John 8:12-30, Jesus: The Light of the World (1)

We believe that this declaration by Christ indicates it was still the “last day, that great day of the feast” (7:37).  That would mean the story of the woman caught in adultery was not part of the original text.

One reason for believing this has to do with Jesus’ words in 8:12. Each evening during Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) four large lamps in the Court of the Women were lit to illuminate the temple area.  It is believed they reminded Israel of how God led them in the wilderness at night, with the light of His glory.  These lights would not have been burning when Jesus said, I am the light of the world, but He could have been in that area and used the lamps to illustrate His point.  Remember that Sukkot was the main feast of Israel that was open to Gentiles.  The Messiah, according to the OT, was not only a light for Israel but was also “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Isa. 49:5-6; Luke 2:32).  Jesus announced that those who follow Him would “have the light of life.”  This is what we need: a light for our pathway in life that truly shows the way.  Jesus claimed to be that Light!

What follows from this are three “give-and-takes” with the Pharisees.

·       8:13-18: “I stand with the Father.”  The leaders refused to accept Jesus’ claim because there was no corroborating witness.  But Jesus says that His Father was with Him.  He had addressed this issue previously (John 5:37-38).  But they were not listening because they were not willing to know the truth (Jn. 7:16-17).

·       8:19-20: “If you knew Me, you would have known My Father also.”  In these words Jesus was claiming Oneness with the Father.  This theme will carry us through to the end of John 8, when they tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy.  For now, John just says Jesus was not arrested because His hour had not yet come.

·       8:21-30: “I am the One I claim to be.”  Jesus did not back down from His strong words.  First, in v21-23, He explained why the Pharisees did not see eye-to-eye with Him: You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  This is why He told them they would die in their sins.  Forgiveness is only found through faith in Christ.  As Messiah, He is the Savior that God has sent into the world.  The bottom line is that these men who were questioning and denying Jesus would not really know who He was until they “lift up the Son of Man,” referring to His crucifixion (John 3:14-15; 12:32). 

What do you think of Jesus as He engages the Jewish leaders?  Many in the crowd believed in Him that day.  But the leaders were so opposed to Jesus that they would not be able to bow before Him in faith, not until they succeeded in putting Him to death.  Are you evaluating Jesus with “righteous judgment?”  Are you hearing His claims?  He has made it clear that there is no salvation, no right standing with God, apart from Him.  Is your heart open to Him?

John 7:53-8:11, A Woman Caught in Adultery

Depending on your English translation, today’s passage might be in brackets with a note that the story is not in the most ancient manuscripts.  Here are a few thoughts on the reliability of this passage.

o   The oldest manuscripts do not contain it.  The later and greater number of manuscripts do contain it.  The oldest Latin translations do not contain it.

o   2^nd century commentators did not comment on it, although Papias, a disciple of John in the early 2^nd century, did expound on it.

o   Some believe the story fits well in the context, although I personally do not.  As we will note in the next post, John 8:12 seems to be a continuation of 7:52. 

o   Christ as well as the leaders are “in character.” 

o   Augustine claimed it was removed by certain individuals for fear that women would use it as an excuse for their adultery.

We will deal with it as Scripture, but because of the uncertainties will not base doctrine solely on these verses.  We will verify all teaching with the rest of Scripture, which is a solid practice with any passage.

Concerning the woman (v3-5), one question is whether she was unmarried or married?  The Law of Moses prescribed stoning as the form of execution for an unmarried woman in this situation.  But the term for “adultery” applies to a married woman.  Ezek. 23:43,44,47 indicates stoning had become the form of execution for married adulteresses.

The problem for Jesus was simple.  If He said “stone her” they would accuse Him of hypocrisy because He spent time in His ministry with “publicans and sinners” (Mark 2:6).  If He said “let her go” they would accuse Him of disregarding the Law of Moses.  What Jesus did say, as always, was to reveal the hearts of those who accused the woman, as well as to draw attention to the forgiveness He came to provide through the cross.

Jesus said two things.  First, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.  What He wrote in the dirt seemed to disarm her accusers; they could do nothing but walk away.  There are various thoughts about what Jesus wrote: perhaps the names and sins of those in the group, or a word of warning, or (the one I like) He wrote the Ten Commandments (God wrote these on Mt. Sinai, Ex. 31:18).  But since we are not told, the answer to that question is irrelevant.  What matters is that her accusers were shamed, having no standing to accuse her.

Second, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.  Jesus gave to her a fresh start.  He revealed the true nature of the God of Israel, Who is merciful and gracious but who does not clear the guilty.  Christ came to bear our guilt and to enable sinners to walk in newness of life.

John 7:37-52, Are You Thirsty?

Jesus offered living water to all who believe in Him, by which He was speaking of the Holy Spirit.  What is interesting is that “many from the crowd” wondered if He was “the Prophet,” referring to one of the titles of the Messiah (from Deut. 18:15).  Others wondered if He was “the Christ” (the Greek term for Messiah).  In other words, they understood what Jesus was talking about with the “living water.”  The promise of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the people of Israel was to be fulfilled when Messiah arrived.  The OT prophets predicted this.

²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek. 36:25-27; cf. also Ezek. 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:28; Zech. 12:10)

·       7:41-42: “Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”

Jesus had made a clear claim to be the Christ, the Messiah.  Many were positive about that idea.  And yet, there was still resistance or “unbelief.”  It presented itself in the form of the confusion over where He was from.  Jesus, of course, grew up in Nazareth and was headquartered in Capernaum, all in the Galilee.  Furthermore, several of the Twelve were from the Galilee.  James, John, Peter and Andrew were fishermen from Bethsaida.  Matthew was a tax collector in Capernaum.  Thomas and Nathaniel were from Cana of Galilee.  You may wonder why Jesus did not argue the point and tell them the story of His birth.  But it is actually possible this was known, and yet, He was still considered Galilean by the leadership.

The problem is that the leadership had something else at stake, other than the facts of Jesus’ birth.  Their position of power and prosperity was at stake.  You see this in the response of the Pharisees when the officers returned without arresting Jesus.  The officers were impressed by Jesus’ words.  The Pharisees respond with:

o   a charge that the officers were deceived.

o   the claim that none of the rulers (Sanhedrin) had believed in Him.

o   a charge that the crowd was accursed.

When one of the rulers, Nicodemus, raised a legal question, they justified their illegal treatment of Jesus by the “Galilee” charge.  Nicodemus was the one who came to Jesus privately (John 3:1-2) and who would eventually believe in Jesus (Jn. 19:39).  Nicodemus was judging with “righteous judgment” (Jn. 7:24).  Are we doing the same as we consider the Bible’s account of Jesus’ ministry?

John 7:25-39, Jesus Promises Living Water

It may be that the Jews were questioning Jesus’ claim to be “from God” (7:16-18).  That is how Jesus responded in v28-29.  This came from “some of them from Jerusalem” (v25).  They had seen Him and had exchanges with Him (including the disagreement surrounding the healing of the man by the pool of Bethesda) that Jews from the dispersion didn’t have.  Jesus challenged them, that they had heard His claims and knew exactly what He was saying, that He was the Christ, the Son of God, the One God promised to send in Gen. 3:15 and throughout the OT.  That would explain why, finally, there was an attempt to arrest Him(v30).  For whatever reason the authorities were hindered, the bottom line was that it was not “His hour” to die for sin. That would not happen at Tabernacles but at Passover in the Spring.

·       7:31-32: question #4, “When Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”  Many people were beginning to have a positive attitude toward Jesus, even to believe in Him.  So, the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to arrest Jesus. 

Jesus’ response was to say something that showed He knew where this story was going.   He would die for the sins of the world, and then return to God, the One who sent Him.  Jesus would repeat these same words to the Twelve in the Upper Room on the night of His betrayal and arrest (Jn. 13:33). 

·       7:35: question #5, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?” 

Again, there was confusion among the people.  They thought maybe He was going to go to the Dispersion, to the Jews scattered around the Roman Empire.  But that is not what Jesus was saying.  He was going to return to the Father who sent Him.  This leads to Jesus’ amazing words in 7:37-39.

It was the last day of the week-long Feast of Tabernacles.  The first and last days were special holy days (Lev. 23:35-36).  The Jews had a ritual on each day of the feast.  One of the priests would take a golden pitcher and descend from the temple mount to the Pool of Siloam, a pool noted for its refreshing water, because it was filled from the great Gihon Spring, the primary water source for Jerusalem.  The priest would fill the pitcher and bring the water to the Temple where it would be poured into a bowl.  This was accompanied by the blowing of the shofar (trumpet).  It was a joyful celebration, tied to Isa. 12:3: Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Jesus used this event to make His own promise of salvation.  He called anyone who “thirsts” to believe in Him.  They would receive the Holy Spirit who would be like a river of refreshing water to those who would come to Him.  The offer of salvation is available to this day, to all who will come to Christ, believing in Him.

John 7:19-31, Jesus Is Not What You Think He Is

In Jesus’ conversations, He was never satisfied with just declaring Himself.  He also wanted to reveal the hearts of people.  Jesus answered the previous question, that His teaching was from God.  But now Jesus asks the next question: “Why do you seek to kill Me?”  This question is an indication that the people already were not interested in seeking the will of God because they were not even obeying Moses whose teaching they believed had come from God. 

The initial response was from the people.  “Who is trying to kill you?”  The leaders knew they were wanting to kill Jesus but were likely surprised when Jesus mentioned this.  It went back to John 5:1-15, when, on the Sabbath, Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath (5:16). 

The people weren’t privy to the plotting of the leaders.  They accused Jesus of being demon-possessed.  How else could they, being at the feast to fulfill their obligation to Moses, be accused by Jesus of disobeying Moses?  Jesus explained powerfully, reminding them of the Sabbath healing, but also revealing the hypocrisy of the situation.  They held that it was lawful to circumcise on the Sabbath but unlawful to make a man completely well on the Sabbath.  Jesus’ doctrine was true; the doctrine of the Jews was inconsistent with the truth. 

·       7:25-27: question #3, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill?”  This question was asked by Jews from Jerusalem (Judaist Jews) rather than Jews from the Dispersion (from elsewhere in the Roman Empire, Hellenistic Jews).  The local Jews would have been on the scene when the man by the pool was healed. 

The fact that no one had arrested Jesus led into another question: “Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?”  This question was quickly answered by those who raised it. “Jesus cannot be the Messiah because we know where Jesus is from, and no one will know where the Messiah is from when He really comes.”  We are assuming they thought Jesus was from Galilee, where He was currently living and where His earthly family resided.  One wonders why they said this, since the Jews knew the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem (Jn. 7:40-42; Matt. 2:1-8), fulfilling Micah 5:2.  Perhaps the Jewish leadership was just scrambling to come up with Biblical proof that this Jesus was not the Christ. 

We will pick this up in the next post.  But let me say something else.  You should be aware that some or even much of what you know about Jesus may not be true.  Like the Jewish leaders, people’s view of Jesus is often skewed.  It may be based on something they heard someone say or imagined or assumed.  As you read John’s account, my hope is that you will do as Jesus said: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

John 7:11-18, Jesus Speaks with Authority

John 7 is a mix of the questions asked at the feast and Jesus’ answers.  My “Red-Letter Bible” makes that very clear.  Another thing about John 7 is that, in the course of the conversations, we see the various aspects of “unbelief” among the people.  We have already seen one from Jesus’ brothers, that Jesus was just about attracting a following or being famous. 

·       7:12: the first question was, “Where is He?”  But this quickly moved into “Who is He” because people only wonder where someone is who is missing from the massive crowds because it is someone important.

We need to keep in mind that conversations about Jesus were secretive to some degree, even as Jesus’ arrival at the feast was secretive.  The Jewish leadership wasn’t interested in Jesus gaining more followers or more recognition in the conversations of the nation. 

In 7:12 we see the two sides of the argument.  To say Jesus was a deceiver was, of course, full-on unbelief.  To say Jesus was a “good man” was also unbelief, if that was your “final answer.”  But it could be the view of someone who is giving the matter some fair consideration.  This went on for three days or so and then, in the middle of the week-long feast Jesus made His first appearance.

·       7:15: question #2, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 

What is important to note here is that this is asked by “the Jews.”  This was the leadership.  All the people were Jewish, but John used this term to refer to the leaders, as 7:13 indicates.  You could say the leaders were the Sanhedrin, although John speaks of “the chief priests and Pharisees” (7:45) and “the scribes and Pharisees” (8:3).  These men had all jumped through the hoops.  They had serious rabbinical training and prided themselves in their study of the Torah.  In other words, they had “letters” (15) and they honored themselves (18).  Maybe they asked this question out of jealousy, but more likely it was meant to sow doubt in the minds of the people, that Jesus was just a “country bumpkin” and not a real scholar.  Yet, His words demonstrated that He was no dummy. 

Wouldn’t you love to have been there?  They did not ask Jesus this question (“this Man” they called Him), and yet, Jesus heard them and gave them the answer.  “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”  There was a clear implication: since Jesus’ doctrine/teaching was from God who sent Him, if you really wanted to know and do the will of God, then you would know His teaching was authoritative.

If any of the Jews were asked this question, they would have listed off the famous rabbis under which they studied.  Jesus gave the only answer that mattered: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”  Who is Jesus to you?

Psalm 138

This “Psalm of the Word” builds on yesterday’s Psalm in seeing God’s Word and words as cause for praise. 

David is clearly filled with praise.  In v1 he says he will praise God before the gods.  What gods does he refer to?  The word is elohim and means mighty ones. Some believe it refers to angels, as in Job 1:6, Psalm 8:7 and other places..  The context seems to be speaking of the mighty ones of earth (v4) who might consider themselves to be gods.  David is saying he will not be intimidated by anyone; he will sing praise to his God for all to hear.

The two references to God’s word are in vs. 2 and 4.  The singular word (v2) perhaps has in mind the totality of all God has said.  It is His truth.  The plural words (v4) may refer to the specifics of God’s truth.  Every command, promise, warning, and instruction is a cause for praise as we trust and obey in our day to day lives.

What is meant in v2 that You have magnified Your word above all Your name?  Some take it to mean that the greatest manifestation of God is His word revealed to us.  God has a greater reward for His word than for His works.  Heaven and earth may pass away but my words will by no means pass away (Matt. 24:35).  Some even see the Lord Jesus Himself in this passage, for He is the Word Who was God, was with God, made all things, and became flesh (John 1:1-14).  He truly is the most complete and magnificent revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-4).

What words of God in Psalm 138 are worthy of praise?  Perhaps …

o v2: the wonderful relationship of God’s grace and truth.  Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

o v3: the way God strengthens not just our bodies but, more importantly, our very souls.

o v6: the principle found throughout Scripture that God resists and humbles the proud while exalting and giving grace to the humble.

o v7: the testimony of God’s care when we walk in the midst of trouble.  Truly He is the God of all comfort!

o v8: the confidence that He will perfect that which concerns us.  He completes the work He begins in us (Phil 1:6).  All things work together to bring us into conformity to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:28-30).

Let us praise God for His Word and His words

This Psalm provides a wonderful illustration of the principle that all Scripture points to Christ.  It is a Psalm of David and is not one of the classic Messianic Psalms (e.g. 22,45,110, etc).  And yet you see the Messiah all throughout the short Hymn and highlighting a different major truth in each stanza.

·         138:1-3: David is full of whole-hearted praise to God.  It is focused on the temple, the place of the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat, the one place on earth where God said He would dwell with men.  It is focused on the great twin attributes of God: lovingkindness and truth (Heb. checed and emeth).  What did God do?  He magnified His word; He was faithful to His word.  And in what way did God do that?  He answered David’s prayer for inner strength in the face of adversity.  God had told David He would give him success and God was true to His word.  Note that David vows to sing praise before the gods.  This is a Psalm that involves the nations; perhaps David means he will exalt the LORD God of Israel before the gods of those nations.  Or the term, elohim, can refer to mighty men such as those in the next stanza.  So our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, will reign in glory from Zion, just as His Father promised.  That day will reveal God’s faithfulness like no other day!

·         138:4-6: David is so overtaken by God’s wonderful words that he is sure, that when he exalts the LORD before the kings of the nations, they too will want to sing God’s praises.  When the Spirit enables a person to know God’s word it will always produce awe and wonder.  As Moses told Israel, what nation has such a God as Israel? What nation received such a wonderful law as Israel received from the LORD (Deut. 4:6-7)?  Perhaps David experienced this to some degree as some kings around him acknowledged the blessing of God on him.  But it only anticipates the praise that will be received by the King of kings and Lord of lords when He is revealed from heaven.

·         138:7-8: Whatever the profound answer to prayer David had received, it did not deliver him from all his troubles.  Like us, even a great king like David can say, I walk in the midst of trouble.  Yet he walked in confidence of God’s deliverance because his God is the God of lovingkindness and truth.  His God keeps His promises.  God would continue to keep His word to prosper David against all future enemies.  And what great words: The LORD will perfect (complete) that which concerns me.  David was promised a throne forever, and even after he was gone from earth God would keep His word.  We have the same confidence that what God has begun in our lives He will complete (Phil. 1:6).  And for David, and us, the ultimate issue here is the Lord Jesus Christ.  David’s throne forever is found in Christ.  Our completeness will come when we see Christ and become like Him (Phil. 1:21; 1 John 3:2).