Lesson 128 - Junior

Memory Verse

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37).

Notes

The Feast of Tabernacles

There was great excitement in Jerusalem during the seasons of the appointed feasts. Jews came from all the countries round about, and thousands of people camped on the streets of the city. Flickering lights could be seen far into the night, and the pilgrims could be heard moving about, visiting with one another, telling what had happened since they last met at another feast.

God had instituted these feasts, including the Feast of Tabernacles which came in the seventh month. The purpose was to remind the Jews from year to year of the wanderings of their forefathers in the wilderness, so they would be grateful for a permanent home in Canaan and would rejoice and praise the Lord. During the Feast of Tabernacles they were to live in booths made of branches to resemble the Israelites' tents during their forty years of sojourn in the wilderness.

But the Jews at the time of Christ had lost the spirit of the celebration; and aside from a few ceremonies and some animal sacrifices, there was little sacredness in their observance.

Christ's Obedience to the Law

Jesus was always very careful to observe the Law. When the Law said that all the men should go to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, of course Jesus would go too. But when His brothers were preparing to leave, Jesus told them to go without Him. He knew there were people in Jerusalem who hated Him, and He would attract too much attention if He went with His brothers. His brothers were not hated, because they were like everyone else; but Jesus was different.

A Stand for the Right

Jesus knew why the people hated Him. He had reproved them for their sins. When a person does the same things everyone else does, he is considered a "good fellow." But when a Christian takes his stand for the right, it stirs the evil instincts in the sinners, and persecution follows. Not very many people who do not have Jesus in their hearts can stand to be laughed at for being good. They would rather do sinful things they do not really want to do than to be different from the crowd.

Jesus followed His brothers to Jerusalem a few days later, and went right to the Temple to worship and to teach the people. He observed the feast as God meant it to be kept -" in the spirit of worship. He did not spend His time visiting and talking about worldly things.

Weak in the Faith

Some people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus and would have liked to have shown Him they loved Him, but they were afraid. They did not want to be hated by His enemies. Sometimes a person is saved and really loves the Lord, but he does not have the courage to take a bold stand for Jesus before his friends. That is why we need to pray for more of the grace of God. That is why we need the deeper experiences of sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. With each new experience we gain more courage; and with the baptism we receive power to be witnesses for Christ.

Wisdom from Above

Of course, when Jesus began teaching in the Temple the people recognised Him. They were surprised at His wisdom, for they thought He had little education. Jesus knew what they were thinking, even when He could not hear what they said. He knew they were wondering about the eternal truths He was telling them, and he explained that He was teaching them what God had given Him to teach. It was the doctrine of the Father -" nothing He had learned in school. It was the message God had sent Him to earth to preach.

God's servants today do not need a high education to be able to teach the things that are in the Bible. If the Spirit of God is in the minister, He will teach him what to say. "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).

Not very many people realise how important it is to have the Spirit of God in them when they teach about Jesus. If they do not have the Spirit they do not know Jesus, and how can they tell others about Him? The things they learn in books do not make them acquainted with the Son of God who came from Heaven and paid the price of our redemption. The sinner cannot understand the Spirit, "even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17).

For All

Jesus spoke more on the subject the last day of the feast. He was not afraid to preach among the people who hated Him, because He knew there were some people scattered through the crowd who wanted eternal life. He stood that day and cried: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Anybody who wants to may come to Jesus and be saved. Most of the Jews were not saved because they were not honest and did not want to obey the commandments of Jesus.

Jesus said still more about this Living Water. The Living Water is the Spirit of God; and we receive some of the Spirit when we are saved, more when we are sanctified; and when we are baptised with the Holy Ghost we have an "overflowing" amount of the Spirit. Jesus said of the person who receives the baptism, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

The person who is baptised with the Holy Ghost has so much of the Spirit in his life that others will recognise it. It will flow out of his being and make him a witness in all the world. The Spirit will speak conviction to the sinners he meets and will reprove them for their evil deeds. Another Christian will feel the fellowship, the unity of faith, and be blessed by the Spirit in the life of the overcomer.

Power

The Apostle Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, preached: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Power to be witnesses for Jesus in spite of ridicule and opposition! Peter knew what he was talking about. He had not learned to know Jesus by reading about Him in some book. He had lived with Him, and had been with Him perhaps every day for three and a half years. Still he denied his Lord even before a maid! He would never have had power to stand before the priests and the scribes as a follower of the Saviour. And yet he wanted to. He loved Jesus, and had promised to die for Him; but he did not have the power to be a faithful witness. In a weak moment he fell. How bitterly he repented!

On the Day of Pentecost, after he had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, he was not afraid of anyone. He stood right there in Jerusalem before all the religious people who had gathered for that feast, and was not afraid to tell them that it was they who had crucified the Son of God. He had received the power and the inspiration of the Spirit which told him that the prophecy of Joel had been fulfilled, that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh: "And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . . and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit" (Acts 2:16-18).

Comforter Sent after Ascension

When Jesus was speaking about the Spirit, "the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). Jesus had told His disciples that when He went away He would send the Comforter to abide with them; but unless He went the Comforter would not come. The great sermon Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost was after the Comforter had come, fifty days after Jesus died. If only the people would have believed that this was the fulfillment of the words of Jesus! Many did. Through that powerful sermon 3,000 persons were converted in one day.

Hatred for Jesus

But on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus was pleading with the people to come and drink of the Living Waters, there was little belief. The people hated Him and wanted to kill Him. Some tried to defend Him, and said, "This is the Christ," and some believed that He was "the Prophet." Others would argue that no prophet came out of Galilee where Jesus lived. (The Prophet Jonah, and perhaps Elijah and Nahum, were of Galilee, but the Jews were not interested in that.) They argued that the Messiah must come from Bethlehem. Had they forgotten that night when the star shone over the stable in Bethlehem, and the angels appeared to the shepherds on the hillside, singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"? The truth was before them, and if they had wanted to believe they would have remembered all these things. Their hatred had blinded them to the truth.

Satan's Power Limited

When Jesus had first come to the feast the people had tried to take Him captive, but it was not God's time, and no one could touch Him. That is a happy thought for all God's children to remember: The devil can never do more to them than the Lord allows. If God says No, Satan is powerless.

Then at the end of the feast the priests sent men to take Him. When the officers returned to the priests with-out Jesus, they were asked, "Why have ye not brought him?" Their answer was very strange: "Never man spake like this man." His words had defeated their purpose -" words spoken in the Spirit and with power. The words of Jesus were always like that. His enemies never would have taken Him if it had not been necessary to fulfill the Scriptures, which prophesied that the Son of God would come and die an Atonement for sin. Even that night in the Garden when He was betrayed, just the words of His answer to the mob, "I am he," cause His enemies to fall to the ground.

The Son of God

Jesus was not just a man; He was the Son of God, with the power of Heaven. His disciples today must have more than man's knowledge of Him if they wish to go to Heaven. We must have spiritual understanding; we must be born again and have that Living Water in our hearts, if we want to be the children of God. And we must go on and be sanctified, and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, so we will have enough of the Living Water to flow out and help others to know Jesus, too.

Questions

1. Why did the people in Jerusalem hate Jesus?

2. Why did they not hate His brothers?

3. What was the Feast of Tabernacles?

4. How did Jesus observe the feast?

5. What is the Living Water of which Jesus spoke?

6. Who can be saved?

7. What difference did the baptism of the Holy Ghost make in Peter?

8. What do we receive with the baptism of the Holy Ghost?