Today we pick up at the last day of the Feast of Booths. This was a harvest festival with a focus on God's blessing. The plants that were waved in worship (palm, myrtle, and willow along with a citron) were the product of water in a dry place. They showed God's blessing physically. I mentioned last time that the Psalms 113 to 118 were used in worship during this festival. Psalm 114:7-8 says, "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
John 7:37-39
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' " Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The Holy Spirit does a work to make this happen. We start off with hearts of stone that are dead and then God gives us hearts of flesh that are living and can obey. Ezekiel uses this imagery.
Ezekiel 11:19-20
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:25-27
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
I think we neglect the Holy Spirit. In part it is because the Holy Spirit's purpose in our age is to glorify Christ. But we can seek that move in our hearts. We can ask Him to move in our hearts and glorify Christ in all we do.
At the very least we can assure ourselves that we want to seek God with all our hearts and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit to do all that He would lead us to do. He will enable us to do His will.
We know the problem of our hard flinty hearts but we've been made alive when we were dead in out trespasses and sins. We know that rivers of living water are supposed to flow and in working out our salvation with fear and trembling we are going to seek Him if we ever detect a lack of the move of the Holy Spirit right? Because we know, from sacred Scripture, that if there is no flow then it isn't because of a deficiency in the Father. We have seen how backsliding crept into the lives of others and we've got enough sense to hit the panic button right? Fear and trembling will make you hit the panic button when you see less than a river. If God wants a river and I've got a creek or a seep and I'm working out my salvation with fear and trembling then I simply will not ignore it or be satisfied that situation. Prayer, and even desperate prayer, will result to cry out to God for His power through the Holy Spirit so that we'll see rivers of water and have a God minister through us in whatever Grace Gifts He uses in our lives.
We will not be complacent. We cannot be complacent because God by His grace will stir us up and make us uncomfortable until we obey and walk in God's law and live our life carefully to please Him.
John 7: 40-52
When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This really is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."
There was a real confusion about where Jesus was from. How do you get a learned prophet from the hillbillies in Galilee? No consensus was achieved and they simply argued about Jesus rather than acted. I wasn't time yet. He still had the winter to work. The temple officers couldn't act because of the Holy Spirit.
Can you imagine walking into the Temple and approaching though an invisible Cloud of Holiness and Glory that you couldn't see toward the Perfect Lamb of God to arrest Him? They couldn't care what they authorities thought at that moment because they were confronted with the Holy and all they could do was listen. Nicodemus had a conversation with Jesus early in the Gospel of John and he speaks up but he is accused of being from Galilee simply for suggesting that someone is guilty until proven innocent.
Arrogance and pride kept the chief priests and Pharisees from changing their hearts. The Holy Spirit can break down arrogance and pride so we can run with patience the course that God has set before us.
The following verses are not in all of the early Greek manuscripts and appear in other places (like Luke) in some other texts. We don't have the original which is called the "autographa" and we believe that divine inspiration occurred at that point. Some copying errors occurred over the years but they have never been substantive with respect to doctrine or biblical history.
What happened with the following verses is not clear but I don't think there is any reason to doubt they are Scripture. The problem is that we aren't really sure where they are supposed to be. They fit very well where we have them in John so we'll study them here.
John 8
53 [[They went each to his own house, 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]]
This was a trap for Jesus constructed by the scribes and Pharisees. The woman was likely engaged to be married since they specifically indicated that she should be stoned rather than simply be executed for adultery. Stoning was specified for being unfaithful during engagement. I hope this helps you understand Joseph's position with regard to Mary before Jesus' birth.
If Jesus said, "Yes. Stone her", then the Romans would react because they controlled the death penalty. If Jesus said, "No. Don't stone her", then He would be rejecting the Mosaic Law. So this activity was not motivated by a desire to be righteous and please God but rather it was motivated by a desire to accuse Jesus of unrighteousness.
Jesus didn't react to their accusations directly. This is the only example of Jesus writing in the Bible. It isn't that anyone would think he wasn't literate but this is the only example of Him writing. So what is going on? Well we don't know for sure. We have another example of God writing with His finger (Exodus 31:18) when He gave us the 10 commandments.
Many have speculated that Jesus was writing out specific sins and looking the sinner in the eye. That certainly fits with the rest of the facts. I can't think of anything more frightening that having Jesus say "let him who is without sin cast the first stone" and then stare at me and start writing specifics in the sand. I'd bail and run. He started with the older and more honored ones and worked down but pretty soon they were all gone.
So with all the accusers gone … there were no witnesses for a trial. This was a kangaroo court but it was still a court governed by the Mosaic Law. This is relevant in the next conversation Jesus has. No witnesses then in a trial no testimony. You must have 2 that agree to proceed.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Lamps were also part of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus promises light for our walk. If you are camping out in the dark in a Tabernacle/Booth then a lamp is a precious thing for moving around at night. Jesus promises that if we follow the lamp then we'll be able to see where to place our feet.
I've always liked Psalm 119:105 that says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." We get a lamp for our feet so we can see where to place the next step. Just like a flashlight in the forest. You can see where to put your feet.
However, the Word is also a light to our path. That is, we can see a light indicating our goal. We see the light (like the hotel commercial, "we'll leave the light on") so that we see the destination. Like a campfire in the forest. So you see the campfire and know where you are going and what your goal is but you also have the lamp for your feet so you can see where to put the next step. The problem we have is that we want floodlights on like a stadium so we can have everything clear and in view. Well you will not get the entire game plan before you get into the game. We don't like that one bit we want the entire map first. I'm heading for California in a few days. I really like having all sorts of maps. I'm thankful that God is OK with me having maps for the entire route before I start. But in life, God lets me know about today and God lets me know about my end and goal. But I really don't know about tomorrow or even how long I have until I see my goal.
I think that one of the strengths of knowing this is that you can rest in it. James the brother of Jesus exhorts us about this and says in James 4:13-17:
James 4:13-17
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
The right thing here is to rest your future in God's hands. You have today and you have eternity but you're going to need to trust God with the in between or else you'll be in sin.
John 8:13
Next verses are legal arguments with the Lord of the Universe. We never change and we never learn apart from the mercy and grace of God.
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