The Feast of Tabernacles

Every action, every word, every instruction from Jesus is for edification. Not every word for every person, but messages for those who "have ears to hear." Even his disciples did not understand how the Kingdom of God was to be implemented, nor did they understand how far the religious practice was in opposition to the plan of the God. Jesus was led by the Spirit. Being instructed by Jesus and led of the Spirit is our mission. One is our Shephard, even Christ. ***Ch. 54: Jesus At The Feast Of TabernaclesJohn 7:1-8:59Jesus Rejects The Advice of His Brothers To Go To JerusalemWhen the Feast of the Tabernacles was at hand, Jesus’ brothers said to him:            “Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, if he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.”            Even his brothers did not believe in him.            Jesus replied to his advisers:            “My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet fullcome.”            And Jesus continued yet a while in Galilee. But, after his brothers had left for Jerusalem, he also went to the feast, not openly but secretly.Jesus Defeats An Attempt To Arrest Him            The authorities, suspecting that Jesus was in the city, asked:            “Where is he?”            The people murmured about him. Some said:            “He is a good man.”             Others said:            “Nay, but he deceiveth the people.”            However, all were afraid to speak openly of Jesus, for fear of the authorities.  About the middle of the feast Jesus went into the temple and taught. Many people, surprised at his words, said:            “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”            Jesus answered them saying:            “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. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why ye go about to kill me?”            The people answered:            “Thou hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?”            Jesus replied:            “I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”            Some of those who heard him said:            “Is not this he whom they seek to kill? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is; but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.”            Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching:            “Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him; for I am from him, and he hath sent me.”            Some suggested arresting him at once but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet arrived.            Many people who listened to his words believed in Jesus and said:            “When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?”            The Pharisees heard that the people were saying such things about Jesus. They sent chief priests and officers to arrest him.            Jesus said to them:            “Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, thither ye cannot not come.”            Those who had come for him talked among themselves, saying:            “Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this that he said, ‘Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am, thither ye cannot come’?”            On the last and great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out:            “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.”            Jesus spoke of the Spirit which those who believed in him should receive. Many of his hearers said:            “Of a truth this is the Prophet.”            Others said:            “This is the Christ.”            But some said:            “Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”            So there was a division of opinion among the people about Jesus. Some wanted to arrest him yet no one laid hands on him.            The officers, who had been sent to take him, went to the chief priests of the Pharisees, who said to them:            “Why have ye not brought him?”            The officers answered:            “Never man spake like this man.”            The Pharisees replied:            “Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”            Nicodemus, the ruler who had come to Jesus in the night, said:            “Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth?”            The others asked him:            “Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.”Jesus Protects An Accused Woman Early in the morning Jesus went again into the temple and taught the many people who came to him.            The scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They said to him:            “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou?”            They hoped to tempt Jesus so that they might find something to...