The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
August, 1956
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Nineteen)

STRIFE BETWEEN JESUS AND THE JERUSALEM AUTHORITIES
Part Two

During The Feast of Tabernacles

In our last study we saw that Jesus went to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, six months before His crucifixion. The Feast of Tabernacles always came in the fall, around the latter part of September or the first of October. The brothers of Jesus wanted Him to go in a spectacular manner and demonstrate to the world His supernatural power. He did not choose to act thus but went in secret, because He knew the plan and purpose of God and because His hour had not yet come. In this setting we shall investigate John 7:14:36.

Jesus went to Jerusalem in the middle of the Feast

In John 7:14 we read, "But when it was now the midst of the Feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught." Had conditions been favorable, Jesus probably would have attended every one of the feasts that occurred during His lifetime, because it was incumbent upon every Jew to carry out the will of God as expressed in the Law. But, we are correctly told, circumstances alter cases. God frequently desires mercy and not sacrifice. Whenever there is a clash between things that are commanded, the entire situation must be taken into consideration, and one must act accordingly. God does not demand the impossible.

The Source of Jesus's Teaching

When Jesus arrived at Jerusalem during the Feast, He began to teach and continued doing so. This thought is expressed by the verb taught appearing in 7:14. Each of the Gospels emphasizes the fact that Jesus taught everywhere He went. We are continually told that He taught and, also, that He preached and engaged in a healing ministry, relieving the suffering of those to whom He ministered spiritually.

The masses of the people in Jerusalem knew that there was hostility on the part of the leaders of the people against Jesus. On this occasion when they saw Him constantly teaching, they were amazed; they could not understand the situation; they marveled, saying "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? (v. 15)."

They knew enough about Him, or could surmise sufficiently, to say that He had never learned letters. The word here rendered letters appears in Galatians 6:11 and refers to the ABC's or the alphabet. But in Acts 28:21 the same word refers to a regular communication, such as we receive by mail. Arriving in Rome, Paul called together the leading Jews of the city. He told them his story concerning his condition and about his being a Christian. These Jews said that they had not received any letters from the brethren in Jerusalem. In John 5:47, however, this same word refers to the Law of Moses. In the famous passage on inspiration, II Timothy 3:16,17, it refers to the Scriptures, the Old Testament; and in Acts 26:24 it refers to learning. Festus said to Paul, "Thy much learning is making thee mad [rendering you insane]."

There were two religious schools in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus. One was bounded by Hillel, the other by Shammai. Jesus attended neither of these. Thus He did not receive a formal education.

In reply to the multitudes concerning how it was that He knew letters, Jesus said, "My teaching is not mine, but is of him who sent me." He spoke of Himself as a man and said that the teaching was not of Himself, but of the One who had sent Him, namely, of God the Father. According to the predictions found in Isaiah 50:4-9, the Lord Jesus would arise early every morning and would go out to some secret place and have communion and fellowship with God. He was thus taught of God daily how He should act and what He should say and do on all occasions. Thus He, the man Christ Jesus, had the very best teaching in the universe, that of the omnipotent God.

Jesus, continuing His reply, assured His audience that they could know positively whether or not the message that He was delivering was His own private teaching or was from God. "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself" (John 7:17). Understanding the origin of the message of Jesus is not conditioned upon a great education, culture, refinement, and experience, but upon an insatiable desire to do the will of God at all cost. God will lead to the truth every earnest, sincere heart that is seeking to do His will. The determining factor in every instance is whether or not a person has set his heart to do the will of God as given in the Scriptures. To everyone thus determined the Lord God Almighty will reveal the truth regarding the divine origin of the teaching of Jesus, and of all the rest of the Scriptures.

Moreover, Jesus revealed to His audience how they could tell whether or not a man was a true servant of God. The one who is a true servant and messenger of God will not seek his own glory, but will seek to glorify and honor God. With the lips one can say that he is acting for the glory of God, but his attitude and actions may belie his words. True sincere characters can detect insincerity, hypocrisy, and deceit in any teacher.

As we tune our radios to a certain station to hear a given program, thus we tune our souls to hear the voice of God in the message of the Word. Figuratively speaking, we turn the dial of our own receiver to the point where we will do and are determined, God being our helper, to do the will of God. Then we can hear, clearly and distinctly, the divine message in the Word.

The Jews do not keep the Law

At this point Jesus charged the Jews, his enemies, by asking them a question: "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you doeth the law?" He was, of course, speaking primarily to His enemies who had already plotted His destruction. Knowing what was in their hearts, He said that they were not keeping the law. To have murder and hatred in the heart, though they may not express themselves in the overt act of murder, is to violate the law of Moses. In order to lead them to see His point, He asked them the further question, "Why seek ye to kill me?" If they had been keeping the law of Moses, they would not have sought to kill Him.

The multitudes then dodged the issue by asserting, "Thou hast a demon; who seeketh to kill thee?" It is not absolutely possible for us to understand fully why the Jews said that Jesus had a demon when He charged them with seeking to kill Him. The implication of their assertion may be that the demons revealed to Him their plot to kill Him, or that He was misled by demonic influences. A study of Biblical demonology shows that the demons can and do reveal certain things to those who yield their lives and spirits to them; but, of course, they are limited in their knowledge and in their activities.


When the enemies of Jesus asked, "Who seeketh to kill thee?" He replied, "I did one work, and ye all marveled because thereof." The work to which He referred in this statement was the healing of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem eighteen months prior to this time, as we see in John 5. Because Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath day, the Jewish authorities attempted to kill Him (John 5:18).


When Jesus restored this crippled man to perfect soundness, the multitudes who learned of the healing were literally amazed and continued to wonder about such a miraculous cure.

At this point Jesus was more specific and showed His enemies, who were condemning Him for violating the Sabbath law, how they themselves and others were at the same time violating it. Being great sticklers for the law, they were very punctilious in the observance of the Sabbath, and yet they violated it in circumcising a child on the Sabbath. Jesus therefore confronted His opponents with this question, which they could not answer: "If a man receiveth circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath? (v. 23)." In their own estimation it was all right for them to break the Sabbath law in order to keep the one concerning circumcising a baby on the eighth day. In their thinking it was all right, because they were doing it; but, when Jesus made a crippled man completely well on the Sabbath, they felt He was doing wrong.

Jesus then urged them: "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement" (v. 24). This exhortation is needed greatly. Let us be righteous and just to all. Before we pass judgment upon anyone, let us, by all means, be consistent in our thinking as well as in our actions.

The True Origin of Jesus

We have already seen the origin of the teaching of Jesus, namely, that He received it daily from His father. He tells us in this section, verses 25-30, of His own origin. Jesus was continuing His teaching. Some of the people in Jerusalem said, "Is not this He whom they seek to kill?" In fact, it was common knowledge that the authorities were seeking to kill Jesus. Notwithstanding this plot, the multitude said: "And lo He speaketh openly, and they say nothing to Him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ?" The authorities would have seized Him and killed Him if they had dared to do so; but the masses of the people who knew the plot and who saw that the rulers were not putting it into execution wondered whether or not they had changed their minds concerning who Jesus was. It seems that the growing opinion was that He was the Messiah. Some, however, said, "Howbeit we know this man whence he is; but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is" (v. 27). It was general knowledge that Jesus lived in Nazareth and was called a Nazarene. It is quite likely that the people knew something about His personal history, since He was under the spotlight of public gaze at this time. Hence they said, "We know whence this man is and whence he came, but we do not know about the Messiah."

Jesus cried out in the temple as He was teaching: "Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know not" (v. 28). Their knowledge concerning Him was limited to a few facts concerning His being a resident of Nazareth and His being called the carpenter's son. At this point, however, Jesus reminded them again that He was sent by One whom they did not know, that is, by God himself. The Lord Jesus spoke about His coming to this earth: "Think not that I came to destroy the law and the prophets. …" No man speaks of his birth as "a coming," but Jesus thus spoke of His coming. What He meant by that term was His entering the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. In this way He came from heaven to earth.

Jesus was sent by Him, the Father, whom the Jews did not know; but, declared Jesus, "I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me" (v. 29). It is true, according to Psalm 40:6 ff., that Jesus volunteered to come to earth by laying aside His glory and by entering it by miraculous conception and virgin birth. Yet it is also true that the Father sent Him. Hence He repeatedly spoke of the One who sent Him.

As on the occasion recorded in John, chapter 5, when Jesus began to speak of His being on equality with God or of being sent by God, the authorities became enraged and sought to lay hands on Him; but they could not because "His hour was not yet come."

The Approaching Departure of Jesus

As Jesus continued His teaching, more of the multitudes believed on Him: "But of the multitude many believed on Him; and they said, When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done?" (v. 31). The form of the verb rendered "believed" indicates that they came to believe on Him. The tide of popular favor was beginning to rise higher and higher. Their question, in verse 31, "When the Christ shall come, will He do more signs than those which this man has done?" implies that they were about convinced that Jesus was the Messiah.

When the Pharisees heard that the multitudes were murmuring these things concerning Jesus, the chief priest and the Pharisees sent officers, temple troops, to take Him. When they appeared, Jesus said "33 yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto Him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am ye cannot come." The clouds of diabolical wickedness were gathering thick and fast, as was manifest by this official attempt to arrest Him; but, of course, they could not take Him because His hour was not yet come.

The Jews were grabbing at every utterance that He made and were trying to capitalize on it whenever they could. Thus they pondered what He meant by saying, "Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me." Some of them believed that He was going to leave Palestine and would move out into the dispersion of Grecian Jews and teach them—and also possibly Greeks themselves. They also considered carefully His statement "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; where I am, ye cannot come." He was, of course, talking about their being able to kill Him when His hour had come, at which time He would go to the Father. They would at some time seek Him, but would not be able to find him; they would seek Him when it was too late. Many a man seeks God after it is too late; by repeated deliberate rejection of God, he has wrecked his spiritual nature. In this way one can sin away his day of grace. Let us never sin against light and truth.