10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:10-12
Almost 2,000 years ago when Jesus preached these words, they also would have been radical to his audience. Persecution is never looked at as a blessing.But in Matthew 5, Jesus says that it is.Part of what Jesus is saying in these verses is that there is blessedness for the person who’s life is so clearly devoted to God, who is so clearly living out their Christian faith, that they face opposition because of it.
If a Christian goes through life and never faces opposition, you might be living too comfortably in the world.If you never face any heat because of your faith, you might not be associating with anyone who disagrees with what you believe.
In 2 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul talks about persecution.“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”ALL who live for Christ will be persecuted.Persecution is part of the Christian life. The Bible does not shy away from this fact.Shortly before the time of his crucifixion, Jesus said to his disciples in John 5:18-19: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Something doesn’t have to be a matter of life and death to be persecution. In American society, we don’t generally hear stories of a person being killed just because they are a Christian. It’s not absolutely unheard of, but it’s rare.The persecution American Christians face is often times more social or legal. That can still put us in situations where it’s tempting to sin, where it’s tempting to respond a certain way that we shouldn’t. That still puts us in situations where it’s easier to just go along with what the world is doing than taking a stand for what you believe.
I know a mechanic who’s a Christian. He was committed to being honest in his dealings with customers. He was so honest that his boss didn’t like him and eventually fired him.
My wife told me a story about how when she was in high school, she was interviewing to be part of a local youth leadership program in her community. While she was at her interview, one of the people making the decision saw that she was a student at a Christian high school. He started berating her with questions about her faith, questioning how she could believe in Jesus. Asking nothing about this youth organization. Essentially just harassing her about her faith.
Again, the gospel is a message that some find offensive. “To one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life (2 Corinthians 2:16).
”There have been examples of groups trying to silence coaches of public school teams from praying with players before games, even when it’s voluntary. I read a story today about the Freedom from Religion Foundation suing a public school in Ohio. A local pastor was leading a Bible study with students at lunch. It was optional. But FFRF still needed to swoop in and sue. There have been legal pressures on Christian universities to cover abortions for staff.Those are just a few examples.
But in living for Jesus, in a fallen world, it is inevitable that there will be times when a person’s faith comes under fire.
Responding When a person is being persecuted and has a choice of if they’re going to respond in a Christlike way or if they’re going to respond in a hostile way. You can be light to a dark world or you can just spread the darkness.The Apostle James talked about the various trials that Christians face:“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).
”As evil as the persecution that Christians face can be, it’s an opportunity to respond with love. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44).God can use those situations as a way to strengthen us in our own faith. To focus us on what we truly value.Another part of the reason why persecution is seen as a blessing is that the harsher the persecution, the more that is taken away from a person, the more someone is able to live in total dependence on God and reliance in his ability to preserve them. That’s not to say that the persecution is good in itself. It’s obviously not. That’s not to say that sin is good. It’s not. But through the evils that people commit, God can still use that for good.
Again, if you’re not ever facing any pressure because of your faith, you might not be living in a way that is distinct from the world. I’m not saying we should go out of our way to be combative. The verse does not say that all persecution is good. It’s when a person is following Jesus and is persecuted for righteousness’ sake that blessed a person. It’s a radical idea. But let us remember that we have a savior who faced the ultimate persecution for righteousness’ sake.
Originally published February 27, 2017
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The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.
9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
11 “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.
12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
We again come to you in a Spirit of thanksgiving as we praise your holy name.
May we marvel at your majesty over your creation. We praise you for the gift of everlasting life which is available to all through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgive us our sins Lord, as we are fallen people in a fallen world. We struggle with our areas of selfishness, our failings, our instances of pride, the times when we choose sin over you.
Lord, may we come to you on our own in confession of our sins.
Lord, may you strengthen us to repent and to more and more live for you. May we be daily sanctified through your word and by the power of your Spirit. May we be transformed from one degree of glory to another.
I pray for each of us that we trust in Jesus, that we know him personally, that we know the salvation that he promises, that we believe in the life that he invites us into, that we have placed our hope for eternity onto his work, and that we might look to him as the greater priest who offered the final sacrifice, as the greater Son who makes us worthy to be your children, and as the greater sacrifice who gave his life for us so we could be forgiven.
May we all trust in that Lord. For any of us who are hanging onto any vestiges of self-justification or trusting in our own goodness as what will make us right with you, may we turn away from that and trust in Jesus. It is entirely by his work of a perfect life and his abounding grace that sinful people are forgiven.
We praise you as the everlasting and eternal God.
Context
Preaching out of the book of Leviticus 16 this morning.
By popular demand.
Yom Kippur is this weekend. That’s Hebrew for Day of Atonement.
In the Old Testament, that is the most sacred and holy day in their calendar.
I mentioned this last week, but there are three Jewish holy days in the fall.
Rosh Hashanah which is the New Year. That was last weekend.
Yom Kippur – the day of atonement – is from sunset tonight until sunset tomorrow.
And the Feast of Booths begins next weekend. When we get back into John 7 – Lord willing – next Sunday, that passage is in the middle of the Feast of Booths.
But today, our focus is on Yom Kippur and our passage outlines the procedures for the annual observance of Yom Kippur.
As the name suggests, the day of atonement was a day which revolves around atonement and holiness.
For the ritual aspect, the high priest would take two goats. One, he would sacrifice for the sins of Israel. The second, would be released into the wilderness.
But there’s much more that this passage has to say.
As Christians, we don’t have a mandate to observe this holiday. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth studying in the scripture.
Because everything in this passage points us to Christ and the gospel.
As another note. The word atonement. Atonement refers to God’s work of dealing with our sin.
Because of sin, the relationship between man and God has been broken.
But with the Day of Atonement, it was an annual picture of forgiveness that people could have.
Secondary introduction
Before we fully delve into this passage, I have a couple brief things to note.
Leviticus is the third book of the Bible.
In Leviticus, we see the many of the laws of God given to Israel which regulated Israelite conduct for sacrifices, for worship, for ritual cleanliness, for the priestly system, for the observance of the holy days. Among other things.
And with that, we come to Leviticus 16.
Bridge
The main idea of this passage is that the forgiveness of our sins have a cost we cannot pay.
We unfortunately don’t have the time to cover everything in this chapter this evening. So we’re going to focus on three things. A priest and 2 goats.
I. The priests
The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died,
To give some background. This first verse is referring to an event in Leviticus 10.
In Leviticus, Aaron – the brother of Moses – is the High Priest.
In chapter 10, after the commands had been given for the priests about various the offerings and practices, Aaron’s two sons go and they defiantly do unauthorized sanctuary rituals.
And God strikes them dead. (Leviticus 10:1-2) That might sound like a fairytale or a made up story.
That a couple of Old Testament priests got it wrong and God struck them dead.
I think our initial reaction of that might be that that’s too heavy handed. That that punishment doesn’t fit the crime, that that’s too severe.
But what that does is shows us the reverence we are meant to take for the holiness of God.
# It’s a point that I’ve made before, but we do not approach God in any ole way we want to. We don’t approach God on our terms.
I think our society pays little attention to the holiness of God.
# Some people just want to emphasize the love of God. And God is love. And he is infinite in His love, he is perfect in His love. And He loves you more than you could ever comprehend or appreciate.
But he is also awesomely holy. And approaching Him demands reverence.
And so a transgression that profanes the holiness of a righteous God is something that does warrant death. It’s God’s grace that he does not strike people dead whenever they sin. He would be within his righteous justice to do so.
But the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6).
But there is wrath towards sin.
And Aaron’s son’s bore that wrath for their action.
When we judge God’s judgment of sin, that shows a low view of God’s holiness. We can never be too holy in our lives, and Jesus shows we can never be holy enough. There is total holiness needed to approach God.
Do you look at God as being Holy? Morally righteous, set apart? Mighty and majestic? Worthy of praise and glory? A God who is so great that you could never truly be worthy to enter his presence on your own?
Because that’s who God is.
# There’s nothing casual about God. There’s nothing informal about approaching God. That no one has the right to profanely approach God. The two sons of Aaron, God knew saw their actions, he knew their hearts.
And so it’s in that context that the Lord has spoken to Moses who then tells the message to his brother Aaron, who’s the priest.
2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die.
So we see here a stern warning given.
Where the text says “not to come at anytime,” it obviously doesn’t mean that the high priest couldn’t go ever. It meant he couldn’t come anytime he wanted.
The text mentions something called “the Holy Place.”
What’s that?
History
It’s referring to the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle.
As we’ve talked about numerous times, during the Israelite’s desert wanderings, they did not have the temple to worship in. They were on the move. And so God had instructed the tabernacle, which allowed them to bring the place of worship with them during their wanderings.
The tabernacle was a tent and it was portable.
Now the tabernacle was a holy place. And as we’ve said, the holiness of God demands reverence. Inside the tabernacle was an inner sanctuary which was called the Most Holy Place. Or the Holy or Holies. Or the Sanctum Sanctorum, in Latin.
And not just anyone could enter the Most Holy Place. It was reserved for the high priest, and even he could only go in once a year. On the Day of Atonement.
And the high priest was able to be in the presence of the Lord, that one day, as a representative on behalf of all of the Israelites.
Verse 3 starts to get at the procedures by which the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place.
3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
The text says that before entering, he had to offer a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering to atone for his sins and those of his family. Because the priest was sinful too.
Verse 4 continues: He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
As part of the priest’s preparation for entering the Most Holy Place, the presence of God, was that he had to put on special linen garments. Everything about entering into God’s presence was meant to be holy, set apart, different from everyday life.
He had to wash before entering the Most Holy Place.
And on the Day of Atonement, one of the last things the high priest would do before going into the holy of holies was that he would take two goats.
Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
And the two goats are absolutely essential to the Day of Atonement.
Verse 8 says that the High Priest would cast lots over the two goats.
Casting lots is similar to rolling dice. In this situation, for one of the goats, you would cast lots, and if they came out a certain way, that goat would be sacrificed, if they came out a different way, the other goat would be slaughtered.
The ESV says “one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.”
Many translations will say something like “scapegoat” there.
We don’t know EXACTLY what Azazel means. It’s a Hebrew word. It could mean goat who’s released, or “scapegoat.” It could mean that. It could also be referring to the wilderness that the surviving goat was released into.
We don’t know 100% either way.
But regardless, the point is the same that the priest would take two goats, but only one was sacrificed.
For the other goat, as verse 10 tells us, he was “presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.”
The next couple verses continue the process by which the High Priest would prepare to enter the Most Holy Place. The sacrifices he would make, just so he could enter the presence of God.
Final preparations before he could enter the Most Holy Place.
He would take some of the blood of the bull he had sacrificed for his own sins and verse 14 tells us he would sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
The passage says that he would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat.
Inside the Most Holy Place, there was the Ark of the Covenant. This contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, manna, and Aaron’s shepherd’s staff. Respectively, these were a symbol of God’s covenant with his people, his provision for his people, and the choosing of his people.
On top of the ark, there was a golden lid, and there was detailed artistry in forging angels in the gold, and this was the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. So you have a holy place with angels who are giving praise to God. It is a symbol for heaven. For the heavenly throne room of God.
This completed all of the preparations for the high priest to enter the Most Holy Place.
And so the High Priest enters the Most Holy Place.
Like we said in the beginning, everything in this passage points us to Christ.
You have the high priest who had to cleanse himself before entering the temple.
But in the gospels, we see that Jesus is the true High Priest. And Jesus doesn’t need to purify himself, or atone for his own sin to enter the presence of the Lord because he is the perfect High Priest.
Hebrew 7:26: it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Keep in mind the purification rituals needed for the priest. The Holiness that was required to enter the presence of the Lord. And look at the language that’s used here to describe Jesus. Holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
While the Day of Atonement was just one day out of the year, there were animal sacrifices. But because Jesus is holy and righteous, he doesn’t need to purify himself to enter the presence of God. He’s God on earth.
Hebrews 7:27 offers another comment on the priestly system. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
The perfect High Priest and it is only because of Christ’s perfection that we are enabled to enter into the presence of God. He is the one who is our representative before God.
The forgiveness of our sins has a cost we cannot pay.
So that’s the priest.
Next, we look at the two goats.
The first goat. The one who is sacrificed.
II. The atonement by the goat
So the sacrifice the priest has thus far made is for himself.
Verse 15. “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
So the blood is sprinkled in the Most Holy Place and this is what the sacrifice is meant to do to atone for sins, to cover up our sins. The sacrifice of the goat was meant to symbolically bear the sins of the people. Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins.
All of their transgressions and sins. All of their intentional defiance to God.
As verse 16 continues, he would finish cleansing the tent itself.
And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
In verse 18-19, he would also make atonement at the alter of the Lord by sprinkling blood on the alter.
Again, because of the sacrifice of this goat, it was a powerfully symbolic way for atonement, for a restored relationship with the Lord. For sins being covered by the blood of the goat.
Today, we have the gospel. We have Jesus. But before Christ, this would have been an incredibly powerful symbol for the sins of the people being atoned for.
We see that the sacrifices then point us to the greater sacrifice today. That Jesus is the priest but he is also the sacrifice. Because while a goat could not atone for our sins. While a goat’s blood could not cover up our sins, Christ’s could. He was the worthy sacrifice.
I know to the word, the idea of an animal sacrifice to atone for our sins seems arctic, seems backwards.
But it was merely a shadow.
Because our forgiveness could never have been truly paid for by the life of some animal.
# It’s a point that’s worth repeating but it’s not that the sacrifice of that goat actually was the reason why God forgave the people. It was a heart that came to God in faith and recognized the cost of sin that mattered. Just like today.
Hebrews 10:4 says: it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
They were never intended to take away sins. It is only the blood of Christ which can do that.
And atones for our sins. He covers up our sins. His blood washes away our sins.
The first goat on the Day of Atonement was sacrificed for sins.
But the second goat was not slaughtered.
And the attention turns to that goat in verse 20.
III. The scapegoat
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
The first goat is a symbol of the need for a sacrifice to atone for our sins.
But our sin is associated with the second goat too. Both hands placed on this goat. It was symbolically transferring sin to that goat. The first goat died and his blood was a symbol of our sins being covered. The second goat is the result of our atonement. It was a symbol for sin being taken away.
Set free in the wilderness.
Like in Psalm 103:12 where it says
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Sin is totally removed when you trust in God.
Again, this was the most holy day in the Jewish calendar.
What a reminder as that goat is set free.
That we are set free from sin because of God’s grace.
Again, we don’t need to sacrifice anymore because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice.
What a picture that is. If you’re someone who ever struggles to believe that God could forgive you. If you’ve done something really bad in your past, or if you have an area that you’re struggling with today and you feel like God wouldn’t love you, couldn’t forgive you. If there’s ever any lingering worry about that, our sins are taken away because of Christ.
They are totally removed, like the second goat, sent away, never to be heard from again.
We don’t deserve it but that’s how God atones for our sins. He forgives us of our sins. He removes our sins and our relationship with him can be restored.
Because of the work of Christ, because of the grace that God offers to all who accept him, you don’t have to feel that way. Your sins are forgiven. But not only are they forgiven, they’re totally removed, they’re taken away.
Not because we’re so good but because Christ is that good.
Both in the Old Testament and today, what mattered is faith. Trusting in the Lord. Recognizing that we don’t live up on our own. That we aren’t holy. We aren’t worthy.
But when we trust in Christ, he makes us worthy, he makes us holy.
But maybe that’s not a struggle for you. You know you’re forgiven.
But how are you doing at being a forgiver?
Because what a challenge that can be?
In this passage, we also see the cost of forgiveness. And the forgiveness of our sins has a cost we cannot pay.
Forgiveness always comes at a cost. For a sinful humanity, the cost was so great that the only way that cost could be paid was for Jesus to die so our sins could be atoned for. The death we deserved. His blood shed so that our hearts could be cleansed.
I love this quote from Tim Keller,
“…God’s grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver…. From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can “just forgive” the perpetrator…. But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.”
When you forgive someone, you pay the price. And the greater the sin, the greater the cost. If someone does something minor, might not even give it a second thought. But when someone has sinned against you or has wronged you in a major way, it’s hard to just forgive the person.
However you’ve been wronged, whatever rights you may have at retribution or getting back at them. No matter how justified that may seem, that you forfeit any right to be angry or bitter at a person. You forgive any debt of guilt they should have. That’s hard to do. Because in forgiving a person, you’re actually bearing some of the cost yourself.
Incredibly difficult, when it’s something major.
And yet there’s Jesus, paying the price for our since by sacrificing His own life.
# That’s how much our sin costs.
And that’s what we see in the gospel. That our sin was so great that Jesus was the only one who could pay it. Our sin was so great, that God on earth, dying for our sin, was the only sum that could afford it.
The forgiveness of our sins has a cost we cannot pay.
It’s fascinating as I think of all of the ceremonialism in the Old Testament Law. Everything was done for reasons. All of the exact and meticulous detail under which the tabernacle was built. All of the specific instructions given to the priests, the very specific laws regarding sacrifice, the specific ways in which to approach God. The cleansing that needed to be done, the atonement for sin.
It’s teaching us the holiness of God. A holiness we don’t have, that we can’t live up to. But we are welcomed into the presence of the Lord because of Christ.
For God to forgive us, the Lord paid the price. And he does that for anyone who comes to him by faith. Let this passage be a reminder that there is a cost for sin. And the great savior who was the great high priest who allows us to enter heaven, who’s the ultimate and perfect and final sacrifice. And who gave his life so we could be forgiven.
Originally published September 29, 2017 under the title “A priest, two goats, and salvation”
Yom Kippur is this weekend.
For observant Jews all over the world, this evening, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew) is celebrated. The Day of Atonement is the most holy of days in the Jewish calendar. It’s an annual picture of forgiveness that people could have. While Christians don’t celebrate this day, it’s one worth studying because everything about it points to Christ and the gospel.
Atonement refers to God’s work of dealing with our sin. Because of sin, the relationship between man and God has been broken.
Three significant elements of this day are the high priest, who would make the sacrifices, the goat that he would sacrifice, and a second goat who was set free.
Cleansing of the priest
When these commands were given, the Israelites are in their desert wanderings. So where do you worship while you’re on this long journey in the desert?
Well you bring the place to worship with you!
And so the Israelites traveled with the Tabernacle, which was a tent.
Now only a priest could go inside the Tabernacle. It was a holy place. And as we’ve said, the holiness of God demands reverence.
Within the Tabernacle, there was an inner sanctum called the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place, and only the High Priest could go in there. And he did it once a year, on behalf of the Israelites. The Day of Atonement.
Before entering, he had to offer a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering to atone for his sins and those of his family. Because the priest was sinful too
As part of the priest’s preparation for entering the Most Holy Place, the presence of God, was that he had to put on special linen garments. Everything about entering into God’s presence was meant to be holy, set apart, different from everyday life.
Like we’ve already said, everything in this passage points us to Christ.
You have the high priest who had to cleanse himself before entering the temple.
But in the gospels, we see that Jesus is the true High Priest.
And Jesus doesn’t need to purify himself, or atone for his own sin to enter the presence of the Lord because he is the perfect High Priest.
Hebrew 7:26 says, “it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”
Keep in mind the purification rituals needed for the priest. The Holiness that was required to enter the presence of the Lord.
While the Day of Atonement was just one day out of the year, there were animal sacrifices. But because Jesus is holy and righteous, he doesn’t need to purify himself to enter the presence of God. He’s God on earth.
Hebrews 7:26 says, “it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”
Hebrews 7:27 offers another comment on the priestly system. “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
The perfect High Priest and it is only because of Christ’s perfection that we are enabled to enter into the presence of God. He is the one who is our representative before God.
And on the Day of Atonement, one of the last things the high priest would do before going into the holy of holies was that he would take two goats.
2. The atonement by the goat
The sacrifices the priest has thus far made is for himself.
Leviticus 16:15 says, “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.”
Blood is sprinkled in the Most Holy Place and this is what the sacrifice is meant to do to atone for sins, to cover up our sins. The sacrifice of the goat was meant to symbolically bear the sins of the people.
Leviticus 16:16 says, “Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins.”
All of their transgressions and sins. All of their intentional defiance to God.
Because of the sacrifice of this goat, it was a powerfully symbolic way for atonement, for a restored relationship with the Lord. For sins being covered by the blood of the goat.
Today, we have the gospel. We have Jesus. But before Christ, this would have been an incredibly powerful symbol for the sins of the people being atoned for.
We see that the sacrifices then point us to the greater sacrifice today. That Jesus is the priest but he is also the sacrifice. Because while a goat could not atone for our sins, and while a goat’s blood could not cover up our sins, Christ’s could. He was the worthy sacrifice.
I know to the world, the idea of an animal sacrifice to atone for our sins seems arctic, seems backwards.
But it was merely a shadow. Because our forgiveness could never have been truly paid for by the life of some animal.
It’s not that the sacrifice of that goat actually was the reason why God forgave the people. It was a heart that came to God in faith and recognized the cost of sin that mattered. Just like today.
Hebrews 10:4 says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
They were never intended to take away sins. It is only the blood of Christ which can do that.
And atones for our sins. He covers up our sins. His blood washes away our sins.
The first goat on the Day of Atonement was sacrificed for sins.
But the second goat wasn’t slaughtered.
And the attention turns to that goat in verse 20.
3. The other goat
20 “AND WHEN HE HAS MADE AN END OF ATONING FOR THE HOLY PLACE AND THE TENT OF MEETING AND THE ALTAR, HE SHALL PRESENT THE LIVE GOAT.
21 AND AARON SHALL LAY BOTH HIS HANDS ON THE HEAD OF THE LIVE GOAT, AND CONFESS OVER IT ALL THE INIQUITIES OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, AND ALL THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS, ALL THEIR SINS. AND HE SHALL PUT THEM ON THE HEAD OF THE GOAT AND SEND IT AWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS BY THE HAND OF A MAN WHO IS IN READINESS. 22 THE GOAT SHALL BEAR ALL THEIR INIQUITIES ON ITSELF TO A REMOTE AREA, AND HE SHALL LET THE GOAT GO FREE IN THE WILDERNESS.
-LEVITICUS 16:20-22
So our sin is associated with the second goat too. Both hands placed on this goat. It was symbolically transferring sin to that goat. The first goat died and his blood was a symbol of our sins being covered. The second goat is the result of our atonement. It was a symbol for sin being taken away.
Sin totally removed when you trust in God.
What a reminder as that goat is set free. That we are set free from sin because of God’s grace.
If you’re someone who ever struggles to believe that God could forgive you. If you’ve done something really bad in your past, or if you have an area that you’re struggling with today and you feel like God wouldn’t love you, couldn’t forgive you. If there’s ever any lingering worry about that, our sins are taken away because of Christ.
They are totally removed, like the second goat, sent away, never to be heard from again.
We don’t deserve it but that’s how God atones for our sins. He forgives us of our sins. He removes our sins and our relationship with him can be restored.
Because of the work of Christ, because of the grace that God offers to all who accept him, you don’t have to feel that way. Your sins are forgiven. But not only are they forgiven, they’re totally removed, they’re taken away.
Not because we’re so good but because Christ is that good.
Both in the Old Testament and today, what mattered was faith. Trusting in the Lord. Recognizing that we don’t live up on our own. That we aren’t holy. We aren’t worthy.
But when we trust in Christ, he makes us worthy, he makes us holy.
The forgiveness of our sins has a cost we cannot pay.
It’s fascinating as I think of all of the ceremonialism in the Old Testament Law. Everything was done for reasons. All of the exact and meticulous detail under which the tabernacle was built. All of the specific instructions given to the priests, the very specific laws regarding sacrifice, the specific ways in which to approach God. The cleansing that needed to be done, the atonement for sin.
It’s teaching us the holiness of God. A holiness we don’t have, that we can’t live up to. But we are welcomed into the presence of the Lord because of Christ.
For God to forgive us, the Lord paid the price. And he does that for anyone who comes to him by faith. Let this passage be a reminder that there is a cost for sin. A tremendous cost for sin.
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The prosperity gospel is a movement that has its origins in America about a century ago and came to greater prominence after the Second World War. It has largely grown out of pentecostalism and the Word of Faith movement.
It is the idea that it is always the will of God for genuine believers to be materially blessed and physically healthy. It’s essentially preoccupied with material blessings.
In John 6, Jesus has just fed a large crowd of people. They’ve wanted to make him king. They’re drawn to his teaching and signs, yet Jesus rebukes the crowd when he says: “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
I’m not saying that this first century audience had a 20th and 21st century notion of a health and wealth gospel. But they’re drawn to Jesus because of him fulfilling a physical need. There are elements of what they believe which are picked up in the prosperity gospel movement.
It’s not the only place where we find this attitude in the New Testament. Paul addresses a similar issue within the church at Philippi. Philippians 3:19-20: 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
They’re not looking to take up their cross and follow him. They’re not looking to die to themselves and their sinful ways. They’re there because of a free meal.
The theology that looks merely at the material blessings of God has many problems.
First, it’s not the gospel.
The gospel is the message of Christ crucified and his redemption of sinful people for the glory of God.
He died to save souls.
The purpose of life is knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ forever. The purpose of life does not revolve around material blessings.
Secondly, prosperity theology teaches things that are not Biblical.
It undermines the doctrine of suffering. The Bible does not hide from suffering.
Prosperity theology believes that it is never the will of God for a person to be sick, to die from cancer, to struggle with depression.
The Bible teaches that the Christian life does involve suffering.
God uses it and works all things together for good for those who love him. Romans 8:28.
God uses suffering to work his purposes. Story of Joseph. We referenced it last week. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, but through that betrayal, it brings Joseph into Egypt which allows him to be in a position years later to save his family during a time of famine.
But we also see God’s providence and goodness through that evil.
Genesis 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
God uses suffering to sanctify and perfect his people.
James 1:2-4: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Notice that James says to count it all joy WHEN not IF you meet trials of various kinds.
To quote my professor D.A. Carson, if you’re not suffering, just keep living.
Romans 5:3-4: we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope
God uses suffering so that we can have a positive influence on others.
Wonderful passage. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
God uses suffering to remind us that our ultimate need is in him. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9:
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
And we could talk for hours on many more passages.
God allows suffering. In his sovereign will, God allows it. It is talked about constantly in the Bible and especially in the New Testament.
And you have televangelists and authors of popular Christian books who say the opposite of that.
They’re teaching an idea that is not Biblical.
Yes, God does ultimately promise healing, in heaven. But there is no promise given in the Bible that all true believers or faithful Christians will always experience healing in this life.
The third problem with prosperity theology. It turns God into your genie.
God does not primarily exist to fulfill to give you everything you want.
A lot of times the things we want are not good.
If you have a child and just gave them everything they ever wanted, would that be loving? Of course not. Because a lot of things kids want aren’t good for them.
Prosperity theology views giving not primarily as a way of giving back part of what God has given for the purposes of his kingdom, but as a way to receive material blessings back as a result of your generosity.
Prosperity theology views prayer as a way to force God to give you what you desire.
Prosperity theology believes that faith is rewarded by leading to prosperity.
Fourth, it teaches untrue things about the world
While turning God into a genie and believing in a theology where good things happen if you’re good enough or if you have enough faith, what that essentially teaches a person is that they’re in control of their own destiny.
Not Biblical. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign.
Fifth, prosperity theology actually distracts us from true riches.
Ironically, God actually wants to give us so much more than what prosperity theology focuses on. But if we just focus on this world, on materialism, on what’s physical, we lose sight of that.
Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
Sixth: prosperity theology distorts the teachings of scripture and takes the Bible out of context
It cherry picks the Bible. We’re going through the Gospel of John. Prosperity gospel preaching churches don’t go verse by verse through books. Because they have a theological belief system that is not supported by the whole of scriptures and so they pick and choose what fits their system.
You don’t have great scholars or theologians of prosperity theology. Because honest reading of the Bible tears it down.
The seventh issue with prosperity theology is that it relies heavily on special revelations from God.
I know I’m hammering on this topic this morning. But it’s a highly influential, unbiblical movement that influences Christians here in America and across the world.
Many of the best-selling Christian books are written by prosperity teachers and preachers who do not teach or preach the Word but preach a worldly message. Many, I would say most, televangelists fall into this camp.
Our world eats up prosperity theology because it tells us that it’s all about us. It co-opts the gospel and replaces it with worldliness.
As Jesus said, “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.“
Why are you a follower of Jesus?
Is it because he is the way, the truth and the life? Is it because he is glorious? Is it because he’s worthy? Is it because he’s the savior of the world? Is it because of the gospel. That you were dead in your sins and that the only way to redemption was through his life, and death and because of the shedding of his blood?
I’m hoping that I’m preaching to the choir on this. For those of us who love the Word of God, who have reverence for the scriptures, the prosperity gospel must be seen as a counterfeit gospel.
But here’s my challenge.
Because while we might not buy into a health and wealth gospel, we have so many blessings in our country that there can still be a temptation into falling into the trap of thinking that we’re good and that our lives should be good. We should have good families. We should have happy marriages. We deserve to not really suffer.
It’s a constant temptation. But the Bible makes no such promises. Why are you a follower of Jesus?
The Biblical message is not that we should follow Jesus so that everything will be easy. It’s that when you follow Jesus, you’re taken from death to life. It’s not a promise of ease but it’s a promise that the difficulties have a purpose. It’s not a promise of getting what you want, but it’s a promise of all things working together for your ultimate good. People wanted to follow Jesus because he took care of a physical need, but Jesus came in order to tend to our spiritual needs.
Final verse of the passage. Jesus has given his rebuke to the crowds. He’s exposed their heart and the real reason they’re following him.
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:27)
Jesus tells them to work for the food that endures to eternal life and that is the food which Jesus came to bring.
Not only did Jesus come to bring it, but it can come only through Jesus. As the end of the verse reminds us that it is Jesus upon whom God has set his seal. Jesus is the one who has come to bring eternal life to a sinful world.
And he offers that life to you today if you believe in him by faith. Know that you are a sinner and that Jesus has come to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God.
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After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
We continue to see the extreme division in our nation.
It says in Your Word:
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
May we continually be mindful of that. Lord, you are on the throne, you are our hope.
Lord God, let us not be swayed by the whims of the world, but let us be grounded in the truth of who you are.
Lord, we ask that you bless our time in your Word. May we come to you and praise you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Introduction
We come to John chapter 7.
Several weeks ago when we started chapter 6, I had mentioned that chapters 6, 7, and 8 are a section of John where we see a lot of themes which take us back to the Exodus event and the Israelite wanderings.
We certainly saw that in the feeding of the multitudes as that harkened back to God’s provision of manna for the Israelites during their wanderings.
That will continue in this chapter, especially as we consider the feasts which were instituted during the Exodus event.
We also saw it in the time of year as the beginning of chapter 6 told us it was Passover. Passover, the Jewish holy day which celebrated God’s redeptive work of freeing the Israelties from slavery in Egypt. It would also be at a Passover when Jesus is crucified. In tht 6, John 6 was the beginning – give or take a few days – of the last year of Jesus’ life.
Chapter 5 had also been at a feast, although John doesn’t specify which feast it was.
Chapter 7 will begin at yet another feast, the Feast of Booths.
And that’s definitely something that John likes to do in this gospel is tie events in Jesus’ life and ministry to their correspondence to the Jewish holy days.
And in that, we see that Jesus is the greater fulfillment of the Jewish feasts and what they ultimately point to.
So it’s the time of year of the Jewish Feast of Booths, and Jesus’ attendance at the feast will come into question and we’ll look at this morning’s passage in three scenes.
A conflict
Verse 1: After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
John begins this passage “after this” and he’s referring to Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. We had concluded that chapter in looking at the way people responded to Jesus. Some walked away and others followed him.
John says “after this Jesus went about in Galilee.”
It’s actually been about six months since the last event which John recorded. We know that because the last chapter was at the time of Passover, in the spring; as verse 2 will tell us, this is the Feast of Booths, which is in the fall. The math is pretty simple.
Jesus was in Galilee and John adds that he would not go about in the region of Judea because the Jewish leaders were seeking to kill him.
That’s not the first time we’ve seen opposition in John’s Gospel, but it really begins to pick up starting in this seventh chapter.
By no means a light hearted disagreement, but bloody opposition as there were people who wanted to see Jesus dead.
Verse 2: Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.
We’ve already noted that. The timing of the Feast of Booths, when Jesus should go, and when he did go are all important elements in this passage.
Verse 3: So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”
We see Jesus’ brothers who were originally introduced in John’s Gospel at the Wedding Feast at Cana in chapter 2.
They suggest Jesus go to Judea and they point out that “no one works in secret but seeks to be known openly.” Their point seems to be that “if you want people to believe in you, you’ve got to be seen! You’ve gotta market yourself.” Cinderella had better go to the ball.
It’s interesting.
Jesus’ brothers give him advice.
I think of the areas where we like to have opinions when we’re not truly teh experts on the topic. Play calls in football, military strategies, foreign policy decisions. We have opinions on what doctors should or shouldn’t do.
I’m not judging that. I have opinions on things too.
But we aren’t experts in every domain of life. A lot of our information comes from people who actually are experts.
But here we have Jesus’ brothers telling him that he should go to Judea so that his works can be seen.
They’re telling God what he should do!
The all-knowing, all wise, righteous Lord needs advice from his younger brothers.
It’s not all that different from how the world often treats God, his word. We make our own moral judgements about God’s wisdom when we sin.
I think of God’s providence but we so often rebel and grumble against that. I understand the value of lament of the hurt that our sin and the sin in the world causes.
But it can also be tempting to look at situations and to forget that God is all-knowing, all-good and that he is working ll things together for good (Romans 8:28). And in that, we can judge God’s providence and perfect will.
We can do the same thing for things that God allows to happen in nature or in the world where we judge God for allowing it to happen.
The world likes to judge God for being a righteous judge. The world likes to judge God for punishing sin. The world likes to try to dictate to God what love is, what justice is, what goodness is.
For commands in scripture with which we disagree, we like to find reasons why they don’t apply.
On and on.
Isaiah 45:9 says: Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?
The point of that verse is that fallen humanity is the clay who complains against the potter who made us.
In our pride and sinfulness, humanity – in our heart of hearts – likes to think we know better than God.
There’s irony that Jesus’ brothers suggest to him what he should do.
Now, there’s debate among scholars as to why they gave him this advice.
Are they just being supportive brothers giving advice?
That’s possible.
Although it should be noted that verse 5 says his brothers didn’t believe in him.
That is to say that they did not believe in his Lordship.
Jesus’ brothers have a lifetime of seeing his righteousness, they’ve seen his signs. But they don’t believe in who he is.
Richard Phillips says in his commentary “if anything can prove the depravity of the human heart, it is this.”
Sometimes people say that they don’t believe in God because they don’t feel like they have enough evidence.
In the Bible, you see people interacting with Jesus, seeing his ministry and miracles. Who don’t believe.
In the Old Testament, Abraham had personally been given the promise of God for land and offspring. But we still see him struggle with doubts at time. We see him respond with laughter at the idea that him and Sarah could have a child in their old age.
You see the Israelites miraculously freed from slavery. The parting of the Red Sea. But then they quickly turn to idolatry. They had decades of God providing for them and sustaining them in their wanderings, and yet they fell into grumbling.
It’s easy to think that if we had a little more of the picture, a little more of a sense of God, then everything in our life of faith would suddenly be so easy.
That would not change that we’re still sinful people.
Jesus’ brothers had been in his presence for their entire lifetime and, at this point, they did not believe.
Think about the great Spiritual privilege that was!
I know we can feel a real sense of burden, a real sense of responsibility for people in our own families who are not believers.
We should care about that. We should pray for our families, pray for opportunities to share the gospel, to talk about faith. But we must remember that no matter who you are, how good you are, how faithful you are, it’s beyond your control.
Jesus had a real life family who interacted with him and lived with him and yet they still struggled. And while we’re on the subject of Jesus’ brothers, there’s another brief point that warrants mention.
Jesus had siblings.
The historical teaching of the Catholic Church is that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. That’s not supported in the Bible, and is actually contradicted in the Bible. These are siblings. Some have argued that maybe they’re other relatives, such as cousins.
Greek has a word for cousin. That’s not what they use here.
Jesus had siblings. He had a family.
His siblings are referenced other places in the New Testament.
Matthew 13, his brothers are named.
Matthew 13:55-56: Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us?
Jesus had a family.
And guess what?
One of the things that we see in the gospels is that Jesus had a sometimes complicated relationship with his family.
So if you think your family is dysfunctional…just remember that there were people who were related to Jesus and they did not really understand him or always get along with him.
That’s not to say that Jesus ever sinned. He didn’t.
But we do see examples in the other gospels of familial strain.
Mark 3:20-21, Jesus is growing in popularity and crowds are following him. But we see a response of his family early in his ministry.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
As our passage explicitly tells us, Jesus’ brothers did not believe.
At least some of his brothers eventually came to faith. Two books in the New Testament are written by brothers of Jesus: James and Jude.
But at this point in his ministry, when we’re in the last six or so months of Jesus’ life, they do not believe.
So we’ve seen the unsolicited advice of Jesus’ brothers.
There’s another comment that warrants mention by way of application. I think of how important it is to have a strong family. I think about when I was nearing the end of seminary. I was single and considering different ministry opportunities.
I knew I eventually wanted to be the teaching pastor of a church, but part of the reason why I didn’t immediately go that route was because I thought it would be so much harder to do as a single person.
It’s important to have the support of a family.
Jesus endured a lot during his ministry. In this passage, there are people plotting against him. There were people who wanted to use Jesus to suit their own ends. There were people in Jesus’ inner circle who betrayed him. There were people who plotted against him.
And through all of that, aside from Mary, we don’t see any support for Jesus from his own family.
There are so many ways how Jesus relates to us in his humanity. Family dysfunction is one of many.
Continuing in our passage.
Jesus responds to them.
II. We come to our second scene – divine will
Verses 6-8: Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”
Jesus says “my time has not yet come.”
I think the point is that his point of going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths has not yet come.
He is not on man’s schedule or timeline.
Jesus’ brothers suggest that Jesus capitalize on the autumn holidays and go to present himself in Jerusalem.
They tell him what they would have done, but they didn’t see the world the way Jesus did.
There are several reasons why it’s not the right time.
As the beginning of the chapter informed us, there were Jewish leaders who were seeking to kill Jesus.
But more importantly, Jesus is always sensitive to the divine will.
John 5:30, Jesus said:
I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
We see in the gospels that Jesus is led by God.
Matthew 4:1
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil
Richard Phillips’ commentary points out that God had ordained a specific time for the birth of Christ.
Galatians 4:4:
when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law
God had ordained a specific time for the death of Christ.
John 17:1:
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
And he had ordained the timing for the events in Jesus’ life and ministry.
Again, Jesus’ brothers wanted him to show himself, his signs, make a big display at this feast. That was not the divine will and that is why Jesus was saying the time had not come for him to go to the feast.
Because he was on God’s timeline, not man’s timeline.
Jesus tells his brothers in verse 6:
your time is always here.
Their time is always here because their focus and mission is still the things of the world, not the things of God. And so it doesn’t matter when they go to Jerusalem.
But Jesus’ time has not yet come because he is serving heavenly purposes.
Verse 7, Jesus specifically connects his brothers to the sinful world.
The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
The world doesn’t hate Jesus’ brothers because they’re following the way of the world.
But Jesus came to bring light into a dark world and the world hates that.
John 3:19: this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Jesus continues speaking.
Verse 8: You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”
I find verse 8 to be the most interesting verse in this passage.
Jesus tells his brothers to go to the feast. That’s straightforward enough.
But Jesus says that he will not be going up to “this feast.”
It’s interesting that it’s translated “I am not going up to this feast” instead of “I am not going up to the feast.”
The ESV, NASB, NIV, King James all say “this” and not “the.”
If Jesus says “I am not going to the feast,” it would seem that he’s saying that he’s not going to the Feast of Booths that’s being celebrated.
But when he says “I’m not going to this feast,” that seems to imply that he is going up to another feast.
The wording “going up” is also interesting.
Now from where Jesus was in Galilee, to go to Jerusalem, there actually is a change in elevation where you literally would be going up to Jerusalem. But as we see so many times in this gospel, I think Jesus’ words have a double meaning.
Jesus uses the phrase about “going up,” “lifted up,” “ascending” in other places of this gospel. I think it refers to Jesus being lifted up on the cross and that when Jesus says that it’s not the time for him to go up to this feast, he’s looking forward to the future feast that he would go up to: the Passover the following spring when he would go to the cross.
And that brings us to our third scene in the passage.
III. The feast
Verse 9: After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
Jesus goes to the feast.
Just two verses before, I thought Jesus had said he wasn’t going.
He wasn’t going on the timeline of his brothers.
He was on the divine timeline.
Jesus does not go to make a grand entrance at this feast, but he has quietly gone to attend. He’s one among the many Israelites who have gone to Jerusalem to observe the holiday.
Jesus goes in private, but there were people on the lookout for him as the opposition to Jesus was increasing.
11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
There’s a buzz about Jesus. There are people at the feast who wanted to see him.
We see the differing opinions that some were favorable to Jesus while others feared he was leading people astray.
But just as Jesus had gone to the feast in private, we see that the response to Jesus is also largely in private, most likely for fear of the ruling authorities possibly retaliating against people who were sympathetic to Jesus’ message and teachings.
So the passage ends with Jesus at the Feast of Booths. He’s in private, but as the passage unfolds in the following weeks, we’ll see Jesus more and more come to the forefront at this feast.
Feast of Booths
We talked a little bit about the Feast of Booths in the very beginning.
Providentially, it’s pretty good timing in the year to come to this event in chapter 7 when the Israelites are celebrating the Feast of Booths. There are three Jewish holy days in the fall.
Rosh hashanah which is the New Year in Judaism. That actually falls this weekend.
A second holy day is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement which is a one of the most sacred days in Jewish life which is represents atoning sacrifice and forgiveness.
That’s next weekend.
And the third major Jewish Holy Day is the Feast of Booths, which is happening in our passage this morning. The Feast of Booths is how it gets translated in John.
I don’t love that translation for “booths.”
I hear “booth,” I think of a restaurant boof.
More literally, it’s the Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes called the Feast of Tents. It’s also called the Feast of Ingathering. Those are all referring to the same thing. In Hebrew, the feast is called Sukkot.
Sukkot is an 8 day celebration. It is a joyous celebration that corresponds to the fall harvest and a time of thankfulness and it also calls attention back to the Israelite wanderings in the desert for 40 years.
The significance of sleeping in tents was that it was reminiscent of the Israelites sleeping in man made structures during their time of desert wanderings. The feast has a lot of resonance to the desert wanderings of Israel.
Sleeping in tents was also paying homage to Jewish farmers who sometimes had to sleep in these types of structures during their time of harvest.
And for eight days, Jewish people slept in these tents that they made.
Sukkot includes water and light ceremonies which will both become relevant in this chapter and we Jesus will explain how these elements ultimately point to him.
This year, Sukkot will fall from October 2-9. So again, we’re at the same time of year as that holy day.
A day like yom kippur, the day of atonement, is meaningful, but it’s not like a joyous celebration. It’s a pretty somber event. It calls our sin to mind. It’s like Good Friday.
But it was a meaningful, festive holiday. It also had agricultural ties as did many of the Jewish feasts.
Richard Phillips’ commentary is again helpful in considering the feasts.
I mentioned some of the fall holy days.
But in the Israelite calendar, you also had three pilgrimage feasts where Jewish people in the first century would have traveled into Jerusalem from all over Israel.
The first was Passover.
Passover was in the spring.
Obviously it was Passover when Jesus was to give his life as a sacrifice.
Passover is remembering God’s deliverance of Israel. It’s symbolized by the sacrifice of lambs. Jesus is the perfect and spotless Passover lamb who was sacrificed to deliver and redeem people from their slavery to sin.
Passover points to salvation.
About seven weeks after Passover, you have the Feast of Weeks, also called Pentecost. That’s the second of the pilgrimage festivals.
Passover coincided with the time of year when the Israelites left Egypt. Pentecost – 7 weeks later – coincided with the time of year when God gave the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai.
And certainly both of those days have resonance in Christianity.
Passover is the time of year when we celebrate Good Friday and Easter.
Pentecost Sunday commemorates God pouring out his Spirit on the early church.
And so we have this progression in the year between Passover to Pentecost to the Feast of Booths.
But there is also a progression that you have Easter, before the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. And for the Isrealites, the Feast of Booths was a fall harvest celebration that also looked forward to a time of future hope in God’s promises.
Feast of Booths was a time that looked forward. For the Israelites, they looked forward to the coming year. They looked forward to next year’s planting.
Zechariah 14 pointed forward to a future time when he talked of people from the nations coming to Jerusalem together to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
Zechariah 14:16: everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.
And so when Jesus’ brothers want him to make a grand entrance at the Feast of Booths, the timing was not right. Feast of Booths was a celebration, but before that celebration would be appropriate, the Lord Jesus needed to endure the cross.
As Phillips says “they were advising him to put on a crown without first taking up his cross.”
That is why Jesus could not go to the festival on his brothers’ terms.
It was not the right time.
It’s interesting.
He goes up to the Feast of Booths. Again, I prefer Feast of Tabernacles.
As I’ve mentioned many times in our study of John, Jesus is the true tabernacle.
He’s the place where we meet God in the world.
So one last time, consider the situation.
It’s the Feast of Tabernacles and the true tabernacle is there. But he goes quietly, and largely unnoticed because sinful humanity wants to see him killed.
And just as the Feast of Tabernacles was a time when the Jewish people looked forward to a future hope, the true tabernacle, Jesus: the presence of God in the world went up to Jerusalem a final time for Passover where he would go up on the cross and give up his life so that the same sinful world who killed him could have redemption through his death and resurrection.
