John 7:1-10
After these things — a redundant saying of John’s…he says this same thing in the opening verses of chapters 5, 6, and 7…so what things? …in this instance…after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes…after walking on water…after the discourse with the multitude and His disciples concerning the bread of life…after these things…He confines Himself to Galilee.
When you do a casual reading of Scripture sometimes it’s difficult to realize that between chapters there may be a time period of weeks or even months or even years …because it seems as if things are happening in rapid succession.
Just looking at the last three chapters is an indication of that…at the end of chapter 4 Jesus is in Galilee…in Chapter 5 He moves to Jerusalem…in Chapter 6 He moves back to Galilee and in chapter 7 Jesus returns to Jerusalem.
As you read the first few verses in John 7 it would appear that Jesus’ movement is beginning to fall apart…many of His disciples have already deserted Him (6:66) … He’s unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him… so as a result He has apparently decided the best thing to do is lay low in Galilee (7:1).
Interesting statement…Scripture indicates ‘The Jews were seeking to kill Him’ …that’s an interesting statement because on the surface it seems that all the Jews were seeking to kill Him but more specifically the phrase ‘the Jews,’ most often used by John, refers to the religious leaders of Jerusalem…we don’t see in Scripture nor does it ever appear that the common people attempted to kill Jesus.
This starts way back in John 5:18…John mentions the Jews sought to kill him…not because He performed miracles…not because He healed people…not because He fed people…they had two things against him:
1. His violation of the sabbath by healing the man at the pool of Bethesda.
2. His making himself equal with God.
When you look at the best way to get exposure for yourself it’s to get out into public…that’s what all the Hollywood types do…the more exposure the more people who are aware of you and as a result the more following you have.
Scripture says that the Feast of the Booths was near…let me explain that holiday for you…the Feast of the Booths was a weeklong celebration that occurred in September or October when families lived in makeshift booths that were made of
branches and leaves (Leviticus 23:40-43). Like camping out.
They camped out in these temporary shelters to remember Israel’s 40-year journey in the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan under Moses.
His brothers therefore said to Him…leave here and go into Judea, so your disciples may see Your works…in other words here’s a great opportunity to get some exposure.
Couple things:
This is a controversial verse of Scripture…some in the church don’t recognize the idea that Jesus had any earthly brothers or sisters…they believe that Mary remained a virgin until her death…so some are surprised at the notion that Jesus had half-brothers and sisters.
This Scripture is important in defining who Mary was…someone who seems to only get talked about at Christmas time.
First…There’s absolutely no Biblical reason to believe that the siblings mentioned here are the children from a previous marriage Joseph had…that he brought them into his relationship with Mary…there is no credible evidence to validate that.
Secondly…there is biblical proof that Mary did have children after Jesus’ birth…
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us?
Here’s the problem…over the years there have been efforts made in the Church to elevate Mary’s status…years ago there was a movement in the Catholic Church to encourage the Pope to use papal infallibility to declare that Mary is a Co-Redeemer with Jesus. —you immediately become a cult…you immediately lose any affiliation as a Christian Church.
The Church received more than four million signatures from 157 countries seeking to elevate Mary’s status dramatically beyond what most Christians believe.
From strictly a theological standpoint let me share with you the danger in this:
…First…for Catholics they would be obliged as a matter of faith to accept that Mary participates in the redemption process that can only be achieved by Jesus.
…Secondly…that all the grace that comes from the suffering and death of her Son is granted through Mary’s intercession with Jesus.
In addition, there is the notion put forth by those who want to maintain Mary’s status as a virgin…a topic that has become a heated debate in some circles.
Some may think this is a Roman Catholic versus Protestant view…it’s not…many hold to the idea that Mary remained a virgin for the duration of her life.
Without saying…Mary was an incredible woman…in fact… few women will ever even remotely be considered to be on a par with her…God honored Mary in a way that no other women in history will be allowed to experience.
BUT…like everything in Scripture people have placed her in a position of being a goddess…some go as far as to believe that Mary was conceived immaculately…and she was thereby free from both original sin, and the effects of original sin…that is pure speculation and without any Biblical support.
Some have elevated her to the position of ‘the queen of heaven’. Let me tell you the danger in that…a ‘queen of heaven’ is mentioned in the Bible…Jeremiah 7:16-25.
Let me share with you what God told Jeremiah concerning those who prayed to the queen of heaven:
As for you, do not pray for this people—talking to Jeremiah—do not intercede with me for I will not hear you—here’s why—My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.
Here’s why God said this…the queen of heaven was a Babylonian goddess of fertility…it was believed that she had the ability to help women bear children.
Jeremiah is warning Israel that God will punish them if they continued to worship the queen of heaven…here’s their reply to Jeremiah…they had no intentions to stop worshipping the queen of heaven.
And this is exactly what some have done with Mary…elevating her from being a servant of God by being the mother of Jesus to being the Mother of God…instead of commending her for being a faithful obedient servant of God…they worship her as the queen of heaven.
With respect to Jesus’ brother…John already mentioned them in John 2:12 and in Matthew…he wrote about Jesus’ brothers [Mat. 12:46-47] and His sisters in [15:55].
So here we have Jesus’ brothers giving him some friendly family advice…He should go back to Judea and do some miracles so that your disciples may see the miracles you do (7:3).
Here’s what’s interesting…His brothers were never supportive of His ministry before His death and resurrection…so why are they now encouraging Jesus to go to Jerusalem?
Could be that when many of his disciples left him they went to Judea…maybe if He would go there and do another miracle or two He could give them a second chance.
I want to talk about these people for a minute and reintegrate on something I said last week…we have a misunderstanding about how God ‘calls’ and ‘chooses’ us.
God goes to great lengths and extremes to ensure that all people on earth have an equal chance to respond to Him…BUT for those who continually reject Him they don’t have a lifetime to keep their options open.
A very difficult subject because it’s something that’s not preached today…just google ‘God never gives up on you’ and you’ll find countless articles that say no matter what you’ve done or not done…no matter how many times you’ve messed up…how often you’ve lost your way…there is one person who will never give up on you…your Heavenly Father. Never has…never will.
NOW…on the surface that’s sounds nice…and let me say to some degree that is correct…and there are countless verses out there people use to validate that claim …but…here’s the more correct Biblical understanding…people cast people aside…WATCH THIS…NOT because God has cast them aside.
God doesn’t give up on us until we give up on Him. …it is only when we repeatedly turn our backs on Him and stubbornly refuse His offer of forgiveness that He finally lets us go…it’s not because God has cast them aside.
The Bible warns, “A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—” (Proverbs 29:1).
That’s a Bible verse that those wanting to convince you that despite how you live or what you do God is so forgiving that He overlooks those things.
God giving up on us is a side of God that’s unpleasant…it’s not in keeping with our understanding about God because God is patient…He’s longsuffering…gracious and merciful… BUT…He is not so forever!
For God…the past…present…and future are all the same…God is not wondering what He’ll do tomorrow…He’s already there…neither is He waiting for it to happen…for Him tomorrow has always been present.
It is not as though God is watching people’s lives unfold like a movie…He already knows the choices we will make…that’s a mystery to us…here’s what we need to realize…God knowing what I will do tomorrow does not destroy my freedom to choose what I do.
How this all works out is mysterious…we are free…but God holds us accountable for our choices even though God already knows our destiny…mysteriously confusing.
In life there are decisions that are made…there are life principles and spiritual life principles…both of them have forks in the road…both in life and in the spiritual principles those choices have consequences.
With regards to the spiritual life principles…for some rather than coming to Christ they can reject the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus offers and continue on in their self-absorbed life of showing little concern about anyone or anything outside their own narrow self-interests…God will let them do that.
BUT…there are consequences to that decision…here’s the confusing part of this… at some point their opportunity closes because God hardens their heart against Him.
In Scripture this is done for a couple reasons…one is to accomplish God’s purpose… the second is because someone has decided to remain ignorant and alienated from God…it’s a personal choice and God lets them do it.
Scripture reveals God hardening the hearts of certain people…fourteen times in Scripture the statement is made that God hardens someone’s heart.
With respect to Pharaoh…six times Scripture says “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” [Ex 9:12; 10:1; 10; 27; 11:10; 14:8] and seven times Scripture says he hardened his own heart [Ex 7:13-14, 22; 8:15, 19; 32; 9:7].
Let me explain that…texts like these must be approached carefully and accurately as to the scriptural and historical context because in every case the hardening should not be seen as dealing with personal salvation.
God hardening Pharaoh’s heart had nothing to with salvation…it was to serve a purpose…God used it as a way to demonstrate His majesty.
But with respect to salvation…God allows people to do what their own evil heart’s desire and not alter the course of their own motives.
It’s wrong to suggest that God hardens people against receiving salvation…that is contrary to God’s will…I know of no statements in Scripture where anyone who wanted to follow God was prevented because of God hardening their hearts.
A hard heart is blind to the value of the gospel and refuses to embrace Christ (Rom. 11:8)… a hard heart is synonymous with spiritual ignorance and alienation from God (Eph. 4:18).
It’s not in God’s character to suppose that He hardens people’s hearts against him… it’s an act of judgment in response to a decision they already made.
KEY…when God decides to harden someone’s heart, we can be assured that God wishes it didn’t have to be that way.
The hardening of the heart is essentially a sort of final judgment of God that takes place before someone dies…something that has evolved over a lifetime…because of their own willful sinful choices.
Back to these people who Jesus’ brothers are wanting Him to perform a miracle for…what they’re proposing is some kind of marketing strategy for Jesus…if His desire is to be a public figure, He should show himself to the world (7:4).
This might look like a great statement of faith by Jesus’ brothers, but John sets us straight: For even his own brothers did not believe in him (7:5).
Recognizing that Jesus is a miracle worker does not make someone a believer… they assume He wants to be in the limelight and they’re suggesting He do what is necessary to gain a following… ‘we’re just here to help’… in this they echo Satan’s temptation (Mt 4:1-11 par. Lk 4:1-13).
But Jesus rejects their suggestion just as He rejected the earlier attempt by some to make him king (6:15) …Jesus’ aim is not to gain a following but to reveal his Father by being faithful and obedient to Him…He does not need suggestions from others, even those closest to Him in his family.
So here we catch Jesus in a lie…
Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast [8]
…but when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up [10]
Taking these two verses on the surface implies that Jesus told His brothers one thing but knew He was going to do something different…that’s a lie.
BUT…Jesus’ response points out that He is working from a divine schedule which they are not a part of…twice He uses the phrase ‘My time has not yet fully come’ [6, 8].
In reality…Jesus had to attend the feast in Jerusalem…each year Jewish men were obligated to attend several feasts in Jerusalem [Deut. 16:16] …the Feast of the Booths was one of them…during that time Jerusalem would have been swarming with pilgrims…visitors…and travelers.
Jesus intended to arrive alone in order to make a quieter entrance [7:10]
But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret
He did not go with His brothers as was the custom to travel in large processions… He went after them, traveling alone…there’s ‘your time’…then there’s ‘My time.’
Your time…it makes no difference to you…referring to His brothers…when you go up…the world has no quarrel with you…your going won’t excite…or cause turmoil or opposition…it won’t attract attention and there’s no chance your lives will be endangered.
My time…it’s not yet come—that is, for showing Myself to the world…Jesus was completely submitted to the will of the Father…the timing of God was important… Jesus’ brothers were not submitted to God’s will in the same way, so any time was right with them.
The secret departure for Jerusalem was not an act of deception…it was an attempt to avoid unwelcome publicity…Jesus’ enemies were watching for him for the purpose of arresting him. (Tenney)
Being submitted to the will of God does not mean making God do what He has not planned to do…Jesus knew the time of His death was in the future…the Jews could have arrested Him and maybe even killed Him…but the timing was not the right timing.
Your life has already been decreed…God has already decreed the totality of your life…it’s already been decreed but it’s with a condition…it’s assumed that you will wait for it to happen…to call on it and then wait for the appropriate time to act.
The problem is we become discouraged…instead of trusting God to complete the already decreed totality in my life…we see people succeeding who have not been as faithful…who haven’t prayed as hard…but are succeeding while I’m in agony…so I take it upon myself to get the ball rolling.
For Jesus’s brothers the feast was a time of enjoyment…for Jesus He is relegated to be in hiding…it’s easy to become discouraged when we think God has not acted in our timing when in reality if we were given it too soon it would be devastating.
The prodigal son is the example of getting what we have coming but given too soon. The consequence was ugly…He got what was his but because he didn’t have the maturity to spend it wisely…he wasted it and would end up living a life eating with pigs…when we hasten the process to get to our destiny…getting what is ours to soon, we hijack God’s plans for our life.
Abraham and Sarah believed God’s timing was off so they hastened the process… God had promised Abraham a son, but, from a human perspective, time was running out…Abraham was nearly 86 and Sarah 76…so they improvised…they acted on their own.
History would be very different if Sarah had not run ahead of God and tried to fix her problem on her own…she literally changed the course of history…the result has been thousands of years of fighting in the Middle East.
It was God’s timing that Jesus was to die at the Passover…for Jesus to be the Lamb of God He had to die at exactly three in the afternoon on the day before Passover.
For Jesus to enter Jerusalem at that time as the Messiah would have hijacked God’s plan…The right time [καιρός, the suitable time] for me has not yet come (v. 6).
Jesus going to the feast was not to appear publicly as the Messiah (because he knew this was the wrong time) …it was an opportunity again to teach the crowds the truth and invite people to Himself.
Here’s the importance of this whole sermon…God wants us to be sensitive to His timing…when we run out ahead of Him, we limit Him to our human strength and power.
While we have the free will to do so, the dangerous thing about going outside of God’s will to get what you want is you’ll have to stay outside of his will to keep it because now you’re on your own…and the problem compounds itself.
Chris Tomlin has a song ‘Upon the Lord we will wait’ and the importance in that is we can be guilty of running ahead of God…that never turns out well.
So how do I know when I’m in God’s timing…He will let us know when it is time for action…HOW…He does this by opening doors and giving us opportunities that could only come from Him….He does this through the counsel of others…He does this through orchestrating circumstances in such a way that leaves little doubt it is time for action.
Here’s the blessing about waiting on the Lord…we find that God was already “there” …been there millions of years ago…He has always known in the timelessness of eternity that we would arrive there and when we do He has already provided the answer He wants us to discover.