Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the Gospel of John, although they are a bit better formatted than former efforts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. I’m not sure of the condition of the world at the time of this publication. But at the time of its writing, fall 2009 through late spring 2010, things are looking increasingly bleak with the economy, health care and unemployment, there is a renewal and increase of racism, and godly principles of living being disregarded, there are floods in India, earthquake and tsunami in Samoa. Are these the first stages of birth pains? The last? God only knows. And He is very busy these days. Seek His wisdom. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming to deliver His people and judge the wicked…Stacey
Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 7 of the book of John. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations…
7:1 – Jesus avoided danger.
7:2-3 – Jesus’ brothers tried to convince Him to go to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles so that people could see His miracles. Why? Did his brothers believe in His miracles? (See verse 5)
If they did, why would they want Him to put Himself in the position to be captured by the Jewish leaders who wanted Him dead? If they didn’t, why did they bait Him like this?
7:4 – They thought He wanted to be a public figure.
7:5 – His own brothers weren’t believers.
7:7 – Why wouldn’t the world hate His brothers?
Why did the world hate Jesus? If the world hated Him then, does it seem logical that it would hate Him today?
7:9 – Jesus didn’t go to the Feast with his brothers.
7:10 – Jesus waited until His brothers left and then went to the Feast in secret. Why do you think He did this?
7:11 – The Jews at the Feast were watching for Jesus.
7:12 – Jesus created quite a buzz. Some spoke well of Him, others not so well.
7:13 – People didn’t speak of Him publicly because they feared the Jews. The leaders asking about Jesus may have started individuals talking about Him, though.
7:14 – Jesus waited until halfway through the Feast to go to the temple and teach.
7:15 – His teaching amazed the Jews.
7:16-17 – Jesus told them that His teaching came from God.
7:17 – How can we know that Jesus’ teaching is from God?
7:19 – Does Jesus bring up Moses and the law because that is what He was teaching on in vv. 14-15?
7:20 – “you are demon-possessed” – was this a colloquialism of the time? Or were they really accusing Him of being possessed?
7:21 – Jesus is referring to the healing at the pool on the Sabbath from John 5.
7:26 – Some of the people wondered if the authorities had concluded Jesus was the Christ. They wondered about this because no one was stopping Him from preaching. I think this is an awesome display of God at work!
7:30 – How did it look for the people to try to seize Him, but not be able to do so?
7:37-39 – Jesus is a source of sustenance and life. Those who believe in Him will have that life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
7:38-39 – The streams of living water is the Holy Spirit.
7:42 – The people knew enough about scripture to know the Messiah would come from David’s line and Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
7:43 – This divided the people.
7:45 – The temple guard recognized the authority with which Jesus spoke.
7:50-51 – Nicodemus stood up for Jesus.
• The book of John is called the “Love Gospel”. How have you seen God’s love at work in this chapter of scripture and how will you apply it to your life this week?
• What attributes of God do you see in this book?
• What verse of scripture seemed to be God speaking directly to you? What is He teaching you in these verses? How does He want you to respond?
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