on the Sabbath. As we have shared before, He obviously did not keep the time prescribed by the Law, but kept the true meaning of the Sabbath. The scriptures make it clear, “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””(Mark 2:27-28) “And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.””(Matthew 12:11-12) In the New Testament era, He only used the Sabbath as an example. To keep the Law is to keep the true meaning of the Law, not the literal meaning. “For verily I (Jesus) say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot (G2593) or one tittle (G2762) shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”(Matthew 5:18, KJV) If we want to abide by the letters of the Law, we can look at this part of this verse, “…nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.”(Leviticus 19:19) Today’s clothes are often made of a variety of materials. What’s the point of being able to keep the letters of the law!
The scripture says, “So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from.” Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.””(John 7:25-29)
You see, some people knew they wanted to kill Him, and it was no use denying it. It’s just that they don’t believe that He is the Christ, even though Jesus made a loud statement that He was sent by God, and wanted people to hear it and truly know it! But they didn’t really know, and they couldn’t see clearly that what Jesus did was really as good as what Nicodemus said, “… “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.””
(John 3:1-2) Finally, he also became His disciple. We can see this from the fact that Jesus was crucified and died for us and was buried, because the scripture says, “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”(John 19:39-40)
3. Where Jesus Christ belongs?
“So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?” The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?””(John 7:30-36)
We have already shared about His time has not yet come, so I won’t say more here. We see that those who believed in Him saw what He did, but the chief priests and Pharisees hardened their hearts and ultimately allowed Jesus to be crucified. As described, “Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.”(Matthew 27:1-2) According to Roman law at that time, they could not put anyone to death, so they sent Him to Pilate who had such authority. Finally, “But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.”(Luke 23:23) “Then he (Pilate) released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”(Matthew 27:26) Although Pilate wanted to release Jesus at beginning, he did not act accordingly and compromised under political pressure. Instead, God’s plan of salvation came true. Therefore, God often accomplishes His goal because of people’s mistakes. Sometimes, according to our reactions to mistakes. To see the latter point, let us look at one example. “…And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”(Acts 8:1) Prosecuting the church was a mistake, but “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”(Acts 8:4) Christianity spread is because of this!
We now know, “…Jesus, …who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”(Hebrews 12:2) So “…Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”(1 Peter 3:21-22) Paul also made it very clear, “…Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”(Romans 8:34) Jesus was incarnate, and His belonging was in heaven. How could the Jews at that time really know? Therefore, “The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? …What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?””(John 7:35-36)
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
aChristianVoice 一個基督徒的聲音 