A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

CCC. Christ’s Credibility Authenticated By His Teaching

(John 7:11-24)

I. Introduction

A. Between the fall Feast of Tabernacles and the winter Feast of Dedication (later Hanukkah), Jesus had one last opportunity to evangelize Judea before His crucifixion the next spring. (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 275) His conflict with Jerusalem’s religious authorities was now an open fact.

B. John 7:11-18 records how Christ’s credibility was challenged at the Feast of Tabernacles, and how He was validated to be God’s true Servant by His teaching, so we view that passage for application and edification:

II. Christ’s Credibility Authenticated By His Teaching, John 7:11-24.

A. The unbelief that Israel’s religious leaders had for Jesus was evident at His last observance of the Feast of Tabernacles before the cross in John 7:10, for “Christ did not present Himself in the temple to observe the Feast of Tabernacles until the festive week was half over. Throughout the opening days of the feast, ‘the Jews were watching for him’ (John 7:11). They anticipated that He would be present to observe the” required “Feast of Tabernacles” in obedience to the Mosaic Law at Deuteronomy 16:16-17. (op. cit., p. 276)

B. We know from John 7:13 and 21 that the crowds were afraid to speak openly of Jesus at this feast out of fear of the religious leaders who strongly opposed Jesus and who apparently threatened severely to punish anyone who spoke openly in favor of Jesus (John 9:22; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to John 7:13 and 7:21).

C. Under the pressure of this great degree of disagreement over Christ’s credibility as God’s Servant, and hence of His claims to be the Son of God and Messiah, His teaching only supported His credibility, John 7:12-24:

1. Before Jesus taught the people at this feast, there was “widespread whispering about him. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.’ But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.” (John 7:12-13 NIV) If ever there was a setting where the credibility of Jesus was about to be thoroughly tested, it was in such a setting of a division over His personal credibility.

2. Halfway through this eight-day feast event (cf. Leviticus 23:33-36), Jesus went up into the Jerusalem temple and publicly taught the people in the hearing of not only the people, but in the hearing of the religious leaders who would obviously be at the temple during this important feast, John 7:14.

3. The response to Jesus’ teaching in this special setting was very revealing: “The Jews were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’” (John 7:15 NIV) Alfred Edersheim’s work, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 2, p. 151-152 as cited in Pentecost (loc. cit.) explains this statement in view of the Judaism of that era (as follows): “‘To the Jews there was only one kind of learning – that of Theology; and only one road to it – the Schools of the Rabbis. . . . Among the Jews a Rabbi’s teaching derived authority from the fact of its accordance with tradition – that it accurately represented what had been received from a previous great teacher, and so on upwards to Moses, and to God Himself.’”

4. Aware of this view as One who was Himself raised in Israel as a Hebrew, and yet also since He was God Incarnate, Jesus replied, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 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. 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.” (John 7:16-18 NIV)

5. The religious leaders viewed Moses’ words as the words of God’s messenger, so Jesus referred to Moses’ prohibition of murder but of the Hebrew leaders’ intent to violate Moses’ law by killing Him, John 7:19.

6. The crowd countered that Jesus was demon-possessed for claiming that anyone was trying to murder Him, but Jesus then added that their main reason for trying to kill Him was His healing of a man on the Sabbath Day when Moses himself had called for circumcision even on that day, John 7:20-23. This logical inconsistency in the Jews revealed the error of their view of Jesus, John 7:24.

Lesson: The supernatural quality of Jesus’ teaching in a setting where His credibility was tested before the Hebrew nation revealed Jesus was God’s true Messenger and that His claims to be the Son of God and Messiah were true.

Application: (1) May we believe in Christ as the validated Messiah and Son of God by His evident supernatural teaching. (2) May we evaluate spiritual messengers today by the quality of their teaching, noting that both false and true teachers can be detected by the quality of their “fruits,” what they actually teach, cf. Matthew 7:15-18.