John 07(01–13)

Introduction

Before Easter we spent two Sundays on John 6, where John records for us the miracle of the feeding of the multitude, when the Lord Jesus was able to feed all those people with only five barley loaves and two small fish. And after performing the miracle, the Lord taught the people that he is the bread of life who has come down from heaven to give everlasting life to the world.

Ordinary, every day bread is fine for ordinary, every day life. But we need the bread of life, or the bread of God, in order to have everlasting life in the new and better world to come. That is to say, we need to come to him and to believe in him for everlasting life. Just as food on a plate can do us no good unless we pick it up and eat it, so the Lord Jesus cannot give us eternal life unless we take him as our Saviour and trust in him. And do you remember? The Lord used the image of eating his flesh and drinking his blood to make clear that we need to believe in him.

And he said that no one can come to him for salvation unless the Father draws them to him. So, unless the Father enables us to come, we will not come. We cannot believe. We don’t have the ability in ourselves to believe in the Saviour for everlasting life. On the other hand, all that the Father has given to him will come to him. So, all those, chosen by the Father before the creation of the world, will come to Christ for salvation, because God the Father will enable them to come to him. Unless the Father draws people to Christ, they will never believe, no matter what we do and say to them. But all that the Father has given his Son in eternity will definitely come to him in time and nothing will prevent them from coming. And all who come to him, he will never drive away. And all who come to him will be raised up at the last day to live with God for ever and for ever.

And at the end of chapter 6, many of the people who had been following the Lord turned back and no longer followed him. They could not accept his teaching. But when the Lord turned to the twelve disciples to see if they too wanted to leave him, Peter said: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ His words may be hard to accept, but his words are the words of eternal life. Whoever accepts his words and believes in him will have everlasting life, so that though we die and our bodies are buried in the ground, nevertheless on the last day, when Christ comes again, he will raise us up to live with God for ever in the new and better world to come, where we’ll be perfectly holy and happy as we gaze upon the glory of our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In Galilee

Today we come to chapter 7, where John tells us in verse 1 that after this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea.

Judea was in the south of the country. Galilee was further north. Nazareth, where the Lord grew up, was in Galilee, as was Cana, where the Lord turned the water into wine. And Capernaum, where the Lord had been in chapter 6, was also in Galilee. So, after teaching the people in Capernaum, the Lord decided to remain in the same region and he purposely stayed away from Judea to the south. That meant staying away from Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was in Judea.

But why did he purposely stay away from Jerusalem and Judea? John tells us in the rest of verse 1. He wanted to stay away from Judea, because the Jews there — and John is probably referring to the Jewish authorities in Judea — the Jews there were waiting to take his life. They wanted to kill him.

We’ve seen that, every time the Lord is in Judea, he faced opposition from the Jewish authorities. So, in chapter 2 we read of the time when he went to Jerusalem and cleared the temple of the money changers and so on. And the Jewish leaders demanded that he prove to them his authority to do this. That was the start of it.

Then he went into the Judean countryside with his disciples, where they baptised people. And we read in chapter 4 that the Pharisees heard about this. And we get the impression that they were concerned about the Lord’s growing popularity. It bothered them that he was gaining more disciples than John the Baptist. And indeed, at that time, the Lord decided to leave Judea and to go to Galilee. It seems he wanted to avoid a confrontation with them.

And then there’s chapter 5 when the Lord returned to Jerusalem for a feast. And that’s when he healed the lame man at the pool. And John tells us that because the Lord performed that miracle on the Sabbath Day, and because the Lord called God his Father, they began to persecute him. In fact, they tried to kill him.

So, he went from being a person of interest, to being a man with a target on his back. And since that was the case, John tells us in verse 1 of chapter 7 that he purposely avoided Judea.

And there’s a lesson for us to learn from the Lord’s example here. Our Lord didn’t go looking for trouble and he was willing to avoid it whenever possible. Augustine, perhaps the greatest of the Church Fathers, tells us that the Lord did this because the time would come when some Christians would hide from persecution and other Christians would blame them for doing so. And we can imagine that happening, can’t we? Christians often judge one another and criticise one another, even though the Lord commands us to love one another. But Christians will accuse their fellow believers: ‘Where’s your faith? Why aren’t you prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ? You shouldn’t have been so afraid.’

But such believers who hide from persecution can be consoled by the example of the Lord who purposely avoided persecution from his enemies. He did this to show us that it’s not a sin to hide from trouble. In fact, in Matthew 10, he said to his disciples that when they’re persecuted in one place, they should flee to another. And so, when there are people who want to harm us for what we believe, and it’s possible for us to avoid them, then we can do so without feeling guilty. What we must never do is deny the faith. And we must never be ashamed of our Lord. But if we can avoid suffering without denying the faith, then we should do so. And we have the example of the Lord to console us that this is right.

The right time

But let’s move on, because John tells us in verse 2 that the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. There were three important feasts in those days, which all of God’s people had to attend. There was the Passover, when every household would kill and eat a lamb to commemorate the night of the Exodus from Egypt. Then there was Pentecost, which marked the beginning of the harvest. And then there was the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. It lasted a whole week and for the whole week the people would live in little booths or huts, made of palm branches and the branches of other trees. And it was to be a joyful and happy occasion. And it served two main purposes. Firstly, it was a way to celebrate the end of the harvest. The harvest had been brought in and God had once again been good to them by providing them with food to eat. And so they wanted to celebrate and give thanks to him. And secondly, by living in the little booths for the week, it reminded the people of the time when their forefathers lived in tents in the wilderness for forty years on the way to the Promised Land. And so, it reminded them of how far they had come and how the Lord had been faithful to his promise to bring them into the Promised Land, where they were now living, and into a land where he would give them all that they needed.

That festival was drawing near. And the Lord’s brothers said to him that he ought to leave Galilee and go to Judea. These are the Lord’s half-brothers. So, the Lord Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. However, after the Lord’s birth, Mary and Joseph went on to have other children in the ordinary way. The names of their sons appear in Matthew 13: there’s James and Joseph and Simon and Judas. And they encouraged the Lord to go up to Jerusalem so that his disciples may see his miracles. They said to him that no-one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. And they also said: since you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world.

The Lord’s brothers are mocking him. We know they’re mocking him, because John tells us plainly in verse 5 that they did not believe in him. And perhaps they had heard what happened at the end of chapter 6, where we read that many of those who once followed the Lord turned back and no longer followed him. Perhaps the Lord’s brothers had heard this and they’re mocking him about it. They’re saying to him: ‘You used to have lots of disciples. Most have abandoned you. So, you’d better get up to Jerusalem and do what you can to win them back. And if you really want to make a name for yourself, stop hiding in the sticks and go up to the big city. Go up to Jerusalem and show yourself to the world!’ They’re mocking him. And they challenging him to prove himself to the world.

And the Lord answered his brothers in verse 6 by saying to them: ‘The right time for me has not yet come.’ And then he adds: ‘for you any time is right.’ So, for them, his brothers, any time was right. They can go up to Jerusalem for the feast any time they like. As soon as they’re ready to go, they can go. But the right time hasn’t yet come for him to go to Jerusalem. And he adds in verse 8 that for him the right time has not yet come. And so, having said this, he stayed in Galilee.

When will the right time come for him to go up to Jerusalem? It turns out that the right time for him to go is very soon. According to verse 10, he went up to Jerusalem shortly after his brothers went there. And according to verse 14 he went up to the temple courts half way through the feast. So, he didn’t have long to wait for the right time to come.

Now, all through John’s gospel, the Lord makes clear that he has been sent by his Father. And the Lord makes clear that he has been sent by his Father to do his Father’s will. He has come to do what the Father wants him to do. And that means doing things according to the Father’s schedule. Not only has the Father told him what to do, but the Father has told him when to do it. The whole of his life here on earth was determined by the Father’s will and schedule.

And so, according to the Father’s schedule, it wasn’t time for the Lord to go up to Jerusalem. And when the time came for him to go, it was the Father’s will for him to go secretly and not publicly. His brothers thought he should show himself to the world. But the Father’s will was for him to go secretly and not publicly. Furthermore, when he eventually revealed himself at the feast, it wasn’t to perform some mighty miracle to impress everyone. When he eventually revealed himself at the feast it was to teach the people. That’s what he begins to do in verse 14. And if you glance down to verse 37, you’ll see there that it says he also taught them on the last day of the feast.

So, his brothers were challenging him to go up to Jerusalem publicly and to perform mighty miracles to make a name for himself. But his Father in heaven had called him to do almost the exact opposite: to go secretly and not publicly and to teach the people instead of performing miracles.

And that’s what the Lord calls us to do. He doesn’t call us to perform mighty miracles or to put on a big show in order to win a following for Christ. He calls his church to preach his word and to teach people about eternal life through faith in his name. And the calling of the church is not to draw attention to ourselves by the things we do, but to point people to the Saviour.

The world (1)

But let’s now turn to verse 7, which is so important. The Lord said to his brothers that the world cannot hate them, but it hates him.

When people refuse to come to church, we think it’s our fault. We think there’s something wrong with the church. Church is too boring. Church is too stuffy. Church is too old-fashioned. We assume that people hate the church; and that’s why they won’t come. And when we think that, then we think the answer must be: let’s change the church and make it more appealing to those who think it’s boring. Let’s try to make church more exciting and interesting and then people will come. If people won’t come to church, let’s change the church.

But what does the Lord say? He says the world hates him. The world hates the Lord Jesus. And that’s why people will not come to church. It’s not because church is boring and it’s not because church is not exciting and it’s not because church is old-fashioned. They will not come, because they hate the Saviour.

And why do they hate the Saviour? Listen to what the Lord says in the rest of verse 7: ‘The world cannot hate you, but it hates me … because I testify that what it does is evil.’ The reason the world hates the Lord Jesus is because he makes us face the truth about ourselves. He makes us face the truth about ourselves that we’re sinners and that everything we do and think and say is spoiled by sin. And the world doesn’t like to face up to that.

Yvonne and I are watching The West Wing again. We’ve watched it several times now. And we’re at the end of the second series when the truth is beginning to come out about the president that he’s done something wrong. I won’t spoil it for you by saying what he’s done wrong. But he goes to speak to the White House lawyer. And the lawyer begins to ask him questions about what he did and what he knew and so on. And the president doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like being put on the spot and he gets angry with the lawyer. His wife is also implicated and she doesn’t like being questioned and she doesn’t like being put on the spot. But there’s nothing they can do, because it’s clear that they’re in the wrong. The truth about their actions is like a mountain that they can’t get around and they can’t hide it, because it’s there for everyone to see. It’s like a mountain they can’t avoid and it’s like a rock that will crush them.

And the Lord Jesus knows all about us and he knows all about what we’ve done wrong and he knows all the ways we have disobeyed God and done evil. He knows all about us. And he testifies that the world is evil. And like the President and his wife in The West Wing, we don’t like it.

And how does he testify that we’re evil? It’s by his coming into the world. The reason he came down from heaven and was made one of us was in order to be our Saviour. And why did we need a Saviour? We needed a Saviour because we’re sinners. We needed someone to save us from the path we’ve chosen for ourselves by rejecting God and his will for us. And it’s a path that leads to death and destruction.

And so, his coming into the world as the world’s Saviour testifies that the world is evil.

Someone objects: ‘Surely we’re not that bad?’ But the answer is: we’re so bad that only the death of the Son of God was sufficient to pay for our sins and shortcomings and to deliver us from the path of destruction. Someone objects: ‘I don’t really need a Saviour, because surely there’s something I can give to God to make up for my sins?’ But the answer is that there’s no good thing in us which we can offer to God to make up for what we have done wrong. There’s nothing we can offer to God. We need a Saviour.

And so, do you see? The very fact of the Saviour’s incarnation testifies that we’re sinners who need a Saviour. And because the Lord testifies that what we do is evil, the world hates him. The world hates him because we don’t like it when someone points out that we’re wrong.

And so, we shouldn’t be surprised if people will not listen to us when we want to tell them about the Lord Jesus. And we shouldn’t be surprised if people will not come to church to hear about the Saviour. But it’s not because the church is boring or dull or out-of-date. It’s because the world hates the Saviour. And the Saviour is all the church has to offer them. He is all that we can offer them. And they don’t want him. And that’s why they won’t come.

But, before we become too despondent, let’s remember what the Lord Jesus said in chapter 6. Back in verse 37 of chapter 6, he said: ‘All that the Father gives me will come to me.’ All of those, chosen by the Father from before the creation of the world, will come to the Lord Jesus. They will definitely come. And they will definitely come, because the Father enables them to come. He sends his Spirit to them to give them new life through the new birth so that they will pay attention to the good news and they’re able to turn from their sins in repentance and turn with faith to the Saviour. The Spirit gives them a new heart to replace their old, hard heart so that they’re able to love the Saviour and to come to him. And whoever comes to the Saviour and believes in him will be saved.

The world (2)

And what the Lord says about the world shows us just how corrupt we are by nature.

What would we think of a son who turned against his mother who bore him? What would we think of a daughter who rejected her father who brought her up? We’d think they were wicked, ungrateful children, because one of the most basic beliefs we have is that children should love and honour their parents, because their parents gave them their life and brought them up and made sacrifices for them and gave them everything they needed and so much more as they were growing up.

Now think about the world. Back in chapter 1, John taught us that all things were made through the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word of God. And John also told us in chapter 1 that in him was life. That is, in the Lord Jesus Christ was life. He has all life in himself, because he is God. And he has given us our life in this world. It’s because of him that we’re alive. And he sustains us day by day by providing us with every good thing we need and so much more. He provides for all of us.

A child owes its existence to his parents. But we all owe our existence to the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things came to be and who sustains us every day. And just as children should love and honour their parents, so we should love and honour the Lord Jesus Christ, who made us and who sustains us. We should love him and give thanks to him for the life he has given us. We should rejoice in his goodness and we should live our lives for his glory. Just as children should obey their parents to demonstrate their gratitude, so we should obey the Lord to demonstrate our gratitude to him.

But instead of loving him, we hate him. That’s what the Lord says here. The world has turned against its Maker. And it won’t be long before we read in John’s gospel how the world hated its Maker so much that they nailed him to the cross and killed him. That’s how corrupt we are by nature. That’s how far we have fallen. And instead of honouring our Maker, we have replaced him. That’s what we were thinking about this morning when we were studying Romans 1. Because we’re sinners, we suppress our knowledge of God. We push him out of our thoughts. We deny his existence. And we exchange him. We replace him with other gods. And so, instead of giving thanks to God for making us, we give thanks to other things instead.

And that’s the way we would all be and that’s the way we would remain if it were not for the overflowing goodness and love of God. The world hates the Lord Jesus, but God so loved the world that he gave the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our salvation so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The world hates the Lord Jesus. The world hates its Maker. The world tried to destroy its Maker when they crucified him. But God’s love for the world is super-abundant. Because of his super-abundant love, he has overcome our hatred and our enmity and our wilful rebellion and he has created peace between us through the death of his Son. And he sends his Spirit into our lives to transform our hatred into love, so that instead of hating the Saviour, we love him; and instead of running from him, we run to him.

The world hates its Maker, but God loves the world and he has done everything necessary to bring us together. And so, we should rejoice in God’s love for us and for his kindness to us in sending his Son to give up his life as the ransom to pay for our sins and shortcomings and to make peace between us. We should rejoice in his kindness and we should live our lives for Christ our Saviour who has given us our life in his world and who died to give us everlasting life.