John 7-9
Grace and Truth
Come thru Christ

When princes persecute unjustly, the psalmist doesn't panic, but has great peace, because he knows God saves the righteous. He doesn't fear men, because he fears God (and His word). Proof of his perspective of God's word is his rejoicing in it, his love of it (and hatred of falsehood), and praising God for it throughout the day (which means he's looking at it; probably had a post-it with a verse he was memorizing or meditating on attached to his tablet). His immersion in God's word made him immune to intimidation by enemies. Because he knew all his ways were before God, he had fully obeyed, and therefore had confident hope in God's salvation/deliverance, regardless of how powerful his enemies were.

By listening to and accepting lies, in effect rewarding them, a ruler encourages all his officials to tell him what he wants to hear, making them hypocrites. Instead he should value those who speak the truth, as unpopular as it might be sometimes. The Lord gives life and light to all, establishing a basis for equity. The king has the responsibility to secure the rights of the poor and protect them from unjust oppressors. If he does that, God will establish his throne. 

To Temple - Jesus' brothers did not believe in Him (note these are Mary's and Joseph's sons, since His disciples did believe Him). Jesus previews the coming attractions by indicating that His time is not yet come, and the establishment hates and wants to kill Him because he shines light on their evil.

Glory - Jesus' teaching astounds, because it comes from the Father and is truth. Verse 17 is key to knowing God's will. If you are committed to doing God's will, He will make it clear to you. If you want to pick and choose what part of God's will you will do, you will remain in the dark. The person who has themselves as their authority, seeks their own glory, and winds up being unrighteous. The one who seeks the glory of God, having Him as their authority, winds up being true and righteous. The Jews ignore the law and seek to kill Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath, yet they perform circumcision on the Sabbath which is work, for a lesser goal.

Don't Know; Kill – The people have questions and misconceptions about Jesus and the Messiah; some try to kill him, some believe, but His time had not yet come.

Seek – The Pharisees seek to arrest Jesus, who says He will go to Him who sent Him, and they won't be able to find Him. He meant it on the spiritual plane, they misunderstand it on the physical level.

Water/Life – In the last day of the feast Jesus offers Himself as the source of living water to those who believe in Him. The reference is to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send after He was glorified (given all power to distribute).

Who – the questions and misunderstanding of the people continue, corresponding to the identity questions above. Some confess Him as the Messiah, and some don't. Again the establishment tries to arrest Him.

 Law misapplied – The Pharisees upbraid the officers who failed to arrest Him, accusing them of believing His teaching. They wrongly affirm that no expert in the law believes in Him. Nicodemus, the secret disciple, tries to use the law to protect Jesus.

Home base – This last verse is insignificant at first glance, and a number of manuscripts drop it out. However, contrasted with the first verse of the next chapter, it serves as the chiastic center of the section. 

Jesus left the temple to go to the Mount of Olives, a location rich in prophecy, where He also gave the Olivet Discourse, about His return. This is the place to which the glory departed in Ezekiel 11:23. It is the place from which the Lord Jesus would ascend to heaven after His resurrection (Lk 24:50 Bethany was on its south-eastern slope), and the place to which He will return in glory to set up His Millennial Kingdom (Zech 14:4). In the interaction with the Establishment, Jesus keeps saying that God is His Father, and thus heaven is His home. After the Feast of Booths, the people left the city to go to their homes. Here Jesus was leaving to go to the door (Mount of Olives) to His home, heaven. This links the two chapters which devote a number of verses to His identity and location.

Law graciously applied – The account of the woman taken in adultery is considered by many to not be supported by the oldest manuscripts (but the best school of textual criticism Byz-MT priority, includes it). It's easy to see why some would eliminate it because it could appear to condone adultery. However, the chiastic structure argues strongly for its inclusion, corresponding to the last section in chapter 7. Although Nicodemus tried to get the Establishment to use the law correctly, they twisted it to their own purposes. Here, Jesus is seen bringing grace into the equation. The law called for the death of adulterers (Lev 20:10 - the guy too) and they want to stone her. Jesus starts writing on the ground with his finger. The last time the finger of God wrote was the law, on stone tablets (Ex 31:18). The Spirit will write the law on people's hearts (New Covenant - Jer 31:31), but here, it looks like Jesus is scratching the law in the ground, because people are getting convicted and leaving as their sins are pointed out. There was no one without sin left to cast the first stone, all the accusers/witnesses had left. He tells her to go and sin no more, just like He told the paralytic in 5:14. Jesus didn't come to condemn folks, but to have them live the abundant, sin-free life (see 8:32).

Light – Jesus follows up His instruction of the woman to sin no more, with a pronouncement of Himself as the light of the world. In the Feast of Tabernacles, the night sky was lit with giant vats of oil, and people danced in the night by the light. Here Jesus states that those who follow Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (equating light with life, or indicating that the light comes from life, as in glory).

Die - Jesus repeats the fact that they will seek and not find Him and adds that they will die in their sins unless they “believe that I am he.” He predicts that when He is lifted up (crucified) they will know that He is the Son of Man (of Daniel 7:14). Jesus told those who did believe in Him, that if they continued in His word (the Bread of chapter 6), they would truly be His disciples, and as such would know the truth (it is knowable), and it would set them free (from sin). This is one of the key verses for the victorious Christian life. Memorize and apply it, or stay in bondage to sin. The Jews, who are living under Roman rule and had been living under Babylonian rule, insisted they were never under anyone's bondage (like most self-deceived sinners). Jesus insisted that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin, and doesn't get rulership/dominion in the house as a son does (enduring rule/glory in the Kingdom).

Not know where - Jesus says they are not children of Abraham but of the devil since they lie and want to commit murder.

Glory of Jesus – Jesus promises that those who keep His word will never die (loss of dominion). Jesus will be glorified by the Father, whom they don't know, because He keeps His word.

Light goes from Temple

This sixth sign, the account of the man born blind being healed, illustrates Jesus' claim to be the Light of the world in the previous chapter, and sets up eyes being opened to Jesus' claim to be God in the next chapter. It would correspond to the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda (another pool miracle) where Jesus appeared to be dealing with sin that caused the paralysis. Here the problem was from birth.

Not all infirmity is a result of sin, sometimes bad things happen for the glory of God to be displayed when He fixes the situation with His power. The reason for the mud and saliva being applied to the eyes and the washing in the pool aren't explained. The man was born blind, then perhaps the blindness was compounded by the defilement of dirt. As the man obeyed Jesus' word, his original handicap and additional “dirt/sin” were washed away. It's a nice picture of both original sin and sins of omission/commission being removed by accepting and obeying the word of Jesus, but there is nothing to substantiate such an interpretation in the passage

The bulk of the chapter, as the two previous ones, revolve around the identity of Jesus. The man serves as an irrefutable foil to the Pharisees' preconceptions. “Don't confuse me with facts or truth, my mind is made up.” Verse 25 is a classic line, to which all believers should be able to testify as a one day old believer. The tragedy is that that such a confession is also the testimony of people who have been “saved” for decades (but are still in bondage to their sins). The Pharisees inadvertently confess the truth that they refuse to see and accept.

Jesus seeks out the man to elicit his confession of faith. Note the receptivity of the man. As he responds to the light, Jesus gives him more light. May his tribe increase. Worship follows belief.

In contrast to the man born blind, the Pharisees, who say they see, but don't respond, are still in sin. Those who don't respond to the light, are still in darkness.