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John Segment 9

All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Before beginning this study, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you through this study. I also suggest that you do you own study of this material in order to ensure its accuracy. Hebrew Characters are in the "BSTHebrew" font. Greek Characters are in the "Symbol" font. Symbol is a standard font on most computers. "BSTHebrew" can be downloaded from the Internet. This page has embedded fonts that may not work on all browsers.
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Galilee means a circle. It was so named because it circled the west side of the Sea of Galilee. Before the Northern captivity, the region of Galilee included the tribes Asher, Dan, Issachar, Naphtali, and Zebulun. Its boundary stretched from the north at Sidon, southward along the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) to the Carmel Mountains. It then stretched along the Jezreel valley inland to the Jordan River about ten miles south of the Sea of Galilee. It went northward along the Jordan to Dan near Mt. Hermah and then following the approximate boundary of the Golan Heights to the Litani River from whence it went in a northwesterly direction back to Sidon. In Jesus' day the northern boundary only wnet as far north as Tyre and due west from there to Ceasarea Philippi. Today, the northern border of Galilee is at the Israel-Lebanon border, about thirty kilometers south of the Litani River. The heart of Galilee is the area immediately surrounding the northern arc of the Sea of Galilee, forming a crescent, from which Galilee, or circle, gets its name.

Jewry here does not refer to the Jewish people, rather to the land of Judea. In fact, the Greek word is specifically Judea, then name of the country. According to the dictionary, Jewry refers to either an area inhabited by Jews, or the land of Judea, or a nation or country that adheres to Judaism. The use of the word Jewry to indicate the land of Judea is an archaic usage. Since the Greek actually uses the word Judea (Ioudaia), the translators used the word Jewry, which, in their day, was a proper definition.

Let me remind you that the word "Jew" as used in the Bible does not include all Israelites. It refers to the tribe of Judah or the inhabitants of Judea. One cannot apply the word to all thirteen tribes of Israel. The Southern Kingdom of Judea included the tribes of Judah, Levy, and Benjamin. The Northern Kingdom included all of the other ten tribes. After the two kingdoms were taken away captive, only a remnant of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi returned to the land of Judah (Judea) to reestablish the temple and Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom and the ten tribes there never returned to the land of Israel. Today's usage of the word, Jew, erroneously refers to all Israelites. In Scripture, it is always good to distinguish between the Jews and the northern ten tribes. Doing so will give you a more accurate picture of Scripture. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah and was therefore a Jew. During His life, He dealt almost exclusively with the Jews.

Those who sought to kill him were the religious leaders and those Jews who agreed with the leadership. It can be demonstrated just by reading about the crowds following Jesus, that not all the inhabitants of Judea nor all of the members of the tribe of Judah hated Him or wanted Him dead. Remember that the first members of the church, numbering in the thousands, were Jews. It was only the Jewish leaders and those followed those leaders who were after Him. They would no longer allow him to preach and teach in peace without their harassment. Hence He confined Himself to Galilee for a period of time.

The feast of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-43) was made to commemorate the sojourning of the Israelites in the wilderness and the time the Israelites rested and ate the Passover at Succoth. That is where they first set up camp after leaving Egypt. The Scripture says they pitched there: "And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth." (Numbers 33:5). The Greek word for the Feast of Tabernacles is the combination of two words, one meaning to pitch, and the other meaning tents or tabernacles. The Greek for the Feast of Tabernacles is skhnophgia (skenopegia), literally meaning "tent-pitching". The Hebrew word for tabernacles is סכות (succoth-pronounced soo-koat'), meaning simply booths or tabernacles. Succoth occurs from 15-17 Tishri (Sept-Oct). It is an eight day festival with a Sabbath on the first and eighth days. It is also known as ingathering because it occurs "when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land". God's stated reason for the celebration was, Leviticus 23:43: "That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

Here is an interesting aside about the Feast of Tabernacles:

These are Jesus' half-brothers, that is the sons of Mary and Joseph. They are half brothers in that they share only their mother and not their fathers. Yehovah is Jesus Father and Joseph is the father of the brothers.

Since they did not believe, the advice that Jesus' brethren gave Him seems to have been worldly wisdom. It goes like this: "You are a great attraction to the crowds. Yet you waste your time here performing for a few backwoods folks. Go to Judea and to Jerusalem and perform for the crowds there. Let the hundred and twenty disciples you had in Judea see all of your tricks. Become famous. Let the world see your works. Make a hit. Make it big. Stop hiding your talents." Perhaps if Jesus became famous, some of His fame would shine upon them as well.

This brings up another controversy, The Virgin Mary. Some will tell you that Mary the mother of Jesus died a virgin and that her marriage to Joseph was never consummated. They claim that these brothers mentioned in this verse were Joseph's sons by another marriage. This is all concocted so that Mary could become a deity in certain people's eyes. Mary worship is nothing other than the continuation of goddess worship. It is reworked Semiramis, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Isis, Ishtar, Venus, and Aphrodite worship. The Madonna and child is none other than the child Tammuz and his mother Sumerimas the fertility goddess

There is no place in the Bible that bears up the worship of Mary. In fact there are many verses that would contradict worshipping Mary: Mat 4:10, Luke 4:8, Ex 20:3-4, Deut 5:7-8. Mary consummated her marriage with Joseph as soon as she completed her purification after the birth of Jesus. If she had not done so, she and Joseph would not have been married. Matthew (1:25) say that Joseph "knew her not" until Jesus was born, implying that Joseph did know her afterward. Mary was a virgin until Jesus was born and shortly thereafter she was no longer a virgin.

John 7:6 "Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready."

Jesus is referring to the "set time" of His revealing. His brethren gave Him worldly advice. Jesus was not here to become famous; He came as the Lamb of God. There was no reason to reveal Himself to the world until the time was right. It was not time for Him to openly ride into Jerusalem on a donkey showing Himself to be Messiah. That would come later. So He went into Jerusalem secretly after His brethren went so that He would not attract a crowd. His brethren could go up into Jerusalem any time they wanted without causing a stir. Hence their time was always ready.

John 7:7 "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil."

His brethren would not (at least not yet) lecture the world of its tendency toward evil. Therefore the world would not hate them. Later, James would become the leader of the Church at Jerusalem and he would be martyred. As long as they were followers of the world, they were OK. But once they became followers of Christ, they were hated. The world still hates Jesus and it hates His followers. If you don't believe it, look around you. Who is the most hated and maligned group by political liberals? The "Religious Right" meaning Christians. What is there most persecuted religious group in the world today? Christians.

The world hates us because we believe in Jesus. We believe that He is the only way into heaven. He said he was the "way, the truth, and the life," and that "no man cometh to the Father except by [Him]". The world hates us because we remind them that they are sinners and that sinners cannot get to Heaven. They do not want to be reminded. They hate us because of our exclusivity. The world wants to believe that there are many roads to salvation and eternal life. We know and proclaim that there is only one way. They say we are intolerant because of our beliefs. They say we have no right to tell someone (s)he is a sinner who is condemned already and hell-bound. They consider us evil for our belief in the exclusivity of Christ.

John 7:8 "Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come."

See note on verse 6. In other words, you go on ahead, it isn't time for me yet.

It sounds like Jesus was lying. He just finished telling His brothers that it was not His time and they were to go on into Jerusalem without Him, and He turned right around and went on in to Jerusalem. It was not that He would not go to Jerusalem, it was that He would not follow their advice and go publicly. His time to go public would be the time when He made the Triumphant Entry riding on the foal of a donkey. Up until that time, He would enter Jerusalem secretly or at least without fanfare. That is why He went into the city in secret. He did not go covertly to Jerusalem, hiding along the way. He went quietly up to the City, without making a public scene.

Though He went to Jerusalem, no one saw Him enter, nor did they find Him in public. Yet He was expected. Jesus fame was spread abroad and the Jewish leaders were looking for Him to attend the feast. The people were afraid to endorse Him openly so no one spoke publicly of Him at all. They whispered among themselves. The Jewish leaders could get no answer to their question. This verse shows the opposition between the "Jews" and the people. The people were Jews, but they were called simply, "the people." The Jews mentioned here were the leaders and their followers. They were not the masses.

He suddenly appeared there in the midst of them. That was because He made no attempt to make Himself known there. No one saw Him enter so it looked like He appeared from nowhere. He had entered the city unobtrusively and had kept away from the people until now.

I guess that since He was a carpenter no one expected Him to be literate. Not only was He literate, He was well-versed in Scripture. He was not educated, so how did He know the scriptures so well?

John 7:16 "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me."

While on earth, Jesus was a flesh man. He was also divine. But as a flesh man, His doctrine was of His divinity and came from His Father in Heaven. It wasn't the carpenter or the man that understood so well; it was the Father Who gave Him His knowledge.

John 7:17 "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

If you are in the will of God, it will be revealed that Christ spoke the words of God. Of course, being God, He was really speaking of Himself. But, in the flesh, The words He spoke were of the Father.

Many people say they cannot understand the Bible. They say they try to read it but give up in disgust at their inability to make sense of it. My own experience tells me this. Before I was saved, the Bible was a boring, difficult to read work. But afetr being saved and having the Holy Spirit dwell in me, the Bible made perfect sense. It was no longer boring or difficult to read. And every time I read it I learn something new. Those who are in His will shall have no difficulty understanding the things of God.

When we do God's will, that is when we believe on Jesus, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that Christ is the Son of God and that He truly spoke the doctrine of God.

John 7:18 "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him."

One who speaks his own words seeks his own glory. Jesus, however was seeking God's glory, Who sent Him. Because He was sent from God, what He speaks is true and He is totally righteous. This is an excellent way to discern whether a preacher is truly a man of God doing the will of God. If his ministry brings glory upon God, then the man is a true prophet. But if the ministry brings glory to the man, then the man is seeking his own glory and no righteousness is in him. Perhaps you know of a 'preacher' that brings such glory upon himself. They re a few of them around. I see one on TV occasionally. You will now that one when you see him. Avoid him.

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

Jesus received His revelation directly from His Father Who sent Him. Accordingly, the religious leaders had received God's law from Moses, a man, and they did not even keep that. Which is better, revelation directly from God or revelation through a man and then many men through the ages? From God, of course. So why did they want to kill Him if He received His revelation directly from His Father?

It was their unbelief. To them, Jesus was an upstart, a commoner with no credentials. He was also upsetting their religious apple cart. He called them hypocrites and vipers. He had made them to look foolish in the eyes of the public. He had jeered their religiosity. He told them that they looked good on the outside, but inside they were corrupt and hell-bound. Had they been willing to look truthfully at the scriptures, they would have known about Him. But they were not. Jesus had pointed out their inadequacies, their backsliding, and their twisting of the scriptures to fit their own ends. They did not like it. They wanted Him silenced. Now you can see that even today there are church leaders like this. There have always been those in leadership positions who have done those things. We have been warned away from those types.

While there are many good men who preach the gospel and have not backslid or otherwise compromised who still believe it is acceptable to twist scripture. What I mean by this is that some preachers, when preparing to preach, will pick a subject and find scriptures to back up their subject. While this is legitimate, it is very easy for a person to make a particular scripture fit the subject. One way this is done is taking a passage out of context and pretending it says something it does not. I have done this myself and have repented of the practice and stopped it. If a passage does not support your subject, do not take it out of context so that it seems to fit that subject. Find scripture that applies to your subject. The best way to avoid this pitfall is to use the expository method, that is, preach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

What a typical reaction for someone caught red-handed. They called Him crazy and denied the truth about their intentions.

 John 7:21-23 "Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. {22} Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. {23} If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?"

Circumcision started with Abraham and continued with the patriarchs (or the fathers). Moses did not begin circumcision, he simply encoded it in the law. Jesus said that His one work of healing a man on the Sabbath was no more a sin than circumcising a man on the Sabbath. Circumcision removes flesh and makes men less whole. Circumcision, the injury to the flesh, was a blood sacrifice made to proclaim that a man had become a worshipper of God. Circumcision injured the flesh, healing made men whole. Jesus asked if it was not better to heal on the Sabbath than to injure.

John 7:24 "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

The appearance was that Jesus did a work on the Sabbath and therefore broke the law. Yet when one delved into the act, one could see it was a righteous act. A righteous act cannot also be unrighteous. Jesus act was righteous and therefore He broke no law.

How many times have I heard a statement like this: "I'm judging and I should not judge"? Too many! One of the current problems with our thinking is that we must tolerate anything and everything. Liberal politicians promote this concept on a daily basis. It gives them power. If you are not tolerant of every type of aberrant behavior, idea, or credo, then they call you an intolerant bigot. This makes people gun-shy of expressing any objection they may have to such behavior, even if the objection is correct and righteous. Let me set forth a very provocative example.

The Bible is very explicit on how God considers homosexuality. It is called an abomination in the Bible. See ( Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Deuteronomy 23:17, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10, Jude 1:7). However, if you stand up in public and state that you believe what the Bible says about homosexuality you will be called a bigot and a homophobe. You may even be arrested and prosecuted for violation of hate crimes laws. This is especially true in certain countries. Canada and Australia have hate crimes laws. Both have prosecuted ministers of God for taking a Biblical stand against the practice of homosexuality under those laws. But that does not absolve us from taking such a stand under exactly those circumstances. Our legislators are working on just such hate crimes legislation. If passed, a Christian could be held legally liable if he takes a Biblical stand on homosexuality.

If you see that someone is sinning and that that person continues on in sin day after day, you might be afraid to speak up because you are judging. We Christians must stop allowing the world's definition of tolerance to get in the way of calling sin sin. One of our major problems in this country today is the failure of citizens to speak out against evil for fear of being called a bigot or intolerant.

It is time to stop this madness. We must never take anything the Bible says out of context or without taking in to consideration similar verses in the Bible. Yes, the Bible says in Matthew 7:1-2: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. {2} For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." But it also says here in John 7:24: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." And, as the Judges of Israel were told by King Jehoshaphat, "take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment" (2 Chronicles 19:6) Some (but not all) other verses concerning this matter are Deuteronomy 1:17, Psalm 58:1, and Proverbs 17:15.

The verse we are currently studying also says to judge righteous judgment. On the whole, the Bible does not say we are not to judge; it says that when we do judge, do so with God's guidance and judge righteously. So when you call sin a sin, you are judging a righteous judgment because the Bible tells us what sin is and it is righteous judgment when it comes from the Bible.

 Yes. It seems that the secret plans of the Jewish leaders were known by the general public.

No. They did not believe Him to be the Christ because the Messiah they were expecting would be a general who would successfully lead them in battle against Rome. When Jesus came preaching repentance and gentleness and forgiveness of sins, they could not bring themselves to admit He was indeed the very Messiah. The prophecies tell of both a powerful Christ who destroys His enemies and also about a suffering servant. He came the first time as a suffering servant but will come as King of kings next time. They expected the King of kings the first time.

But, yes, they did know He claimed to be the Christ. And yes they did know He was there preaching. But they feared the crowds that followed Him. They were afraid to arrest Him in public so they delayed until an opportune time arose.

They called Him the true Christ (very Christ) in one breath but renounced the notion in the next breath. That is because we are reading of the opinions of several different individuals in the crowd. They said that they knew where Jesus (the man) came from but no one would know where the Messiah would come from. According to Lightfoot, the rabbis had taught that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem but then He would be hidden and no one would know where. In essence that is true. The Christ was born in Bethlehem and presented on the eighth day to the priest at Jerusalem for dedication and circumcision. But shortly thereafter the Christ was spirited away to Egypt and then to Nazareth where he lived for almost thirty years. To the world it seems that the Christ was hidden all those years. Of course, based upon that teaching, they would have believed that the Christ was supposed to be from Bethlehem. But they knew that that Jesus was from an obscure Galilean village. That made Him suspect in their eyes. Because of His knowledge, His ability to teach, and His masterful manner they believed Him to be the Christ. But because the supposed ancestry of Jesus was of Galilee, they were somewhat reluctant to fully believe.

John 7:28-29 "Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. {29} But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me."

He then made Himself known. He cried or called out in public riveting people's attention on Him. He said, "Yes you know me and you know where I came from; but I am not here on my own. The One who sent me is truthful but you do not know Him." This of course enraged them. They were supposed to be the men of God who served Him in the church but Jesus said they did not even know the God they supposedly served.

I would call this a miracle. Jesus was right there among them but they could not arrest Him. No one touched Him! That was because His time was not yet.

The answer is no. But there are others who could perform miracles as well. Let us list a few:

• Moses performed several miracles. The plagues against Egypt were miracles.
• Jannes and Jambres were sorcerers for Pharaoh during the time of the plagues. They were able to duplicate several of the miracles of Moses. For example, they were able to through down a stick and turn it into a serpent. They were able to turn water to blood and duplicate the plague of frogs. 
• Elijah was able to cause the rain to stop and to begin again.
• Elisha caused an ax head to float.
• Elijah, Elisha, and Paul raised the dead.
• The Two Witnesses will be able to perform miracles.
• Satan will perform signs and wonders in the end times.

Anyone who follows a man solely because of the miracles he can perform is not a dependable follower. The performer of miracles could well be Messiah, but he could also be Satan or Satan's agent. Finally, many of those who followed Christ because of His miracles fell away from Him when His teachings got too hard for them. See John 6:66 and note.

When the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers, his idea was that his brothers would believe if they saw a man raised from the dead. Abraham "said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16:31)

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, "Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done." (John 11:45-46) Those that snitched to the Pharisees did not believe even after Lazarus was raised. Because of this miracle, the Pharisees conceived a plan to kill Jesus which they fulfilled at the crucifixion.

They were afraid of Him. People were believing in Him and not following them. They were not successful in apprehending Him because it was not yet His time.

John 7:33 "Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me." 

 Jesus knew that His time on earth was short and He told them this to prepare them.

John 7:34 "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come."

They would not find Him physically on earth for He would be (and is now) at the right hand of the father. The only way to go where He is is to die in Christ and go to heaven where He is.

Another aspect of this statement is that the Messiah will not be found upon the earth. Those seeking for Him must seek Him where He is—in Heaven. That requires faith; a faith that believes that Jesus in indeed in Heaven and that we must seek Him in that faith.

When the Romans in circa 70 AD destroyed the city of Jerusalem, the Jews' deliverer would not be there. He had already come and given His people the opportunity to believe in Him and be saved. Thousands, or perhaps millions, did. Those believers were safe. There was not one believer killed when the Romans came. All the Christians had fled the city per the instructions of Jesus. (Matthew 24:15-17) But of those who rejected Him when He came were not so fortunate. Many thousands of them died defending their beloved Jerusalem and many were carried off by the Romans and made into slaves. They had no deliverer that they could seek for their deliverer had come and gone.

Do not seek a deliverer on Earth. No one can truly deliver you—not your parents, friends, business associates, bank account, the government—all are unable to deliver you. No matter how many locks you put on your door, a determined intruder can get to you. None of the aforementioned entities will be able to prevent that. Your only hope is in Jesus Christ. When you are one of Christ's own, nothing can truly hurt you, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature Romans 8:38-39). Nay, even death can do no harm to any Christian. Seek Jesus now where He can be found. Cry out to Him and repent and believe, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). He will hear you and you will find Him.

John 7:35-36 "Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? {36} What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?"

The word 'Gentile' should read 'Greek' because the Greek word here is Ellhn (Hellen, Strong's 1672), meaning Greek and not Gentile. However, both Greek (Hellen) and Gentile (ethnos) meant very nearly the same thing-those other than Jews. The reason John used the word for Greek here is because the Jews were asking if Jesus would leave Judea and go some where else in the Roman Empire. They had no idea to what Jesus was referring; they thought He would leave the area and go far away to a location outside of Judea. They were confused. After the crucifixion and the coming of the Comforter, they understood.

The dispersed among the Gentiles are those Jews that had migrated outside of Judea to elsewhere in the culture. Some had moved voluntarily and some were from the Diaspora to Assyria and Babylon. Some had been forced to flee Alexander's generals. Some had gotten jobs in the government and gone out to work in those jobs outside Judea. There is a variety of reasons why Jews were dispersed among the Empire. These are just a few examples. The Jews asking this question speculated that He might have business with those dispersed Israelites. That He would go back to be with His Father never occured to many of them.

John 7:37-39 "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. {38} He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. {39} (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

The eighth and final day of the Holy Convocation of Tabernacles was a feast day and a Sabbath. Jesus preached these words on a Sabbath.

The scriptures are replete with references to belief in the Messiah, for example, Deuteronomy 18:15, and Isaiah 44:3. It seems certain that Jesus was referring directly to the prophet Zechariah who tells us that when Jesus reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, that "living waters shall go out from Jerusalem" (Zechariah 14:8). This can be further explained by reading Revelation 22:1-3, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. {2} In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. {3} And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:" Living water or the "water of life" flows from the throne of God into the New Jerusalem providing life for all who are there. (See Ezekiel 47:7-12) The curse spoken of in verse 3, is the curse of sin, which is death. There will be no more death when the living waters flow. Death is swallowed up in victory and eternal life reigns in Heaven.

John also says, in verse 39, that the rivers of living water are symbolic of the Holy Spirit and of salvation ("which they that believe on him [Jesus] should receive"—belief in Jesus is saving faith) a work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was not given at the time these words were spoken. The Spirit was there, but not as our Paraklete, that is our advocate, counselor, and comforter. He would come as our Paraklete on Pentecost.

When John wrote that living waters would flow from the belly of those who believed on Jesus, he was expressing the same sentiment we would express if we said "rivers of living water will flow from the heart of him who believes on Jesus." We figuratively consider the heart to be the center of love and emotions. The Greek culture considered the belly or the abdomen to be the seat of love and emotions. (In fact a highly charged emotional experience is physically felt in the belly. For example, when you receive a fright, there is a feeling of upheaval in your stomach, which is caused by adrenaline.) To the Greek of that day, the belly in this context is the same as the heart is to us today. In other words, believers will have a heart for the unsaved and out of their love for others, the Gospel will flow out of their hearts.

The Messiah would also be known as the Prophet: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deut 18:15). Some distinguished between the Prophet like Moses and the Messiah. But many of the people called Him Messiah.

They believed that the Messiah would not to come out of Galilee. But they had forgotten Isaiah 9:1-2: "Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. {2} The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." (Quoted in Matthew 4:14-16) So it should have not been a question that He had come from Galilee.

Yes, but he was also to come out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1 & Matthew 2:15) and Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2 & Matthew 4:14-16). He was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), came up out of Egypt, and came also from Galilee. This misunderstanding was caused by not staying in God's Word or listening to false teachers. It would seem that the teachers did not teach that Messiah would come from Galilee. Perhaps that is because Galilee had a poor reputation and they did not wish for their Messiah to come from Galilee.

Some said He was a prophet, some John the Baptist, some Jeremiah, some Elijah, some claimed He was the Prophet and some said He was Messiah. Not much has changed even today. There is deep division over Who He was. Jesus said this would be true: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: {52} For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. {53} The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." (Luke 12:51-53). There is division in the so-called 'religion' of Christianity and even division within the true Body of Christ because of Him. For example, there are people who claim to be Christians that do not believe in the virgin birth or in the divinity of Christ. An example of division among true Christians would be the doctrine of "once saved always saved." Some true believers believe in that doctrine and some do not. However, among true believes this type of difference is not (or at least should not be) a point of contention.

They were unable to take Jesus because of His presence and his teaching. They were sent by the officers and chief priests to apprehend a man who was a blasphemer, a man disloyal to God and His Law. They expected someone different that they found. Perhaps they had expected to find an obvious ruffian. But what they found was a man who was warm, sincere, and knowledgeable. Jesus was not what they expected. Perhaps His teaching touched them. Perhaps some of them became saved. Perhaps they thought the chief priests had made a mistake. Whatever the reason, they did not arrest Him. They may have even expected a commendation from their employers for not arresting the wrong man. But, instead, the officers, chief priests, and Pharisees were furious with them.

The Pharisees sarcastically asked them if they too were "deceived" by Jesus. They made a great point to say that they, the keepers of the Law, were surely not deceived by Jesus. Because the uneducated, unwashed masses did not know the Law as well as did the Pharisees, they were cursed by the Law. At least that is what the chief priests opined. Little did the officers, priests, or Pharisees understand what they themselves had said. They too were cursed by the Law but they did not know it. They did not know that the only way out from under the curse was to believe on Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that John would write the question " Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" and then follow that with the mentioning of Nicodemus. This was the answer to that question, Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? Yes, there was at least one. John seems to be hinting that Nicodemus was a believer in Jesus as Messiah. We know from other passages that many priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, officers, etc., believed on Christ.

Nicodemus was right to ask such a question and no, the law does not judge any man before he is able to defend himself. For a couple of the many examples of this requirement, let us look at Deuteronomy 1:17: "Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it." and Proverbs 18:13: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." The unofficially assembled Sanhedrin had accused the masses of not knowing the Law and being cursed, yet by denying Jesus due process they who knew the law certainly were not keeping it. So, what else is new?

So they turned on Nicodemus for doing what was right. Their agenda did not allow them to care about truth or right, they just cared about getting rid of this Jesus Who was a thorn in their side.

These keepers of the Law either did not know that prophets did indeed come out of Galilee or they were trying to keep it a secret. A cursory glance at the Torah would have shown them that several prophets came out of Galilee, such as Jonah, who was from Gathhepher, in the tribe of Zebulun, in lower Galilee. The prophet Nahum was from the town of Capernaum (Village of Nahum), his name's sake, which is situated right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (it was known as Elkosh when Nahum was born). Elisha was from Abelmeholah near the Jezreel Valley and the Carmel mountains which are within the range of Galilee. We have already seen where Isaiah prophesied about the Great Light (Messiah) out of Galilee.

They denied that Jesus was the Messiah. They denied Him in every way they could. They taunted Him. They tried to trick Him. They complained because He healed on the Sabbath. They complained that His disciples did not wash their hands in the intricately prescribed manner. They complained that He associated with sinners. They called Him a winebibber. Blah blah blah blah… They were even complicit in lawbreaking to try to catch Him in a misstatement or misdeed, as we will see in the next chapter when we are confronted with the woman taken in adultery.

People still deny Him today in any way possible.

This verse signifies the end of the convocation of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now begins a section that some scholars question as authentic. Verses 7:53 - 8:11 are not in some manuscripts, but are in most. The next section has ancient witnesses to its authenticity; men like Eusebius, Ambrose, and Augustine. It is the story about the woman taken in adultery. We will look at this in the next segment.

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