The Feast of Tabernacles

Let's start with a little background....

Leviticus 23:33-44 deals with the Feast of Tabernacles and gives us an idea of what Jesus was coming into in this passage in John. Read the passage and look for the following facts:

1. What was the date/time of year for this feast?

2. How long did it last?

3. What customs were followed and why?

Now, read John 7:1-31. If you notice, this chapter begins with "after these things," which represents to us that there was a gap of time between John 6 and John 7. Based on the history and timing, there is a gap of six months here. Now that we're in chapter seven, John 7 through 10 are going to deal with this broader event of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Before we look at this passage, let's talk about where Christ as been. During these six months after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus had begun a series of withdrawals from the public eye for a few reasons. One reason is the season. It was a hot time of year and he and the crowds didn't travel around as much. Another reason is the Pharisees were growing more and more antagonistic towards Christ and His message and it wasn't the right time for them to seize him. Yet another reason is while the Pharisees were hating him more and more, the common people were loving him more and more and desiring to make him king, and Christ knew it was right to remove himself from them as well. In addition, Herod was starting to grow suspicious about the activities of Christ. Christ also needed rest and time with his disciples to prepare them for their roles as he approached his death and resurrection.

Okay, enough background. Let's dig into the passage. We are 6 months out from Christ's death and it is September, time for the Feast of Tabernacles. The disciples come to Christ with a request. They want him to go to Jerusalem with them to celebrate. Some scholars say that they wanted this for selfish reasons. Basically, they wanted to show him off and have the attention of the large crowds present for the feast. This demonstrates a few things. First, that they still weren't really understanding Christ when he said he would die. Second, they were convinced that he was going to set up a kingdom based on their terms.

So, the disciples ask and Jesus tells them no. He's God and he's omniscient. He knows that the timing is not right for him to go up to Jerusalem in such a public way. He knows how the people would react, both in positive and negative ways. Christ also knew his disciples hearts. He knew that they weren't quite ready to separate themselves from this world. Ultimately, by telling them no, Christ wasn't avoiding His death, but was rather making sure it happened at the exact time it was planned.

 

Now, Christ telling his disciples no doesn't meant he wasn't going to go. In fact, in verses 10-13, we see that Christ does go, he just goes on his own timing, demonstrating that he was completely in control. While there, he spends some time in the temple teaching. If we look at verses 15-31, we see the various reactions of people to Christ. In verses 15-16, we see that they are amazed by this simple carpenter who speaks so wisely and eloquently. He then takes advantage of the situation and points out their contradictions and accuses the people of seeking to kill Him in verse 19, which causes the people to deny the idea. Christ then proceeds in verses 21-24 to point out the fact that they take issue with him healing ("work") on the Sabbath when they circumcise babies (also "work") on the Sabbath.

 

Well, after hearing his argument, the people start to wonder if he could be the Messiah, but then they doubt it because of the limits they have placed on him, namely that the Messiah surely couldn't be from Nazareth! And this is where Christ again drops a bombshell. He states "I am," which any devout Jew would recognize as him claiming to be God, and, therefore, blasphemy. And, if you look at verse 30, we see that they seek to arrest him, but God goes before him because his time had not yet come. Ultimately, through this scene, we see that many again believe in him because of the signs that he has done and the arguments that he has provided. Which tells me that it really does come down to the heart and who was there listening with open hearts and who was there trying to fit him into their own box. What do you think?

 

         

 

Finally, the Bread of Life, Part 2

Finally, I'm getting my act together. So, to prepare for this part, read John 6:32-71.

If you remember when we last talked (or took a peek at the last post), you'll remember that we have an outline for this chapter. 

                 I. The Setting of Christ's Sermon

                       II. The Command of Christ's Sermon
                       III. The Unbelief of the People
                       IV. The True Bread
                       V. The Living Bread
                       VI. The Broken Bread
                       VII. The Results

 We discussed the setting, the command, and the unbelief last time. Let's look at what Christ had to teach his people now.

IV. Christ as the True Bread

So, if you remember, last time, we discussed the fact that Christ called the people on the fact that they were looking for a miracle after he had just fed 5,000 of them with a few loaves and fishes. And they tried to rationalize away what he did by saying that Moses had given the people of Israel manna while they were in the desert. So, Christ rebukes them again, this time for crediting Moses with the work of God.

      Now, he dives into the fact that they do not need earthly bread, but that they need him, the true bread. So, what are the characteristics of the true bread? Well, it is a person (verse 33), it gives life (verses 33 and 49) and it perfectly satisfies. Stop for a minute and think about how this parallels with what bread does for the physical body. Think about it this way: Bread (food) is a necessity for our earthly bodies to live and Christ is a necessity for our spiritual bodies to live. Bread is needed daily for us to function properly physically and Christ is needed daily for us to function properly spiritually. Lastly, bread must go through a process (after the grain grows, it is cut down, ground down, and then baked) in order to be eaten just as Christ had to go through a process (arrested, tortured, killed, and resurrected) to become our living spiritual bread. Isn't it neat the simple parallel and image that he has given us? However, the people at this point still didn't get it and didn't really want what Christ had to offer them (see verse 36).

V. The Living Bread (vs. 41-50)

OK, we're going to make a transition. The word "Jew" used in this passage is now meaning the religious leaders who have come to confront Christ. Verses 44-45 give us an answer as to why these leaders have specifically chosen to reject Christ. These verses show us that those who have not been saved cannot understand Christ's teaching, even one as simple as the image of Christ as living bread. He needs the Spirit to work in his heart (1 Cor. 2:14) and as we know, many of these leaders did not have open hearts to the working of the Spirit. Their rejection of Christ is proof of their sin and hardened hearts. Ultimately, they needed to realize that they were spiritually dead and in desperate need of the bread that Christ was offering and needed to be open to the call of God. So, how does God call someone to himself? If you look at verses 44-45, it shows us that God uses the preaching of His word to lead to an understanding in the mind of the believer. And, if you have an open heart to this message and partake of the Living Bread, verses 47-50 show us that you will live forever.

           

VI. The Broken Bread (vs. 51-59)

This is where people sometimes get weirded out. Is this passage literally talking about eating Christ? That's what some people thought when they heard this message. However, this is actually referencing the fact that Christ would be broken for all of man on the cross. Just as Christ broke bread to feed the people in the feeding of the 5,000, he will allow his body to be broken on the cross to "feed" all who choose to believe in him.

VII. The Results (vs. 60-71)

Imagine you're hearing this message in ancient Israel. How would you react? Well, many rejected Christ because of his words. If we look at John 12:32-34, it tells us that these people wanted to believe, but they also believed that the Messiah would live forever (physically) and so they didn't exactly want to hear that he was going to be "broken." In their minds, this couldn't be the Messiah.

However, not everyone rejected Christ. We know that the twelve disciples stayed with him (67-71). Christ turns to his disciples after many people are walking away from him and asks if they are also going to reject him. And Peter (you gotta love Peter), takes on his self-assigned role as disciple speaker and say that they would always stand by him. This truly identifies those who are willing to follow Christ, even when everything he says sounds crazy or scary.

VIII. Why Men Follow Christ

So, looking at this John this far, we see many reasons why people follow Christ. Look at this list and think about where you fall in. This also helps us understand many of why people were following him.

            A. Because of Miracles (7:2)

            B. Because of the Multitudes (7:5)

            C. Because of the Meal (6:26)

            D. Because of the Money (6:70-71)

            E. Because He is the Master (6:68-69)

The Bread of Life, Part 1

Read John 6:22-32

 

We're going to take this passage in two parts. Starting with the setting of the passage. Christ is in a synagogue in Capernaum, which is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where the feeding of the 5,000 occurred.  This is the day after the feeding of the 5,000. The best guess is that the people who had been at the feeding of the 5,000 found out where Christ had gone and followed him back across the sea.

So, all these people have come to Christ, probably looking for miracles, maybe another free meal, and he calls them on it. In verse 26, we see the people trying to find out how Jesus had crossed the sea (he wasn't with them), but Jesus doesn't answer their question. Why? Well, because he knew that the real issue that needed to be faced was the fact that they had followed him looking for more. If we look back at verse 2 in this chapter, we see that the people had followed Christ because of his miracles. Now, in 26, they're following him because they wanted to be fed again.

So, Christ begins to deal with their hearts. He calls them on what's in their hearts, basically saying "if you cared as much about knowing God as you do getting another free meal, then I would give you salvation." Think about how we can be just like this. We get so caught up in earthly things and worries and forget to use our energy towards seeking God. What are some of the things that you seek after and forget to give you energy towards God.

However, when Christ gives them this command about seeking after God, the people hear instead that they think Christ is telling them to work for eternal life (verse 27). They completely missed what Christ was saying. We know this because if you look at verse 28, they ask Christ what works they had to do to do the work of God. They completely missed the best part of what Christ said....they eternal life is a gift from Him!!!!! Christ wasn't saying work for eternal life, he was saying don't work so hard for earthly things; focus on eternal things.

           

Look at verse 30. Do you seen anything wrong with this verse? They're asking Christ for a sign and it's the day after the feeding of the 5,000 and we know that many of them were present!!!!! So, how do they explain away this feeding? They claimed that Moses fed the whole nation of Israel for forty years with manna from heaven and he wasn't the Messiah. The problem here is the people's unbelief. Christ had given them plenty of signs, after all this is the third year of His ministry.

We will finish up this chapter next week, but here's some final thoughts for you.

Why does man insist on receiving or seeing a “sign” before he will believe? How do visible means of portraying God lead to idolatry? Give examples, both from the Bible and history and life.  What has God often done to ensure that His people do no fall into the trap of idolizing various objects?

John 6:1-21

Read John 6:1-21

Please note the time of year in verse 4. We've jumped another year and are into the third year of Christ's ministry. This is the beginning of the end, I guess you could say, or for us, the beginning of eternity. This is where John spends the majority of his focus.

So, let's pick up with the next Passover. This time, rather than being in Jerusalem, Christ stays in Galilee and ministers to the people there. I believe he did this to prove a point that it's not about where you are to worship so much as your heart. Anyways, this is the big miracle and the only one that all four Gospel writers included in their accounts. This is the feeding of the 5,000. Obviously this is an important miracle if all four writers made the effort to include it. But why? Well, this miracle was performed int he presence of many more people than any of the other miracles that Christ performed. This was a miracle of creation, while all of the other miracles, with the exception of turning the water into wine, were miracles of restoration.. This was also a picture of Christ and foreshadowed Christ as our Bread of Life, who was broken for us.

So, here's a little background. This miracle was just following an exhausting preaching tour of Galilee and took place right before the Passover Feast. It was time to rest.

(Just a quick side lesson that we can take from Christ here. First of all, there's nothing wrong with needing to take a break in ministry. Secondly, even as he was resting, we see Christ was ready to serve the Lord. And lastly, Christ was not only ready, he was willing to stop his rest in order to serve. Just some food for thought) 

Anyways, this miracle, as I mentioned earlier, was taking place near the time of the Passover. John includes the time of the miralce on purpose. John really wasn't too terribly concerned with timing, so when he takes the time to mention is in his account, take note. He records this time in order to mark the timing in Christ's minsitry. In addition, he was probably emphasizing the fact that Christ is the ultimate Passover Lamb.

Moving onto the story. Christ is ministering to these people (5,000 men alone!) and he stops and asks Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed them. Now, Christ already knew what he was going to do, so why did he stop to ask Philip? It was probably to test Philip's faith and trust in Christ. However, we see in verses 7 and 9 that both Philip and Andrew still aren't quite getting it and still thinking of Christ as a regular man. They forgot that they were working with God and focused on their circumstances instead of who they were with.

                    

So, let's look at the Miracle itself. After testing Philip and Andrew, Christ takes the bread and fish and performs this incredible miracle. And in this miracle, Christ reveals His sovereignty. Christ knew what he would do and that he was totally in control despite the circumstances around him.

In addition, we see that this miracle required man's obedience. Look at verse 10, can you imagine what was going through the disciples' minds when Christ said "make them sit"? They must have thought "why? We don't have anything to give them. We're going to have a mob here!"

We also see God's orderliness here. This might seem a simple point but, we see the people being seated into groups. This way, Christ was able to monitor who was being served and still needed food to prevent a riot.

This miracle also reveals Christ's omnipotence and the fact that he took what seemed like a lunch only enough for a boy and used it to accomplish His purposes. This miracle also shows the blessing that comes from serving. The disciples obeyed Christ and served the people and in the end there are left 12 baskets of food left, enought for each disciples.

Lastly, this miracle reveals Christ's sufficiency, but we will talk about this more specifically this week. We will also talk about the other miracle (walking on water) mentioned in this passage.

   

A Sermon on Deity

Read John 5:17-47

So, because of the Jewish Leaders' persecution of Jesus after healing the lame man, Christ stops and gives seven proofs of his right to heal the lame man on the Sabbath and four witnesses of his right, ultimately pointing to the fact that he is God.

Let's look at Christ's Deity shown in His...
                      1. Service
                      2. Will
                      3. Intelligence
                      4. Power
                      5. Honor
                      6. Power to Give Life
                      7. Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven/Hell

           1. Christ's Deity as shown in His Service (verse 17-18)
 The phrase "my father" that Christ uses here means more than what we mean when we say "God our Father." Christ is literally saying that He is God's Son, and the Jews recognize this. Christ saying "and I work" shows that he does the same thing as his Father. In other words, Christ is saying that he does the same thing that God does.

           2. Christ's Deity as shown in His Will (verse 19)
When Christ says that he can do nothing by himself, he isn't saying that he is helpless. Rather, he is saying that He can do nothing of his own self. Or, you could say that He and the Father are of the same will (verse 30). If we look at other passages of the Bible, we see in Luke 2:49 that Jesus explains that His Father's business is His priority, in John 4:34, Christ says that He is sustained by doing God's will, and Luke 22:42, Jesus explains that His Father's plan is more important than His physical desires. All of this says that Christ and God share the same will.

            3. Christ's deity as shown in His Intelligence (verse 20)
When Christ says that the Father shows him all things, he is meaning that there are no secrets between them because they have equal knowledge. Another thought on this, why would God discuss "all things" with a man? He isn't going to do that! He would only reveal His will completely to Christ.

            4. Christ's deity as shown in His Power (verse 21)
 Christ is basically laying out here the fact that he has the same power and right to heal and raise whom He will. He has all of the same rights and privileges of the Father. They key phrase that is used here is "to whom he will." In other words, we might have the ability to harm someone, but we don't have the right to do that. Only Christ as the power to do as he pleases.

            5. Christ's deity as shown in His Honor (verse 22 and 24)
Because Christ is the judge of all men, he deserves the same honor and glory as the Father does. In other words, he is equal with God.

           6. Christ's Deity as shown in His Power to Give Life (verses 24-26)
Christ demonstrates here that he is equal with God in His power to save the lost and to provide eternal life.

          7. Christ's deity as shown in His Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven and to Hell (verse 27-29)
Verse 27 seems to echo verse 22 here and we see that because God has given the Son the ability to judge, that all should honor Christ. In addition, the Father has committed all judgement to the Son because is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. In other words, because he walked on earth as a man and lived a perfect life, he is the only one who has the right to judge all.

So, not only does Christ give these seven proofs of His deity and equality with God,, but he also stops and just to really back himself up, provides four witnesses of His deity as well. (In standard Jewish court, two witnesses were all that were required, so Christ was in overdrive here.)

Witness #1: John the Baptist (verses 32-35)
John was a witness and testified that Christ was the true Messiah.

Witness #2: Christ's Own Works (verse 36)
His miracles, specifically the seven John records, that demonstrate different aspects of Christ's deity.

Witness #3: The Father (verses 37-38)
God showed Himself and His "endorsement" of Christ at Christ's Baptism.

Witness #4: The Word of God (verses 39-47)
When Christ says "you search the Scriptures," he's basically pointing out the obvious and saying, "come on, you should know this!" They were searching the Scriptures for doctrinal and practical truth, but missed the real deal. People do this today. They can know the Bible, and yet never really know Christ.

    

The Pool of Bethesda

         
          The past blogs have been about Christ's first year of ministry. However, John obviously left out a lot of Christ's life. For example, we just ended in John 4 with Christ ministering in Galilee a few months after the Passover in Jerusalem. Now, we're in John 5 and Christ is back in Jerusalem for the next passover. So, before we go onto John 5, let's reference the other gospels to know what was going on in between. So far, we know that Christ performed his first miracle at the Cana Wedding in A.D. 29, he has cleaned out the temple in A.D. 30, he has met with Nicodemus and the woman at the well and has performed his second miracle by healing the nobleman's son.

          So, here is what else was going on after all of the above. (Side note, remember, the phrase "after this" represents a gap of time) Christ went from Cana to Nazareth where he was rejected in His own town. He then moved onto Capernaum where he officially called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, he led the four disciples on a preaching tour of Galilee, he healed a leper, a man who was sick from palsy (the guy lowered through the roof), he called Matthew to be His disciples, and "after this," Jesus comes to Jerusalem, beginning his second year of ministry.

So, now read John 5:1-18. At this feast, Christ makes the effort to reveal his deity to his followers. This is the third miracle that Christ performs. This is near the sheep gate of Jerusalem. There were twelve gates that led into the city of Jerusalem and the sheep gate was one of them. This was the one that the sheep were led through to the city to be slaughtered for sacrifices. There was/is a pool close to this gate called Bethesda. This word means "house of mercy." This pool had a sort of awning type structure built over to protect the lame and the sick who came to the pool to be cured of their problems. This pool was cut from a solid rock, is about 55 feet long and 12 feet wide with a flight of steps that go down into the water. It was common tradition that when the water in the pool stirred, it was an angel stirring the water and the first person to get into the water would be healed. This is why the sick and lame would gather around the pool and wait there.

           Christ is at the pool and while there, he speaks with a lame man, who tells Christ his problem. Notice that Christ doesn't rebuke him for his spiritual ignorance here. Instead, he shows his own power, his compassion, and ultimately, his deity. Because this miracle takes place on the Sabbath, this miracle shows Christ's power over time here, proving to the Jewish leaders that he is all-powerful and not held to the time constraints of man.

            We can also learn about salvation here. If you look at the man and have him represent the condition of the world, it creates a beautiful picture of salvation. First of all, the man was physically weak and couldn't even save himself if he wanted to, just like we can't save ourselves either. Secondly, he was lame and couldn't go anywhere for salvation, and we can't go anywhere but to Christ for our salvation. The man couldn't even use his hands to pull himself down to the pool and we can't use our works to save ourselves. The man was waiting at the pool, hoping for a miracle, and many in the world are still waiting for a Messiah. Following along the same lines, the man did not recognize Christ for who he was and many in the world have not recognized Christ even today. Lastly, the man needed help. He didn't really need the water; he needed Christ, just like we don't need anything else in the world but Christ.

After all of this, Christ was persecuted for helping a man and changing his life! This is a good reminder that sometimes we will also face persecution for sharing Christ and changing people's lives. Isn't it reassuring to know that our Savior has walked the road before us?

Christ's Ministry in Samaria and Cana

Read John 4:31-54.

 Let's look at the disciples....

            

          In this passage, they miss the opportunity to see a woman converted and to see Christ in action, modelling how to witness to a non-believer. Where were they, you ask? Well, they were off looking for food because they thought that's what Christ needed most at the moment. Sometimes it's easy to get distracted by the physical things in life. Now, did they know what was about to happen? Who knows? But, they missed it all the same.

       Verses 32-33 show us the spiritual immaturity of the disciples at this point in time. Even though they were Christ's disciples, they still didn't quite get it. They hadn't yet learned the reason for ministry. They still didn't understand that as they gave more of themselves to God, they would be blessed in return. The cool thing is, if you look at the later epistles, they had grown spiritually in the Lord.

     Okay, Christ doesn't leave them in this spiritually blind and immature state. He takes the moment to teach them. In verse 35, he rebukes them and begins to teach them about spiritual vision. In verses 36-38, he teaches about the blessings of witnessing.

    Now, let's look at the Samaritans in verses 39-42. First of all, these people are desperate!!!! They believe the message of a woman who the majority of them looked down on as well. These people were hungry for Christ. This is a great example of how God uses the weak to draw the mighty to Him. In the end, we see that the Samaritans were so hungry and are so filled by Christ that they beg him to stay with them.

    We're going to switch gears a bit and look at another miracle. This is miracle number two. Christ has decided to move on from Samaria, where a spiritual revival has taken place and moves onto Galilee, a spiritual wilderness, where he received no honor or welcome. This doesn't phase Christ and he continues to minister to those willing to listen. As Christ comes to Cana, it seems almost as if John is comparing and contrasting the first miracles with this one. Take a look at the water into wine miracle and compare it to this miracle and see what kind of similarities there are. We will look at this week the individuals of the passage, so for now, just enjoy this miracle of Christ and see what you can take from the passage.