The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
July, 1955
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Six)

THE JEWISH PASSOVER

In our examination of the Gospel according to John we have come to the consideration of chapter 2:11-25.

When Jesus left home, went and identified Himself with the back-to-God movement conducted by John, He returned several months later to Galilee. Probably six months intervened between His leaving home and His return to His home town, Nazareth. Last month we saw that He attended a marriage at Cana of Galilee, which is only about four miles northeast of Nazareth. He in all probability went back to His home, but soon left and changed His headquarters to Capernaum on the northwest shore of the sea of Galilee. This fact is set forth in John 2:12. He stayed here only a short while, according to this verse, and then went to Jerusalem to attend the feast of Passover.

First Jewish Passover in the Ministry of Our Lord

According to John 2:13, "the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." Since John was writing to Gentile unbelievers in general who, in all probability, knew nothing of the Jewish festivals, John explained to them that the Passover, which Jesus attended at Jerusalem, was a feast of the Jews. This was the first Passover in our Lord's ministry. While there is some discussion concerning this matter, there is general unanimity of opinion among conservative scholars that the ministry of our Lord continued for three and a fraction years. This calculation is based upon the fact that the feast mentioned in John 5:1, which is designated "a feast of the Jews," was a Passover. If this interpretation is correct, that feast was one year after the feast which we are studying. The third Passover in our Lord's ministry is mentioned in John 6:4. The fourth one is given in John 12:1. The Passover which we are studying was then three years before the one at which He was crucified.

In order for us to understand the Passover, we must study carefully chapters 12 and 13 of the Book of Exodus. When Israel left the land of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, the death angel passed over the house of Egypt destroying the first-born of every family where the blood of the Passover lamb was not sprinkled upon the door-post and the lintel. Since blood was sprinkled upon the houses of Hebrews, and Hebrews alone, therefore their firstborn were protected, but the firstborn of all the families of Egypt were slain by the death angel that night.

Israel was commanded to attend at least three annual feasts at Jerusalem, where God placed His name, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Ingatherings.

The pascal lamb was typical of Christ, our Passover. This is made plain by the apostle Paul in the first Corinthian letter.

"6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even, Christ: 8 Wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (I Cor. 5:6-8).

The Cleansing of the Temple

In John 2:14-17 we have the record of our Lord's cleansing the temple when He went to Jerusalem at this first Passover of His ministry. What is meant by cleansing of the temple? The following verses will reveal that fact.

"14 And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables; 16 and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house shall eat me up" (John 2:14-17).

Why were oxen, sheep, doves, and other animals and fowls sold in the temple? Had that sacred structure become a public mart? Why were there money changers carrying on business in a commercial manner? Comparatively speaking, very few Jews lived in Jerusalem. The people who lived at a distance or in foreign lands, and who attended the feasts, would sell their goods and upon arrival in Jerusalem would purchase the animals which they intended to sacrifice to the Lord. Moreover they had the currency of the countries in which they lived. They, therefore, had to change their money into Palestinian coinage in order to transact business. Thus from the standpoint of convenience there developed a trade in animal and in money-changing in connection with the temple services.

Unfortunately many of those who engaged in this type of work became commercial and drove hard bargains and were, as Jesus said, a bunch of thieves. He, therefore, made a whip of cords and drove out the cattle, sheep and goats and turned over the table of the money-changers. When His disciples saw Him doing this, they remembered what was written in the Psalm "Zeal for thine house shall eat me up."

When Jesus went to Jerusalem at the last Passover, as found in Matthew 21:12, 13 and parallel passages, He again drove out the money-changers and the men selling animals and overturned their tables of money. Critics find fault with this and say that there was but one occasion of this kind. They accuse John, therefore, of putting this cleansing of the temple at the beginning of the ministry of Christ instead of placing it at the last. Could there not be two cleansings? That is what John and the other evangelists tell us. We must therefore accept what they say. They knew the facts, whereas the modern rationalistic critics do not. It is easy to criticize when one does not know the facts.

A Sign Demanded of Jesus by the Jews

The Greeks, according to Paul, sought for wisdom, but the Jews always sought signs: "Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom" (I Cor. 1:22). When the Jews demanded that Jesus perform for them some miracle as a sign to prove that He was divinely commissioned, He replied, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John tells us that Jesus meant by this language to refer to the destruction of His body and His being raised from the dead. When He was raised from the dead, the disciples understood what He meant, but His enemies did not. To blind unbelief, truth and facts are never apparent. When Jesus was on trial before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, false witnesses were brought who testified, "This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." These false witnesses twisted what Jesus said. It is quite evident from John's comment that Jesus made it clear that He was talking about His body, but these enemies of Christ, who perverted what He said, made it apply to the literal temple, which thing was farthest from Jesus' mind.

On another occasion when our Lord was in Galilee, He cast an evil spirit out of a demonized man. Thus He performed a miracle before them which was sufficient to convince any honest conscientious person of the fact that He was what He claimed to be, the Jewish Messiah. Nevertheless they came and insisted that He should show them a sign. In reply He said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:39,40). It is clear that Jesus was speaking of his resurrection. On different occasions He spoke of His raising after three days, but more frequently He said that He would rise on the third day. When all the accounts are examined in the light of each context, it is seen that Jesus was crucified on Friday, lay in the tomb Saturday, and arose on the first day of the week. Carefully study Luke 23:50-24:3.

"50 And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a councillor, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their counsel and deed), a man of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was looking for the kingdom of God: 52 this man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was hewn in stone, where never man had yet lain. 54 And it was the day of the Preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 55 And the women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and beheld the tomb, and how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

And on the sabbath day they rested according to the commandment. 1 But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus" (Luke 23:50-24:3).

The resurrection of Christ as set forth in John 20:1-10 is the fulfilment of the promise that Jesus would rise on the third day.

"Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; 5 and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. 6 Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again unto their own home" (John 20:1-10).

Great Numbers in Jerusalem Believed on Christ

"23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did. 24 But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men, 25 and because he needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in men" (John 2:23-25).

Jesus engaged in a great teaching ministry when He was in Jerusalem on this occasion. He also performed certain signs to convince the people of His divine nature and mission. Many therefore believed on Him, but He would not place Himself in the power of anyone because He knew what was in man. He knew the Scriptures and the rottenness of the human heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? (Jer. 17:9). He therefore would not trust Himself to any of the people of that day and time.

The heart needs to be regenerated. A person must be saved; otherwise every imaginable sin is lying dormant in his heart. The necessity of the new birth is therefore imperative.