Gospel of John [16:28-31]. From the Father and returning to the Father [part 2]. Joh 5-8.Title: Gospel of John [16:28-31]. From the Father and returning to the Father [part 2]. Joh 5-8.
Joh 7:25 Therefore some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?
Joh 7:26 "And look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they?
This is the first instance in this gospel where the idea of Him being Messiah is ventilated in Jerusalem.
This same people, six months later, would use the title to mock and deride Him.
Mar 15:32 "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" And those who were crucified with Him were casting the same insult at Him.
Now, the idea of whether He is the Messiah or not, and if the authorities had been convinced that He was, is scouted in the group and in the discussion that follows three popularly held criteria of Messiahship are mentioned.
Popular criteria #1 for Messiahship: Messiah, after coming into the world, would remain hidden in some unsuspected place until the divinely appointed time for his public manifestation came.
Joh 7:27 "However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from."
The irony, as usual, is as thick as the temple curtain. They conclude that they know where He is from, Galilee. To them He was Jesus of Nazareth, however, to John when writing and to all in the know, this popular, though not prophetic, criteria is fulfilled in the fact that Christ is from heaven, and this answer is in Jesus' next words. [Don't forget our disciples, in the temple with Christ, hearing this whole thing, not speaking but certainly having the sprocket wheels in their brains being spun and spun.]
Joh 7:28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
The divine sarcasm is as thick as the irony. You both know Me and where I am from - indicative, but do they really know Him and where He is from?
Mat 13:53 And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.
Mat 13:54 And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers?
Mat 13:55 "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Mat 13:56 "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"
Mat 13:57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household."
Mat 13:58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
He makes it abundantly clear that if we don't know Him then we don't know the Father or the truth for both are embodied in Him. We would conclude that the more we know of Him the more we know of the Father and of the truth. The Holy Spirit was sent to take of His and reveal it to us and all that the Father has is His, and so Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all in the business of revealing themselves to us and in so doing the only truth. Without these we are powerless lumps of flesh, no matter how much so-called power we may possess in the world of flesh.
The coming of Jesus confronts all men with the issue of the true knowledge of God.
Going back to our disciples, they are struggling with all of this in their hearts while they simultaneously know and believe Jesus to be the Holy One of God, the Christ/Messiah, the Son of God.
Joh 7:29 "I know Him; because I am from Him, and He sent Me."
Joh 7:30 They were seeking therefore to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
They sought to arrest Him but their fervor wasn't enough to follow through because it wasn't time. In six months time, they will be brought to the breaking point and seeking will turn to action.
Popular criteria #2 for Messiahship: The prophets of old came with signs and so the Messiah would have greater signs.
But what was the criteria for miracles? How much greater than the prophets should the miracles be? Did the witnessed miracles done by Jesus qualify Him? To many in the crowd the answer was yes and they believed in Him.
The disciples already believed in Him but no one knew Jesus like they did due to their proximity to Him on a daily basis. Were the things they heard and saw bringing clarity to His person as the Son of God and Messiah? And were they opening up channels of understanding as to His work in their time and in the future?
Joh 7:31 But many of the multitude believed in Him; and they were saying, "When the Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?"
Joh 7:32 The Pharisees heard the multitude muttering these things about Him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him.
Joh 7:33 Jesus therefore said, "For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me.
Joh 7:34 "You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come."
He has already noted in the past that it was the Father who sent Him. Here He says to the Jews that where He is going they cannot come. If they remain unbelievers then the implication is obvious, but even to the disciples He said the same thing.
Joh 13:33 "Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'
They cannot come, not yet!
Joh 13:36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later."
It may seem like an obvious point is being beaten to death, but the understanding and faith to fill in all the details of why and when for His coming into the world and leaving the world is to understand and believe His very person and work and so to know the Father and the truth, and this makes the believer divinely powerful.
Joh 7:35 The Jews therefore said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we shall not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He?
They wonder if He is going to the north and east where there were Jews in Gentile colonies. The disciples were still enmeshed in the same preconceived notion.
Joh 13:36-37 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You."
Joh 7:36 "What is this statement that He said, 'You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come'?"
They sound somewhat like the disciples in the upper room. The disciples are believers and these who are speaking are likely not believers. This shows that as believers we retain much of the doubts and ignorance that we did as unbelievers and so a patient, dedicated education in the word of God is needed after salvation so that ignorance can be turned to cognizance and doubts to faith.
Joh 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
Joh 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"
Joh 7:39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The implications of the victory of Christ and His return to the Father in glory are immense. On the last day of the feast Christ gives a hint of this in a prophecy of the coming Holy Spirit.
The last day of the feast of Tabernacles, the eighth day, was a holy convocation and a solemn assembly according to the Law. When the people thanked God at the celebration of Tabernacles for all the fruits of the past year - vine and olive as well as barley and wheat - they did not forget the gift of rain, apart from which none of those crops would have grown. At dawn of the first seven days of the festival, a golden pitcher was filled with water at the pool Siloam and carried to the temple as the morning sacrifice was being offered. The water was then poured into a funnel at the west side of the altar and the temple choir began to sing the Hallel (Psa 113-118). However, this ceremony was not enacted on the eighth day, although a prayer for rain was recited. And so, Jesus on this day, asks if any man is thirsty. If no material water was poured that day then the emphasis, plainly meant by the Lord, is of spiritual, life-giving water.
In the same chapter of Isaiah where the Lord states that His ways are not man's ways, He begins with this:
Isa 55:1 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
The Lord changes this: Anyone who thirsts, come to Me.
And like the Psalm or song, Jesus states this in a poetic way with rhythm and rhyme.
There is no punctuation or verse numbers in the original language, so where it is put in your Bible is not always conducive to the brunt of the passage. Many have suggested a revision to this punctuation and verse placing.
"If any man is thirsty, let him come to me (pros meh); And let him drink who believes in me (eis emeh).
It would have rhymed in the Aramaic as well.
The couplet in the original Greek with phonetic pronunciation: ean tis dipsa, erchestho pros me (ay-ahn teese erkestho pros meh)
kai pineto ho pisteuon eis eme (kai peenetw ho pistewown ees emeh)
Joh 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
Joh 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"
Joh 7:39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The usage of water and the slaking of thirst is a common theme in God's communication to us.
The implications of the victory of Christ and His return to the Father in glory are immense. It means no more thirst to those who believe. It means no more hunger. It means complete fulfillment of a person within and thorough refreshment.
"Christ satisfies a man not by banishing his thirst, which would be to stunt his soul's growth, but by bestowing upon him by the gift of his Spirit an inward source of satisfaction which perennially and spontaneously supplies each recurrent need of refreshment." [G.H.C. Macgregor]
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