JEWELS From the GOSPEL of JOHN: HATING THE TESTIFIER – JOHN 7:1-7

The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary, and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word. I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.

JOHN 7:1-7
1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." 5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him. 6 Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

The LORD Jesus came the first time like an inoffensive, non-dangerous Lamb (though He holds every atom in the universe in His Almighty Hand, and were He to let go, all the world would become a galactic nuclear explosion! COL 1:17). That is not at all how He will arrive the Second Time: up and coming, He is going to be revealed as the LION Of JUDAH. And we all know what lions can be like!

Two chapters previously the LORD healed a man on the Sabbath, and for that, the Jews persecuted the LORD Jesus and more – they wanted to kill Him (JOHN 5:16,18).

Yet during His earthly ministry, because He came proclaiming peace through His Gospel, He was in a sense vulnerable – and since the Jews sought to kill Him, He had to be cautious – He avoided trouble whenever possible. When it wasn’t possible, it was because He had to go Face to face with the religious hypocrites, rebuke them for their ways, and stand for truth.

May we follow that example laid out for us by our LORD, Who is Himself full of grace and truth (JOHN 1:14). We are, after all, to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves (MATT 10:16). Have you ever wondered what that meant? I think “gentle as doves” is pretty much self-explanatory, but what does “wise as serpents” mean?

Snakes have heat sensors that can detect the warmth given off of bodies, so they can know when one is coming; they also are keenly sensitive to the vibrations on the ground caused by animals walking over land. They can tell when something is near because of their heat sensors, and they can tell how big those things are by how much the ground vibrates.

So if an animal small enough comes around, they’ll pursue it for some lunch; if too big however, the snake is wise enough to avoid trouble and hides – which is why you don’t often encounter snakes, even though they are within arms reach as you walk by. They know when to hide.

If however we’ve been caught unawares, then our conduct should be that of doves: how many attack-doves have you met in your life time?

But this is NOT to speak against the issues of self-defense or defending the weak however; this is in regards to standing for Christ and His Gospel (increasingly politically incorrect in our nation that’s morphing more and more into godless Socialism) and the resulting persecution we can expect from a world that hates the GOD of the Bible.

In this portion of Scripture, we see that the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths was at hand. This was one of the seven feasts of Israel that commemorated the exodus of Israel. They obviously wouldn’t be living in houses during their journey through the wilderness, but in tents. And this feast would require every family in the land of Israel to leave their homes, and build these rickety shelters with cracks and crevices showing through the make-shift branches where the family would ‘camp out’ for the duration of the Feast.

This was to remind Israel of GOD’s faithfulness to them as He led them in this trek to the promised land.

It was the Messiah King Himself in their midst, Who desired to lead His people to the full promises of GOD in regards to their salvation and a restoration of the kingdom of Israel. His family (vs. 3) were provoking Him to put Himself on display, but they didn’t believe His claims as the Messiah (vs. 5).

The LORD Jesus Himself stated that a prophet is not without honor except among his own household (MATT 13:57). I think we’ve all experienced something like this as Christians, who were well known previously by family and friends, who stare at us dubiously, not a bit persuaded that this is a real transformation, but just a temporary religious front.

And when we share the Gospel, so often it has a far greater impact with total strangers than with our own family members. A dear brother saint of mine (who has gone Home) would share the Gospel with his family members every chance he had for thirty years – and to no effect. Yet he could share the Gospel with someone in a few minutes and have them on their knees praying to receive Christ!

“Show yourself to the world!” The LORD’s relatives said to Him in challenge.

The time of His showing would be soon – but not yet. The LORD said on a couple of occasions “my time is not yet” (vs. 6). What was He waiting for?
The day appointed as was prophesied wherein the Messiah of Israel would enter into Jerusalem and there hailed as “the Son of David”

This happened on the day we commemorate as “Palm Sunday”:

MATTHEW 21:1-9
1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'" 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!

There was at least one occasion when the LORD Jesus became so popular, that the people were going to force Him to become their King (JOHN 6:15)! He avoided it and refused to take advantage of the situation. Yet here in MATTHEW 21, He actually makes arrangement for this to happen. He showed Himself to all in Jerusalem as the Messiah of Israel so that even the children were declaring Him as the Messiah (“Son of David” and the LORD Jesus didn’t deny their proclamation! MATT 21:15-16).

This day was a fulfillment of prophecy according to ZECHARIAH 9:9 (which speaks of Christ’s First Advent; vs. 10 speaks of His Second Advent).

Also, let’s not forget this from another prophet,

DANIEL 9:25
25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.

These “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” or 69 weeks – are prophetic weeks, each of them being seven years long, or in other words 69 x 7 which is 483 years (of 360 days each by the way).

Sir Robert Anderson wrote the book, The Coming Prince, in which this shrewd detective of Scotland Yard, theologian, and devoted Christian calculated all of the variables to ascertain precisely how many days transpired between the edict to rebuild Jerusalem (in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra) and the actual arrival of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The days calculated were 173,880 and this is exactly when prophecy declared this event would be fulfilled (four hundred and eighty three years – of 360 days each).

The world loves its own, would never hate its own (JOHN 15:19; 7:7), so as the LORD said to His relatives, “Your time is always ready” – they’d be welcome at any time; contrarily even though the world was made by Jesus Christ, still it does not know Him, much less receive Him (JOHN 1:10-11).

This world would accept a New Age Jesus, and ever loving Jesus that never held them accountable, a Santa Claus-style Jesus that gave them everything they wanted.
But this world will never accept the biblical Jesus – the LORD of all, the holy King of Israel, the Judge of all the ages!

The world hates Jesus (vs. 7) – and we know why: because He testifies of its evil. The declaration of Jesus flies in the face of religious and spiritually minded people who believe that “we are all basically good”… and who say “I have my truth, you have yours”… “I have my own faith in GOD and won’t be dictated to how I should worship Him”… “It’s my best life now and if Jesus doesn’t fit into my plans, then He can just leave”…”Jesus is good and all, but He’s is just one way of many or millions”.

This is exactly why the world hates us saints as well – because we follow after our LORD’s example by walking in and declaring the truth of the Word and the Gospel (LUKE 6:22; MATT 10:24-25).

The Bible is clear – the human heart, unredeemed, not born again is desperately (read that “incurably”) wicked (JER 17:9). It was because of this, and the fickle and perverse nature of people that Jesus never put much stock in their integrity (JOHN 2:24-25). He knows us through and through and it’s His light that exposes the dark and deadly heart of sinful nature:

JOHN 3:18-20
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

This hatred will culminate during the darkest days in which the devil will dominate through his man, the Beast – and they’ll be prepared for Jesus Christ, LORD of heaven and earth when He arrives, and in a vain attempt, try to destroy Him (as in PSALM 2:2-3). And those who took the mark of the Beast will likewise have an all-consuming, demonically driven hatred of the LORD Jesus.

But in this so-called ‘Armageddon’ – this supreme war of the ages between the forces of good and evil, the actual engagement will be something of an anti-climatic let down. The LORD returns to earth from heaven, riding on a white horse; He beholds the antichrist, and the beast beholds Him… and then drops dead as a result of being exposed to the LORD’s Holy Light!

2 THESSALONIANS 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

And that which is a bane to the beast, is a blessing to us, the LORD’s beloved:

1 JOHN 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

PSALM 89:11-18
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them. 12 The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; Strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. 15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance. 16 In Your name they rejoice all day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted. 17 For You are the glory of their strength, And in Your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.