This is the Messiah

This Is the Christ

Book of John Chapter 7

The Feast of the Tabernacles was the fourth of the annual feast of the Jews. It was also called the Feast of the In-gathering, The Feast to the Lord, and sometimes it was just called "The Feast" because it was so well known.

The Jews would build a temporary structure called "booths", that they would live in for a week.

This booth was not to be an image of misery from the days of the 40-year trek through the wilderness but was to be an image protection, preservation, and shelter from the heat and the storms.

Psa 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psa 27:6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

This feast is thought by many to be the greatest of the Hebrew Feasts.

It is on the last day of this feast that we find the Lord Jesus Christ and He will say:

Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

He will also say:

Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

We should also understand that the Pharisees and the High Priest had been actively hunting for Jesus, so they could put Him to death.

Jesus had moved His ministry to Galilee which was occupied in majority by the Gentiles and also was not under the jurisdiction of Herod at this time.

Now we do not have to think that Jesus was afraid of being caught or captured because this was not true. It is just the fact that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled just as they were written!

This is where we will pick-up our Scripture:

*****Joh 7:37 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.

Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

On each of the 7 days of this festival a priest would take a golden pitcher and lead the people to the Pool of Siloam.

On their return the people would sing out the Psalms of Hillel which were the Psalms 113-118 which are also the Psalms of Praise.

Asa Christians we do not need some festival to praise the Lord, He is to be praised everyday!

On the return to the Temple as they passed through what was called the "Water Gate" these people would repeat Isaiah 12:3.

Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

We can just imagine as this was being repeated the Lord Jesus Christ stood up and shouted "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water".

When that priest reached the Altar where sacrifices had already been offered, this water was also poured out over the Altar as an offering to God, while palm branches were being waved and Psalm 118:25 was being sung out.

Psa 118:25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

The Lord is waiting on all of us to repeat these words. "Save Me Oh Lord".

For the Jews this was a dramatic way to thank God for the rain.

Remember there is no rain in Israel during the Summer Season but as the Fall Season arrives, so would the rains return!

There can be no doubt that Jesus can meet our Spiritual needs, but the same Jesus can also meet our physical needs!

Without a doubt it is these two things that most people have a craving for!

It is only "Living Water" that can quench the thirst of these things!

Most people recognize their "Spiritual Thirst" but they try to quench this thirst with the things of this world which will only make matters worse!

Many then get frustrated and give up on everything including life itself.

When we meet Jesus the "Fountain of Living Waters" that thirst will disappear!

What we must understand is that this "Living Water" was not available, in this maner, until after the death of Christ.

Remember the time of Moses?

Exo 17:5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

Exo 17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

We must also understand that this is where Moses made a terrible mistake:

Num 20:10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

Num 20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

Num 20:12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Num 20:13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

The Lord will only go to the Cross one time not two!

The bottom line is that without the Lord Jesus Christ we cannot be washed in the water of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit was not given in this manner until after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ back to His throne in Heaven.

*****Joh 7:39 (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.)

You see it is not some temporary tabernacle we must build but it is the permanent Tabernacle that Christ must build!

Jesus Christ died to pay the sin debt of this entire world and became the source of "Living Water".

Because Jesus gave up His life He was able to take up His life again.

Jesus was able to conquer all sin He took from us and His death to bring forth eternal life from the abundance of God meaning there would always be enough to go around!

It is only by our "Faith" that we can partake of this "Living Water"!

Rivers of "Living Waters" speak of the Holy Spirit who could not come to each of us until Jesus returned to Heaven in His "Glorified Body"!

We must clearly understand that the deity of the Holy Spirit is bound up in the Triune God.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit does many things, but maybe the most important was to inspire all the writers of the Scriptures to guarantee that the Scriptures contained no errors. Of course this refers to the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.

It is man who must make an honest copy of those original text in the many different languages.

The Lord Jesus promised us another helper so what does this mean?

Jesus said another helper because He Himself is the first "Comforter"!

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The Holy Spirit would be that other "Comforter"!

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Just as Jesus was sent of the Father, then the Holy Spirit was sent of the Father and again we can see that the Trinity of God is not only involved in our salvation but also in keeping us saved which means we cannot lose our salvation under any condition.

This made so much sense to those that could hear Jesus that they admitted that Jesus Himself was definitely inspired of God the Holy Spirit and could truly be the Messiah, but they made a huge error.

They put man-made text before the Word of God just as many do today!

They had been listening to false statements made by their leaders.

*****Joh 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.

Joh 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

What Prophet? The Prophet promised by Moses.

Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Deu 18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

Many before this time had insisted that John the Baptist was this Prophet, but he insisted that he was not and he was not.

Jesus was certainly the Messiah, but the confusion came because of a lack to study the Scriptures and forgetting their heritage.

What had Moses actually said?

Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

Act 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Act 3:24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

Act 3:25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

Act 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

When we stand before the Lord we may have to answer for our lack of knowing more of the Holy Scriptures!

Had any investigation been made, these people would have known themselves that Christ Jesus had both the lineage and the birth place which was required of the true Messiah.

This is another reason that when we teach we do not deviate from the Scriptures in any form of fashion!

It may not take much ignorance to keep someone from being saved.

*****Joh 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

Why are there so many so-called denominations today? Because those who say they are Christian either add to or take away from the truth of the Scriptures when we are to accept those true Scriptures and believe them for what they say, rightly divided!

The truth is this is why Jesus left us the Comforter to begin with!

Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Joh 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

When we do not allow the Holy Spirit to complete His work within us, we are setting ourselves up for division and for error!

*****Joh 7:43 So there was a division among the people because of him.

It amazes me that when the topic of Jesus Christ comes up division and slander begins when the Lord is all about salvation but Christ Jesus already knew all these things.

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

The truth is, sin is such a fixed unyielding power that it takes an overwhelming power to overcome it and this is Christianity!

Everyone who meets Jesus Christ will change in some way. Some to the good but more to the bad as they choose to confront the Lord rather than accept Him.

We are not to run from these things, but we are to be a part of these things!

Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Luk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

Luk 12:53 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.

This does not in any way change the fact that we are to be witnesses for Christ, but we should be aware that Satan's army will resist the truth and only those who accept Gods call will reap the rewards.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

*****Joh 7:44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

Joh 7:45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?

We must also understand that as long as we tell the truth, we do not have to lie. The truth will win in the end!

Those who reject Christianity believe that everyone that lives, have some dirty rotten sin in their past that they can be controlled by. We must not all forgiven sin to weigh us down!

Even today, many see Jesus as a great man but still only a man and they totally reject Jesus is the Son of God or God in the flesh.

Even today most of this world would wish that Jesus would just go away but this is not going to happen.

There is no man-made thing that can stop Christianity!

Those that want nothing to do with Jesus will make their choice and they will reap what they sow, and this is why they have so much hatred toward the Christian.

Sinners do not want anyone to tell them they cannot enter into God's Heaven because they have made themselves to be little gods in control of their own destiny, but this is simply not the truth.

Jesus spoke with such an authority that not one man would risk laying their hands upon Him.

Even the Temple police would not dare touch the Lord on this day.

What are the facts? Even on the last day of the Feast of the Tabernacles, the greatest day of this feast, the High Priest and those he controlled, maybe even the entire Sanhedrin Court, were waiting on the Temple police to bring Jesus to them.

They were immediately hostile toward those who had failed them.

They had planned on humiliating the Lord on this day by taking Him off to prison but the Majesty of the Lord had won again this time because it was not the right time.

So they answered:

*****Joh 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

It was not the great crowd that had kept these men from doing their job, it was the words that the Lord spoke to the crowd that had kept them from laying their hands upon the Lord.

It was still 6 months before Jesus would be crucified and the hatred of Him had grown.

The High Priest and his cronies could not stand to listen to the people as they talked about the Lord and the things that He had already done.

This was the second time this same day that someone had been sent to arrest Jesus and again they had failed.

It is a fact that no one upon the face of this earth has ever had a message like that of the Lord Jesus Christ!

These men could have used most any excuse that would have sounded more reasonable, but they told the truth. When the Lord speaks things happen and this will never change.

This answer which was true did not sit well with the Temple rulers.

*****Joh 7:47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?

Joh 7:48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?

Joh 7:49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

These rulers were arrogant enough to place themselves above anything associated with Christ!

By this time the Sadducee and the Pharisees had linked together even though they were enemies in trying to rid that world of Jesus Christ.

The message of Jesus Christ was never about deception, it was always about the truth!

To these rulers anyone who had a favorable impression of Jesus had to be mentally ill.

They had to be slow witted and easily duped and manipulated but this had never been true.

This is the exact way the Christian is seen today.

One lady said we were deplorable which in reality means we are all to stupid to know what we need.

Satan will try anything to intimidate us and cause us to trip in our faith.

These foolish men had not even realized that there were some among them that had a much higher opinion of Christ Jesus than they showed.

Among them Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethia.

Our previous government said we are unable to judge ourselves.

Our previous government said we are unable to decide right and wrong for our children.

Our previous government said we are unable to choose what we should learn or not learn.

Why does the world want to get rid of Jesus? Because since Jesus came, the world has no place to hide its sin.

Joh_15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

Truth always has a way of catching up to the liar!

But the liar on the other hand will cling to his lies with everything he has, just so he can continue in his sin!

This is the same way most Christians are looked upon today.

In fact the Word of God is looked upon by many as being hate speech when the Word of God is all the truth.

The world denies it's own truth and the lessons from history!

Today the Lord is our example, our measuring stick to see how we measure up.

These Pharisees and Sadducee had made themselves to be the measuring stick for godly living so it was they who were the deceivers.

Today we have some men and women who we believe to be Christians in our own government but if they refuse to vote for Jesus even one time they are not worthy to hold their positions.

Today we hear an awful lot about holding to the rule of law from people who have very little concern about keeping the laws of our land.

Nicodemus pointed out to those in session that they were already judging a man contrary to the Laws of Moses who they claimed.

It was 6 months till Jesus would be crucified and these men had already judged Him to be guilty and worthy of capital punishment according to Roman law because Jewish law could not get a death penalty for the Lord Jesus.

*****Joh 7:50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)

Joh 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

Something our own government needs to realize is just because they write the laws, this does not give them the right to break those laws.

Another thing is once a law has been approved and voted on, it does not give others the right to falsely interpret those laws.

The one true thing we can agree on is you cannot get a houseful of lawyers to agree on anything!

Nicodemus had just as much right to speak up as anyone that was present that day, yet he was cutoff immediately.

*****Joh 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

Joh 7:53 And every man went unto his own house.

Nicodemus was cut-off with an outright lie.

Jesus was not from Galilee, He was born in Bethlehem of Judea and they all knew this.

There were many prophets from Galilee: Deborah in the time of the Judges, Anna, Jonah, Hosea, Nahum, Elijah the Tishbite, Elisha, and maybe others.

We can be sure that these so-called heads of the Sanhedrin and the High Priest had already made up their mind and they intended that there be no more discussion.

The title of our lesson is "This is the Christ".

The more Jesus proved He was the Messiah, the more He was hated by these who would attempt to kill God!

We must remember that an attack on the deity of Jesus Christ is an attack on Christianity.

If Jesus is not who He said He was then He could not have died to save our souls, but He died for all the world, even for those who doubt Him!

It is only by Jesus Christ that we can be reconciled to God!

This is the truth of the Scriptures and this is what we base our salvation upon!

Amen

Let's Pray!