Timing, Teaching, & Believing

Divine Timing

John 7:2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
John 7:6 Then Jesus said unto them, “My time is not yet  come, but your time is always ready.”

Too often we operate our lives on our own time table  and pay no attention to God’s. Jesus’ family wanted Him  to go with them, and He said it was not yet time.  Timing in the Gospel of John is strategic.

Jesus Goes to the Feast in God’s Time

John 7:10  But when His brethren had gone up, then He also went up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

Jesus Goes to the Temple To Teach

John 7:14  Now about the midst of the feast,  Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

Jesus chose to go to the temple courts and teach. Other rabbis taught their followers there as well; it was common.

From Jesus’ teaching at the feast we see five reasons they should believe His prior claims of Messiah:

Jesus Displays The Divine Source  of His Teaching

There were lots of rabbis teaching, not just at the feast time,  but on a general daily basis. In order to give authority to what they said, they quoted prior rabbis to validate themselves.

Jesus said His authority came from God,  not other Rabbis, and the people noticed it.

John 7:15  And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does He  know these things having never been taught?”
Matthew 7:29  For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Christ’s teaching was beyond anything any of them had  ever heard. It was a level of wisdom, a level of  knowledge, a level of understanding without equal.

Jesus’ Desire Was To Do God’s Will

John 7:17 If any man will do His will, he shall know the truth whether it be from God, or whether I speak from Myself.

This means that the truth is self-authenticating and finite.  Fallen human beings cannot set themselves up  on some sure ground outside the truth, and so gain  the vantage from which they may assess it.  You first obey it, then you begin to understand it.   You learn best by doing, All aspects of life are that way.

Jesus Does Not Seek Glory  But Defers It To God

John 7:18 He that speaks from himself seeks his own glory;  but He that seeks the glory of Him that sent Him,  the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

False teachers, charlatans, frauds, and fakes are all in it for personal gain. They seek glory from one another, and they are more  interested in the praise of men than the praise of God.

People want to hear from a person who  knows God and has seen Him recently.

They don’t want to listen to his press agent.

Jesus Declares Man’s Sinfulness

John 7:19  Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none  of you keeps the law? Why go ye about to kill Me?

Fully aware of the desire of authorities to kill him, their  vicious hatred of Him is mentioned in 7:1. Christ uses that as a starting point to pronounce judgment and a sentence upon them. It is the most comprehensive, accurate  statement of truth regarding human sinfulness.

Jesus’ Deeds Are Godly and Righteous

John 7:23  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath  so that the law of Moses would not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath?

They had broken the Sabbath rule by honoring a Mosaic Law, when they had to exercise a rite on the Sabbath.  They had felt it was okay, if necessary, to “set the Sabbath  aside” for something more important, something better. They could choose to do it,  but Jesus was  called a law breaker when He did it.

Jesus Said My Values Are Straight I Operate From God’s Point of View

John 7:24  Do not judge according to outward appearance,  but judge according to righteous judgment!

It’s amazing how much we do  this very type of thing today.  We yell save the whales, but abort babies.  We teach witchcraft and gender choice in school,  but children cannot pray there. We jail Christians and let killers out of prison.   It appears our judgment is by appearance, and skewed.

This message from Jesus is for everyone:  There’s no middle ground. You either embrace Jesus’ claim as Savior, to be your Lord, or you don’t. 
 
We make a specific choice to believe His claims. We will either follow Him or we will not. Choose to believe, love, know, and follow Him.