Jesus Teaches at the Feast of Tabernacles

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 7:1) After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him.

In the last chapter, Jesus had fed the five thousand and then had a long discourse with the Jews concerning Himself, the Bread of life.  He then must have gone to Jerusalem as John 6:4 had said the Passover was near.  Finding that the Jews sought to take His life, He would not continue there but He returned to Galilee and walked there.  

(2) Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

This would make it at the end of September or the beginning of October when the Jews celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles.  It was so called because of the tents or tabernacles which were erected in and around Jerusalem and designed to commemorate their dwelling in tents in the wilderness.  During this feast the Jews dwelt in those tents for eight days.

(3) His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea that Your disciples also may see the works that You do."

Jesus's brothers or cousins or some such close relatives urged Jesus to leave that place and go into Judea so that the disciples He had made there previously (John 4:1) or perhaps any disciples from all over who would be going to Judea for the feast, would be able to witness His works.

(4) "For no one does anything in secret while He Himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world." (5) For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

Jesus's kin did not believe in Him and did not know His true purpose in doing the things He did.  They thought He did His works for fame and glory from men; therefore they said He needed to go into Judea where He would be seen by a greater number of people than where He was.

(6) Then Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready."

Jesus told them that it was not yet His time to go and be seen there, but that they could go anytime they wanted.

(7) "The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates because I testify of it that its works are evil."

The reason they could go anytime they wanted was because they were not hated by the world.  Jesus said that the world hated Him because He testified about how evil its works were.

(8) "You go up to this feast; I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."

Jesus urged His kin to go on to the feast, but He was not going at that time because the time was not yet right for Him to go.

(9) When He had said these words to them, He was still in Galilee. (10) But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

Jesus had been still in Galilee when He spoke to His brothers, but after they had left to go to the feast, He also started toward it, but not openly as it would have been if He had gone with all His relatives, but He went secretly.

(11) Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"

Indeed, the Jews were looking for Jesus at the feast and asked around where He was.

(12) And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him, for some said, "He is a good man;" others said, "No, but He deceives the people."

There was much murmuring among the people as they debated about Jesus.  Some saw Him as a good man, while others thought He only deceived the people, pretending to be the Messiah.

(13) However, no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

However, no one spoke openly about Jesus for they feared the Jews, that they might be mobbed by them and turned out of the synagogue or even prosecuted. 

(14) Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

At about the middle of the feast, about the fourth day, it was apparently Jesus's time and He went up into the temple and taught.

(15) And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never learned?"

The Jews marveled at Jesus and wondered how He knew the scriptures so well when they knew He had had no formal education.

(16) Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me."

Hearing the people or knowing their thoughts, Jesus answered that His doctrine came directly from His Father who sent Him.

(17) "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself."

Jesus went on to say that if any man was willing to do the will of the Father, if he had an honest desire to obey God, he would be led to embrace the doctrines of the Bible, and would then know if Jesus taught the doctrines of God or if He spoke of Himself and was not directed by God.

(18) "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks His glory who sent Him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in Him."

Jesus said that anyone who spoke from himself was seeking his own glory, but as He only sought the glory of the One who sent Him, God, that made Him true and there was no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.

(19) "Didn't Moses give you the law and yet none of you keep the law? Why do you go about to kill Me?"

Jesus pointed out that Moses had given them the law and yet none of them kept it continually.  All men violated it in some way or another as there was no one who did good (Psalm 14:3, Psalm 53:3).  He asked why then they wanted to kill Him because they presumed He had violated the law as when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda and told him to carry his mat.

(20) The people answered and said, "You have a devil; who goes about to kill you?"

The majority of the people were not aware of the intentions of the chief priests and scribes, and said that Jesus must be demon possessed to think that anyone wanted to kill Him.

(21) Jesus answered and said to them, "I have done one work and you all marvel."

I believe Jesus's point was that He had done that one work of healing the man at the pool of Bethesda and that had them all shocked and astonished that He should do it on the Sabbath and then tell the man to carry his mat on that day.

(22) "Moses therefore gave to you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and you on the Sabbath circumcise a man."

Jesus told them that Moses had given them the law of circumcision, although it did not come from Moses originally; it had been in practice since Abraham.  He said that they circumcised on the Sabbath.

(23) "If a man on the Sabbath Day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at Me because I have made a man completely whole on the Sabbath Day?"

Jesus went on to say that if one received circumcision on the Sabbath because it was the eighth day when the law directed male children to be circumcised, and that was not breaking the law of Moses, but upholding it, how could they then be angry at Him for healing a man and making him whole on the Sabbath.  Circumcision is a physical symbol of the relationship between God and the Jewish people.  It's about making the physical body holy and acceptable unto God.  Therefore if that holy act was lawful to be done on the Sabbath, then how could they be angry at Jesus for making a man completely whole on the Sabbath?

(24) "Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment."

It's the original, "You can't judge a book by its cover."  Jesus said they should not judge according to the appearance of a man, as they saw Him as only a carpenter's son, but rather they should judge His fruits, His actions.  Was it not good to make a man whole on the Sabbath?  In like manner, people shouldn't judge the chief priests to be pious and holy just because they wore long flowing robes and spoke long prayers in public.  Once again, they were to judge their fruits whether or not they were good.

(25) Then some of them of Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?"

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, apart from the people as a whole who had come into Jerusalem for the feast, had heard about plans to kill Jesus and asked if this man was the One they sought to kill.

(26) "But, lo, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?"

Those people from Jerusalem continued to reason among themselves.  If Jesus was the one they sought to kill, then why didn't they say anything when Jesus taught so boldly?  They supposed that the rulers must have known that He was the Christ.

(27) "However, we know where this Man is from, but when Christ comes, no one knows where He comes from."

The people continued to reason among themselves.  Could Jesus really be the Christ when they knew where He had come from, the son of Joseph and Mary from Galilee?  However, they would not know exactly where the Christ would come from.  They knew by prophecy that He would come from Bethlehem, be from the line of David, and born of a virgin, but they didn't know who His parents would be, and Joseph and Mary from Galilee didn't fit their expectations.

(28) Then Jesus cried out as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me and you know where I am from, and I am not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, Whom you do not know. (29) But I know Him for I am from Him and He has sent Me."

Perceiving the questioning among the people, Jesus cried out in a loud voice in answer to them.  I think the sense is, "So you think you know Me and where I am from?"  But He had not come into the world in the normal way by Himself and His parents.  Actually, the people might have realized that there would be some miracle to His birth, as how can one be born of a virgin?  Jesus had come from God.  God had sent Him, and God was true, true to the promises He made by the prophets and true in the testimonies He gave of Jesus, as when Jesus was baptized.  Obviously, these Jews did not truly know God as they professed to know Him or else they would have known these things.

(30) Then they sought to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him because His hour had not yet come.

That made them angry and they sought to take hold of Jesus, but they were not able to lay hands on Him, being restrained by divine providence, because it was not yet the right time.

(31) And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When Christ comes, will He do more miracles than these which this Man has done?"

Many people believed in Jesus, reasoning in their hearts that the coming Christ could not do any more miraculous things than this Man had done, so He must be Him.

(32) The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.

The Pharisees heard that the people were thinking such positive things about Jesus, and that raised their ire all the more.  They, with the chief priests, sent officers to take Jesus.

(33) Then said Jesus to them, "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to Him who sent Me. (34) You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."

As Jesus knew that the Pharisees had planned to take Him and put Him to death, He told the people that He would only be with them for a little while, about six months from this Feast of Tabernacles to the next Passover, and then He would go back to Him who had sent Him.  He warned they would be seeking their Messiah but they would never find Him because He had already come and gone.  And where He went, to heaven, they could not come.

(35) Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where will He go that we shall not find Him? Will He go to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?"

The Jews wondered among themselves where Jesus could go that they would not be able to find Him.  They wondered if He would go to where the Jews had been dispersed among the Gentiles and teach them.

(36) "What saying is this that He said, 'You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

However, if that was the case, then what had Jesus meant when He said they would seek Him and not find Him and they wouldn't be able to go where He went.  If He went to some region of the Gentiles, nothing really kept them from finding Him there.

(37) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." 

On the last day of the feast, the Jews had a ceremony of drawing water from the fountain of Siloam which the priests poured out on the altar while they sang, "With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation."  It was on this day that they commemorated God's miraculously giving water out of a rock (John Wesley's Notes on the Bible).  Jesus stood up and cried out that if any man thirsted, let him come to Him and drink of His living water.

(38) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

Jesus went on to say that whoever believed in Him, as the Scriptures themselves had said (Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 55:1), an abundance of living water would flow from his heart.  An interesting note about the use of "belly" instead of our more romantic "heart"--actually our feelings do flow more from our bellies than from our hearts.  We have "butterflies in our stomach," we can be literally sick in the stomach with dread, and we can feel immense love in our gut.

(39) (But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom they who believe in Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

This was a parenthetical statement by John explaining Jesus's figurative expression of "rivers of living water."  He meant this in a spiritual sense.  John went on to say that he who believed in Jesus would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after Jesus had been glorified and ascended into heaven.  That is not to say that the one who believed didn't have the Spirit of God drawing him to Himself and to Jesus, but once the Holy Spirit lived within him, there would be greater measures of spiritual gifts and guidance, "rivers of living water." 

(40) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."

Many of the people who heard Jesus speak believed and said that He was surely the great Prophet Moses had spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The Lord thy God will raise up to you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like Me, to Him you shall hearken."

(41) Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Has not the scripture said that Christ comes from the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?"

Other people said Jesus was the Christ, which they misunderstood as being separate from the Prophet.  Then others asked if the Christ would come out of Galilee as they imagined Jesus was born in Galilee just because He grew up there.  They knew from the scriptures the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.

(43) So there was a division among the people because of Him.

The people were all divided over their opinions about Jesus.  Many would miss out on the gift of salvation because they got hung up on every detail.  And of course, it's not that the details were wrong, they just didn't see the whole picture.  I think of how some people wish to question every single contradiction they think they find in the Bible in order to disprove it and disprove God.  However, they just don't know the whole picture.  Any scripture can be taken out of context to mean something else.  But in the context of the whole and especially with the help of the Holy Spirit showing us truth, we can be assured God's Word is true, even if we don't have all the answers.  Although the longer you are with the Holy Spirit and in God's word, you begin to understand considerably more than you did in the beginning, and many of those answers reveal themselves.

(44) And some of them would have taken Him, but no man laid hands on Him.

Some of the people wanted to seize Jesus and would have taken Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  Just like in verse 30, it was not yet Jesus's time to be seized, so no one was able to lay hands on Him.

(45) Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"

Those officers that the chief priests and Pharisees had sent to take Jesus (verse 32) reported back to those who sent them.  The chief priests and Pharisees asked why they had not brought Jesus to them.

(46) The officers answered, "Never has a man spoke like this Man."

It's not just that God did not permit the officers to lay hands on Jesus, but He softened their hearts toward Him!  I think that is wonderful!  Those officers might be brought to salvation even though they were once the enemy.  We should never judge and give up on any person as the Holy Spirit of God is able to draw even the meanest hearts.

(47) Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? (48) Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? (49) But these people who do not know the law are cursed."

The Pharisees asked the officers if they, too, were deceived.  They thought by suggesting that not one ruler or Pharisee believed in Him would be proof to them that Jesus was not the Christ.  After all, they were learned in the scriptures and so wise and holy!  They judged all those people cursed who did not know the law as they supposedly did.

(50) Nicodemus said to them (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them), (51) "Does our law judge man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"

Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus in the night (John 3:1), was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews.  He asked the other chief priests and Pharisees if their law would judge a man without hearing from him and witnessing what he did.  Their law required justice and gave every man the right to a fair and impartial trial.  Nicodemus stepped in to make sure justice was done and that Jesus was not presumed guilty and condemned without hearing from Him personally.  Nicodemus had a secret respect for Jesus that made him step in, but it appears he did not have the courage to openly testify for Him.

(52) They answered and said to him, "Are you also of Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet arises out of Galilee."

The chief priests and Pharisees asked Nicodemus if he was also from Galilee, insinuating that he must be one of Jesus's followers.  They told him to go search the scriptures and the histories and see that no prophet arose out of Galilee.  However, showing how much they didn't know the scriptures or perhaps they did know but didn't think they would be challenged, they were wrong about the fact that no prophet had come from Galilee.  Jonah had come from Galilee and of course, he became a symbol of Christ three days in the tomb when he was three days in the belly of the great fish.  Additionally, being rulers, they surely had access to a public register that would tell them that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and that He was in the genealogy of David.

(53) And every man went to his own house.

Thus that simple question of Nicodemus put an end to their desire to seize Jesus at that time, and everyone went back to his own house.

Spiritual Food, The Bread of Life

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels: 

(John 6:26) Jesus answered them and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek Me not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."

At the end of the last post, the people whom Jesus had miraculously fed the evening before, sailed across the sea to search for Jesus.  They asked when He had arrived because they had not seen Him leave in the only boat they had seen.  Jesus did not answer their question directly but pointed out their motive in searching for Him.  He told them they did not seek Him because of the miraculous things He had done proving He came from God.  It would have been proper and acceptable to Jesus if they followed Him because they believed He was the Messiah as they had suggested in verse 14.  However, He knew they followed Him only because of what they received from the miracles.

(27) "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for that food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you, for God the Father has sealed Him."

Jesus told them not to put all their effort into seeking food that would perish, but rather put more effort into the food that would last and lead to everlasting life.  That's not to say that one shouldn't work for food, but that shouldn't be all for which they labor.  More effort should be given to seeking Christ's bread of life and then God would supply their needs (Philippians 4:19).  Jesus was the one to give them that bread of life because God the Father had put His authentic seal of approval on Him.

(28) Then they said to Him, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?"

The people asked how they should labor or work for the food that did not perish but led to everlasting life.  They still believed in works to achieve the blessings of God.

(29) Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

Jesus answered them by saying that the work of God, what He required of them, was to believe in the One He had sent, Jesus Christ.

(30) They said therefore to Him, "What sign do You show then that we may see and believe you? What do You work? (31) Our fathers ate manna in the desert as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

The people wanted to see a sign that He would provide them that bread He spoke of.  They still imagined literal bread as what their forefathers had eaten in the wilderness when God provided manna from heaven for them to eat.

(32) Then Jesus said to them, "Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. (33) For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Jesus told them that the manna which they presumed Moses had given their forefathers in the wilderness was not the true bread from heaven that He spoke about.  That bread of life from God was He Himself who came down from heaven to give them everlasting life.

(34) Then they said to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

The people seemed to earnestly desire that Jesus give them that bread of life always, but they probably still imagined it to be literal bread.  The Jews expected that when their King Messiah came, He would give them all manner of delicacies.

(35) And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

Jesus told them that He was that bread of life.  The one who came to Him, not in a physical way as they had come to Him now, but in a spiritual sense, receiving His doctrine into their hearts, and believing in Him, would never hunger or thirst, but would be perfectly satisfied.

(36) "But I said to you that you also have seen Me and do not believe."

Jesus alluded to what He had said before to them (verse 26), that they did not come seeking Him for who He truly was, but only for what He could give them.  They had seen that Bread of Life they had been discussing and yet they did not really believe in Him as such.

(37) "All who the Father gives Me will come to Me, and he who comes to Me I will in no way cast out."

Jesus said that everyone God the Father calls and everyone who may seek God, the Father gives to Jesus because it is only through Jesus that they may be saved.  All who seek God are sinners and all have fallen short, no matter how "good" they purport to be (Romans 3:23 and Romans 3:12).  God draws them to Jesus, whom by His great sacrifice, covers and atones for their sins that they may be in God's presence.  Jesus added He would never turn away anyone who came to Him.

(38) "For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. (39) And this is the Father's will who has sent Me, that of all whom He has given Me I should lose no one, but should raise them up again at the last day."

Jesus's purpose for being born into the world was to do Father God's will.  God's will was to make it possible for his failed sinful creation to be cleansed and renewed and able to spend eternity with Him.  All who were called by God or would come seeking God would be directed through Christ Jesus and it was God's will that none of them should be lost.  They would be saved through Jesus and raised up again in the last day.

(40) "And this is the will of Him who sent Me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Not only was it God's will that Jesus lose no one who God directed to Him, but equally He desired that all who came to Christ and believed in Him would have everlasting life.  God and Jesus are one.  Jesus is God.  People seeking God must go through Jesus to get to Him.  People seeking Jesus will find their way to God.

(41) The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." (42) And they said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

Jews among the people grumbled about Jesus because He had called Himself the bread of life from heaven.  They discussed the fact that they had known He was the son of Joseph, and they had known His parents, so how could it be that He said He came down from heaven?  That actually could be a sincere question as they thought they knew how He was born into the world and did not see or hear of Him coming down from heaven.

(43) Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. (44) No man can come to Me except the Father who has sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Jesus, hearing them or knowing their thoughts, told them not to murmur among themselves, and He continued speaking.  He told them no one could come to Him unless the Father first drew Him.  Yes, they all came to Him physically to hear Him speak, but they had to be drawn by the Spirit of God to understand the spiritual nature of what it meant to really come to Jesus.  Only by the drawing of the Spirit of God could they begin to understand what seemed otherwise humanly impossible.

(45) "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone therefore who has heard and has learned of the Father comes to Me."

Jesus quoted Isaiah 54:13 that said that all Jerusalem's children should be taught of or by the Lord.  The Lord God draws the hearts of men to want to know and seek Him and He uses His word, the Bible, and ministers and religious teachers to teach them.  Everyone who has been drawn by God and has learned from Him will always come to Jesus.

(46) "Not that any man has seen the Father, except He who is of God; He has seen the Father."

Jesus did not mean that they should be taught by God personally as no man has seen God the Father except He Himself who was of God.  

(47) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. (48) I am that bread of life."

Jesus told them that most assuredly anyone who believed in Him had everlasting life because He was that bread of life.

(49) "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. (50) This is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die."

Referring to what the Jews had said in verse 31 when they spoke of manna as being bread from heaven, Jesus told them that all who ate that bread were now dead.  Although it did sustain them for a while, it did not save them from eternal death.  The bread that came down from heaven, referring to Himself, men may partake of and they would not die, but have eternal life.

(51) "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eats of this bread he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."

Jesus clarified that He was the living bread that had come down from heaven.  If any man would partake of Him, that is believe in Him, he would live forever.  The bread that He would give was His flesh, or His body, that He would sacrifice for the life of the world.

(52) The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

The Jews began to argue among themselves about how Jesus could possibly give them His flesh to eat, as they thought He meant it physically.  Although Jesus would indeed give His physical body up as a sacrifice, people would not physically eat of His body even then.  He spoke of spiritually partaking of His flesh and accepting Him into their hearts.

(53) Then Jesus said to them, "Verily, verily, I say to you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

Jesus told them that assuredly they must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood in order to have life.  Of course, He meant this spiritually.  As a man must have food and drink for physical life, He must continually be fed by Jesus Christ for eternal life.  Without Jesus, there is no eternal life.

(54) "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Jesus affirmed that whoever ate of His flesh and drank of His blood, that is partaking of those things and believing in Him, would have eternal life, and He would raise him up in the last day.

(55) "For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed. (56) He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me and I in him."

Jesus said that His flesh and His blood were indeed food and drink, nourishment for the soul.  Whoever ate His flesh and drank His blood dwelled in Him and He would likewise dwell in him.  One who dwelt in Christ was one who was truly intimately connected to Him, and Christ would dwell in his heart.

(57) "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he who eats Me will live by Me."

Jesus explained that the living Father God in heaven had sent Him and He lived because of His connection to God the Father.  Jesus the Son of man received His life from the Father.  In like manner, those who partook of Jesus would receive life from Him.

(58) "This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate manna and are dead, he who eats of this bread shall live forever."

Once again, Jesus reiterated that the bread that came down from heaven, meaning Himself, was not like the manna their forefathers ate and were now dead, but if anyone partook of His bread of life, they would live forever.

(59) These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Jesus said all these things in the synagogue in Capernaum where He was teaching when He came to that side of the sea.

(60) Many therefore of His disciples when they had heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"

Many of Jesus's disciples and followers said that what Jesus had said was rough.  Speaking of eating His flesh and blood seemed rather violent.  That is the proper meaning of the word transcribed as "hard" here.  "Skleros" means "hard, tough, fierce," even "violent, offensive," rather than hard as difficult.  They wondered who could understand such a doctrine.

(61) When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said to them, "Does this offend you?"

Jesus perceived that His disciples were grumbling about how rough His language had been and He asked them if it offended them.

(62) "And if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?"

Jesus added what more would they think and be offended by if they saw His body that they were to eat and drink of ascend into heaven where He had been before.  He was pointing out to them that He could not be speaking of them literally eating and drinking His body, as His body would ascend back into heaven.

(63) "It is the Spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I speak to you are spirit and are life."

Jesus explained that He was talking about the Spirit which gives life.  Literally eating His flesh and drinking His blood would be of no profit whatsoever.  What He had spoken to them was meant to be understood as spiritually partaking of Him and having spiritual everlasting life as their physical bodies would still die; however, He did say He would raise up those bodies in the end.

(64) "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray Him.

Jesus told them that He knew some of His so-called disciples did not really believe in Him, for He knew from the beginning which ones did not believe and He knew Judas, one of His closest disciples, would ultimately betray Him.

(65) And He said, "Therefore I said to you, that no man can come to Me, except it has been granted to him by My Father."

I believe Jesus referred to what He had said in verse 43 to explain those who did not truly believe.  Many disciples had come to Him physically, but as God had not drawn them by His Spirit, they could not spiritually understand and believe in Jesus.  That is not to say that God only chooses a select few to draw to Himself.  It's God's will that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), but as God is omniscient, all-knowing of things present and future, He knows who will receive Jesus when His Spirit draws them and who will not.  One might wonder why then did Jesus call Judas when He knew that He was not a true believer and would betray Him.  Perhaps Judas had been a true believer, and then turned from Christ.  I believe that is what is meant by blaspheming the Holy Spirit, the one unforgivable sin--knowing the Holy Spirit of God and then throwing Him out.  Regardless, Judas was called because God knew his heart, that he would betray Jesus, and that was needed for His purpose.

(66) From then many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.

Indeed, many of Jesus's disciples stopped following Him as it was obvious that God had not drawn them to know the spiritual truth about Jesus.  These may have been physically drawn to Jesus because of an expectation of some temporal benefit or maybe just because of public excitement, but when the benefit was not obtained and the excitement wore off, and when Jesus's spiritual truths became hard and offensive, they fell away.

(67) Then said Jesus to the twelve, "Will you also go away?"

Then Jesus asked His chosen twelve apostles if they would also go away.

(68) Then Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Simon Peter answered Jesus that there was no other place to go; after all, it was Jesus who had the words of eternal life.  Although they would still have difficulty sometimes understanding spiritual things, God was obviously drawing them to Jesus and His life-giving truths.

(69) "And we believe and are sure that You are that Christ, the Son of the living God."

Peter added that they believed and were certain that He was the Christ, their anticipated Messiah, the Son of the living God.

(70) Jesus answered them, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." (71) He spoke of Judas Iscariot of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

Jesus rhetorically asked if He had chosen them, the twelve, as if to say that He through the Father was drawing them to know His spiritual truths and He knew that they would accept Him.  However, He warned them that He knew one of them was a devil.  John added his explanation that Jesus spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, who would eventually betray Him, although he was one of the twelve Jesus had chosen.  Once again, it makes one wonder, was Judas never what he professed to be, but Jesus chose him anyway for His purposes?  And if so, did Judas recognize that Jesus was talking about him, and could he have heeded Jesus's warnings about him?  Or was he an honest believer in the beginning and then turned away and rejected Jesus?  Only God knows the heart of man.

Jesus Feeds 5000 and Then Walks on Water

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 6:1) After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee which is the Sea of Tiberius.

In the last chapter, Jesus had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, and then vindicated Himself against the Jews who questioned His authority to allow the healed man to take up his mat on the Sabbath.  Gleaned from the other Gospel writers and commentators that I study, it seems it was quite a while after those things had happened that Jesus now went across the Sea of Galilee which is also called the Sea of Tiberius.

(2) And a great multitude followed Him because they saw His miracles which He did on those who were diseased.

A large crowd of people who had witnessed His miracles of healing followed Jesus.

(3) And Jesus went up in a mountain and there He sat with His disciples. (4) And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

Jesus went up into a mountain and sat there with His disciples.  It seems the Passover was nearing again so it had been over ten months since the incident at the pool of Bethesda.

(5) When Jesus then lifted up and saw a great company coming to Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?"

When Jesus looked up and saw the multitude of people coming toward Him, He asked Philip where they should buy bread to feed all the people.  It may have been that Philip was in charge of providing such victuals, or perhaps he was of this area and might best know where they could buy bread.

(6) And this He did to prove him for He Himself knew what He would do.

Actually, we see Jesus's reason for asking Philip was to test his faith.  After all, Philip had been with Jesus from the beginning and had seen Him turn water into wine.  Would he not realize that Jesus could just as easily provide bread for all these people?  Jesus already knew what He planned to do.

(7) Philip answered Him, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little."

It seems Philip failed the test.  He answered in a secular manner attempting to show how impractical it was for them to pay two hundred pennyworth for bread, which may have been all they had, to only give each person a little bit.

(8) One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, (9) "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

Andrew, hearing Jesus's question to Philip, told Jesus that there was a boy there who had five loaves of barley bread and two small fish, but then added that that was way too inadequate to feed so many people.

(10) And Jesus said, "Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number, about five thousand.

Jesus instructed the disciples to have the people sit down on the plenteous green grass that was at the foot of the mountain.  The people did as they were told and the men numbered about five thousand.  The account in Matthew added that that didn't include women and children who were among the ones asked to sit down.

(11) And Jesus took the loaves and when He had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sat down, and likewise of the fish as much as they wanted.

Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks and blessed them and then distributed them to the disciples who in turn, passed bread out to the people.  He did the same with the two fish, and the people were able to get as much food as they wanted.

(12) When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing is lost."

When all the people had eaten their fill, Jesus told His disciples to gather up all the leftover scraps so that no food was wasted.

(13) Therefore they gathered together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above to them who had eaten.

The disciples gathered the leftovers and filled twelve baskets with them, what started as one basket with five loaves and two small fish.  And of course, that was what was left after all the people had eaten their fill.

(14) Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, "This is truly that Prophet who should come into the world."

When the people realized what a miracle Jesus had done in feeding them, they remarked that He was surely the great Prophet who was to come into the world of whom Moses had spoken, their long-awaited Messiah.

(15) When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone.

Jesus began to perceive that the people might try to take Him to make Him their King, so He slipped away back up into a mountain by Himself.

(16) And when evening was come, His disciples went down to the sea,

While Jesus stayed for a little rest and solitude and probably prayer, His disciples went down to the sea.  According to the accounts in Matthew and Mark, Jesus directed them to go ahead before Him to the other side of the sea.

(17) And entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark and Jesus had not come to them.

The disciples boarded a boat and sailed across the sea toward Capernaum.  It had become dark and Jesus had not yet caught up to them.

(18) And the sea arose because of a great wind that blew.

While they were in the middle of the sea in the dark a storm arose with a great wind and caused the sea to swell up and lift up great waves.

(19) So when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the ship, and they were afraid.

The disciples had rowed about three and a half miles when they saw Jesus walking on the water of the sea.  He was coming toward them and they were afraid.  The account in Matthew said they thought it was a spirit they saw.

(20) But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." (21) Then they willingly received Him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land where they went.

Jesus called out to the disciples that it was He and they should not be afraid.  It was at this point, the account in Matthew tells us that Jesus called Peter to Him and Peter walked on water toward Jesus until he became afraid and sank.  It was after that when Jesus got into the boat.  John added something none of the other gospel accounts mentioned.  Once Jesus was onboard, the ship immediately was onshore at their destination.  The account in Mark said only that as Jesus got into the boat, the wind ceased.  Perhaps John did not mean that the boat was miraculously and instantaneously on the land at their destination but that it very quickly arrived, but John did seem to suggest an extraordinary sudden arrival.

(22) The day following, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except that one in which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not gone with His disciples into the boat, but His disciples had gone away alone, 

The next day the people whom Jesus had fed back on the other side of the sea saw that there were no boats there other than the one they had seen His disciples leave in, and they knew Jesus had not gone with them.  Therefore, they would assume Jesus was still on that side of the sea.

(23) (However, there came other boats from Tiberius near to the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks)

John made a parenthetical statement that although there were no other boats at first, there then came other boats from Tiberius to the place where they had eaten the food Jesus had provided for them the evening before.

(24) When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When the people saw that Jesus was not still on their side of the sea and neither were His disciples, they got into the boats that were arriving from Tiberius and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

(25) And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

The people indeed found Jesus on the other side of the sea at Capernaum and asked Him when He had come there as they knew He had not gone with His disciples in the only boat they had seen.  His answer will be in the next post.  Although this makes for a rather short post, this chapter is very long and this seems the best stopping place for now, as the rest of the chapter is of Jesus's words to the people.

Healing at the Pool of Bethesda and Jesus's Equality with God

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 5:1) After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

At the end of the last chapter, Jesus had been in Cana where He had healed a nobleman's son.  He now went to Jerusalem because there was a religious feast there.  There were at least three main feasts that the Jews were expected to attend:  Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  It is not likely that it was Passover that Jesus now went to attend, as John had spoken of Jesus being at that feast already (John 4:45).  I think it was likely Pentecost as that occurred fifty days after Passover.  The Feast of Tabernacles occurred in the fall at the end of the harvest.

(2) Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

In Jerusalem, by the sheep gate which is where the sheep were brought into the city, there was a pool for swimming or bathing.  It was called Bethesda meaning "house of mercy."  It was a place where the sick gathered in hopes of being healed.  It had five porches where the people lay and waited for an angel to stir the water.  They believed that the first person into the pool after an angel stirred the water would be healed.

(3) In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

On those porches lay a great many sick and weak people, some blind and lame and some with withered limbs they were unable to use.  They lay on the porches waiting for the water to move.

(4) For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred the water; then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made whole of whatever disease he had.

At least this is what the people believed, that an angel would come down and stir the pool and whoever stepped in first after that stirring would be healed.  It is possible that this pool was fed by a hot spring that would occasionally gush up through a crack or fault line in the pool.  It might seem like it was the first person in who was healed as he may have been hit with the most minerals from the gush before the mineral water was mixed evenly in the pool.  However it worked, even John wrote as if it were true that people were healed at the pool that was stirred by what they presumed to be an angel.

(5) And a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. (6) When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been that way a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made whole?"

There was one man at the pool who had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years.  Jesus saw him lying there and He knew he had had his condition for a very long time.  He asked the man if he wanted to be made whole.  It seems like an odd question to someone who had been waiting to be healed for thirty-eight years.  However, some people become comfortable in their state and perhaps do not truly want to come out of it.  That certainly is true of sin.  Does one really want to be healed from their sin enough to repent and be saved?  

(7) The impotent man answered Him, "Sir, I have no one, when the water is stirred, to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

The feeble man explained to Jesus that he had no one to help him into the pool as soon as the water was stirred.  By the time he slowly got himself to it, someone else had stepped into it before him.  Yes, he wanted to be healed in the only way he thought possible and had tried over and over again, but with no one to help him, he never succeeded in doing what he thought necessary to be healed.  As I write this, I can't help but think of how we often try to "fix" ourselves.  "If only" such and such would be, we would be made whatever it was that we were seeking.  However, "if only" we would let go of our struggling and look to God and let Him direct our paths, we would be truly healed: 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. - Proverbs 3:5-8

(8) Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."

Jesus just told the man to rise up, take up his mat, and walk.  That would seem an odd command to someone who had been feeble for thirty-eight years and was too weak and feeble to get himself into the water he thought would cure him.  However, if God is the one telling you to do something, He will give you the strength to do it.

(9) And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked; and that same day was the Sabbath.

Immediately upon Jesus's word, the man was made whole, and he indeed rose up, picked up his mat and walked.  There is a lesson in this for all us sinners.  Had the man answered Jesus that he couldn't walk and he knew it was no use to try for he knew he couldn't do it, he wouldn't have experienced the miracle.  All the many years a sinner may have tried to reform himself but failed, when he looks to God and gives himself over to Him, he may find the same things he thought never worked, then working because God gave him the strength to do it.  But just as the man needed to rise up though he may have thought he couldn't, a sinner needs to repent and get up and seek to reform himself and he'll find that as a new creation in Christ, he will be able to do it.  As Philippians 4:13 states, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

John made it a point to direct his readers' attention to the fact that this miracle had occurred on the Sabbath.

(10) The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath Day; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."

The religious Jews there told the man that as it was the Sabbath, it was unlawful for him to carry his bed.  They were so legalistic and strict in their interpretation of the law that just merely carrying one's mat out of the place of the pool of Bethesda was considered work.  I like the way the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes puts it, "True religion is assaulted most cruelly by the pretense of religion itself."

(11) He answered them, "He who made me whole, the same said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"

The formerly feeble man told the Jews that the one who had healed him was the one who told him to take up his mat and walk.

(12) Then they asked him, "What man is He who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"

These "religious" men, instead of being in awe of and more interested in what the man had said about being healed, just wanted to know who had said he could take up his mat and walk.

(13) And he who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away as there was a multitude.

However, the man did not who it was who had healed him and could not point Him out because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd of people.

(14) Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you are made whole; sin no more lest a worse thing come to you."

Jesus later found the man in the temple and told him that he had indeed been made whole, but that he was to sin no more lest a worse thing happen to him.  In this, Jesus was conveying to the man that he knew what had made him infirm in the first place; perhaps in sin he had hurt himself.  He told him that He knew he was completely healed but that he must repent from his sin lest an even worse thing might happen to him.  It would seem to the man that Jesus knew his past, present, and his future.

(15) The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

The man departed from Jesus's presence and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him, being convinced of this truth because of what Jesus had said to him.

(16) And therefore the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

This was one of the first reasons the Jews started persecuting Jesus and seeking to kill Him because He had the "impudence" to heal and tell a man to do "work" on the Sabbath.

(17) But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working now, and I work."

However, Jesus's answer to those accusations was that His Father did His mighty works even on the Sabbath days and so would He.

(18) Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

When the Jews heard those words of Jesus, it made them even more determined to kill Him, not only because He broke the Sabbath law, but because He had said God was His Father, making Himself equal to God, which they considered blasphemy.

(19) Then answered Jesus and said to them, "Verily, verily, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, that the Son does likewise."

Jesus answered that it was true and certain that He could do nothing apart from His Father God because He was God.  He and His Father were one, so in effect, He was telling the Jews that He was indeed equal to and was God.

(20) "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does, and He will shew Him greater works than these, that you may marvel."

Jesus went on to explain that the Father God loved His Son and showed Him all things that He did so that He might do them also.  That was Jesus's way of explaining that this human form that God had taken to be born as a Son on earth knew all the things of God.  He added that He would do even greater works than the ones they had witnessed thus far.  Greater things would be shown to them which would cause them to marvel, and it would prove His deity to them.

(21) "For as the Father raises up the dead and gives life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will."

The Jews were well aware that God could raise the dead as He had done at least a couple of times in the scriptures.  Just as His Father gave life, Jesus was giving eternal life to all who accepted Him as Lord and Savior.  He could also give physical life as He did when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

(22) "For the Father judges no man but has committed all judgment to the Son, (23) That all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

In these and the following verses in John, Jesus gives the Jews the best and easiest to understand explanation of just who He was.  God the Father gave the power to judge His people to His Son Jesus.  All people had already been condemned by God the Father, as "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  It was only through Jesus Christ that anyone could be saved, so the authority to judge who would be saved and who wouldn't, was all His.  As Jesus Christ and the Father were one, everyone must honor Jesus just as they honored God.  If they did not honor Jesus, then they were dishonoring God who sent Him as a way to provide a way to Him, Father God, even though they had been previously condemned.  It would only be through Jesus's perfect sacrifice that atoned for sins that anyone would be free from their condemnation.

(24) "Verily, verily, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life."

Jesus concluded by saying that whoever heard Him and believed what He was saying and believed in Father God who had sent Him, would have everlasting life and would not suffer the condemnation that their sins required, but would pass from death into life.

(25) "Verily, verily, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live."

Jesus explained that the hour was coming when those dead in sin would hear the preaching of the Gospel and would be saved and have everlasting life.  The hour had actually already come with Jesus's beginning ministry.

(26) "For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself."

God the Father is the source of all life; He is life.  Jesus as God the Word is life as well and was given that life in Himself as Jesus the man on earth.  Jesus had the authority on earth to give eternal life to all who would accept His gift.

(27) "And has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of man."

As Jesus had said in verse 22, God the Father had given all authority to Him to judge man.  Jesus had that authority because He was the Son of man, the Son of God who had come down to the world as a son to a human man.  However, the term "Son of man" as Jesus often called Himself, might refer here to the fact that even though He was God, He was fully human and understood our temptations and infirmities and might be better qualified to judge men.  After all, Jesus is meant to be our advocate, our intercessor, our mediator between God and us.  I don't believe for a second that God in heaven couldn't judge us righteously, but the fact Jesus was man in the midst of them might have been seen by people as one who was closer, not distant in heaven, and could better understand their shortcomings and could better plead their cases.

(28) "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice."

I believe because of the way it was punctuated that Jesus meant for them not to be astonished at what He was about to say rather than what he had already said, that the hour was coming when even the physically dead in their graves would hear Jesus's voice.

(29) "And shall come forth; they who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation."

The dead would come forth out of their graves to be judged.  Those in the graves before Jesus's time could not have received the gift of Jesus's sacrifice for their sins, but if they had done good, in this case meaning they loved God and did their best to follow His commands and to love their fellow man, they would be resurrected to everlasting life.  This is where Jesus the Great Mediator will judge the hearts of men as no man is good, not one (Romans 3:10, Ecclesiastes 7:20), and cannot see the kingdom of God without Jesus.  Those who had done evil, did not honor God, used and abused people, and would have never accepted Jesus if given the opportunity, would be resurrected to damnation.

(30) "I can of My own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me."

I don't believe Jesus's point was that He was unable to do anything of His own will, but that He wouldn't do anything apart from God because He was one with God.  As God directs, God the Son does and judges.  His will is not separate from the will of His Father.

(31) "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true."

I believe Jesus meant that if He testified of Himself as merely man and with no connection to God, His testimony could not be true.  He was God; He and His Father were one.  Knowing He came to do the work of His Father and could only do the work His Father willed was sufficient as His testimony.  Even though Jesus was true of Himself and He could never give a false witness, the point was He couldn't be anything else but one with God.

(32) "There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of Me is true."

Some commentators think Jesus referred to John the Baptist as witnessing of Him, because He mentions John in the next verse, and then mentions God the Father in verse 37.  However, in total context, I tend to agree with others that it seems more likely He referred to God as His witness.  He then spoke of the witness the people had received before Him from John.

(33) "You sent to John and he bore witness to the truth."

When the Jews had sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem (John 1:19) to him, John the Baptist had borne true testimony about Jesus.

(34) "But I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you might be saved."

Jesus didn't need to depend on the testimony of any man, John the Baptist included, but He told them that John had testified truly about Him so that by the testimony of someone they so revered as a Godly prophet, they might be saved.  God used John even though it was not necessary to have John testify about Jesus as Jesus's very life, words, and actions themselves testified beautifully about Him.

(35) "He was a burning and shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light."

John was as a lamp shining in darkness.  There is a very interesting significance and difference in the use of the original word used here that was translated as "light," that is, "luchnos," which meant "lamp or candle," and the word that was translated as "light" when describing Jesus in John 1:4-5.  That word was "phos" and meant more of a radiating light of itself, a fountain of light like the sun.  John was not "the light;" he was a lamp lighting the path for the light that was Jesus Christ.  People rejoiced in his message for the short while he preached before he was imprisoned.  They saw him as a great prophet prophesying the coming Messiah, but they were looking for a King Messiah who would deliver them out of the hands of the Romans.

(36) "But I have greater witness than of John, for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me."

Jesus said that His witness was greater than that of John's because He came to finish the work of His Father God in heaven.  In fact, He was God who came in this form of Jesus in order to finish His work of spiritual salvation of the world.  Jesus did the very works of God so those works bore testimony to the fact He was sent from God.  John the Baptist had performed no miracles.  He was a prophet sent by God and he testified truly about the Messiah who came after him, but only God could perform such miracles as Jesus did.  Jesus's very life on earth was the greatest witness to who He truly was.

(37) "And the Father Himself who has sent Me has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape."

God Himself had borne witness of Jesus in multiple ways, in His word and many prophecies of Jesus in scripture, in the very miracles Jesus did that only God could do, and in His audible testimony at Jesus's baptism.  However, the people had neither listened to all those testimonies nor recognized God's manifestation in them.  

(38) "And you do not have His word abiding in you, for whom He has sent, Him you do not believe."

The people also obviously did not have God's word abiding in them or else they would have realized that He had sent Jesus to them, but they did not believe Jesus.  They may have thought they believed the scriptures to be of God, but they couldn't have totally accepted His word into their hearts for they did not believe the One God sent.

(39) "Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are those which testify of Me. (40) And you will not come to Me that you may have life."

The people searched and poured over the scriptures because in them they believed they had eternal life.  However, those very scriptures were the ones that testified of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, the very source of that eternal life, and yet they would not come to Him to receive that life.

(41) "I do not receive honor from men."

Jesus had no need for the honor of men.  He did not do what He did for vanity and glory.  He spoke and did the things He did in love and for the salvation of their souls.

(42) "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you."

Being the omniscient God, Jesus knew the hearts of men and He knew they did not have the love of God in them.  They pretended to love God with their strict adherence to the law and yet they missed the true spirit of the law as God intended.  They did not truly love God because they did not know Him, as evidenced by their lack of understanding of the scriptures and their unwillingness to listen to Jesus.

(43) "I am come in My Father's name and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive."

Jesus came in His Father's name and they would not receive Him.  And because they did not have the love and truth of God within them, they would readily receive false Christs who came in no other authority than their own.

(44) "How can you believe who receive honor one of another, and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?"

How could one possibly believe in Jesus, as was the case with the scribes and Pharisees, when he was more interested in getting praise from the people?  When he openly performed religious acts to be praised by the people?  When he did not deny himself, follow, and seek honor from the one true God?

(45) "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust."

Jesus had not come to accuse and condemn people.  The people were already condemned by the law of Moses that they were unable to wholly keep.  Jesus had come to save them from their condemnation.

(46) "For had you believed Moses, you would have believed Me for he wrote of Me."

Additionally, the people were condemned because they did not believe all the writings of Moses who had written about Jesus.  If they had truly believed and held Moses's writings in their hearts, they would have believed Jesus.

(47) "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

If the people did not truly believe the writings of Moses, then how could they possibly believe Jesus who was the fulfillment of those writings?  Jesus demonstrated how it would be a natural conclusion that they would not believe Him if they had not believed Moses in the first place, and thus they stood accused by the writings of Moses proving they had never really taken those writings and the word of God to heart.

More than any other Gospel author, John wrote about the deity of Jesus Christ.  His account was not just history; it contained much spiritual and theological reflection on Jesus's words and deeds.  He didn't write about many of the same events as the other Gospel authors did, but wrote about events that the others did not include that gave a more in-depth insight into Jesus.  This chapter includes one of the clearest declarations in all of scripture of the deity of Jesus that was in His own words.  Of course, the first chapter of John was powerful, but these were Jesus's own words.  How could anyone listen to them and not be struck by His profound wisdom and obvious knowledge that no one but the Son of God could possess?