John Part 17
Notes
Transcript
The Bread of Life
The Bread of Life
Last week ended our lesson in John 7:36
And Jesus had just told the Pharisees
That they wouldn’t be able to find him
where he was going
And he was certainly talking about
when he later ascends to heaven
We jumped ahead to chapter 14
Where Jesus tell his disciples
that they WOULD be able to go where he is going
In fact, he was going there to prepare a place for them
and planning to return and bring us with him to that place
So, right after he tells the Pharisees that they would not be able to go to that place
It then talks about how to get there
37 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.
No, recall, Jesus said this already in chapter 4,
And he references it again in chapter 6:35
And so here is now the 3rd time Jesus
talks about water that can come from him
Recall in chapter 4 that
It is water that leads to eternal life
and it quenches your thirst eternally
According to chapter 4 and 6.
And then here we get more details about this water…
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
This verse is the climax of this topic about living water.
It has been built up by John since chapter 2
When he turned water into wine
And in chapter 3
When he said you must be born of the water and the Spirit
And then chapter 4
The water leads to eternal life
In Chapter 6
You won't thirst again
In chapter 7
The water will flow out of you
And that water is the Holy Spirit according to the next verse
but I want to point out something here
The Feast of Tabernacles
Where Jesus stood up and said this
Had two great ceremonies attached to it by the time of Jesus
A water-drawing ceremony
And a lamp-lighting ceremony
These aren't in the Old Testament
But they are recorded in the Mishnah, tractate Sukkah
Chapters 4 and 5
Every morning of the feast
A priest carried water from the Pool of Siloam
In a golden pitcher
Back to the temple
And poured it out at the altar
And in the Court of the Women
Four enormous golden lampstands were lit
The Mishnah says the light was so bright
That every courtyard in Jerusalem reflected it
So when Jesus stands up on the last and greatest day of the feast
And says if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink
He is standing in the middle of the water ceremony
And saying I am what this is really about
And then in the very next breath in chapter 8
He says I am the light of the world
Right there where those great lamps had been blazing
He's claiming to be the fulfillment of both ceremonies
The true water
And the true light
Now go back to chapter 2 with me in your memory
John said that turning water into wine was…
The first sign
It was at A wedding
There were Six stone water jars
Set there for the Jewish rites of purification
The water of the old covenant
And Jesus turns it into wine
The first sign of his ministry
Jesus himself tells us at the Last Supper
That the wine is the blood of the new covenant
And John tells us in chapter 7 verse 39
That the water is the Spirit
And in chapter 3 verse 5
You must be born OF water and Spirit
Which is exactly what Peter preaches in Acts 2:38
Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
So the very first sign Jesus performs
Is a picture of the new covenant
The water of purification under the old covenant
Becomes the wine of the new covenant
…At a wedding
Because the new covenant is a marriage between Christ and his Bride
And the way you enter into it this marriage
or Covenant
Or the Kingdom
Is by water and Spirit
Just like John 3:5
Just like Acts 2:38
Romans 6 says we are baptized into his death
Buried with him in baptism
And raised to walk in newness of life
So we know that
Death — repentance
Burial — water baptism
Resurrection — the Holy Spirit
The whole gospel is sitting there in the first sign
At the wedding in Cana
When Jesus turns water into wine
And it builds chapter by chapter
Until chapter 7
Where Jesus stands up at the climax of the feast
And says come to me and drink
So if we use John 3, 4, 6, and 7
to go back and interpret John 2
When Jesus turns water into wine
He is showing us a pattern
that when we are baptized in water
We should then be filled with the Spirit
The water from the purification jars
represents baptism
and the Wine represents the Spirit
And if Jesus can turn water into wine
Then those who believe in him
as the Scripture has said
That water you drank from him in baptism
will flow out of you as the Spirit
I hope you see what I’m saying here
He turned purification water into wine literally
and in the same way
he turns our water baptism into the gift of the Holy Spirit
Heart Vs. Belly
Heart Vs. Belly
The KJV says belly
And the ESV says heart
So, which is it correct?
Well, it literally says belly
But Jesus is speaking figuratively here
And to a 1st Century Jew
The “belly” was used metaphorically
as the seat of emotion.
While the heart was the seat of logic.
So, where we say mind,
The Jew would have said Heart
And where we say Heart
The Jew would have said stomach, bowels, or inward parts.
We see a good example of this in the story of Joseph.
When his brothers all show up in the palace
and it says that his bowels did yearn…
30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
Here, the ESV translates “bowels” to compassion.
I think heart would have been a good translation too
Because we don’t say our bowels yearn for our brother
We would say this about our heart.
And this is because our metaphors using body parts
Are not 100% lined up with ancient Jewish metaphors
One the biggest revelations I had
was figuring out that when the KJV says heart
It is translating that body part literally
and in almost all cases
It should say mind.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Should really be trust him with your mind
and lean not on your own understanding…
We don’t say that we understand with our hearts
We say that we understand with our minds…
But the Jew says that they understand with their heart
and they mean that in the same way that we mean mind.
So, to the Jew the heart is what we call the mind
And the belly, bowels, or inward parts
is what we would refer to as our heart.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
So, when Jesus says,
the rivers of living water will flow from your belly
The Jew knew that meant it would flow from their center of emotion
The place we would call our heart, not our belly
And since, according to verse 39
Which we haven’t read yet
but are about too…
the living water coming from our heart
is talking about the Holy Spirit
Then we know that the give of the holy Spirit
Flows from our heart
And this is one reason some people struggle to receive the Holy Spirit
They want to figure it out with their minds first
I had this issue, so I know
And God is not interested in you figure it out first
He is interested in you surrendering your heart to him
He wants you to love him
And this love is rooted in faith
Because, he says, whoever believes in me
So, faith, and a surrendered heart is all that it takes
to receive the Holy Spirit
If your head is trying to figure it out
You won’t receive it
If your heart is tied to other things
pride, lust, sin
You won’t receive it
You got to have faith
and you’ve got to have a surrendered heart
and then those rivers of living water will flow
up out of you
And this. John says,
Is about the Spirit
39 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.
So, on the night Jesus revealed his grand plan
The ability to be filled with his Spirit
John says, it was not yet possible to receive it
Because the Spirit had not been given yet,
and the thing they were waiting on
was for Jesus to be glorified
And that comes through his death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
And right after his ascension in Acts chapter 1
The Spirit was given
In Acts chapter 2.
Division
Division
Now, from verse 40-52
We see an argument break out
And some believe that Jesus is the Prophet
Some ask if he is the Christ aka Messiah
And they start questioning where Jesus came from.
Because, they knew the Messiah was supposed to come
from Bethlehem
but they knew Jesus came from Galilee
They didn’t know that he was born in Bethlehem
fled to Egypt with Mary and Joseph
to escape death from Herod
and then returned to live in Galilee
So, for this reason
They doubted
Now, John has just told us that if you believe
Then you can receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit
and then he points out that many of them did not believe.
Some did, but most did not.
So, I’ll read through to verse 52 quickly
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 So there was a division among the people over him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
So, as I mentioned
Some believed, but most did not.
However, we see a familiar name in this part of the story
That same Nicodemus from chapter 3
Who came to Jesus by night
He is here defending Jesus
And later we will see him pop up again
and he is called a disciple.
So, John is leaving that little breadcrumb trail
to show us that even one of the Pharisees
Was able to see that Jesus was the messiah
and becomes a follower of Jesus.
The Adulterous Woman
The Adulterous Woman
Now, the last verse of chapter 7 is part of the story in chapter 8.
And I will cover the story,
but first, I need to address something first.
This story about the woman caught in adultery
has square brackets around it in most modern translation
In the older ones
Like the KJV,
That story doesn’t have these brackets.
So, what’s the deal?
Well, in 3 of the earliest Greek manuscripts, and all the other early translation into:
Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethoipc, and Gothic…
do not contain this story
about the woman caught in adultery.
The earliest Latin manuscripts don’t contain it either.
So, does this mean it shouldn’t be in the Bible?
I’ll be honest,
My research on this can only go so far
But here’s where I stand on it now
I’ve looked at the early Greek manuscripts
and it doesn’t look like this is a case of a single page falling out
It is in the middle of a page in all 3 cases
So, it is just not there.
It goes from John 7:52 straight to John 8:12
and doesn’t miss a beat.
When you read the context and skip over the story
It actually makes more sense
So, for example
In the story of the woman caught in adultery
Jesus says, whoever is without sin
cast the first stone
and one by one they all leave
and it says specifically in verse 9…
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.
… that Jesus is left ALONE with the woman.
Two verses later
and the Woman leaves, too…
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
So, Jesus is supposedly standing alone
and then it says…
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Who is them?
They all left him alone with the woman
And then the woman left
So, how does Jesus speak to THEM
We know that the “THEM” is the Pharisees
according to verse 13
So, how did the Pharisees leave in verse 9
And Jesus talk to them in verse 12?
It seems weird to say the least.
What’s interesting is that in some old manuscripts
This same story of the woman caught in adultery
is found at the end of Luke chapter 21
instead of at the start of John chapter 8.
And if you insert the story there
I makes way more sense.
At least it does to me
Many Scholars agree that the grammar
and writing style matches Luke’s writing
way better than John’s writing.
So, I think it is a true story
I think it was part of the Bible
But I think it was most likely written by Luke
And not by John.
I could change my mind on it later
after I have more time to research it
But you could spend months on this topic
One more reason I think it shouldn’t be in John 8
but fits better in Luke 21…
The thing Jesus says in verse 12.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
When he says, I am the light of the world
it feels to me like he is still at the Feast of Tabernacles
Jn 7.37 says…
37 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.
So, Jesus waited until the last day of the feast to say
Come to me for water.
I said before…
Every morning of the feast of Tabernacles
A priest carried water from the Pool of Siloam
In a golden pitcher
Back to the temple
And poured it out at the altar
And in the Court of the Women
Four enormous golden lampstands were lit
So, on the last day,
Possibly after the last jar was poured out
Jesus said, come to me for water
And then, as they were lighting those lamps
for the last time
Jesus says…
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Now, if the story of the woman caught in adultery
happens between these two sayings of Jesus
about the water
and the light
then… a day has passed
And the feast is over
because jn 7:37 says it was the last day of the feast
when jesus says come to me for water
and Jn 8.2 is says…
2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
So, that means this is happening the day after the last day of the feast.
And that means Jesus says…
I AM the light of the world
After they had moved on from the feast
and were no longer pouring out water
or lighting lamps.
So, it makes sense to me
That the John 8:12 happens
On the same say Jn 7:37 happens.
Because the lighting of those lamps
Happens in the court of women
aka the treasury according to verse 20
And that is where Jesus is standing when he says…
I AM the light of the world
So, based on the external and internal evidence
The story of the woman caught in adultery
Is a real story
It really happened
I just think it is supposed to be in Luke chapter 21
and not in John chapter 8
but we’re not going to skip it
We will cover it, but not tonight.
We will dive into the meaning of the story
of the woman caught in adultery
next week.
