Jesus was doubted by his own brothers

JESUS WAS DOUBTED BY HIS OWN BROTHERS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 7:5 For neither did his brothers believein him.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Brethren, But NotBelievers
John 7:5
J.R. Thomson
In recording this factthe evangelistshows his usual candour. The fact that
some of those who were nearestakin to Jesus withheld from him their faith is
at first sight surprising. It must have been very distressing to the human heart
of our Lord to meet with such unbelief; and it must have been painful, and to
some extent discouraging, to his avowedand ardent disciples. Yet the factis so
suggestive andinstructive that, upon reflection, we cannot wonder that it was
thus put upon record.
I. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE FAMILIAR WITH CHRIST, HIS DOCTRINE,
AND GOSPEL, AND YET NOT TO BELIEVE ON HIM. In reading the
gospelnarrative, we meet with instances ofunbelief which do not surprise us,
which seemeasily accountedfor. There were many who did not really know
Christ, who simply took other people's judgment concerning him, or acted
upon the prejudices natural to ignorance. We scarcelywonderthat the selfish,

unscrupulous, unspiritual rulers and scribes at JerusalemrejectedChrist's
claims, and actedtowards him with hostility; or that the Roman procurator
Pilate misunderstood him, and finally abandoned him to his foes. But we are
shockedwhenwe learn that the very brethren of Jesus wantedfaith - at all
events, thorough faith - in Jesus. Theywere his kin; they had knownhim for
many years; they must have enjoyed many opportunities of studying his
characterand verifying his claims. Yet they withheld their faith, at leastfor a
time. This factis not unparalleled. In condemning the brethren of Jesus, the
hearer of the gospelmay possibly be condemning himself. In our own day, in
the very heart of Christian society, there may be found many who are very
familiar with the gospel, who are frequent readers and hearers of the Word,
who have seenin their nearestfriends very favourable representatives ofthe
Christian character, who yet have little interest, and no faith, in Christ
himself.
II. EXPLANATIONS OF THIS REJECTION OF CHRIST, CONSISTENT
WITH FAMILIARITY WITH HIM MAY BE DISCOVEREDIN HUMAN
NATURE AND EXPERIENCE.
1. There are casesin which familiarity itself seems adverse to faith. A striking
illustration of the actionof this principle is recorded by St. Luke. The
Nazarenes knew Jesuswell;he had been brought up among them, had dwelt
in their town; everything they had known of him must have been favourable.
"Familiarity," says the proverb, "breeds contempt;" and in vulgar natures
this is true. Accordingly, the people of Nazareth, when the Divine Prophet
visited them, were not only incredulous, they were hostile. In his owncity he
had no honour. It seems to have been the same with our Lord's kindred; it
was hard for them to believe that one brought up among them, and in
circumstances resembling their own, could be so far above them, in true rank
and in spiritual authority, as Jesus claimed to be. To how many has the name
of Jesus beenfamiliar from childhood, without awakening sentiments of
reverence and faith! When some such persons have the dignity and the power

and preciousnessofJesus brought in some way with unusual vividness before
their minds, it may be noticed that resentment is arousedrather than faith.
Christ has occupieda familiar place in their stock ofknowledge;but perhaps
on that very accountthey are indisposedto see in him what they have never
seenbefore.
2. There are casesin which worldliness and sluggishness ofspirit are a barrier
to faith in Christ. Such persons may be, through birth and association, almost
as brethren to the Lord; yet their habits of mind prevent them from rousing
themselves even to considerhis claims. They live at a low level, and they hate
everything that would raise them to a higher. They resistany demand upon
admiration or faith. They may be indisposed to believe in anyone or in
anything; how much mere in a Being so glorious, in doctrines so inspiring, as
Christianity presents!
3. There are casesin which example explains indifference to the Saviour. No
doubt our Lord's kinsmen ought to have been influenced by the better
example of the mother and the disciples of Jesus. But they appear to have
been more affectedby the negligence andunbelief of others. It is observable
that they came to believe at a later period - perhaps, under the influence of the
growing numbers of the Lord's adherents. Certain it is, that many of the
hearers of the gospelhave no better reasonto give for their incredulity than
the faithlessnessofothers, especiallyof those with whom they most associate,
and from whom they unconsciouslytake their moral tone. A "reason" this is
not, but it is a sufficient explanation to those acquainted with human nature.
III. VALUABLE PRACTICALLESSONS MAY BE LEARNED FROM THE
UNBELIEF OF CHRIST'S BRETHREN. Thoseespeciallywho have long
enjoyed many religious advantages may gain profit from this record, which
contains suggestionsofvery serious admonition.

1. It is foolish and wrong to rest in outward privileges; for these of themselves,
if not used aright, are of no avail. If it servedno valuable end for these
relatives of Jesus to be so near him in blood, we shall actfoolishly if we rest in
our associationwith Christ's Church.
2. It is important to penetrate through superficial acquaintance with Christ to
real spiritual knowledge ofhim. It is wellto have an acquaintance with the
facts and doctrines of Christianity. But these are merely means to a higher
end, to faith and fellowship, assimilationand devotion.
3. Notto believe in Christ is to reject him in all his glorious offices. He came to
earth to be a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. To refuse our faith to him in these
severaloffices, is to forfeit the spiritual, the priceless blessingswhichit is his
heart's desire to confer upon the children of men. - T.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(5) For neither did his brethren believe.—Comp. Note on John 7:3. The words
do not admit of any other meaning than the obvious one that even His
brethren did not at this time believe Him to be the Messiah. Thatthey are
found in the very first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles joining with the
Apostles, and the women, and Mary, with one accordin prayer (John 7:14), is
one of the striking instances of the hardened ground of human hearts passing
into the fruitful ground receptive of the seed, as the case ofJudas at the close
of the lastchapter is an instance of the opposite. Forthe immediate cause of
the decisive change, see 1Corinthians 15:7.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
7:1-13 The brethren or kinsmen of Jesus were disgusted, when they found
there was no prospectof worldly advantages from him. Ungodly men
sometimes undertake to counselthose employed in the work of God; but they
only advise what appears likely to promote present advantages. The people
differed about his doctrine and miracles, while those who favoured him, dared
not openly to avow their sentiments. Those who count the preachers of the
gospelto be deceivers, speak out, while many who favour them, fear to get
reproachby avowing regardfor them.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For there is no man ... - The brethren of Jesus supposedthat he was
influenced as others are. As it is a common thing among men to seek
popularity, so they supposedthat he would also seek it; and as a great
multitude would be assembledat Jerusalemat this feast, they supposed it
would be a favorable time to make himself known. What follows shows that
this was said, probably, not in sincerity, but in derision; and to the other
sufferings of our Lord was to be added, what is so common to Christians,
derision from his relatives and friends on accountof his pretensions. If our
Saviour was derided, we also may expect to be by our relatives;and, having
his example, we should be contentto bear it.
If thou do ... - It appears from this that they did not really believe that he
performed miracles;or, if they did believe it, they did not suppose that he was
the Christ. Yet it seems hardly credible that they could suppose that his
miracles were real, and yet not admit that he was the Messiah. Besides, there
is no evidence that these relatives had been present at any of his miracles, and
all that they knew of them might have been from report. See the notes at
Mark 3:21. On the word brethren in John 7:5, see the Matthew 13:55 note,
and Galatians 1:19 note.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
3-5. His brethren said—(See on[1798]Mt13:54-56).

Depart … into Judea, &c.—InJoh 7:5 this speechis ascribedto their unbelief.
But as they were in the "upper room" among the one hundred and twenty
disciples who waited for the descentof the Spirit after the Lord's ascension
(Ac 1:14), they seemto have had their prejudices removed, perhaps after His
resurrection. Indeed here their language is more that of strong prejudice and
suspicion(such as near relatives, even the best, too frequently show in such
cases), than from unbelief. There was also, probably, a tincture of vanity in it.
"Thou hast many disciples in Judea; here in Galilee they are fast dropping
off; it is not like one who advances the claims Thou dost to linger so long here,
awayfrom the city of our solemnities, where surely 'the kingdom of our father
David' is to be set up: 'seeking,'as Thou dost, 'to be known openly,' those
miracles of Thine ought not to be confined to this distant corner, but
submitted at headquarters to the inspection of 'the world.'" (See Ps 69:8, "I
am become a strangerto my brethren, an alien unto my mother's children!")
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Not all his ownfriends and kindred; he came not only among his own
countrymen, but among his ownrelations, and they receivedhim not; or if
they had some opinion of him, and some little hopes concerning him, yet they
did not believe as they ought to have believed. Certainly there cannotbe a
greaterproof and demonstration that faith is not of ourselves, nor a thing in
our own power, no, not with all the external aids of gospeldoctrine and
arguments, than is in this text. We cannotimagine but our Lord’s brethren
were willing enoughto have believed in Christ as the true Messiahand
Saviour of the world; the very honour of their family would have so far
inclined them. It is impossible that they, or any others, should have had
greaterexternal means, aids, and assistancesfor their faith, than Christ’s
preaching amongstthem, and confirming his doctrine by miraculous
operations before them; if now they had a power in their own wills, to have
lookedupon Christ as the true Messiahand Saviour of the world, and
accordinglyto have receivedand embraced him, what was the matter they
believed not, or as yet at leastthey believed not in him?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For neither did his brethren believe in him. At first they might take to him,
and embrace him as the Messiah, andexpecthe would set up a temporal
kingdom; in which they might hope, on accountof their relation to him,
according to the flesh to enjoy greathonours and privileges;but finding that
he was not inclined to anything of that nature, and talked in a quite different
way, they grew sick of him, and rejectedhim, as the Messiah;so, little regard
is to be had, or confidence placed, in carnaldescentfrom, or alliance to the
best of men; as to Abraham, or any other true believer, if they have not the
same grace, orthe same faith as such have; and which comes not by blood, or
natural generation, but by the free favour of God; for it matters not, if men
have known Christ, or have been allied to him after the flesh, unless they are
new creatures in him; they may be the one, and not the other; even the carnal
brethren of Christ, and yet not believers in him; and it is only such who are so
in a spiritual sense, that are regardedby him, Matthew 12:49.
Geneva Study Bible
For neither did his {b} brethren believe in him.
(b) His relatives:for the Hebrews used to speak in this way.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 7:5-6. For not even His brothers, whom we might have expectedto have
been foremost, etc.;otherwise they would not have urged Him to the testof a
public appearance. Theyurged this upon Him all the more, because He had
absentedHimself from the previous PassoveratJerusalem,—a factwhich
could not have been unknown to them.
ἐπίστ. εἰς αὐτ.] in the ordinary sense;they did not believe in Him as the
Messiah. To take the words to mean only the perfect self-surrenderof faith,

which they had not yet attained to (Lange, Hengstenberg), is an inference
necessitatedby the mistakennotion that these brothers were not literally
brothers (see on Matthew 12:46; Acts 1:14; Mark 3:31; 1 Corinthians 9:5).
Nonnus admirably says:ἀπειθέες οἷάπερ ἄλλοι, Χριστοῦ παμμεδέοντος
ἀδελφειοί περ ἐόντες. See John 7:7.
ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμός] cannot mean the time to make the journey to the feast
(Luther, Jansen, Cornelius a Lapide, and most expositors);the antithesis ὁ
καιρὸς ὁ ὑμ. demands a deeper reference. It is, according to the context, the
time to manifest myself to the world, John 7:4, by which Jesus certainly
understood the divinely appointed yet still expectedmoment of public decision
concerning Him (comp. John 2:4), which did come historically at the very next
Passover, but which He now felt in a generalway was not yet come. Thus the
explanation of Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Lampe, and most others,
who refer the words to the time of His passion, is not wrong, only that this is
not actually expressed, but was historically the fulfillment of what is here said.
The corresponding ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ὑμέτερος in like manner means the time for
showing themselves openly to the world, which the brothers might do at any
time, because theystood in no opposition to the world (John 7:7; John 15:19).
Expositor's Greek Testament
John 7:5. It is indeed added οὐδὲ γὰρ … αὐτόν, “Fornot even did His
brothers believe in Him”; but this does not mean that they did not believe He
wrought miracles, but that they had not submitted to His claim to be Messiah.
They required to see Him publicly acknowledgedbefore they could believe.
Therefore this clause is introduced to explain why they urged Him to go to
Jerusalem.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
5. Forneither did his brethren believe in him] Or, Fornot even did His
brethren (as one would expect) believe on Him. It is marvellous that in the
face of this verse any one should have maintained that three of His brethren
(James, Simon, and Judas) were Apostles. This verse is also fatal to the

common theory, that these ‘brethren’ are really our Lord’s cousins, the sons
of Alphæus. Certainly one of the sons of Alphæus (James)was an Apostle;
probably a secondwas (Matthew, if Levi and Matthew are the same person, as
is almost universally admitted); possibly a third was (Judas, if ‘Judas of
James’means ‘Judas, brother of James,’as is commonly supposed). By this
time the company of the Twelve was complete (John 6:67; John 6:70-71);so
that we cannot suppose that some of the Twelve have still to be converted. If
then one, two, or three sons of Alphæus were Apostles how could it be true
that the sons of Alphæus ‘did not believe on Him?’ ‘His brethren’ cannot be
the sons of Alphæus. They seemto have been converted by the Resurrection.
Immediately after the Ascensionwe find them with the Apostles and the holy
women (Acts 1:14; comp. 1 Corinthians 9:5, Galatians 1:19).
Bengel's Gnomen
John 7:5. Οὐδέ) not even: so few they were that believed! Not exceptby Divine
succours was faith in Jesus of Nazarethestablished:the very members of His
family were opposedto Him.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 5. - For not even did his brethren believe in him. The evangelist, writing
a generationlater, and keenly remembering the attitude the brothers had
assumedbefore the Resurrection, adds, "not even his brothers," who ought to
have been the most prominent of his disciples, "did up to this time believe on
him," i.e. entrust themselves to him, dispose of their prejudices, change their
conceptions, accepthis spiritual lead, acknowledgehis Divine mission, or
know him to be the Holy One of God. They had not come into the position of
the twelve. What ideas soeverthey graspedfell immeasurably short of "eating
his flesh and drinking his blood," of coming to him, being given to him and
drawn to him by the Father. It was a world Messiah, a theocratic King, a
Prophet-Captain, a royal Christ, that they sought and would have been glad
to find in him. This treatment of the Lord was another striking parallel to the
temptation of Jesus as describedby the synoptists, "All these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me" (see note on ch. 4, and
Introduction, VIII. 5). The non-belief of the brothers is in remarkable unison

with the widespreadunbelief of the people, who were anxious to discernthe
Christ of their own traditional expectations, and ready to press almostany
possible claimant to premature demonstrations. The Phariseesand the people
sought some sign from heaven. But while the people demanded it, they
expectedthat he would and might gratify them if he chose. The Pharisees
cynically tempted him to proclaim what they believed would prove his
irremediable failure (Weiss, 'Life of Christ.,' vol. 3. Eng. trans., pp. 167-188).
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Neither did his brethren believe in him - They did not receive him as the
promised Messiah;but, having seenso many of his miracles, they could not
but considerhim as an eminent prophet. They supposedthat, if he were the
Messiah, he would wish to manifest himself as such to the world; and, because
he did not do so, they did not believe that he was the salvationof Israel.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on John 7:5". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/john-
7.html. 1832.

Return to Jump List return to 'Jump List'
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
For neither did his brethren believe in him. At first they might take to him,
and embrace him as the Messiah, andexpecthe would set up a temporal
kingdom; in which they might hope, on accountof their relation to him,
according to the flesh to enjoy greathonours and privileges;but finding that
he was not inclined to anything of that nature, and talked in a quite different
way, they grew sick of him, and rejectedhim, as the Messiah;so, little regard
is to be had, or confidence placed, in carnaldescent from, or alliance to the
best of men; as to Abraham, or any other true believer, if they have not the
same grace, orthe same faith as such have; and which comes not by blood, or
natural generation, but by the free favour of God; for it matters not, if men
have known Christ, or have been allied to him after the flesh, unless they are
new creatures in him; they may be the one, and not the other; even the carnal
brethren of Christ, and yet not believers in him; and it is only such who are so
in a spiritual sense, that are regardedby him, Matthew 12:49.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on John 7:5". "The New John Gill Exposition of the
Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/john-
7.html. 1999.

Geneva Study Bible
For neither did his b brethren believe in him.
(b) His relatives:for the Hebrews used to speak in this way.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon John 7:5". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/john-7.html. 1599-
1645.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
For even his brethren did not believe on him (ουδε γαρ οι αδελποι αυτου
επιστευον εις αυτον — oude garhoi adelphoi autou episteuon eis auton).
Literally, “Fornot even were his brothers believing on him.” Imperfect tense
of πιστευω — pisteuō with sad picture of the persistent refusalof the brothers
of Jesus to believe in his Messianic assumptions, after the two rejections in
Capernaum (Luke 4:16-31;Mark 6:1-6; Matthew 13:54-58), and also after the
blasphemous accusationofbeing in league with Beelzebub when the mother
and brothers came to take Jesus home (Mark 3:31-35;Matthew 12:46-50;
Luke 8:19-21). The brothers here are sarcastic.

Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on John 7:5". "Robertson's WordPictures of
the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/john-7.html. Broadman
Press 1932,33. Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
Neither ( οὐδὲ )
Better, as Rev., not even.
Did believe ( ἐπίστευον )
The imperfect, were believing; referring not to a single actof faith, but to
faith as habitual and controlling.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.

Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon John 7:5". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/john-7.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
The Fourfold Gospel
For even his brethren did not believe on him1.
For even his brethren did not believe on him. The verse explodes the idea that
the parties known in the New Testamentas our Lord's brothers were the sons
of Alphaeus and cousins to Jesus. The sons of Alphaeus had long since been
numbered among the apostles, while our Lord's brothers were still
unbelievers. As to his brothers, see
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website. These files
were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 at
The RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
J. W. McGarveyand Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentaryon John 7:5". "The
Fourfold Gospel". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/john-
7.html. Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

5.Foreven his brethren did not believe in him. Hence we infer how small is the
value of carnal relationship; for the Holy Spirit stamps with a perpetual mark
of infamy the relations of Christ, because, thoughconvinced by the
testimonies of so many works, they did not even then believe. Therefore,
whosoeverwishes to be thought to be in Christ, as Paul says, let him be a new
creature, (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15;) for they who dedicate
themselves wholly to God obtain the place of father, and mother, and
brethren to Christ, and all others he utterly disavows, (Matthew 12:50.)So
much the more ridiculous is the superstition of Papists, who, disregarding
everything else in the Virgin Mary, extol her only on the ground of
relationship, bestowing on her the title of the Motherof Christ, (180)as if
Christ himself had not reproved the womanwho exclaimed from the midst of
the crowd,
Blessedis the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that suckledthee; for
Christ replied, Nay, rather, blessedare they who hear the word of God,
(Luke 11:27.)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on John 7:5". "Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/john-7.html. 1840-
57.
John Trapp Complete Commentary

5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Ver. 5. For neither did his brethren believe] This the Jews of this day read
with much wonderment; and take occasionfrom this text to slander our
Saviour’s miracles, as nothing so manifest as we conceive them, since his own
kindred believed not in him.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on John 7:5". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/john-7.html.
1865-1868.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
John 7:5. οὐδέ) not even: so few they were that believed! Notexcept by Divine
succours was faith in Jesus of Nazarethestablished:the very members of His
family were opposedto Him.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on John 7:5". Johann Albrecht
Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/john-7.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
Not all his ownfriends and kindred; he came not only among his own
countrymen, but among his ownrelations, and they receivedhim not; or if
they had some opinion of him, and some little hopes concerning him, yet they
did not believe as they ought to have believed. Certainly there cannotbe a
greaterproof and demonstration that faith is not of ourselves, nor a thing in
our own power, no, not with all the external aids of gospeldoctrine and
arguments, than is in this text. We cannotimagine but our Lord’s brethren
were willing enoughto have believed in Christ as the true Messiahand
Saviour of the world; the very honour of their family would have so far
inclined them. It is impossible that they, or any others, should have had
greaterexternal means, aids, and assistancesfor their faith, than Christ’s
preaching amongstthem, and confirming his doctrine by miraculous
operations before them; if now they had a power in their own wills, to have
lookedupon Christ as the true Messiahand Saviour of the world, and
accordinglyto have receivedand embraced him, what was the matter they
believed not, or as yet at leastthey believed not in him?
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon John 7:5". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/john-7.html. 1685.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
The teaching and example of the holiestman on earth will not, without the
grace ofGod, lead even his relatives to believe in Christ and live.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on John 7:5". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/john-7.html.
American Tract Society. 1851.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
5. Neither… his brethren believe—The brothers of a sinless, perfectchild
would, then, give him no credit for being such! Howeverright he may be, they
would always hold him wrong when he differed from themselves. So they do

on the present occasion. He is waiting his “time” from the Fatherin his most
perfect rectitude of soul, and these brothers rather think him a miraculous
fool!
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on John 7:5". "Whedon's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/john-7.html.
1874-1909.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
John 7:5. For not even did his brethren believe in him. This verse seems to
afford an unanswerable argument againstthose who hold that amongstthese
‘brothers’ of our Lord were included two or three of the twelve apostles. How
long this unbelief lastedwe cannot tell: the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians
15:7, ‘Then He appeared to James,’make it very probable that it was by our
Lord’s resurrectionfrom the dead that the brothers were led to a true belief
in that Divine missionwhich, in spite of the earliermiracles they had
witnessed, they had refused to accept.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Schaff, Philip. "Commentary on John 7:5". "Schaff's Popular Commentary
on the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/john-7.html. 1879-90.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
John 7:5. It is indeed added οὐδὲ γὰρ … αὐτόν, “Fornot even did His
brothers believe in Him”; but this does not mean that they did not believe He
wrought miracles, but that they had not submitted to His claim to be Messiah.
They required to see Him publicly acknowledgedbefore they could believe.
Therefore this clause is introduced to explain why they urged Him to go to
Jerusalem.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nicol, W. Robertson, M.A., L.L.D. "Commentary on John 7:5". The
Expositor's Greek Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/egt/john-7.html. 1897-1910.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Neither did his brethren believe in him; by his brethren here, we are to
understand his kindred, this townsmen or countrymen, at or about Nazareth.
(Witham)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentaryon John 7:5". "GeorgeHaydock's
Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/john-7.html. 1859.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
neither = not even. Greek. oude. App-105. See note on "And we beheld", &c.,
John 1:14.
believe in. App-150. See note on John 1:12.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on John 7:5". "E.W. Bullinger's
Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/john-7.html. 1909-1922.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
For neither did his brethren believe in him. But as we find these "brethren" of
the Lord in the "upper room" among the 120 disciples who waitedfor the
descentof the Spirit after the Lord's ascension(Acts 1:14), they seemto have
had their prejudices removed-perhaps after His resurrection. Indeed, here
their language is more that of strong prejudice and suspicion-suchas near
relatives, even the best, too frequently show in such cases-thanformed
unbelief. There was also, probably, a tincture of vanity in it. 'Thou hast many
disciples in Judea; here in Galilee they are fast dropping off; it is not like one
who advances the claims thou dost to linger so long here, away from the city
of our solemnities, where surely "the kingdom of our father David" is to be set
up: "seeking,"as thou dost, "to be knownopenly," those miracles of thine
ought not to be confined to this distant corner, but submitted at headquarters
to the inspectionof the world.' On hearing such a speech, one might suppose
Him going to His Father, and saying, "I am become a strangerunto my
brethren, an alien unto my mother's children" (Psalms 69:8)! Does notthis
speech, by the way, tend to confirm the view we have taken of the number of
Passovers whichoccurredduring our Lord's public ministry, and which imply
His absence from Jerusalemfor a time which had appearedunaccountably
long? For about a year and a half, according to our reckoning. He had not
been there. This seems to many incredibly long. But it would seemas if it had
been long enough at leastto appear to His "brethren" inconsistentwith His
claims.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on John
7:5". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfu/john-
7.html. 1871-8.
The Bible Study New Testament
(Not even his brothers believed in him.) This verse destroys the theory that the
"brothers" of Jesus were the sons of Alphaeus, therefore cousins to Jesus. The
sons of Alphaeus had long been apostles, while these "brothers" were still
unbelievers. Compare note on Mark 3:21.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Ice, Rhoderick D. "Commentary on John 7:5". "The Bible Study New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ice/john-7.html.
College Press, Joplin, MO. 1974.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(5) For neither did his brethren believe.—Comp. Note on John 7:3. The words
do not admit of any other meaning than the obvious one that even His
brethren did not at this time believe Him to be the Messiah. Thatthey are
found in the very first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles joining with the
Apostles, and the women, and Mary, with one accordin prayer (John 7:14), is
one of the striking instances of the hardened ground of human hearts passing
into the fruitful ground receptive of the seed, as the case ofJudas at the close
of the lastchapter is an instance of the opposite. Forthe immediate cause of
the decisive change, see 1 Corinthians 15:7.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
WILLIAM BARCLAY
The Festivalof Tabernaclesfell at the end of September and the beginning of
October. It was one of the obligatory festivals and every adult male Jew who
lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalemwas legallybound to attend it. But
devout Jews from far outside the fifteen mile radius delighted to go to it. It
lastedaltogetherfor eight days. Later in this chapter we shall have occasionto
deal more fully with it. When it came round, Jesus'brothers urged him to go
to Jerusalemfor it; but Jesus rejectedtheir arguments and went in his own
goodtime.

There is one unique thing in this passagewhichwe must note. According to
the RevisedStandard Version (John 7:7) Jesus says:"My time is not yet
come." Jesus frequently spoke about his time or his hour. But here he uses a
different word, and uses it for the only time. In the other passages(John2:4;
John 7:30; John 8:20; John 12:27)the word that Jesus orJohn uses is hora
(Greek #5610), whichmeans the destined hour of God. Such a time or hour
was not movable nor avoidable. It had to be acceptedwithout argument and
without alterationbecause it was the hour at which the plan of God had
decided that something must happen. But in this passagethe word is kairos
(Greek #2540), whichcharacteristicallymeans an opportunity; that is, the
best time to do something, the moment when circumstances are most suitable,
the psychologicalmoment. Jesus is not saying here that the destined hour of
God has not come but something much simpler. He is saying that that was not
the moment which would give him the chance for which he was waiting.
That explains why Jesus lateractually did go to Jerusalem. Many people have
been troubled about the fact that he first told his brothers he would not go
and then went. Schopenhauer, the German philosopher, actually said: "Jesus
Christ did of set purpose utter a falsehood." Otherpeople have argued that it
means that Jesus saidthat he was not going up to the festival publicly but that
did not preclude him from going privately. But Jesus is saying simply: "If I go
up with you just now I will not get the opportunity I am looking for. The time
is not opportune." So he delayed his going until the middle of the festival,
since to arrive with the crowds all assembledand expectantgave him a far
better opportunity than to go at the very beginning. Jesus is choosing his time
with careful prudence in order to getthe most effective results.
From this passagewe learntwo things:
(i) It is impossible to force Jesus'hand. His brothers tried to force him into
going to Jerusalem. It was what we might calla dare. They were quite right

from the human point of view. Jesus'greatmiracles had been wrought in
Galilee--the changing of the waterinto wine (John 2:1 ff); the healing of the
nobleman's son (John 4:46); the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1 ff). The
only miracle that he had wrought in Jerusalemwas the curing of the impotent
man at the pool (John 5:1 ff). It was not unnatural to tell Jesus to go to
Jerusalemand let his supporters there see what he could do. The story makes
it clearthat the healing of the impotent man had been regardedfar more as
an act of Sabbath breaking than as a miracle. Further, if Jesus was everto
succeedin winning men, he could not hope to do so by hiding in a comer; he
must act in such a way that everyone could see what he did. Still further,
Jerusalemwas the keypoint. The Galilaeans were notoriouslyhot-bloodedand
hot-headed. Anyone who wanted a following would have no difficulty in
raising one in the excitable atmosphere of Galilee;but Jerusalemwas a very
different proposition. It was the acid test.
Jesus'brothers could have put up a goodcase fortheir insistence;but Jesus'
hand is not to be forced. He does things, not in man's time, but in God's.
Man's impatience of man must learn to wait on God's wisdom.
(ii) It is impossible to treat Jesus with indifference. It did not matter when his
brothers went to Jerusalem, for no one would notice they were there and
nothing whateverdepended on their going. But Jesus'going was a very
different thing. Why? Because his brothers were in tune with the world and
they did not make it uncomfortable. But Jesus'coming is a condemnation of
the world's way of life and a challenge to selfishness and lethargy. Jesus had to
choose his moment, for when he arrives something happens.
KEN BOA

John 7:2-5, “Now the feastof the Jews, the FeastofBooths, was near.
Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that
Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does
anything in secretwhen he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these
things, show Yourself to the world.” Fornot even His brothers were believing
in Him.” They were basically saying that Jesus couldgo ahead, if You want to
make Yourself this Messiahthen go ahead and show Yourself. This is a good
time to do it. There’s a kind of skepticismhere. In spite of all that close
contactwith Jesus, theywere still unbelievers. The reality is that a prophet is
not welcome in his own hometown. We often find that kind of reception
among people we were raisedwith. His brothers were basicallysaying from
the world’s perspective, “You want to get a following, here’s the way to do it.”
There’s an earthly wisdom versus a divine wisdom that they’re talking about
here.
CALVIN
Verse 5
5.Foreven his brethren did not believe in him. Hence we infer how small is the
value of carnal relationship; for the Holy Spirit stamps with a perpetual mark
of infamy the relations of Christ, because, thoughconvinced by the
testimonies of so many works, they did not even then believe. Therefore,
whosoeverwishes to be thought to be in Christ, as Paul says, let him be a new
creature, (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15;) for they who dedicate
themselves wholly to God obtain the place of father, and mother, and
brethren to Christ, and all others he utterly disavows, (Matthew 12:50.)So
much the more ridiculous is the superstition of Papists, who, disregarding
everything else in the Virgin Mary, extol her only on the ground of
relationship, bestowing on her the title of the Motherof Christ, (180)as if

Christ himself had not reproved the womanwho exclaimed from the midst of
the crowd,
Blessedis the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that suckledthee; for
Christ replied, Nay, rather, blessedare they who hear the word of God,
(Luke 11:27.)
STEVEN COLE
. Jesus’brothers were living by man’s time: Their time was always opportune.
Jesus told His brothers that they could go up to the feastwhenever they
wanted to go, because their time was “always opportune” (7:6). The
implication is that they were not living under God’s time, as Jesus was. D. A.
Carson(The GospelAccording to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 308)says that
Jesus meant “that what they did was utterly without significance as far as God
was concerned.” We candraw three implications about what it means to live
by man’s time:
A. Those living by man’s time are not living under the lordship of Christ.
As John 7:5 adds, “Fornot even His brothers were believing in Him.” As we
saw in our laststudy, Jesus’brothers had grownup with Him, so they knew
Him better than most people would have. They had heard His teaching and
seensome of His miracles. They were good, religious Jews, who observedthe
various feasts in Israel, such as this Feastof Booths. But they didn’t believe in
Jesus as Saviorand Lord. They probably did not see their need for a Savior
from sin, because they thought of themselves as good, religious Jews in
comparisonwith the paganGentiles.

So if you want to live by God’s time and not waste your life living by man’s
time, the first order of business is to trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. When
you are born again, you repent of the sin of living for yourself and you begin
to live for the glory of your wonderful Savior and Lord. You realize that if He
is Lord of all, then He is Lord of your time. So you begin to seek Him
earnestlyto figure out how He wants you to spend your life. If you determine
your goals and priorities apart from submissionto God and His Word, then
you’re living by man’s time, not by God’s time. Such living is ultimately futile.
B. Those living by man’s time go along with their culture apart from Christ.
Jesus draws a sharp contrasthere betweenHis brothers’ time and His time. If
you’re using your time as our culture does, you aren’t living by God’s time.
The brothers went up to this religious feastbut they went without Jesus. They
went because it was the thing that all Jewishmen did at that time of the year.
It was a God-ordained ritual, but they did it without reality because they did
it without Jesus and without faith in Him. They were living by man’s time, not
by God’s time.
We, of course, live in a godless,corrupt culture that exalts selfishpleasure and
materialism as the ultimate aims in life. To go along with our culture and live
for those fleeting pleasures is obviously to waste your life. But it’s possible to
be a part of the Christian wing of our culture, to go to church and go through
Christian rituals (such as communion) and yet leave Jesus out. You’re just
doing it because it’s the thing that other Christians do. But that is to live by
man’s time, not by God’s time.
C. Those living by man’s time operate by worldly wisdom, not by God’s
wisdom.

As we saw lasttime, Jesus’brothers offered some worldly-wise advice on how
He could advance His “career.” Theymay have meant well, but as I pointed
out, their advice was in line with Satan’s temptation for Jesus to jump off the
pinnacle of the temple, have the angels floatHim gently to the ground, and
impress everyone with His miraculous powers. The brothers’ advice was, “For
no one does anything in secretwhenhe himself seeks to be known publicly. If
You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” (7:4).
As Carsonpoints out (ibid., pp. 306-307), by the world, Jesus’brothers meant,
“to everyone,” but John no doubt saw irony in their comment. We already
know that such a display of Jesus’miraculous powers would have the
multitude clamoring to make Him a political Messiah(6:14-15), but it would
not have resulted in genuine faith (2:23-25). In one sense Jesushad no
intention of showing Himself to the world (14:22). And yet in another sense
(Carson, p. 307), “it is in Jerusalemwhere Jesus reveals himselfmost
dramatically—not in the spectacularmiracles the brothers want but in the
ignominy of the cross, the very cross by which Jesus draws all men to Himself
(12:32) and becomes the Savior of the world (4:42).” The cross is foolishness
to the wise of this world, but to us who are called, it is God’s powerand
wisdom (1 Cor. 1:23-24).
THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verses 3-5
Jesus" half-brothers advised Him to go to the feastso His remaining disciples
would continue to believe on Him and so more people would become His
disciples. They evidently supposed that Jesus wantedas large a following as
possible. They believed that He could perform miracles, but they did not
believe that He was who He claimed to be. They encouragedHim to promote

Himself, perhaps because theysaw some advantage for themselves in His
doing so. Satan had tempted Jesus similarly ( Matthew 4:1-10). God"s plan
for Jesus"exaltationwas different from theirs and involved the Cross. It is
difficult to tell if these brothers spoke sincerelyor sarcastically. Perhaps some
were sincere and others were sarcastic.
Familiarity with Jesus did not and does not guarantee faith in Him (cf. Psalm
69:8). The wayunbelievers plan to obtain glory for themselves is frequently
contrary to God"s way of doing things (cf. Philippians 2:3-11). Two of these
half-brothers were James and Jude who later became believers and wrote the
New Testamentbooks that bear their names (cf. Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians
15:7).
BOB DEFFINBAUGH
What our Lord’s brothers59 saidto Him was rooted in unbelief and
rejection—notin faith. Forthis reason, I have chosento set aside the
rendering (“advised”)of the NET Bible and revert to a much more basic
rendering (“saidto”) of the original text. I do not believe our Lord’s brothers
are giving Him a piece of goodadvice. To sum up the essenceoftheir words to
Jesus irreverently (as unbelieving brothers would be inclined to do), “Put up
or shut up!” I think our Lord’s brothers were embarrassedby Jesus and fed
up with His ministry. I am tempted to believe that these brothers were aware
that the Jews in Judea were seeking to kill Jesus. Theyurged Him to leave
Galilee, the place of safety (and also the place where they lived), and to go to
Jerusalem, the place of greatestdanger. One finds the brothers’ words similar
to those we see in the Gospelof Luke: At that time, some Pharisees came up
and said to Jesus, “Getawayfrom here, because Herodwants to kill you”
(Luke 13:31).

These words spokenby the Pharisees are not words that are sincerelyspoken,
with our Lord’s best interest in view. They are words intended to scare Jesus
off, to be rid of Him. I am inclined to view the words of our Lord’s brothers as
being similar to those of the Pharisees. At best, these brothers are saying, “If
you are really determined to go ahead with this thing, then get on with it. Go
up to Jerusalemand see if you can convince anyone that you are Messiahby
performing miracles, if indeed you can perform them.” Cynicism seems to
virtually ooze from their words. At worst, they are encouraging Jesus to
pursue His ambitions in a way that they are certain will result in His arrest,
and perhaps even His death.
Our Lord’s response suggeststhat Jesus finds nothing meritorious in the
words of His brothers. It was not “yet” His time; their “time” was any time.
The world cannot hate them, but it does hate Him. This is not the same as
saying, “The world does not hate you, but it does hate Me.” The world cannot
hate them for the same reasonthat it does hate Jesus. Theyare a part of the
world. They hate Jesus as the world hates Him. They and the world hate Jesus
because He exposes their sin (verse 7). Let the brothers go on to Jerusalem
without Him. It is not yet His time to go up to the feast, because His time has
not yet fully arrived.
Just what “time” is it that has not yet fully arrived? It is my opinion that
Jesus means that it is not “yet” His “time” to make His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, where He will momentarily be welcomedas the Messiah, andsoon
thereafterrejectedas the “King of the Jews.”Jesus will go up to Jerusalem,
but it will not be to make His bid for acceptance.Jesus willgo up to Jerusalem
to make yet another public announcement that He is the Messiah, not with a
view to acceptance, but with a view to rejection. Jesus will go up to Jerusalem
to pave the way for His final visit to Jerusalem, not many months away, when
He will be crucified on a cross atCalvary.

Let me pause for a moment to reflect on what we have just read and on its
application to us. Jesus knows whatit means to be rejectedby His family. I
believe this was prophesied:
7 Becausefor Your sake I have borne reproach;Shame has coveredmy face. 8
I have become a strangerto my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s
children; 9 Because zealfor Your house has eatenme up, And the reproaches
of those who reproach You have fallen on me (Psalm69:7-9, NKJV, emphasis
mine).60
In addition, Jesus spoke ofthe way He would divide families, and thus He
required that men love Him more than their families:
21 “Brother will hand overbrother to death, and a father his child. Children
will rise againstparents and have them put to death. 22 And you will be hated
by all on accountof my name. But the one who endures to the end will be
saved” (Matthew 10:21-22).
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come
to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to seta man againsthis father,
a daughter againsther mother, and a daughter-in-law againsther mother-in-
law, 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. 37
Whoeverloves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and
whoeverloves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And
whoeverdoes not take up his cross andfollow me, is not worthy of me. 39
Whoeverfinds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will find it”
(Matthew 10:34-39, emphasis mine).

Our Lord sets down the more generalprinciple in the GospelofJohn:
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged
to the world, the world would love its own. But because youdo not belong to
the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reasonthe world hates
you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greaterthan his master.’ If
they persecutedme, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they
will obey yours” (John 15:18-20).
Let those who would follow our Lord take note that when we follow Christ,
men will respond to us as they have to Him. Jesus was rejectedby His family;
we should expect that this may be our experience as well. If we would be
disciples of Jesus Christ, we must love Him above family and, if need be, we
must choose Him and renounce family.
After Jesus’brothers depart for Jerusalem, Jesus goes up as well. He does not
do so as His brothers challenge Him to do—to make a very public display of
His “powers”in the hope of gaining a following. Instead, Jesus goesup to
Jerusalem“in secret” (verse 10). I understand that this is just the opposite of
what our Lord’s brothers urge Him to do. It probably means traveling by
less-usedroads and staying off the roads and out of sight when others are
traveling. Jesus probably journeys without His disciples, at night. All of this
enables Him to keepa “low profile,” avoid undue attention, and thus not
revealHis presence until well into the feast, when it will be difficult to arrest
Him.
Dr. S. Lewis Johnson

There is anotherthing that is, I think, outstanding about this passage. And
that is men refuse him out of the closestofrelationships to him. Here are the
brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who read the word of God together
with him in their youth now think that he is nothing more than a Messianic
pretender of sorts who has been able to perform mighty miracles. They have
an understanding and appreciationof his power to perform miracles. But as
John says, “Theywere not believers in him.” Isn’t it an amazing thing when
you think about it, that these individuals grew up under the same roofwith
the Lord Jesus Christbut they did not believe in him? It is possible for us to
have the closesfamiliarity with the Lord Jesus and not really know him. It’s
possible for you to sit in Believers Chapeland not know him. It’s possible for
you young people to grow up in Believers Chapel, to grow up in a Christian
family with a Christian father and a Christian mother and not know the Lord
Jesus Christ in a saving way. How important it is that we lay hold ourselves of
the salvationthat exists in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can never say, “He is a
Christian. His father and mother are Christians. They attend Believers
Chapel.” Or they attend some other evangelicalchurch, and they’ve been
brought up in that environment and canspeak the language as these brethren
of the Lord Jesus were able to do.
I think it’s also interesting to notice that though imposters exist within the
professing body of believers, there are always, it seems, some right thinking
believers in the midst of the confusion and chaos that characterizes Christian
activity. And confusion and chaos characterizedthe days of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of course, there are those who refusedhim because ofprejudice, but
later on in the chapter we shall dealwith that. People today do think, because
they’re prejudiced againstChristianity that the Bible cannot really say
anything to us. That Christianity is really an irrelevancy. For a personto be
concernedover the state of his soul is somewhatpathological, is it not? All of
these things, this rather insignificant sounding and looking passagespeaks to
us.

The chapter begins with the words, “After these things.” Six months, roughly,
after the events of the preceding chapter, for that was the period of time
betweenthe Feastofthe Passoveraround which the other events were
gatheredand the Feastofthe Tabernacles. Whathappened in betweenis not
given us in the Gospelof John, which illustrates the factthat John is not
giving us a life or a biography of the Lord Jesus. Actually, none of the gospel
writers do that. They write gospels, notbiographies. And so they are very
selective, as a rule, in the things in our Lord’s ministry which they use in their
gospels. The intervening period of time is found described for us in Mark
chapters 7, 8, and 9. And it appears that the Lord Jesus for the six months
engagedin what might be calledan itinerate ministry like a localrabbi’s
itinerate ministry. “After these things Jesus walkedin Galilee:for he would
not walk in Jewry, because the Jews soughtto kill him.” So he engagedin
ministry, an itinerate ministry, in the northern part of the land.
That’s the introduction to the chapter. One thing I think this illustrates for us
is the factthat the Lord Jesus Christ was a very prudent man naturally. “We
must always beware,” some has said, “that we do not for the sake of life lose
the purpose of living.” And our Lord did not rush pale male to Jerusalem
againwhen he knew they were seeking to kill him, because he had a purpose
for living, and he was following the directions that the Father had given him.
And his hour had not yet come. And so he engagedin the itinerate ministry in
the mean time. It is important for us to realize in the mean time that we
should not fail to use our reason, which has been given to us under the
direction of the Holy Spirit simply because we are believers.
Well the occasionofthe events is describedin the secondverse. “Now the
Jew’s feastoftabernacles was athand.” This was a very interesting feast. It
usually occurred, or was supposedto occur, in what is our month of October.
It was a harvest thanksgiving feastprimarily. It was designedto celebrate the
wilderness blessings that the Lord had given to the nation Israel. These things
had become attachedto it. And so at that time they celebratedthe way in

which God brought them through their wilderness experience in the past. And
so they had a libation every morning. The waterwas poured out in a
ceremonyto celebrate the fact that when they were thirsty and had no water,
God supplied them with water. And then in the evening they would light the
candelabra in testimony to the fact that God guided them through the
wilderness with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. It was
also, of course, a time at which people came from all over the land, and in fact
all over the Easterworld to celebrate it. And so it was calledthe Feastof
Tabernacles,becausethey made little booths out of boughs off of trees and
shrubbery and lived in these little booths like so many tents. It reminds of the
camp meetings that Christians used to hold in the south in the earlier part of
this century. So it was a kind of a Jewishcamping festival, Goodspeedsays.
But if we call it a Jewishcamping festival we lose sight of the factthat it had
an important spiritual significance. Ultimately it pointed on to the day of the
future when the nation Israelshould be gatheredtogetherin the land for the
celebrationof the FeastofTabernacles in the kingdom.
Well, the brethren of our Lord, because they were going up to Jerusalemto
celebrate this feast, knowing that he too would most likely go up, came to him
and said, “Departhence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see
the works that thou doest. Forthere is no man that doeth any thing in secret,
and he himself seekethto be known openly. If thou do these things, shew
thyself to the world.” Now that is imminently rational advice. If you are
manifesting yourself to the world, do you do that by hiding? Is it not to be
expectedif you are going to manifest yourself to the world you should go up
where the world is and there perform some of your miracles. And in
performing some of your miracles they will come to the conviction that you
are truly the Messiah. Furthermore, Jesus, they might have said to him, “Do
you not remember that six months ago when you were there you spoke some
rather hard words about sovereignsovereignty. Something that Dr. Johnson
will later speak aboutin Believers Chapel. [Laughter] And it upset quite a few
of the people, because many of your disciples went back and walkedno more
with you, do you remember? And so if you go back now and perform some
miracles you canprobably also not only gain recognitionas a Messianic

possibility, but also you can get some of your disciples back who used to follow
you but who are not following you now, because you’re preaching the doctrine
of sovereignsovereignty.” It would have made imminent goodsense. The only
thing is that it was not in accordancewith the will of God for the Lord Jesus
Christ.
It’s so easyto rationalize and to make things that are wrong appear, not only
to be right, but most reasonablyright. How important it is that we have good
theology. “Shew yourselfto the world.” It was a worldly suggestion. Go up to
the headquarters of religion today; let them pass judgment on you. Now, what
made it even more difficult to dealwith is the fact that it was true in one sense.
He is to manifest himself ultimately in Jerusalem. That’s the place that the
Messianic possibilities shouldmanifest themselves. The Messiahis to be seen
as the Messiahparticularly in Jerusalem, as the final testimony of it. But Jesus
said, “I do not receive honor from men.” That’s a statement that he’s already
made.
Now, the brethren, of course, believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ. And John
traces their worldly reasoning to their unbelief. He says in the 5th verse,
“For,” this is why they said this, “neither did his brethren believe in him.”
Now I, it seems to me, this passageteachesaboutas clearly as any other
passagecouldteachthat carnal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christis
absolutely worthless so far as eternal life is concerned. Now you and I, of
course, do not have the possibility of the fleshly relationship to him that his
own brethren had. But it’s obvious that we may have a very close relationship
to people who are related to him. All of those relationships Jesus Christ
disowns in so far as eternal life is concerned.
One day he was preaching and in the midst of his preaching someone blurted
out, “Blessedis the womb that bear Thee, and the breasts that Thou didst
suck.” In other words, blessedis the mother who gave birth to you and upon

whose breastyou were nurtured. The Lord Jesus said, “Yea, rather, blessed
are they that hear the word of God.” In other words, he denied the earthly
relationship; the fleshly relationship in so far as spiritual blessing was
concerned, and acknowledgedthat that came through hearing the word of
God. One can see that when large church organizations appeal
rationalisticallyto pray through the mother of our Lord. For she has great
influence upon him. How far that thinking is from the thinking of the apostles,
“Blessedare they that hear the word of God.” Now we do not in any way
denigrate the Virgin Mary. She was a godly woman. And her godliness is
expressedmost imminently when she said that her soulrejoicedin God her
Savior. “And whatsoeverhe saith unto you, do it.”
Now, I sayit was a very reasonable kind of request. The Lord Jesus deals with
it very abruptly. In the 6th verse through the 9th verse he gives his reasons for
refusing to go at this time. Then Jesus saidunto them, “My time is not yet
come.” Now notice he does not say, “Mine hour,” that usually is a reference to
the cross. This, however, is his time to go up for the Feastof Tabernacles. My
time has not yet come, the word that is used here is the Greek expression
kairos, which means something like opportunity or season. The other word
hour is the Greek wordhora, which means “hour.” So my time, my season,
my opportunity to go up has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
What did he mean by that? Why I think the simplest understanding of this is
that he meant you may always go up to Jerusalemwithout any fear of any
difficulty, because you are of the world. And the world, as he will saylater, the
world loves its own. But I’m not of the world. In fact, the world hates me. And
therefore I must use prudence and be sure that I go up at the beck and call of
my Fatherin heaven. My time, my season, my opportunity has not yet come,
but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth.
That tells you a greatdeal about the attitude of the world to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was hated by the world.

Now, later on in this gospelhe will go into more detail about this. He will say
he was actually hated by the world. And furthermore he wills ay that all of his
disciple may expectto be hated by the world. If we are never hated by the
world, one has goodreasonto say, “Am I really a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the way that he would have me to be a disciple of him? How is it that
the world loves me, but it hates the one whom I’m supposedto represent?”
Me, it hates. Now, isn’t it striking that in spite of the factthat the Lord Jesus
Christ was hated, he was at perfectpeace. Lateron he will speak about his
peace. He will say that he conveys his peace to them. He gives his peace to
them, and in the midst of it all he feels at perfectpeace even with the world.
Why is this? How is it that an individual can be so hated by the world and yet
at the same time in such peace? Why, I have some friends that cannot be
really happy if one of their friends is saying things about them that upset
them. They find it very difficult to be at peace. The Lord Jesus Christ was
assailedconstantly, but he was in perfect peace.
RICH CATHERS
5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
:3 that Your disciples may see
One suggestionis that the brothers are encouraging Jesus to win back some of
those disciples who had left Him in the last chapter when He startedsaying
some difficult things like “eating His flesh” (John 6:66).
Another suggestionis that the brothers are telling Jesus that if He really
wants people to recognize Him as the Messiah, then He better be doing more
miracles in Jerusalem, where the centerof religion was. He will have to win
over the Jewishleaders in Jerusalemif He expects to be proclaimedMessiah.
:4 show Yourself

Jesus had a reputation for not wanting to draw attention to Himself.
We saw lastweek in John 6 that Jesus saiddifficult things that causedthe
crowdto getsmaller, not larger.
After healing people, Jesus would often instruct them not to tell anyone about
it, like the time when He actually raiseda little girl from the dead:
(Lk 8:56 NKJV) And her parents were astonished, but He chargedthem to
tell no one what had happened.
Lesson
Worldly Fame
This is the mindset of Jesus’brothers who did not yet believe in Him.
They held the world’s view that life is all about “fame”.
Illustration
Now, it seems everybody wants to be famous. Everybody thinks they have
talent. Play American Idol clips
Some people want the spotlight, even if they don’t deserve it.
Illustration
Alice's cake
Alice was askedto bake a cake forthe church ladies’ group bake sale. It
slipped her mind until the last minute. She quickly bakeda cake, but when
she took it from the oven, the centerhad dropped flat. She said, “Oh dear,
there’s no time to bake another cake.”In a panic, she lookedaround the
house for something to build up the centerof the cake. Alice found it in the
bathroom, a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and coveredit with icing.
The finished product lookedbeautiful, so she rushed it to the church. Alice
then gave her daughter some money and instructions to be at the sale the
minute it opened, to buy that cake (whateverthe cost)and bring it home.
When the daughter arrived at the sale, Alice’s attractive cake had already
been sold. Alice was beside herself. A couple of days later Alice was invited to

a friend’s home where the ladies group was playing bridge. After the game a
fancy lunch was served, and to top it off, the cake in question was presented
for dessert. Alice saw the cake, she startedto get off her chair to rush into the
kitchen to tell her hostess allabout it, but before she could get to her feet, one
of the other ladies said, “Whata beautiful cake!” Alice sat back in her chair
with total relief when she heard the hostess sayproudly, “Thank you, I baked
it myself.”
Illustration
When interviewed four years ago aftera disappointing finish in his first two
Olympic races, world-classskierBode Miller said: “Fame is like a poison. I
don’t care for it. I used to have a better life when I was a nobody.”
"Fame Is Like a Poison, Says American Skiing Ace Miller,"
www.breitbart.com(2-16-06);submitted by Sam O'Neal, St. Charles, Illinois
I wonder if this wasn’tpart of the problem with Nadab and Abihu. This week
in reading through Leviticus we read the story of the two sons of Aaron…
When the fire came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice on the altar of
the Tabernacle,all the people’s attention was on God.
(Le 9:24 NKJV) …When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their
faces.
Nadab and Abihu responded by picking up their incense tools and offering
“profane fire” or “strange fire” (KJV), something that God didn’t ask for. I
wonder if this wasn’tjust a bit like stepping into the spotlight that had just
been shining on God and God alone.
The next fire to come from heavendidn’t burn up a sacrifice, but burned up
Nadab and Abihu.
(Le 10:3 NKJV) And Moses saidto Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke,
saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regardedas holy; And before
all the people I must be glorified.’”
I’ve been thinking this week aboutwhat gets “glorified” in our lives.

I wonder if Nadaband Abihu thought they could getaway with being just a
little bit in the spotlight.
When we try to getthe attention put on us, it’s more than self-destructive.
Nadab and Abihu were burnt to a crisp.
The spotlight needs to be on God, not on us.
:5 did not believe – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit,
place confidence in
Josephand Mary had other children. They were “half-brothers” and “half-
sisters” ofJesus becausethey had a different father. Josephwas their
biologicalfather. Godwas Jesus’biologicalfather.
Mark gives us some of their names: James, Joses, Judas, andSimon (Mark
6:3)
It is strange that some in Jesus’own family did not initially believe in Him.
Could you imagine growing up with a brother like Jesus? A brother who
always did everything perfect? A brother who never said a mean thing to you?
A brother who never hurt you? And yet they didn’t believe.
John has already told us that they spent time with Jesus during His ministry
(Jn. 2:12). They may have all been presentat Jesus’first miracle when He
turned waterinto wine.
We know that eventually at leastJames and Judas would also become
believers.

We think it may have happened around the time of the resurrection. Paul
records that the resurrectedJesus appearedto James afterHe had appeared
to the other apostles (1Cor. 15:7)
Jesus’family would be in the upper room with the believers at Pentecostwhen
the Holy Spirit fell on the early church.
(Ac 1:14 NKJV) These all continued with one accordin prayer and
supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, andwith His
brothers.
James would become the pastor of the church in Jerusalemand write the
book of James. Judas would write the book of Jude.
Lesson
Without honor
(Mk 6:4 NKJV) But Jesus saidto them, “A prophet is not without honor
exceptin his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”
I think that for most of us the people we are most concernedabout coming to
Christ are those in our own family.
For some people, family members are the very first ones to notice the change
in us and respond by coming with us to Jesus.
For others, family members are the lastones to believe.
For some of us maybe it’s because we have a hard time knowing what to say
to our family members.
I wish we would learn better what to say.
For others, we have been completely clear, but it’s just hard for some people
to hear these things from someone they watchedgrowing up.
Understand that Jesus knows whatthis is like.

His family didn’t believe … at first.
It is interesting to note that it wasn’t until after Jesus was crucifiedand raised
from the dead that His brothers believed.
For some of us, we can be the nicestpeople our family has ever met, and yet
our family won’t believe.
I wonder if sometimes it’s not until they see us go through greatdifficulty and
survive, that they might start wondering about this God we follow.
:6 Then Jesus saidto them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is
always ready.
(Jn 7:6 The Message)Jesus came back atthem, “Don’tcrowd me. This isn’t
my time. It’s your time—it’s always your time; you have nothing to lose.
:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its
works are evil.
Lesson
That annoying light
These brothers are not yet believers. They are still living “in the world”. The
world isn’t going to hate them, the world is going to love them.
The world hates the believer
(Jn 15:18–19NKJV) —18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me
before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
Yet because youare not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.
One reasonthe world hates us is when we take a stand againstevil.
We canbe annoying that way, like headlights in your eyes.
There are going to be times when people need to hear from your mouth “this
is wrong”.

This is part of what is involved in being the “saltof the earth”
(Mt 5:13 NKJV) “You are the saltof the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor,
how shall it be seasoned?It is then goodfor nothing but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men.
I find it interesting that the people that Jesus had the harshestwords for were
the people that most thought were the most religious.
(Mt 23:13–15NKJV) —13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you shut up the kingdom of heaven againstmen; for you neither go in
yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!For you devour widows’houses, and for a
pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greatercondemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!Foryou travel land and sea
to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son
of hell as yourselves.
If I read my Bible correctly, Jesus seems the most gracious to sinners in need
of forgiveness. He seems harshesttowards those who are proud, religious, and
don’t think they need any help.
Be careful not to confuse “grace”and“love” with being quiet when something
is wrong.
That doesn’t mean we have to be rude about it. We don’t have to have people
hating us because we are obnoxious.
There are many people in the world who think that we Christians “hate
homosexuals”.

We hate the sin. We hate what sin does to people. But we love the people and
want them to know the power, love, and grace ofJesus.
What is dangerous for the believer is when we become “people pleasers”
(Jn 12:42–43NKJV) —42 Neverthelessevenamong the rulers many believed
in Him, but because ofthe Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should
be put out of the synagogue;43 for they loved the praise of men more than the
praise of God.
Illustration
Martin Luther: If you perhaps look for praise and would sulk or quit what
you are doing if you did not getit—if you are of that stripe, dear friend—then
take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way, you will find a
beautiful pair of big, long, shaggydonkey ears. Affliction is the best book in
my library.
Martin Luther, "Martin Luther--The Early Years," Christian History, no. 34.
:8 You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has
not yet fully come.”
Lesson
God’s timing
In the book of Numbers there is an incident where God askedthe Israelites to
send spies into the Promised Land and report back to the people to give them
an honest report of what was up aheadof them.

God didn’t want the people to be ignorant of both the benefits as well as the
dangers that were up ahead of them. God wantedthem to go in to the
PromisedLand with their eyes “wide open”.
When the people heard about the giants that lived in the PromisedLand, they
weren’t willing to trust that God would help them, and they decided they
wouldn’t go into the land.
When God told them that their lack of faith was going to result in their
wandering in the wilderness for forty years, they changedtheir mind and
tried to go in, but this time without God.
They failed miserably. It was too late.
There are some things in life where this is a brief “window” of opportunity,
and you must take that opportunity.
Illustration
Noahapparently took 120 years to build the ark, during which the Scripture
calls him a “preacherof righteousness” (2Pe 2:5), yet there came a day when
the ark was loaded, God shut the door, and it was too late to respond to the
call to repentance.
May God help us to respond while there is still time.
Life is so fragile, so short. One day you are here at church, and the next day
you may dead.
Do you need to turn your life around? Do you need to trust Jesus? Don’twait
until it’s too late.
Use the open windows before you.
Sometimes you need to “go” whenGod says “go”.
Sometimes you need to “stay” until God says “go”.
Jesus was being led by God. He would go to this feast, but just not with His
brothers.

:9 When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.
7:10-13 Back to Jerusalem
:10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not
openly, but as it were in secret.
:10 openly … secret – These are the same words that Jesus’brother used back
in verse 4. Jesus is doing just the opposite of what they were telling Him to do.
SCOTT HARRIS
Jesus’brothers were antagonistic towardHim too, for as verse 5 points out,
"Fornot even His brothers were believing in Him." Jesus’brothers, James
and Josephand Simon and Judas (Mt. 13:55) would later believe (Acts 1:14),
but at this time they did not. Their statementto Jesus was pointing out what
they thought was an inconsistencyin Him. They were much like the rest of the
people. They saw Him as someone who would gain high public office, perhaps
even the overthrow of Roman oppressionand reestablishmentof Israel as an
independent nation. They did not view Jesus as the Messiah, Godin human
flesh who had come to redeem them from their sins.
If Jesus was afterhigh public office, then he should have jumped at the chance
to go to Jerusalemwhere everyone was gathering and do some of His mighty
works there. They reasonedthat by publically demonstrating Himself in such
a manner the people would acclaimHim and He would achieve His goals.
Please note that what Jesus’brothers sayattest to the reality of the miracles
Jesus had been doing. They do not question that in the leastand they do
believe He can do them. What they do not believe is that Jesus is the promised

Messiahwho would redeem them from their sins. They do not believe He is
the Sonof God. To them, Jesus was just their older brother who was a
powerful miracle worker, but who was also delusional(Mark 3:21).
Jesus responds to them in verses 6-8. Jesus therefore saidto them, "My time is
not yet at hand, but your time is always opportune. 7 "The world cannot hate
you; but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. 8 "Go up to
the feastyourselves;I do not go up to this feastbecause My time has not yet
fully come." 9 And having said these things to them, He stayedin Galilee.
The word, "time," in verse 6 is kairoV (kairos)which refers to the proper or
appropriate moment or opportunity as opposedto cronoV (xronos) which
speaks aboutthe chronologicaltime of day, month or year. Jesus was very
aware that He was living according to God’s schedule. This is part of what it
meant for Jesus to do the Father’s will rather than His own. Jesus’brothers
could go to the feast in Jerusalemwheneverthey desiredbecause they were
living according to their own desires and schedule.
In addition, Jesus’brothers were not facing the hatred of the world that Jesus
was facing. They could go to Jerusalemand be paid little attention for they
were no different than anyone else. But Jesus was hated by the world because
His righteous life and righteous teaching condemned the evil ways of the
world. Jesus was gentle and kind, but He was also straightforwardabout sin
and particularly so with the hypocrisy of the Jewishreligious leaders, and
they hated Him for it. The same is still true today.
We are to speak the truth in love, but regardless ofhow loving you are, when
you tell a person that they have a sin problem and are in need of a savior, they
are either going to repent or they will hate you for it. People who like their sin
do not want to be told that it is evil and brings about God’s condemnation.

They would rather go merrily on their wayto hell than have you warn them to
flee the wrath of God that is to come. You often do not even need to say
anything. Just your example of living righteously will convict them.
Of course this brings up a goodpoint. If the world does not hate you, perhaps
you should ask yourself why? Are you living righteously enough to have those
in the world even notice? Or are you a spiritual schizophrenic who lives one
way among Christians and another way among non-Christians? Be careful of
wanting praise from the world, for it usually comes only after you
compromise your faith.
Jesus told His brothers to go to the feastwithout Him. His time and not yet
fully come. Jesus was fully aware that His enemies were looking for His
arrival with evil intentions. If He went as part of the large crowd with His
family and disciples, He would attract their attention immediately. Instead,
Jesus stayedin Galilee awhile longer.
However, it was not very long before the Father did prompt Jesus to travel to
Jerusalem. 10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He
Himself also went up, not publicly, but as it were, in secret. Some have said
verse 10 is a contradictionto verse 8 and a few have even said Jesus lied to His
brothers. Such a statementsays a lot about those commentators. I should
point out that the KJV & NKJV translates verse 8 better by taking the
alternate reading, "8 "You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this
feast, for My time has not yet fully come." This reading is attestedto by many
early manuscripts including one of the earliest, p66, and is the simplest
solution. Jesus had not made a definite statement about not going to the feast,
but had left the option open.

Jesus now does go to the feast, but as if in secretrather than publically. This is
not to saythat He tried to hide Himself, but rather that He did not seek to
promote Himself and His arrival. This was opposite of what Jesus’brothers
had thought He should do. Jesus’time had not come for a public arrival as the
coming king. That was still six months awayat the Triumphal entry just
before the Passover.
MASTER'S BIBLE CHURCH
“Hatred of the Holy One”
February 2, 2014
Text: John 7:1-9
In today’s text, we will witness the irrational hatred of Jesus
(the Holy One) that grows out of sin, like a malignant
tumor.
In Jn 6:69, Peterhad told Jesus that he/the-Apostles could never
abandon Him, because=>“We have believed and have
come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Not only is it reasonable to believe in God’s Holy One;
It’s eminently reasonable to love Him w/ one’s whole
heart;
And it’s grosslyunreasonable to hate Him.
But ironically, Jn 7:1 will tell us today that Jesus avoided Judea
because the Jews there hated Him.

In fact, they hated Him so much, they were seeking to kill
Him.
X will tell His own brothers=>
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me.”
What was there about Jesus foranyone to hate? Nothing!
There could never be any justifiable cause forhating Jesus.
In Jn 15:26, He will actually say=> “Theyhated Me
without a cause.”
Uncaused, unreasonable, but murderous hatred.
* There might have been a cause for hating Jesus, if He had been
an angry man, w/ a hair-trigger temper;
- 2 -
You can’t talk w/ such people freely, because anything you
say might perturb them, causing them to look at you
indignantly & demand, “What do you mean by that?”
You feel that w/ every word you utter, you’re risking
whateverrelationship you may have with such a
person.
At any moment they might erupt/blow-up at you.
You think to yourself, “So-&-so maybe a goodperson
morally, but his temper makes me feel ill-at-ease.”
Jesus wasn’tlike that—there was nothing petulant or
hot-tempered about our Savior.

Quite the opposite=> “While being reviled, He did not
revile in return; while suffering, He
uttered no threats” (I Pet 2:23).
* Men spat in His face, & He, in His divine omnipotence,
could have, w/o even moving a finger, suckedthe life
out of them, and watchedthem drop to the ground.
Instead, He neither said/did anything unkind.
* Men hit Him in the face and pulled out His beard due to
pure meanness in their hearts;
And He quietly bore their hatefulness/contempt.
You cannot find in X’s life an angry word/deed, exceptfor
His holy wrath causedby men’s contempt for His
Father when He cleansedthe Temple, saying=>
“Take these things away;stop making My
Father's house a place of business” (Jn 2:16).
- 3 -
Jesus was usually the mild-mannered person prophesied by
Isaiah, who said=> “He will not cry out or raise His
voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. / A
bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning
wick He will not extinguish” (Isa 42:2-3).
BecauseJesus hadsuch a kind/loving/gentle spirit, you’d
think everyone would have loved Him.

But they didn’t—many hated Him, and even wanted
to kill Him.
* There might have been an exuse or a cause forpeople to hate
Jesus, if He had been a selfish man.
You know the kind=> Everything they do is for their own
benefit/profit, and they will only be your friend
as long as they can somehow find an advantage in
doing so.
In reality, they’re some of the most miserable people of all,
because they do not really believe Jesus’words=> “It
is more blessedto give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
They may say/thank they believe that, but just watchhow
they treat/talk-to others—you’ll soonsee they really
don’t.
But there was not a selfish millisecond in Jesus’whole life,
which anyone could justifiably hate.
WhateverHe did, He did for others—neverfor Himself.
He didn’t even turn stones into bread for Himself when He
was hungry.
- 4 -
Foxes have holes and birds have their nests, but the Son of
Man didn’t even have a place to lay His exhausted
head at night (Mt 8:20).

The chief priests & scribes mockedJesus,unaware of how
true their own words were when they said=> “He
savedothers; He cannot save Himself” (Mt 27:42).
He could not, only because He would not.
His entire life was a Self-sacrifice forthe poor, the blind,
deaf, lame, demonized, demoralized, afflicted, &
those lost in sin.
The world had every reasonto bind itself to Jesus in love.
* There might also have been a cause forothers to hate Jesus if
He had been a proud/arrogant man.
You’ve prob. seenpeople who give the impression they’re
just putting up w/ you & your imperfections, to
add one more display of their own flawlessnessand
patienct.
When they speak, it’s invariably about themselves.
When you speak, they invariably lose interest.
Everything in their lives is neat/orderly &, if your life
isn’t like that, you’re definitely 2
nd rate by
comparisonw/ themselves.
You might actually feel some affectionfor them, if there
weren’t so much starch in their personality.
There was no such pretention/arrogance in Jesus.

- 5 -
He stoopedto washHis disciples’ feet, and to put a child
on His lap.
He ate w/ tax-collectors/sinners, evenwhen it scandalized
the religious elite to see a rabbi doing so.
When a leper came & boweddown before Jesus, prob. at
some distance from Him, so the gross sights/smellsof
his leprosywouldn’t offend our Lord, X reachedout
His hand, touched his crusty/oozing/leprous skin, &
healed him.
Jesus was a humble Man, & had an infinite capacityfor love.
Only someone who has deep characterflaws of his own
could be capable of hating such a person.
But many did, as we’ll see in today’s text.
Today’s text has 3 themes—the hatred of the Judeans, the
unbelief of Jesus’brothers, and the obedience of Jesus.
* The Hatred of the Judeans
[Jn 7:1]--“After these things Jesus was walking [living/moving
about] in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea
because the Jews [lit., Judeans] were seeking to kill Him.”
By “these things” John means all the things we’ve been
reading about in John 6—feeding 5000;His discourse.
“After” means “quite a while after,” because 6 months passed

betweenthe end of chapter6, & the beginning of chapter 7.
During this time Jesus had stayed in Galilee, awayfrom Judea,
because the Judean Jews were determined to kill Him.
- 6 -
That had been their intent, ever since He healed a crippled
man at the Poolof Bethesda on a Sabbath Day.
You may remember, that the Jewishleaders had claimed
Jesus was doing work by healing like that, which
made it a violation of the Sabbath Law.
When Jesus explained that He was free to do so because (as
He said) “My Fatheris working until now, and I
Myself am working” (Jn 5:17), the Judeans goteven
angrier & decided to kill Him as a blasphemer for
speaking as if He were equal w/ God (which He
indeed was).
Even though that had all occurredmany months earlier,
they were still laying in wait for X—to stone Him.
This determination to take Jesus’life was motivated
by a settled/seething hatred in their hearts.
They couldn’t answerJesus’claims about Himself,
those claims infuriated them, and they could
find no way to silence Him but to kill Him,
which they wanted to do anyway, out of their

hatred.
Their attitude was that of Satan’s evil world system,
of which they were a part.
Eventually they will put Jesus to death, but He wasn’t
going to allow that to happen yet.
Dying was His purpose for coming to earth.
- 7 -
On the night before His death, He’ll ask=>
“ShallI say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I came to this hour”
(Jn 12:27).
But at the time of our text, X knew it wasn’t yet His
God-appointed time to die—His “hour” to be
crucified.
So here we have a prime example of sin’s irrational hatred of
the kindest, most holy/loving Personwho has ever lived.
Jesus—the Manwho is worthier of love, & less deserving
of hatred, than anyone else in history.
But who was hated by religious Judeans because ofwhat
He’d said after healing an invalid, 18 months earlier.
* The Unbelief of Jesus’Brothers
Out of ignorant unbelief, Jesus’ brothers foolishly urged Him
to walk right into the arms of those who hated Him in

Judea.
[Verses 2-3]=> “Now the feastof the Jews, the FeastofBooths,
was near. / Therefore [because the feastwas near]
His brothers said to Him, ‘Leave here and go into
Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your
works which You are doing.’”
The FeastofBooths (or Tabernacles)was a very popular
festival, and a time of greathappiness/celebration.
It was the best-attended of 3 mandatory festivals for all Jewish
men.
- 8 -
According to Josephus, it was the “holiest/greatest”festival
of all the Jewishfeasts.
Lev 23:40 told the Jews that in celebrating it, “You shall
rejoice before the LORD your God for sevendays.”
The rabbis had a saying=> “The man who has not seen
these festivities does not know what a jubilee is.”
This 7-day feastbegan 5 days after the Day of Atonement.
That’s when the high priest enteredthe Holy of Holies w/
the blood of a sacrifice, forthe sins of the people.
It was the happy day when Israelites sensedthat God had
forgiven their sins, once again.
The FeastofBooths itself began5 days later on the 15th day of

the 7th Jewishlunar month (Tishri), which would include
the lastfew days of our September, & the 1st few days of
October.
It was right after the grape/olive harvests in the Fall,
creating a joyous atmosphere of thanksgiving to God
for all His goodness/blessings.
One key feature of this festival was the construction of temporary
tent-like booths, made from the branches of trees.
Eachfamily lived in its own booth throughout this warm
week in early autumn, to commemorate God’s having
brought Israelout of Egypt, & through the
wilderness, where their ancient ancestorshad lived in
tents for 40 years.
- 9 -
There were booths on rooftops, & in courtyards, and
booths along the streets belonging to Jewishpilgrims
from abroad.
During the weeklong FeastofBooths, 70 bulls were sacrificedin
the Temple.
* The Temple’s greatCandelabra was lit eachnight,
commemorating God’s pillar of fire that had led
Israelthru the desert& illuminated their camp at
night.

* Eachday waterwas drawn from the Poolof Siloam,
brought to the altar in the Temple, and offered as a
sacrifice to God, while the people all sang the words
of Isaiah 12=> “
Then you will sayon that day, ‘I will
give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were
angry with me, Your angeris turned away, and You
comfort me. / Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust
and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my
strength and song, And He has become my salvation.
/ Therefore you will joyously draw waterfrom the
springs of salvation” (1-3).
Now this is the last verse of that passage=> “Cryaloud and
shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For greatin your
midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isa 12:6).
Little did the Jews know how wonderfully that was being
fulfilled when Jesus, the Holy One, quietly arrived at
the festival, hearing that song about Himself (the
Holy One).
- 10 -
At this happiest of all Jewishfestivals, this was the
greatestcausefor happiness of all=> Messiah
had come.

If only the Jews hadrealized that….
And yet the Judeans had developedsuch hatred for
Jesus, they wanted to kill Him—their own
Messiah!
What a poignant picture of the misery/hatred sin breeds, to
spoil all God’s most joyous/wonderful blessings.
Verse 3 says Jesus’brothers advised Him to go to the feastin
Judea so the disciples He had alreadymade there on
another visit earlier, could see Him perform His
miraculous works.
Jn 2 says of His earlier visit to Jerusalem=>“Now whenHe
was in Jerusalemat the Passover, during the feast,
many believed in His name, observing His signs
which He was doing” (2:23).
These were prob. the disciples His brothers were talking
about.
Mt 13:55 gives us the names of Jesus’half-brothers—James,
Joseph, Simon, and Jude (or Judas).
These were the sons of Joseph/Mary, born after X’s birth.
Why did Jesus’brothers urge Him so earnestly to go to the
feast?
They must have known that He had miracle-working powers.
- 11 -

They may even have wondered if He might be the Messiah,
but only the kind of messiah, they, like most Jews,
wanted a powerful political leaderwho could rid
them of the Romans, & improve their quality of life
w/ His miraculous deeds.
John is going to make it clearin verse 5 that “Noteven His
brothers were believing in Him.”
X Himself has just told us what it means to really believe—
to eat His flesh, & drink His blood spiritually.
To take Him in, and commit the welfare of one’s soul
entirely to Him.
Unlike most of the Apostles, Jesus’own brothers did not
believe in Him like that.
The brothers must have fancied themselves to be Jesus’advisors,
and may also have felt that His claim to Messiahshiphad
started to slip away, when the Galileancrowds abandoned
Him.
They prob. felt He should campaignto become recognized
as Messiah, by attending this most popular/crowded
festival, showing-offHis miracle-working skills there
in the Temple, where religious Jews gathered.
They thought the true test of His Messiahshipwould be to
get the Jewishreligious leaders to sign off on it, &

strong public support might swaythem in that
direction.
- 12 -
Jerusalemwas the big league, Galilee wasjust a backwater.
If Jesus wantedto be the whole nation’s Messiah, He
was going to have to make a goodshowing in
the JewishTemple, before the Jewishreligious
leaders.
Hiding up there in Galilee from the Judeans, would
prevent that from happening.
This is how X’s brothers must have thought.
The brothers didn’t question the legitimacy of Jesus’miracles at
all, but spoke ofthem as “Your works which You are
doing.”
Now they laid out the rationale for their strategy.
[Verse 4]=> “Forno one does anything in secretwhenhe
himself seeksto be knownpublicly. If You do these
things, show Yourself to the world.”
That’s typical of what a campaignmanagerwould tell his
candidate, which is how Jesus’brothers saw themselves.
But they had no idea of the kind of MessiahJesuswould
become—one who came to take awayman’s sin.
Their words, “If you do these things” sound as if they were

casting doubt on the notion that He actually did them.
But this is what is calleda “class 1 condition”—indicative
rather than subjunctive—which means there’s
no doubt in their minds about Jesus’miracles at all.
It’s prob. better translated, “Since You do these things.”
- 13 -
That’s why they think He must go to the national feast=>
to gain public notoriety for His talents.
Now John adds this important editorial note=>
[Verse 5]=> “Fornot even His brothers were believing in Him.”
They believed in their half-Brother (Jesus)as a miracle-worker,
but not as the Savior of their souls because they didn’t
realize those miracles of His were God’s affirmation that
Jesus was His own Son, man’s Savior/Messiah.
So they didn’t trust Him, as their own Savior.
They would believe in Him later on, 2 of them would write
NT books, & James would eventually lead
Jerusalem’s church.
But at this point in their lives, their thoughts about Messiah
were crass, & they just hoped to help Jesus achieve
that title/position for Himself.
So they arrogantly advised, & audaciouslyurged, Him to
go to Jerusalemimmediately, when humble faith

would have just trusted Him to act according to
God’s will.
That was the unbelief of Jesus’ownbrothers, which is why Jesus
said say=> “Whoeverdoes the will of God, he is Mybrother
and sisterand mother” (Mk 3:35).
* The Obedience of Jesus
Jesus’attitude stands out in stark contrastw/ that of His brothers.
- 14 -
His only objective is to obey the Father, doing what God
wants Him to do—whenHe wants Him to do it.
[Verse 6]=> “So [because the brothers didn’t believe in Him]
Jesus saidto them, ‘My time is not yet here, but your
time is always opportune.’”
What did Jesus meanby “My time”?
You might think He was talking about His time to be crucified,
but He always used a different term for that—His “hour.”
This word, “time,” refers to a moment in time.
The moment He seems to be referring to is when God,
according to His eternal plan, would have Jesus go up
to Jerusalemto attend the Feastof Booths=> That’s
His “time.”
I.e., Jesus was saying to His brothers=> “Everything I do is
in harmony/conformity w/ God’s eternalplan, &

Jesus was doubted by his own brothers

Jesus was doubted by his own brothers

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