Chapter 7 started out with Christ saying He was not going to the Feast of Tabernacles, but then shows up there in secret and teaches in the temple. We spoke last time about how the Feast of Tabernacles is the only Sabbath that isn’t complete and how it corresponds with the seven year tribulation and we ended in the middle of the feast with Christ standing up in the temple and people marveling over his ability to use letters having never learned.

Those of you who have studied the tribulation will know that Christ shortened it, (See Matthew 24:22) but seven years or not, shortened or not, the script on how it plays out hasn’t changed. So we pick it up with him still speaking in the “midst of the feast.”

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

Christ is showing us the way. You know when you speak the words of God, it isn’t your doctrine. It isn’t Paul’s, Peter’s or the Pope’s. It is God’s doctrine. It is the words of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and when you share it you are His emissary. Holy means set apart and His words are holy royal decrees that ought to be treated with the respect they deserve.

 

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

In this day and age you don’t need to go very far to hear some pretty peculiar things about God’s word. If you google anything from the bible you will get a million plus hits with the same number of interpretations, but that needn’t worry you for John 10 tells us:

John 10:1-4Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.(2)But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.(3)To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.(4)And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

If you are a child of God you will know His voice when you hear it. If you hear something that distresses you, go to His word and seek out the answers. Pray about it. God wont let you down, but he also might not answer right away. If God doesn’t give you an answer right away just put it in the back of your mind and chew on it. Take it out from time to time, talk about it. God’s word is simple so please do not misunderstand, but usually the more precious a truth is the harder it is for us in the flesh to see it.

On a different level this is speaking of the time when the elect speak. About how they will not speak of themselves or have their own doctrine. It will be the voice of the Ancient of Days coming out and when those that He has blinded (See Romans 11) are suddenly given sight.

John 7:18He 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.

Christ didn’t come preaching a bunch of new stuff. He simply showed us the way and explained the Old Testament. Here He is reading. Reading what? There wasn’t a new testament at this time. He simply used stories and parables to explain what we should have already known and when the elect speak, it isn’t going to be some new thing either. It will be new to some, but there is nothing new under the sun.

John 7:19Did not Moses give you the law, andyetnone of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?

Remember the beginning of the chapter? They want to kill him. Not only is that breaking the sixth commandment it’s breaking the first because He is God.

For the deeper level, think about the two witnesses and what they did to them as soon as their testimony is finished.

Revelation 11:7-8 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. (8) And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

John 7:20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?

Who indeed. We will find out a little bit more about who precisely it is that wants to kill him.

John 7:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

What work is he talking about? Remember chapter 5 when He went to Jerusalem and healed the man who had been lame for 38 years? Christ is bringing this up for a reason, He wants to call it back to your mind. Who did the man represent? Israel in the wilderness. What did Christ take him away from? The angel at the well, who we discussed earlier was a symbol of Satan or Antichrist. And where are we now in this chapter? Christ just spoke in the temple as an example of when the Holy Spirit speaks through the elect half way through the tribulation.

John 7:22 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.

The circumcision wasn’t Moses, it was God’s and Moses wasn’t even the first one to do it. Abraham was.

John 7:23 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? (24)Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Circumcision was a work that was more important to be done on the eight day than to postpone it till after the sabbath. Why? It was the physical example of our covenant with God and it was done on the eighth day because eight is new beginnings biblical numerics. Christ is saying that healing a person is of far greater importance than observing sabbath; physically as well as spiritually because when you spiritually heal a person you bring them back into covenant with God, thus circumcising their heart, which is all God cares about in the first place.

John 7:25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?

Back in verse 20 they didn’t know who wanted to kill him, but no doubt his healing on the sabbath day has gotten around town and they knew the story.

John 7:26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

Do they know He is The Anointed One? Do they know He is Messiah?

Relate this to after the elect speak. Isn’t one of the main reasons God has the elect speak is to make the people question the lies and deceptions that are flooding the land?

John 7:27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.

They were expecting Messiah to come from Bethlehem (imagine that) and the He would be hid (again, imagine that).

John 7:28 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.

Jesus wasn’t hiding and He is doing the works and speaking the words of God. Had they been His sheep they would have listened.

John 7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.

John 7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

It wasn’t time, nor will they take the elect until it’s time and only when their testimony is finished will they lay hands on the two witnesses.

There’s nothing new under the sun and Christ is showing us exactly what is going to happen at the end if you have the eyes to see it.

Mark 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.