The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
July, 1956
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Eighteen)

STRIFE BETWEEN JESUS AND THE JERUSALEM AUTHORITIES
Part One


Before the Feast of Tabernacles

As we have already seen, John does not give the straight narrative of the life of our Lord. On the contrary, he presents certain messages that Jesus delivered at Jerusalem and some discussions that He had there. For instance, in John 2:13 ff., we see the visit of Jesus to Jerusalem and what He accomplished there when He attended the first passover of His ministry. In chapter 5 we have a record of His healing a cripple man and of the discussion that followed therefrom. This passover was probably the second one during His ministry. In chapter 6 is the record of His feeding five thousand men besides women and children in Galilee, at the time of the third passover during His personal ministry. As all know, the passover festival takes place in the spring, around our Easter. In John, chapter 7, we have an account of Christ's attending the feast of tabernacles in the fall, about six months after the passover mentioned in John, chapter 6. Except for the mention of this feast of the tabernacles, we have a gap of a year and a half probably between chapters 5, and 7. During this period, Jesus was engaged in His great Galilean ministry. The record of John supplements the accounts that are in the synoptic gospels.

The Feast of Tabernacles

In Leviticus, chapter 23, Numbers, chapters 28 and 29, and Deuteronomy, chapter 16, we have accounts of the principal feasts of the Jewish religious year. A glance at these chapters shows that the feast of the passover began this religious calendar and the feast of tabernacles closed it. At three of these annual festivals every Jewish man of age was required to attend the ceremonies at Jerusalem. Thus there were three yearly pilgrimages made by the pious, devout Jews to the Holy City. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, was observed on the 10th day of the seventh month. On the 15th day the feast of tabernacles was observed and ran for eight days.

At the feast of tabernacles the pious Israelites dwelt in tabernacles, or tents. This festal occasion was to commemorate their wanderings and dwelling in tents in the wilderness on their trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. During this time God provided everything that was necessary. The Lord led Israel through the wilderness to teach the lesson that man lives not by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This feast of tabernacles was also celebrated to commemorate the bountiful harvest that the Lord had given Israel when He was faithful in His services. This feast was sometimes called the feast of ingatherings.

A Suggestion by the Brothers of Jesus to the Lord

As we learned in John, chapter 3, our Lord devoted approximately six months of the first full year of His ministry to the great Judean ministry. Jesus continued laboring in and around Jerusalem as He sought to present the truth of God to the Jewish people. Opposition arose and soon grew into bitter hostility. Finally, the situation became so very tense that Jesus had to leave Judaea and go to Galilee. There He labored for practically eighteen months. The opposition that had been aroused in Judaea was transferred to Galilee and grew until it was utterly impossible for Him to accomplish very much there. He, therefore, retired four times from the Holy Land, going into adjacent territory where He continued His ministry.

The introductory words of chapter 7 are "And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judaea, because the Jews sought to kill him." The phrase "after these things" possibly goes back to chapter 5, which gives the account of the opposition that arose at the second passover during His ministry. Though Jesus would not give any more time to the Judaean territory, because the authorities were seeking to kill Him, doubtless He was in close touch with the situation there.

The time for the observance of the feast of tabernacles—six months before the last passover in Christ's life—was at hand. The brothers of Jesus suggested to Him that He should leave Galilee and go up to Jerusalem. They, therefore, said: "Depart hence, go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world" (7:3,4).

These brothers who made this suggestion to Jesus were, of course, His half-brothers. How many of them joined in making this suggestion, we cannot say. Probably James and Jude had no part in it. On this point, however, we cannot be dogmatic. They thought that Jesus was seeking publicity; but, for some reason or other, He would not avail Himself of the opportunity. They boldly suggested, therefore, that He go in an open and spectacular manner to Jerusalem and perform various miracles, in order to attract the attention of the nation—like a victorious monarch marching into a conquered territory.

It is quite evident that they misunderstood Him altogether. It is also highly probable that they were jealous of Him and viewed His claims and His actions with suspicion. A man is not without honor save in his own country—and also in his own household.

When Jesus did go to Jerusalem at the passover at which He was crucified, the people wanted Him to make as great a demonstration as was possible. Probably these brothers wanted Him to enter the city in such a manner and perform one spectacular miracle after another which, in an overwhelmingly convincing manner, would demonstrate to the world that He was God. Such were the thoughts of men, but God's thoughts and ways are as much higher than those of men as the heavens are higher than the earth.

"For even his brethren did not believe on him." This strange unbelief on their part is most baffling to us. Jesus had performed many miracles, yet they did not believe. His life was beyond reproach; His teaching, the highest and most exalted; yet they did not believe in Him as the Messiah and as the Son of God. They were not willing to take a stand with Him and for Him. They, therefore, bluntly said to Him that "no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly." They were judging Him by themselves.

One would think that His brothers, being closest to Him in everyday life, would recognize His deity, especially since they had seen the mighty works which He performed. But miracles do not sustain faith. They simply call attention to the one who has the miraculous power and who is performing the signs. This fact is seen in the case of the Israelites. Moses appeared before the elders of Israel in Egypt and wrought various signs by the power of God. He appeared before Pharaoh and did likewise. He delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage in a most marvelous and spectacular manner. God sustained them, meeting all their needs throughout the forty years of wilderness wanderings. Nevertheless, they did not believe. Thus the Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?" (Num. 14:11). Many people today think that they would believe and that they would act differently if the Lord Jesus and the apostles were upon earth today, working the same signs and wonders that they did nineteen hundred years ago. But the people would not believe. By repetition the miraculous and extraordinary becomes, in the thinking of the masses, the ordinary, usual, normal thing. Upon these principles we can see how it was that the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him. Doubtless their jealousy of Him, because of His superior life, actions and thoughts, likewise blinded them more or less to His divine nature and powers.

"My Time is Not Yet Come"

Jesus told His brothers to go up to the feast, but that He was not going because His time was not yet. God has a purpose which began in eternity of the past, runs, through time, and continues throughout eternity of the ages of the ages. His kingdom is over all and controls all things (Ps.103:19-22). In this kingdom there are innumerable created beings who were given the power of free choice and action. God never infringes upon the personal rights of His creatures. He uses persuasion, power, and influence to direct their actions; but He stops short of forcing their wills. The plan of God for the ages might be illustrated by a blueprint for the construction of some article, machine, building, or project. Allowances are made for every detail. A building, for instance, will be erected according to the plans and specifications of the blueprint. God is building throughout eternity a great edifice of activity on the part of His creatures. Though they all exercise the freedom of choice, the sum total of their actions throughout eternity will contribute to the advancement of His cause—to the erection of this great edifice of activity. What is true of the universe in general is also correct with reference to the individual.

At the wedding in Cana of Galilee which Jesus and His mother attended, she called His attention to the fact that there was no more wine. The inference was that He should provide more for the occasion. Knowing His miraculous conception and virgin birth, she had absolute faith in Him and knew that He could do anything. Hence, she was wanting Him to show His creative power. Aware of her thoughts, He said, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:4). He knew that at some specific time He would have to manifest His miracle-working power, but He said that His hour had not yet come to do so. In the passage which we are studying, Jesus twice called attention to the fact that His time had not yet come (vv. 6,8). A little later His enemies wanted to arrest Him, but John says, "… no man took him; because his hour was not yet come" (John 8:20). Again, John informs us that His enemies sought to take Him, "but he went forth out of their hand" (John 10:39). He escaped because the time was not ripe for them to seize Him. At the last supper, we are told, Jesus "knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father … having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). There was, therefore, a time set by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God for Him to lay down His life for the sins of the world, and to take it up. There is, also, a definite time in the future for Him to return and take the world situation in hand (Ps. 75:2).

Our times are in the Lord's hands. Man, so we are told by the poet, is immortal until his work is done. Our days were all numbered, "when as yet there were none of them" (Ps. 139:16).

Jesus' Urging His Brothers to go to the Feast

Knowing that His enemies hated Him with a venom and would try to do some bodily violence to Him if He went to the feast, Jesus told His brothers that "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up unto this feast; because my time is not yet fulfilled." The implication of His words is that, since His brothers assumed the same attitude regarding His messiahship which His enemies took, the enemies would not hate them; but He knew that these enemies hated Him, because He condemned them and because His plans were not in harmony with theirs.

Jesus Going Up to the Feast

"But when his brethren were gone up unto the feast, then went he also up, but as it were in secret." Is there a contradiction between His first statement to His brothers that He was not going up to the feast and the statement that later He did go up to the feast, not publicly but in secret? No, there is not. These two statements have been the occasion of much wrangling and controversy. Since, after saying that He was not going up, He did go (and we are told that He did not go publicly, but privately), there must be a harmony between the two statements. We remember that His brothers wanted Him to go up in a public, spectacular manner with great fanfare. When He said no, that He was not going, He was denying that He would go up with them or in any such manner as they had suggested; then, when the time came for Him to go, He went quietly and secretly—in a manner entirely different from what they had suggested. There is, therefore, perfect harmony between the two statements.

Various Opinions of the Multitude Concerning Jesus

When the feast began, the multitudes were very much concerned about His coming to the feast. Whether or not He would come was the general topic of the masses. The multitudes knew that the Jerusalem authorities were hostile and that they in all probability would do some violence to Him if He came. Some declared that He was a good man; others said not so. Others thought that He was leading the multitude astray. Nevertheless, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the rulers. The situation was becoming more tense every moment.