John 7:25-39
Notes
Transcript
John 7:25-39
John 7:25-39
Last week Jesus was going about Galilee, avoiding Judea because why? Because they were trying to kill him.
The disciples tried to get him to go up to the feast of booths, Jesus refused. He didn’t go, but then he ended up going in private. They were confused on who he was. Finally Jesus begins to start teaching (so much for being private).
In tonights passage Jesus is going to continue his defense, his claim as the Messiah, the Son of God.
Read:
Some 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?”
There is continuous confusion amongst the Jews onto who Jesus really is. Is that the Messiah? They have a reason for why they think it probably is not, what is that reason?
“But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
Why did they believe this?
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
There was Jewish tradition that the Lord will suddenly come and no one will know where he came from.
However, scripture does tell us somethings about the Messiahs coming and where he will come from. What does it tell us?
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
We know he is coming from Bethlehem. Contrary to Jewish tradition it was indeed not a total secret where Jesus came from. So yes, they did know where Jesus came from but that didn’t discount him as being the Messiah.
There is undoubtedly confusion on who Jesus was. Many are thinking, isn’t this the one the leaders are trying to kill? If it is, why his he here standing, speaking to us freely? Have the leaders decided that this really is the Christ and they should not harm him?
The reality is these examples, which have happened time and time again, testify to the authority of Jesus.
Mark Johnston said, “there is no questioning his authority. It was so obvious to all, that when the temple guards—the very men who were there to uphold the authority of the temple regime—were questioned about their failure to arrest him, they replied, ‘No one ever spoke like this man.” (7:56)
The point was, this man obviously has authority and even the armed temple guards wanted nothing to do with getting in the way of this. This is just another example of this ongoing clash between the wishes of men and the will of God. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus gone, arrested, beaten, killed—whatever it took; get rid of him. It wasn’t a secret, the people even knew this was the man they were looking for.
So why wasn’t Jesus harmed? Its not like he was hiding, wearing disguises, arranging an armed escort. Even in the beginning of chapter 7, where Jesus hangs back and doesn’t go because they are trying to kill him, he actually just delayed his trip and went later. There was a clear bounty on Jesus head and Jesus walks into the festival (somewhat hidden or reserved at first) but then boldly begins to teach. Why was he unharmed? Because while man desired to harm him, it was not the will of God and so it did not happen.
Verse 30 tells us they sought to arrest him but what happened?
They did not lay a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
John 7:32–36 (ESV)
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 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.” The Jews said to one another, “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? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Its interesting John tells us the officers were sent to arrest Jesus, but we get very little detail about what happens. Did Jesus evade arrest? Did they not find him (very unlikely). Did the people stop them from taking him (probably not). Were they intrigued by his sayings and not act (more than likely).
The officers were the temple guards I mentioned earlier, they were in charge of maintaining order in the temple (like our safety team) or the secret service. At times their authority even went out beyond the temple in matters of religious disagreement so long as it didn't interfere with Roman policy. These were skilled men with one job, and they were dispatched to arrest Jesus and yet Jesus remains free.
The story goes on and we will end with this section.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, 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.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The fact that it tells us on the last day suggests that this was a different day than the previous encounter. Not only was Jesus, the one they were seeking to arrest and/or kill unobtained, he remained free for several days.
In our human understand this doesn’t make sense. If the US government wanted to arrest someone, they put out all the wanted posters and ABPs, etc. You wouldn’t find that person walking around Times Square talking with people and even giving speeches. They would arrest him. You definitely wouldn’t find them hosting a multi-day seminar on how to make your life better. And yet, here is Jesus, coming on multiple days to speak.
It is helpful to understand the context of this festival and what the final day looked like.
R. Kent Hughes is very helpful:
“The drama definitely escalated at that moment, just the right moment for Christ to speak out. it was on the final day of the feast, the seventh day, the day the priest would again come to the temple, followed by the great throng chanting their psalms and waving their lulabs. The would come in through the Water Gate. The trumpets would sound again. But this time the priest would circle the altar seven times in succession—just like at the walls of Jericho. And when he came around for the sixth time, he would be joined by another priest carrying the wine. They would ascend the ramp to the altar. There would be a pause as the priest raised his pitcher. The crowd would begin to shout to the priest to hold it higher, and he would try to do so. It was considered to be the height of joy in an Israelite’s life if he could see the water being poured onto the altar.”
And it was at this moment Jesus spoke up.
Let be back up even more and give some more context: this entire festival was the give thanks for water: thanks for the rain that provided from the crops over the last year and thanks for the water provided for their ancestors wilderness wanderings.
Jesus cries out. In the middle of this huge event with all this going on and all the theatrics leading up to it, and Jesus interrupts. I was trying to think of something that would compare in our culture and the best I could think of was a wedding. At this point most people know the order of events for a wedding. The grandparents are seated and the parents are seated and the groomsmen and groom come in followed by the bridesmaids and pastor and flower girls and ring bearer. They all take their turns coming in and getting into position. The music is playing, maybe some people are singing. All these special things but they are all leading up to this big event. Everyone knows what is coming, and when those back doors swing open, everyone knows what to do, they stand and give all their attention to what? To the entering bride. And while they may not be chanting or screaming (I hope) thats the main event everyone is looking forward to. (Side note, what an amazing picture of Christ and His church) Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Everyone is focused on the bride being presented to her husband in all the majesty of the moment. All the women are crying and commenting about how beautiful she looks (no matter what she looks like, ive never been to a wedding where they talk about how not-beautiful she looks).
But imagine right as the bride gets ready to come down the isle and someone stands up and starts giving a speech. Perhaps on how to save money on your car insurance, perhaps on where to eat for dinner, I don’t know. But they interrupt the moment.
Jesus interjects with a bold statement given the circumstance: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”
You have this big fancy ceramony to remember the gift of water, great, but if you want to not be thirsty, come to me.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, 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.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Have you ever been thirsty before? like really, really thirsty? What were you doing? You can’t think about anything but water; you just need something on your tongue.
For the Israelites in the wilderness, this was always on your mind. In the desert, water is life. If you don’t have water you die. Its hot and dusty and all you can think about is water.
Its really cool what Jesus says here: Let him come to me and drink; out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
If your in the desert wandering around parched, having a glass of water is nice. Its helpful, it provides relief. Chances are though after you drink the 8 oz, your going to be thirsty again.
When you get done playing soccer or basketball or spikeball and your just dripping sweat nasty and so thirsty, those little tiny water-bottles are nice, but you drink it in 0.5 seconds and your still thirsty. If you have a 16 oz water bottle its better, you make it longer but you end up still thirsty. If you had a gallon of water it would be helpful, you would be satisfied for a while. But at some point, you would be thirsty again. If you had a 55 gallon drum of water, you would be satisfied for a long time—you would be content. But at some point it dries up and your thirsty again.
Jesus says trust in me, believe in me, and I have not only water, but the source of water that satisfies. Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Whats better than a massive container of water? A flowing river of water—nonstop, constant satisfaction. A flow of live giving water. The verse actually says rivers of water, more than one, you have options.
And so here we are. In the middle of this big event with everything going on and all eyes on the main event, Jesus interjects with an offer of not only water, but non-stop life giving water. Trust in me, believe in me, put your hope in me.
The one who they sought to kill. The one who they sent trained guards to arrest. The one they wanted to silence. The one they questioned who he was and what he wanted—he was here to provide water, living water, hope.
Put your trust in Jesus. Jesus work was not done yet, and when it is the spirit will come, but now is the time to put your trust in Jesus.
