Devine Time

Devine Time

John 7:1-13

November 12, 2023

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Music is an amazing invention. To master it takes more than just learning notes, and how to make the noise. Functionally, to learn it is one thing, but to feel it and understand the time and how timing works is a totally different aspect of learning music. Missing the timing changes the message of music. When I was in high school, I was in the band and our instructor/teacher found a piece of music written by a friend of his. The inspiration for the peace was that one of his favorite students died while he was in high school. He wrote this symphony, because of the hurt that he felt from the passing of this favorite student. Our teacher had already taught the music to us and we had even performed it for the community. But he thought it would be a good learning experience if the author came and conducted this piece and taught us how it was supposed to be played. Oh man, we had a lot to learn. Before he came, we all knew the notes and had a basic understanding of how it was supposed to be played or so we thought. When he explained the reason, why he wrote it, and the passion for certain sections of it, it took on a totally different meaning. I still remember him stopping us halfway through and yelling at us that we did not understand the reason for the timing and the timing equated to the emotions attached to the hurt, and pain within the musical piece. You see he would explain that certain pauses and labors of music inflicted emotion into the notes. I think of this, and how important timing is for the one who constructs or creates the plan. It’s more than just learning the notes or knowing what’s on the page. It’s really about the intent, and the overall purpose found in the plan.

Today, our Lord teaches us something about timing that had an impact on the physical world along with the spiritual. Christ demonstrates his obedience to God’s timing all the while exposing the unbelief of those who miss it.

John 7 opens with a large gap of time from chapter 6. We left Jesus outside of Capernaum at the conclusion of chapter 6. Just to remind us, Capernaum was on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. The region of Judea is south of Capernaum. The time from Chapter 6 (it was the time of the Passover) to Chapter 7 the Feast of Booths is about 6 to 7 months. A lot has happened recorded in the other gospels.

The Feast of Booths is a major event for the Jewish people. It was a requirement for all Jewish males to attend and was a law that was implemented in Exodus.

Exodus 23:17: Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD GOD.

Deut 16:16

16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.[1]

This was a harvest party that God instituted. We celebrate for one afternoon here at MBC Harvest or Friendsgiving. But the Jews celebrated for 7 days straight. They even set up a tent city in remembrance of what God had done for the Jews.

This is important to know how critical the Feast of Booths is to the Jews. The celebration held even more meaning after the exile and looked forward to the time the Messiah would gather all the descendants of Abraham in a revived Hebrew nation. It fit why His brothers were speaking so matter of fact about the feast. They saw this as the perfect time for Him to implement His Earthly ministry. The social and political landscape was right in the eyes of His self-appointed ministry directors. To the brothers, it was the PERFECT time!

We know that Jesus was required to go to this feast of booths and so did the Jews because Christ had to fulfill the ENTIRE LAW. That includes the moral Law (10 commandments) plus the ceremonial Law (Laws around the observance of feasts). Thus, Jesus would have to go to this feast as required by the Law. The Jews knew to be looking for Him.

When I read this text, there are three ways to take the exchange between the brothers. Jesus said one thing and did something else. To put it plainly, He said he was not going and then went anyway. For a critic, they could say, “See, He lied”! Or see He changed His mind so He is not Divine. Or, a more appropriate way to look at this passage is to look at the exact words used and figure out what really happened and why.

We need to see that our Lord opposes any timeline not sovereignly given to Him by the Father.

1. Jesus opposes the wrong time:

Vs 6 “Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.”

Jesus clearly states that the timetable for Him is not what the world would expect or understand. He does not just do this here in John 7. He made it plainly clear when he put His mother in her place when He says:

“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:4

Or later in this chapter

“So they were seeking to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.” John 7:30

It is interesting, that even the demons know of this timetable that is divinely set:

Matthew 8:29 When Jesus is standing before two demon-possessed men, the demons cry out to Him in opposition: “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

It is very obvious that “time” and the plan is very much ordered. It is not subject to the opinion of men, women, brothers or cultural leaders. Jesus was clearly above these pressures and suggestions. Even the best intentions that were outside the plan were viewed as unbelief and Jesus opposed them.

Even His close followers miss the idea of the plan and timing. When Peter took Him aside and began to “rebuke Him saying, ‘Far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you. But He turned and said to Peter “Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Matthew 16:23

When we think we know the “plan” and the time, be prepared, you are most likely not seeing what He is seeing and not aware of His perfect timing. So, what really happened in our passage today? Did Jesus lie to His brothers? Did He change His mind or is there a third option?

First, Jesus is still perfect and not able to deceive. Let’s get that silly notion out of our heads. We need to look at the word “time”. John 7:6-9 is the one of the only areas in the NT where the word “time” that Jesus uses is:

“Kairos”: meaning, season. Swindoll writes: “Secular Greek literature and the Greek translation of the OT use this term to indicate a decisive moment in which one era gives way to another.”

In other words, that word means a season, like a “fall” time frame.

The alternative is:

Hora: meaning a specific hour. It is the 11th hour.

When Jesus responded to His brothers, “My time has not come”, He was implying, look, I may go but not with you. The real issue here is not the feast, the real issue for Jesus in His response WAS found in His response. We get hung up on the time, but He was hung up on their nonbelief.

Jesus is calling out His own half-brothers, James the Just, Judas (or Jude), Jose, and Joseph (not His earthly father). These brothers were acting like typical brothers. It would be very hard for a brother to not take the opportunity for a jab. But in so doing, Jesus called out their problem. Unbelief.

Wrong timing causes people to be preoccupied with their own ideals and miss the Divine plan that is right in front of them. For the brothers, I find three obvious results of their unbelief.

a. Unbelief demonstrates its own ambitions.

Vs 3 “So his brothers said 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.”

The fruit of their unbelief was selfish in nature. Charles Swindoll writes:

“He (Jesus) simply didn’t want to accompany His arrogant brothers, who would have used His attendance to advance their own agenda.”

b. Unbelief causes false assumptions (secret vs publicly) (John 7:6)

Look at what the brothers said: “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.”

They are assuming that this is how the master plan was to be rolled out. They were implying that the best way to assume power and set up a kingdom was to be known. They were saying, Jesus, you better make sure your social media platform is tight, your branding is secure, and your methods are cutting edge to draw the crowds. Do you see where I am going here? The amount of opinion out there would sink a battleship on how to do ministry. But it is built largely on assumptions that are not in line with the sovereign plan of the Father.

Unfortunately, this type of unbelief leads to a pragmatic approach to doing ministry. Meaning, if it seems right, looks right, acts right, it must be right. Why does it have to be so hard? Just make it happen. This approach can come from a toxic unbelief.

The best Biblical example of this would be when Abraham and Sarah were still not having children. And, in a desperate act of impatience, Sarah gets a great idea to assume that Abraham needs to get Hagar pregnant to help God out on His timing.

Gen 16:

16 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lordhas prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you![2]

Now, I don’t want to say Abram was innocent of fault here and would never condone what he did. But seriously interesting to see Sarah’s response. She did this obvious sin and then blamed Abram for the outcome. How fitting. When we find out how our sin comes back, how our impatience and lack of belief come home to us, we quickly find a way to say, it's not our fault.

The son of Promise, Issacs, and Hagar’s son Ishmael are still at odds today. It is widely accepted that the descendants of Ishmael are the Arab people. I think it’s fitting to bring this up now as the two brothers are still fighting today. One act of impatience and unbelief and generations are still dealing with it.

c. Unbelief causes failed efforts (John 7:1-8)

The best example for this is when Saul (the first king of Israel) was going out to fight his enemies the Phistines. He was supposed to wait for the prophet Samuel to come and sacrifice to the Lord before the battle. Saul waited 7 days and his men were getting restless. So, he took it upon himself and slaughtered the sacrifice. No sooner than the animal had been killed, Samuel came. The response was swift and hard:

1 Sam 13:12-14

13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lordyour God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lordhas sought out a man after his own heart,

When we exercise our own unbelief and employ our own efforts, the probability of failure goes up. Here at MBC I was asked, did you go through a church planting process? Did you use this consultant firm to do a demographic study? What media platforms did you employ to get your name out? I am not saying that those are wrong, it may be the very best way to plant a church, but seriously, we trusted in God’s time and let Him run the effort.

We see Jesus respond to the unbelief of the brothers. He will never allow Himself to take part in it or condone it. Instead, he calls them out. Imagine the challenge of calling your own family and calling them evil.

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that it’s works are evil”

In His response, we see how He felt about the jab from His brothers but also how he truly felt about their unbelief. John MacCarther wrote:

“Jesus never committed himself to being motivated by unbelief, even that of his own ½ brothers. ‘Your time is always opportune. When you are of the world, you know nothing of God’s timing.” We must follow his lead. Our motivations must be in line with belief.

Jesus is obviously NOT on His brother’s timetable or methods. He did NOT go publicly as instructed by the brothers. He went in secret. And to be honest, He is not on our timetable either. He is Lord and we are not. But it begs the question, who’s timetable is He on?

2. Jesus obeys the sovereign time.

The right time is God’s time. Look back at John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.”

Romans 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Or most applicable:

John 17:1 “When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you”

The time was the Father’s time and Christ was following it. Jesus was obeying, even unto death for the sake of sinners. He knew the plan, the will of the Father and was executing it perfectly. In doing so, Christ not only secured our salvation through His obedience and death, but he was demonstrating to us that we too are to obey the will of the Father.

What is that will of the Father? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

The Father points to the Son. The Holy Spirit points to the Son. The Son secures our salvation through the Holy Spirit back to the Father. The three work perfectly demonstrating the will of the Father.

3. Believe in the timing of God. (HP)

There is a specific application that I want to get to today. I want us to believe in His perfect timing in ALL things. From the small things to the big things. His timing for you is perfect and not without a specific plan. But, to not believe this leads to the worst of the worst sins. It leads to the ultimate sin of sins.

John 7:11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. [3]

The ultimate sin is the unbelief that He is exactly who He says He is. Look at how the crowd responded:

a. He’s a good man: This is a repackaged lie that Satan has used for 2000 years and is still alive and well today. He was NOT a good man. He was Divine in the flesh executing an eternal plan set from the foundations of the World. Nowhere in the Word of God does it support the “good man” concept.

b. He is a deceiver: this is as close to blasphemy as you can get.

“blasphemy”=to act or express a lack of reverence for God; or irreverence toward something considered sacred.

Jesus was neither a “good man” nor a “deceiver”. He was exactly who He said He is and His timing is PERFECT.

Here is where we need to decide, are we going to believe in Him and His timing? I hear this from time to time and it concerns me.

“Man, I wish that I could or would have come to the Lord earlier.” Or “I wish that my testimony sounded like so and so”. Don’t beat yourself up over this, you came to the Lord in His sovereignty when He called you. You would not have come to the Lord any earlier or later. Your testimony is yours by divine providence. He gave you what you have, now believe and trust Him in it.

The life you lived up to your salvation was a means to draw you to the foot of the cross. Some people have paths that are rough. Some pathways are filled with hurt, physical damage, spiritual damage and rocks along the way. While others seemed to have skipped right over the hard stuff and arrived at the cross. Our paths are unique but what is not unique is that He sets the timing and the journey.

Some of you need to hear this. No matter your path to the cross, it was set there for a divine purpose. You may say, that’s not fair, mine is bad. Your right, I’m not sure why you got that path and mine looks different, but I believe as it is taught that He sovereignly pulled you over those trials for a purpose. Think of the testimony you have over those who have not been through those trials.

The last example of bad timing is me. As your pastor, I wish that everyone would get these truths NOW. I am frustrated that not everyone in Canyon and Owyhee counties cannot hear what they need to believe. I get frustrated that people who have heard the truth have decided to walk away. But through this message, God has taught me 2 Tim 2:

24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

THE UNBELIEVERS ASIDE:

Is today your day? Maybe it is now? Today is God’s Day and tomorrow is the devil’s day. The brothers did not believe. They had a wrong view of who He was and so did the crowd. They missed it and their unbelief would cost them their salvation. Whatever your idea of Jesus is, if it does not align with what the Word of God says, it’s a make-believe Jesus. Meaning it will NOT save you. Your hope is in something that is pointless.

Jesus says exclusively, He is the way the truth, and the life. He alone, being fully God and fully man, completely innocent and perfect came to pay the penalty of your sin and shame. He alone, reconciled, made right the debt of sin on an instrument of death (a Roman cross) the sinner and a Holy God. He took the wrath that was intended for the sinner and paid it in full. He took your sin and shame and put on His righteousness onto you. Now, believe that Jesus!

CONCLUSION:

Going back to my days in the high school band. As a 15-year-old boy who was self-absorbed and cared little about anyone else but me, when that conductor slammed his fist on the podium and screamed, “ITS NOT FARE that he was taken so early” Now play it as if you feel the loss!” I got it. The notes that built and moved in memory of a boy who died before his 18th birthday went from just dots on a page to carefully placed memories from a heartbroken teacher to a student he loved.

Today the music is in front of you. Listen to the notes carefully played in front of you and believe in how they are being played. He is placing them on the page in perfect time pointing you and me to believe in Him, to come to Him, and to trust in Him.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.