JESUS TEACHES IN THE TEMPLE

John 7:11-18 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but He deceiveth the people. Howbeit no man spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews. Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this Man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. 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.

In the first ten verses of this chapter we find Jesus making preparations to go to Jerusalem for, what He knows to be, His last visit into this holy city. His disbelieving brothers encourage Him to do so as soon as possible. However, Jesus knows what awaits Him and sends the entire multitude before Him, and at last He follows them on this journey to celebrate the holy feast of tabernacles. In the lesson text, we find that Jesus has already entered the city, and immediately the Jews searched for Him, asking among the crowd, Where is He? It is good to note here that when the phrase "the Jews" is used it almost always refers to the ruling class - the scribes, Pharisees, or members of the Sanhedrin. When phrases such as "the people" (Vs. 12) are used, it generally means the masses of people making up the Jewish nation. It is also generally true that the opinions of most, but not all, Jewish people were usually, but not always, swayed by the judgments expressed by their Jewish leaders - "the Jews."

This difference of opinions among "the people" was evident in their response to the quest of "the Jews" as they searched for Jesus. And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him (Jesus). There arose contentious arguments among the people with some saying that He is a good Man, no doubt referring to the compassionate miracles He performed, while others disagreed and said that He deceiveth the people - that is, He was an imposter and His "miracles" were mere deception. However their contention was only among the people,because no man spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews, that is, their leaders. It can be said, without too much criticism, that those that denied Jesus as the promised Messiah spoke openly about their belief because they didn't fear the Jewish leaders whose beliefs were the same. Only those that upheld Jesus as a good Man feared retribution from the Jewish leaders.

The feast of tabernacles lasted for eight days, and in the middle days of this celebration, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. Multitudes of Jewish people assembled around the temple during these holy days, making it very receptive for various religious leaders and doctors of the law to express their opinions and make known their doctrinal beliefs. The mission of Jesus on earth was to, not only preach the gospel of the coming kingdom of heaven, but to openly preach the eternal salvation God promised the world through obedience to His will. We do not have the exact message He preached, but this we know, everyone present on that day was extremely impressed with His speech. The Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Such thorough knowledge of the scriptures and the eloquence with which they were expressed were never witnessed by anyone that had not received religious tutoring under the Jewish Rabbis.

Jesus immediately told those gathered in the temple the source of His wisdom and knowledge. Taking no credit for Himself, He replied as if He was God's ambassador by saying, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. The next verse is extremely important. Only those that know and accept God's will as it is given, without any deletions, additions, or alterations, will be able to truly understand and accept the doctrine Jesus taught on that day to be of God. The Jews had made void the will of God by holding, in greater importance, the tradition of the elders, ...the commandments of men (See Matt. 15:1-2; Mark 7:1-7). Therefore, as long as they rejected the will of God, they could never accept His New Testament plan of salvation through His Son, Christ Jesus. In His preaching Jesus sought nothing but the glory of God.