SERIES: The Gospel of John
What Do You Think of Jesus?
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: About six months have passed since Jesus fed the 5,000, walked on water, and then delivered His great discourse on the Bread of Life. It is now the middle of October, just six months before He is to be crucified. For the most part He has stayed away from Jerusalem to avoid a premature confrontation with the religious leadership of the nation. Instead, His primary ministry has been in Galilee, the northern part of Palestine. But now in John 7 Jesus is about to make a rare public appearance in Jerusalem.
It is the week of the Feast of the Tabernacles, and the entire city is abuzz with Messianic speculation. Jesus seems to be the topic of everyone’s conversation, and opposition to Him from the chief priests and Pharisees is rapidly coming to a head. While this one chapter could easily yield five or six sermons, if one wished to examine all the details, I have chosen instead to consider just one question that comes up again and again: Just who is this man Jesus? As we read the entire chapter, I want you to look for ten different verdicts on this question from various individuals and groups. John 7:1-52:
After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”
12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”
Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
Ten inadequate verdicts concerning the identity of Jesus Christ:
The first verdict comes from Jesus’ own brothers, and it is that He is …
An ambitious religious entrepreneur (3-4). Perhaps the first thing we need to do is to establish that Jesus had brothers and sisters, for there are those who believe in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, meaning that she never had relations with any man. But when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth, Mark 6:3 indicates the people were astonished at His wisdom and His miracles and asked, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joseph and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” So Jesus had at least 4 brothers and an unspecified number of sisters. They were, of course, really His half-brothers and half-sisters, because while they were children of Mary and Joseph, Jesus was only the son of Mary, being Virgin-born. The notion that these were Joseph’s children by a previous marriage is a medieval invention.
Here in John 7 we find Jesus’ half-brothers urging Him to go up to Jerusalem and pedal His religious wares there. Why waste these amazing miracles in the rural countryside of Galilee? Why not do them before the huge crowds in the capital city during the Feast? These brothers have no real appreciation for His divine mission because, as verse 5 indicates, they are not believers themselves, at least not yet. They’re just giving Him marketing advice. If He wants to be famous, He’ll have to go where the people are.
By the way, if there was ever proof that one doesn’t become a Christian simply by being around other Christians, this family is it. Not even Jesus’ own brothers were exempt from the requirement to put their trust in Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior. Happily, after His resurrection, His brothers would finally see the light and two of them, James and Jude, even authored books of the New Testament.
Well, Jesus refuses His brothers’ invitation to go with them to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, because His divine timetable is not identical to theirs. However, within a few days He, too, goes up to the eight-day Feast, initially making a point to stay out of the public eye. However, the question on everyone’s tongue seems to be, “Where is Jesus?”, and there is widespread whispering about Him among the people. The second and third verdicts are found in verse 12: “Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.'”
A good man (12). The verdict that Jesus is a good man indicates an awareness of His character but a lack of perception of His nature, for He is more than a man—He is also God. To call Jesus a good man is a gross understatement; it is to damn Him with faint praise. In another sense it is just plain foolishness. How can you call a man good when He goes around claiming to be the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the way, the truth, and the life? How can you call Him good when He claims to be able to forgive sin, claims the OT was written mainly about Himself, and claims to have a unique relationship with God?
No mere man would say such things, no matter how good he is. In fact, as C.S. Lewis notes, “Unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic(al).” [i]
The other verdict in verse 12 is in essence that Jesus is …
A charlatan and a deceiver (12). Presumably these individuals believe Jesus’ miracles are done by sleight of hand and His preaching is, in reality, a cloak for sinister designs. In other words, they view Him as a first-century Jim Jones or A. A. Allen. There are still those today who think of Jesus in such terms, who categorize Christ and all His followers as religious charlatans. We all must pay, it seems, for the excesses of a few. And the only solution is that which Jesus took, namely continuing to speak the truth and in the words of 1 Peter 3:16, “keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” So far Jesus has been deemed an ambitious religious entrepreneur, a good man, and a charlatan. The fourth verdict is that He is …
A great teacher but lacking academic credentials (15). In the middle of the 8-day Feast Jesus goes up to the temple and begins to teach. Verse 15 indicates the Jews are amazed at His ability and ask, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” He hadn’t graduated from their seminary. He didn’t have an earned doctorate. How can they trust what He says, no matter how profound it sounds? This same prejudice comes out in verse 48, when the Pharisees ask, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? NO! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” The hidden message (actually, not so hidden) is that we clergy are the experts in religious matters and the common people should shut up and listen. To define an expert, you know, one must remember that “x” is an unknown and a “spurt” is a drip under pressure.
We still today have problems seeing beyond a person’s degree or social status or race or gender, and realize that spiritual understanding has nothing to do with such surface issues. I think my wife would tell you that her most important spiritual growth came not from four years in Bible college or sitting under my preaching every Sunday for nearly 19 years, but from a Bible class she attended as a teenager in Andover, Kansas, taught by Marge Chance, a woman with no formal training but a heart for God and for young people. We need to take to heart the exhortation Jesus gave in verse 24: “Stop judging my mere appearances, and make a right judgment.” The fifth verdict appears in verse 20, namely that Jesus is …
A man with a demon-inspired martyr’s complex (20). In the previous paragraph Jesus defends His teaching, despite His lack of formal training. He claims it is really their rebellion against God that prevents them from recognizing the divine origin of His teaching. He then challenges them with the question, “Why are you trying to kill me?” Their answer: “You are demon-possessed. Who is trying to kill you?” In other words, “You’re crazy! You’re paranoid!”
It is possible, of course, that some of these people were unaware of the religious leaders’ efforts to arrest Jesus and kill Him, for the Gospels indicate that the plot was fairly secretive, at least until the last week of Jesus’ life, when the leaders succeeded in stirring up popular sentiment against Jesus through false accusations and innuendo. But verse 25 indicates that at least some knew of the plot, and besides, this verdict gives Him absolutely no credit for insight into the hearts of men, which insight He has already amply demonstrated.
In verse 27 we come to another verdict, repeated several more times in chapter seven, namely that Jesus is …
A man who doesn’t fit the conventional wisdom regarding Messiah (27, 41-42, 52). If you read Newsweek Magazine, you are aware that each week they have a little column that provides the CW on a number of issues or key persons. CW stands for “conventional wisdom” and is a compilation of the prevailing opinions out there. Well, the CW on Jesus was such that He simply didn’t fit the Messianic mold. Look at verse 27: “We know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” Later in verse 41 some ask, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” And finally in verse 52 the chief priests and Pharisees challenge Nicodemus: “Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
The prevailing notions were, of course, wrong, as they often are on religious matters. These people assumed that because Jesus was reared in Nazareth, He must necessarily have been born there, but it wouldn’t have taken much effort to discover that He was actually born in Bethlehem, and that He was of the family and lineage of David.
The problem is they had their minds made up and didn’t want to be confused with the facts. Instead of examining the prophetic Scriptures to see what Messiah would really be like, they simply accepted the distorted stereotype offered by their religious leaders, which was that of a powerful political leader who would come and free them from foreign domination. Had they been like the Bereans, who searched the Scripture daily to see if the things they were being taught were true, they would have discovered that Messiah would come as a humble servant before He would become a powerful political leader, that He would suffer and die before He would reign, and that He required thorough repentance on the part of His people before He would institute His Kingdom.
There are still those today who reject Jesus because He doesn’t fit the CW of what Messiah should be. They are looking for a religious leader who promises health and wealth, or who tolerates any lifestyle, or whose principal concern is liberation from political oppression, or whose gospel is a gospel of self-realization. They don’t care to hear about His drastic demands for discipleship, or His brutal denunciation of hypocrisy and selfishness, or His exclusive claims to be the only Way to God.
The seventh verdict comes in verse 31 where some of the crowd ask, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?” In other words, they view Jesus as
A unique miracle worker (31). These people are identified as those who had “put their faith in him,” but it’s not at all clear what that means. If you read the paragraph before verse 30, you find Jesus once again claiming a unique relationship with God, with the result that the religious leaders try to seize Him. But they are unsuccessful because, according to verse 30, “His time had not yet come.” Yet, despite the official opposition, some in the crowd are becoming convinced that Jesus is unique. What they have read about Messiah in the OT looks a lot like what is unfolding before their eyes. For example, the prophet Isaiah predicted, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (Matt. 11:5, c.f. Isaiah 35:61)
But were these people who “put their faith in him” true believers? I’m inclined to think not. If you’ll look over the page at John 8: 31 you’ll see these words: “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'” In the following paragraphs it becomes abundantly clear that these “believers” are not true disciples; in fact, by verse 48 they are calling Jesus a demon-possessed Samaritan! You see, it is possible to believe in Jesus intellectually, to see Him as a unique miracle-worker, yet still not receive Him as Lord and Savior.
The eighth verdict comes after Jesus’ great challenge, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” On hearing His words, some of the people say, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
The Prophet (40). This is without doubt a reference to the Prophet of Deut. 18:18, where God says to Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” Now that prophecy was intended to be a prediction of Messiah, but the Jews generally took it to refer to some forerunner of Messiah. So, when these Jews give their verdict that Jesus is the Prophet, they are not acknowledging Him as the Messiah but rather as a spokesman for Messiah.
There are, of course, still those today who consider Jesus as a great prophet, but not the one and only Son of God. The Muslims believe He was a forerunner to Mohammed, the Mormons a forerunner to Joseph Smith, and the Moonies a forerunner to Rev. Moon. So even this verdict is inadequate. But what about the ninth verdict, found in verse 41?
The Messiah (41). Finally, someone arrives at the truth! The term “Christ” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, “Messiah.” So at least a few have discovered who He really is. But is this recognition anything other than an intellectual acknowledgment on their part? Are these people ready to commit their hearts and lives to Him, to fall on their knees and worship Him. There is no indication that they are. In fact, it appears that while they had identified Him correctly, they had not identified with Him. There are a lot of people today also who can correctly identify Jesus as the Virgin-born Son of God, but they give no indication of having recognized Him as Lord.
Finally, there is the verdict of the temple guards to the effect that Jesus is …
A unique and dynamic communicator (46). These temple guards had been sent to arrest Jesus back in verse 32, but in verse 45 they return empty-handed. When challenged by the chief priests and Pharisees as to why they hadn’t brought Jesus with them, they respond, “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” He had held them spellbound. His words rang true. How do you arrest someone whose ideas are so powerful?
I’m reminded of a chapter in Charles Colson’s new book, The Body, which is an analysis of the identity crisis that is facing Christ’s church today. He writes about the Romanian revolution, which began in 1989, when one Hungarian pastor of a Reformed Church in the city of Timisoara, decided not to compromise with the Communist authorities but instead to preach God’s Word and disciple the handful of people left in the church to which he was assigned.
Ceausescu ordered Pastor Tokes arrested and the state police moved in, but the power of his character and his words held them at bay while the church grew and the people became empowered. Finally, the doors to the church were broken down, and the pastor and his wife were beaten and taken away, but the believers refused to be intimidated. Eventually the police slaughtered scores of unarmed protestors, and the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church. Eventually, of course, Ceausescu was arrested and executed, Communism was overthrown, and thousands have since turned to Christ. The power of ideas must never be underestimated.
But temple guards’ verdict that Jesus is a unique and dynamic communicator, while certainly true, is not necessarily an acknowledgement of His deity and Lordship. Napoleon once said, “I know men and Jesus Christ is more than a man.” But what did that knowledge do for a greedy, power-hungry emperor whose primary goal in life was to rule the world? You see, it’s not one’s intellectual analysis of Jesus Christ that matters. When we stand in judgment before God, we’re not going to be given a multiple-choice test asking “Who is Jesus?”, which, if we answer correctly, will win us eternal life.
This whole chapter has focused upon the question, “Who really is Jesus Christ.” Ten verdicts have been offered—some blasphemous, some simply wrong, and some true but inadequate. One would think that Jesus, in the face of all the confusion and diversity, would simply state very clearly, “I am the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the World.” And, of course, He does that in various ways throughout the Gospel of John. But here He chooses to identify Himself not in theological terms but rather in very practical, down-to-earth terms. Verse 37 says that “on the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'”
It is very likely that Jesus’ invitation here was connected to the drawing of water from the Pool of Siloam. On each of the days of the Feast of Tabernacles a priest would fill a golden pitcher with water from the pool. Accompanied by a solemn procession, he would return to the temple area, and amid the sounding of trumpets and the shouting of the rejoicing people, the water would be poured through a funnel, which led to the base of the altar of burnt offering. The ceremony not only reminded the nation of the water from the rock in Moses’ day; it also pointed forward to the spiritual blessings of the Messianic Age. Jesus takes this occasion to deliver two great affirmations: He is the only One who can quench our personal spiritual thirst, and He is the only One who can make us channels of spiritual vitality to others.
Who then Is He really? (37-39)
He is the only One who can quench our personal spiritual thirst. (37) In regard to the first of these affirmations, I want to focus on three words Jesus uses: thirst, come, and drink.
1. “Thirst” speaks of aspiration. The fact is that every person thirsts for spiritual realities, but not everyone knows that he thirsts. Our society and culture scream at us that we can find satisfaction in things, in pleasure, or in power. But St. Augustine was right when he said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
Let me ask you today, “Do you thirst?” Perhaps you are thinking, “I don’t know whether I do or not.” Well, find out. Look inside and say to yourself, “Is this all there is to life? Am I fulfilled? Am I at peace with God? Am I ready to meet Him?” If you can’t say “yes” to these questions, then it may well be because God has put into your life a thirst for more. You must aspire to have that thirst assuaged, or you will eventually die of that thirst. Secondly, Jesus says, …
2. “Come” which speaks of approach. It is not enough to aspire; we must draw near to Christ. “Come” means to believe, to have faith in Him, to commit yourself to Him. Jesus said, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.” But the prerequisite is that we must come. And thirdly, He calls us to …
3. “Drink” speaks of appropriation. That which you drink becomes a part of you. It helps you grow. So also, Jesus wants to become part of your life and personality. In fact, so important is this concept of appropriating Christ that He spoke of it in almost shocking terms back in chapter 6, verse 53: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
So, Jesus is the only One who can quench our personal spiritual thirst. But more than that,
He is the only One who can make us channels of spiritual vitality to others. (38-39)“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” This is a great promise and one we need to hear today. God has created us to be channels of blessing to others—our family, our friends, our fellow-workers, our neighbors, even those around the world who have never heard. To hear many Christians talk, you would think the sole purpose of Christ’s coming was to save them and to satisfy them. That is one purpose, of course, but if that is our sole focus, it will produce a shallow, experience-centered, introverted, and eventually selfish approach to life and to those around us. [ii]
But there is more. We are saved to serve. What is the source of these streams of living water? John identifies it as the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Just fifty days after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus this prophecy was fulfilled when on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit began a new ministry—permanently indwelling every child of God.
If you are a born-again believer today, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. But while you have all of Him, does He have all of you? You know, before we can overflow, we must be filled—filled with the Holy Spirit. And to be filled means to be under His control daily. Sadly, many Christians who have found their spiritual thirst met in Jesus have allowed the streams of living water to be damned up with worldly concerns and prayerlessness and spiritual apathy. But it need not be that way.
Conclusion: In a sense the entire chapter we have studied this morning is a commentary on John 1:12, which says: “He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” That verse reveals three ways by which you cannot become a child of God and only one way by which you can. You must recognize your thirst, come, and drink. When you do, Jesus, the perfect Son of God who died in your place and rose from the dead, will forgive your sins and give you eternal life. What is your verdict regarding Jesus Christ?
Are you confused and unsure? Jesus claimed in verse 17 of our chapter, “If any man chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” That says to me, friend, that God does not require you to have all your theological ducks in a row; He doesn’t require that you rid yourself of all intellectual doubt; He doesn’t even require that you clean up your life first. All that He requires is that you choose to do His will, or as the NASB puts it, that you are willing to be willing. That surrender of your will is key to everything else. So long as you remain determined to come up with your own verdict on Jesus or find your own way to heaven, you will never have your own thirst met and you will never become a channel of spiritual vitality to others.
DATE: January 31, 1993
Tags:
Character of Jesus
[i] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 40.
[ii] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, Vol. 2, 291.