A Vivid Contrast
(No. 3003)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 17, 1864.
"And every man went unto his own house." John 7:53.
"Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives." John 8:1.
THESE verses furnish a striking illustration of the unwise way in
which, in certain cases, the Bible has been divided into chapters. The
meaning of many portions of Scripture would be much more manifest if
Gospels, Epistles and even Prophecies were left in their undivided
state. The two sentences which I have selected for my text ought never
to have been separated–and we may rightly say of them, "What God has
joined together, let no man put asunder." So we will consider them
together as they should be considered–"Every man went unto his own
house. Jesus went unto the Mount ofOlives."
I. Here we have, in the first place, A FACT FOR OUR EARNEST
CONSIDERATION. Let us turn it over in our mind under the Holy Spirit's
gracious guidance. While Christ's friends and enemies had, everyone of
them, a house to go to, He must go spend the night in the open air
watching and praying on the Mount of Olives.
Observe, first, His extreme poverty. Among them all–friends or
foes–there was not one without a house excepting Himself. No, more,
among some of the meanest of His creatures, there was not one without a
shelter. Foxes, though they were but worthy to be exterminated, had
holes in which they could hide. And the birds of the air, though many
ruthlessly sought to destroy them, had nests wherein they could
rest–but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. Possibly, in
all Judaea, there was only that one houseless man! Certainly there was
no other who was so voluntarily houseless as Himself. He had brought
Himself down from the glories of His Father's court, from the majesty
of reigning with His Father in Heaven to become dependent upon the
bounty of His own disciples for His daily bread–and He had no house
that He could call His own, no home to which He could retire when His
day's work was done. Believers, admire His amazing condescension in
that, "though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you,
through His poverty, might be rich." If any of you are poor in this
world, be comforted, for you are not poorer than your Master was!
Remember that every true Christian is the image of Christ but the godly
poor man is the expressimage of Christ! He has one quality beyond those
which other Christians have, that is, his poverty, which makes him even
more like his Master than they are. He who was born in a stable and
cradled in a manger. He who wore the homely garb of the peasantry of
Palestine, the garment which was without seam, woven from the top
throughout. He who made fishermen His chosen companions, was the poor
man's Christ, poorer than the poorest of you and able, therefore, to
sympathize with you in all the pangs and griefs which penury may bring
upon you! And you great ones of the earth, despise not the unlettered
and the poor, for "has not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in
faith," to be "heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to them that
love Him"? And has He not "exalted One chosen out of the people," even
His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, to sit with Him on the Throne
of His Glory?
Further, when "every man went unto his own house," Christ had no house
to go to! And this denotes not only His extreme poverty, but the
forgetfulness and unkindness of His friends. Each of us is apt to say,
"Had I been there, He would not have spent that night amid the cold
dews of the Mount of Olives. He would have had the best accommodation
my house could have afforded. I would always have had a chamber
prepared for the Lord's Prophet, like that of the
Shunammite woman, with 'a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a
candlestick,' and I would have entertained this Prince of Prophets with
the greatest joy!" So you think, but had you lived in Christ's day,
John might still have written, "He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not." And the Prophet's lamentation might again have
become true, "He was despised, and we esteemed Him not"–even we, His
own people, His blood-bought people, His beloved–"esteemed Him
not."
Surely, never was such a friend used so terribly as the Lord Jesus
Christ was used even by His friends and followers! His head must have
been wet with the dew of Heaven and His locks with the drops of the
night, yet no one gave Him shelter. Yet we must not blame His disciples
for their neglect of their Master unless we are also willing to blame
ourselves. He has often stood at our door and knocked! Perhaps He is
knocking now, but we, in some form or other, refuse to give Him a
lodging in our hearts and willingly keep in His place some darling sin.
And so the Savior still has to stand outside, for He will not come into
our hearts to dwell in peace with sin. He must remain outside until we
expel the intruder, or call upon Him to do so.
Observe, too, in the fact of Christ having no home to go to, the
loneliness of His spirit If He had asked one of His friends to
entertain Him, probably none would have refused His request. Had not
His mother Mary still a home? What had become of His reputed father,
Joseph the carpenter? Were not His brothers with Him? Would not one of
them entertain Him? There was James, who is called the Lord's
brother–could not he find Him a shelter? Peter had a wife, for we read
of his wife's mother lying sick of a fever and being cured by
Christ–had he no place to which he could invite his Lord? The loving
John had a home, for he took the mother of Jesus, after the
Crucifixion, to his own home. Then there were the women who followed
Jesus and ministered to Him of their substance. And Martha, and Mary,
and Lazarus–would not they give Christ a shelter? Oh, yes, they would
gladly have done so, but He was, just then, in the midst of trials–He
was beset by the Pharisees. They were tempting Him on all sides and He
needed something better than the companionship of men! He needed a
place where He could rest, but there is not one disciple upon whose
bosom He could lean His head. John may lean his head upon Christ's
bosom, but Christ cannot lean His head upon John's bosom, so the Savior
must go away by Himself to the Mount of Olives for He has a lonely
spirit and no human being can fully enter into His grief and woes.
We sometime see a Christian minister of high spirit living in a country
village. He is the only educated man in the place. There is no one to
whom he can talk upon many themes that are interesting to him and his
spirit often feels very lonely. His people seem to have nothing to
think of but their farm, their milking, their plowing and their
sowings. He cannot get them above all these things and there he stands
with, perhaps, not a single companion with whom he can discuss his
doubts and questions–and thoughts about Divine things. It is lonely to
be a missionary engaged in Christian work in a heathen land–his
loneliness may be even greater than that of such a man as I have been
describing. But the Savior's loneliness was still greater! There was
not one man upon the earth with whom He could talk at all times. Even
in His hours of keenest conflict, Christ knew that His chosen followers
would leave Him alone–all would forsake Him and flee. It is true that
even then, He could say, "Yet I am not alone, because the Father is
with Me," but apart from His Father's Presence, His whole life may be
compressed into those two sentences–"I have trodden the winepress
alone. And of the people there was none with Me." So, that night they
could all go to their own houses, but God must go to the Mount of
Olives, for He must be a lonely Man.
Thus, there are three things which are brought out by the
text–Christ's extreme poverty, the unkindness of His friends and the
loneliness of His spirit.
But there is another reason for His action–the fond resolution of His
heart. Why does He go to the Mount of Olives and not somewhere else? He
knew that it was near that saved retreat that He was to sweat, as it
were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, so He resolved
to familiarize Himself with the neighborhood which was to be the scene
of His terrible conflict with Satan. Do you not think that if
Wellington had known beforehand that the fate of nations would be
decided on the field of Waterloo, he would have gone to see it, if it
had been possible? I believe the great warrior would have gone to look
at it and study it to observe the best positions for attack and
defense. And the Savior went, with solemn interest, to look at the
place where He was to stand foot to foot with the great enemy of souls!
If you and I had to bear some terrible suffering, it is very likely,
(for the flesh is so weak), that we would try to forget all about
it–but it was not so with the Savior! He kept the fact of His atoning
Sacrifice constantly before His own mind and spoke
of it to others again and again. So intense was His love to His people
that He seemed eagerly to anticipate the time when He would suffer even
unto death for their sakes. Remember His remarkable saying, "I have a
baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished!" What? Was His death upon the Cross to be, in any sense,
a relief to Him? Yes, it was even so. And He was "straitened" till it
was accomplished. Oh, what wondrous love was that which impelled the
Savior onward to Gethsemane–the olive press where He was to be pressed
and crushed between the millstones of Jehovah's wrath in order that He
might suffer the penalty due to our transgressions!
I am not going to thresh these thoughts out for you–I merely suggest
them as themes for your devout meditation– and I think that there is
abundant reason for such meditation in those seven words, "Jesus went
unto the Mount of
Olives."
II. Now I want to take the text in another way. The second thing which
it presents to us is A VIVID CONTRAST FOR SELF-EXAMINATION.
What a true description this first verse is of our own usual conduct!
"Every man went unto his own house." We go, each one of us, to our own
house for ease. That is right enough up to a certain point, but do we
not often seek our own ease when we should be engaged in the service of
our Lord? Christ goes to the mountain to pray, but we go to our beds to
sleep, or to our tables to feast, to our friends to while away an hour
in empty talk, or to our amusements to kill the time which hangs so
heavily upon our hands. I doubt not that the greatest saint among us
has some cause to reproach himself for having wasted time and disobeyed
that solemn Apostolic injunction, "See, then, that you walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because
the days are evil." I can, in imagination, see the Savior lifting up
His hands in an agony of spirit on the mountain at midnight, while His
disciples are all sleeping comfortably in their beds. As we think of
our Savior thus agonizing in prayer for His people, can we not find
more time for prayer than the most of us usually do? Might it not be
profitable to ourselves to mortify the body a little more that we might
have a greater advantage in spirit? I am afraid we would have to
present a very poor record if we gave a true account of the time we
spend in prayer–yet we have no excuse to offer for being slow in this
holy duty. It is not a bondage, a slavery–it is the highest privilege
of the Believer's soul to be engaged in prayer to our Heavenly
Father–yet we often prefer the disastrous ease of wasting our time
instead of drawing near to God in prayer!
I heard someone say to a woman who had been converted, but whose
husband kept a public house, "There is one room in your house which
will keep all the other rooms there from injuring your spiritual
life–that is the room where you retire for private prayer. If that
room is kept right, the rest will do you little harm." Christian,
imitate your Lord who often retired for prayer to the Mount of Olives,
and it shall be well with your soul. At a certain missionary station in
Africa, one of the Brothers was accustomed to go for private prayer to
a little clump of trees and, to get there, he had to cross some long
grass. He had gone so often that he had made a clear trail to the spot
where he went to pray. Others had done the same and there were several
trails across the grass. After a while, this professor began to grow
lax in many ways. He could not enjoy the ministry as he used to do. His
dealings in trade were not so exact as once they were. An elder Brother
pointed out to him the cause of the change that had come over him. He
took him aside to his trail and showed him that the grass was growing
up–that it was not trodden down as it formerly had been–and then he
said, "Brother, thereis the cause of all the mischief–the grass is
growing on the trail where you used to go for private prayer." If you
and I, dear Friends, had to go to some place like that for prayer, I
fear that the grass would not always be well trodden down and that we
should often have cause to cry, "O Lord, give us the true spirit of
prayer!" Like the people of whom the text speaks, we go to our houses
for ease, but Christ goes to the mountain to pray in lonely solitude.
We still have need to say to Him–
"Coldmountains, and the midnight air Witnessed the fervor of Your
prayer! The desert Your temptation knew Your conflict and Your victory,
too. Be You my Pattern–make me bear More of Your gracious Image here
Then God the Judge shall own my name Among the followers of the Lamb."
For what else do we go to our houses? We go there, very often, to take
counsel. On the occasion mentioned here, Christ's enemies went home to
talk together about how they might try to entrap Him. And we sometimes
go to our homes to consult with flesh and blood about matters that
concern us. We say to one friend, "What do you think I had better do?"
And to another, "This is my condition–what do you advise in such a
case as mine?" In this way, poor, erring, human judgments are made to
be our chart and our companions, our captain and our pilot! "Jesus went
unto the Mount of Olives" and took His case to His Father in prayer. He
consulted not with flesh and blood, but with the Eternal, whose wisdom
can make no mistake and whose love can never err. Beloved, may we not
be blameworthy in having gone here and there, wasting our breath on our
friends and fellow sinners, instead of going to the great High Priest,
who wears the Urim and Thummim, and who would have told us what we
ought to do? The lines of Cowper are still true–
"Have you no words? Ah to think again! Words flow apace when you
complain. And fill your fellow creature's ears With the sad tale of all
your cares. Were half the breath thus vainly spent, To Heaven in
supplication sent, Your cheerful song would oftener be, 'Hear what the
Lord has done for me!'"
Again, we go to our houses, very properly, for the enjoyment of
sympathy. We feel that if it is to be found anywhere, we shall find
tender sympathy there and that if the whole outside world should
misunderstand and misrepresent us, we shall be understood and not
misrepresented at home. Whoever may slander us away from our home, no
one will falsely accuse us there–all hearts there will beat in
sympathy with us–so we go to our own homes. But Jesus went to the
Mount of Olives. I say this not to blame you or myself for seeking
sympathy here, for Christ, Himself, did the same. On that memorable
night in Gethsemane when He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, He
said to His disciples, "Could you not watch with Me one hour?" He
seemed to feel the need of sympathy in that dread hour, but He had to
learn, as we also must learn, that there is a point where human
sympathy cannot avail us. We must say, as Jesus did, "O My Father," for
only in Hisheart can true sympathy be found. Yet this I may say,
without any harshness, that while we prize the sympathy of beloved
friends, let us not forget to go to God in prayer. Let us tell the sad
tale of all our griefs into His ear and pour out the story of all our
sorrows into His heart. He has a bottle for our tears and a book for
our complaints. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the grief (as well
as the death) of all His people. He counts the number of their wounds
as well as the number of the stars. So, while we may seek sympathy from
our friends at home, let us not forget to go to the Mercy Seat, that we
may also secure the sympathy and help of the best Friend we have!
We go home, also, forrest and refreshment. We are toil-worn–it is not
more ease that we need, but real repose. We go to our beds, not because
of idleness, but that we may be ready for tomorrow's labor. There are
times when the strongest men must turn aside from their toil and rest
for a little while–and it is right for us to go to our homes for this
purpose. Yet Jesus went to the Mount of Olives when every man went to
his own home–and this suggests to us that we are not to be so
concerned for the health of the body as to neglect the requirements of
the soul. We must cry with David, "Renew a right spirit within me," and
go to our God in prayer in the hope that we may be quickened in His
way. Prayer to God is a even better refreshment than sleep, just as the
soul is better than the body. A certain amount of sleep is necessary
for the body, but prayer is just as necessary for the soul. The bed
will give rest to the tired limbs, but the Mercy Seat will give
refreshment to the powers and passions of the spirit. Let us get
strength for service, power for endurance and might for conflict by
going to the Mount of Olives with the Savior and watching and praying
with Him.
I think that I have said enough upon this point of contrast. To my mind
there is a very suggestive line of thought in these two
sentences–"Every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the
Mount of Olives."
III. Just for a minute or so, dear Friends, I want to remind you that
we also have here A COMPARISON FOR OUR
INSTRUCTION.
Perhaps I shall startle and surprise you when I say that Jesus Christ
did exactly what His disciples and the other people did. They went to
their own houses and He went to His own house. They went home and He
went home. They sought ease, and He sought ease. They sought counsel
and He sought counsel. They sought sympathy and He sought sympathy.
They sought refreshment and He sought refreshment. The Mount of Olives
was, to all intents and purposes,
Christ's home. It was there that He met with His Father. It was there
that the Man, Christ Jesus, met with kindred spirits in the Father and
the Holy Spirit. It was there that He cast off the cares of the day and
unburdened Himself as a weary son does in his parent's presence. It was
there that He told the tale of all the traps which had been laid to
trap Him in speech, of all the ways that His enemies had tried to catch
Him. It was there that He cried to Heaven for wisdom and it was there
that, made strong by fresh contact with His Father, He girt on His
golden armor to go forth once more fully protected from all the arrows
of the Evil One. Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, that season of
prayer upon the Mount of Olives was to Jesus what our going to our
houses and to our loved ones is to us. We grieve that His body was wet
with the dews of the night, yet we would gladly have some of those same
drops upon our body if we could have communion with Him in spirit. We
have sympathy with the members of His physical frame because they were
tried by the cold of the mountains, and the loneliness of His night
vigil, but we wish that our souls could be braced with something like
the same vigor which He received upon the Mount of Olives, or in the
Garden of Gethsemane. Yes, the cold mountain was His home. There He
hada place where He could lay His head, and rest, though only in a
spiritual sense.
IV. There is just one other point for me to mention and then I will
close. We have here A TYPE FOR OUR
EDIFICATION.
We hope to go to our houses after this service, but Jesus is still, in
a certain sense, on the Mount of Olives interceding for us. I suppose
there are some people in their houses who are plotting and scheming
against the cause of God. The Jesuit is seeking to spread his nets so
that he may, with his many allurements, entice the unwary and extend
the evil influence of the harlot of Babylon. The persecutor is planning
with the view of tripping up a saint here and overthrowing another
yonder. The devil is suggesting, in the minds of atheists and infidels,
crafty arguments against the Inspiration of the Scriptures, new
difficulties to startle youthful Believers, fresh blasphemies
concerning the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we could
have the roofs taken off the houses in London, tonight, or if we could
look into the many evil hearts in this modern Babylon, how many might
we see taking counsel together against the Lord and against His
Anointed! Very many will be going to their houses tonight to plot, plan
and imagine all sorts of evil! But, supposing they do, shall we sit
down and be afraid? Shall we give way to despair? No! Verily there is
still hope and more than hope for the true Church of Christ, for Jesus
has gone to the Mount of Olives on high! There He stands, at the right
hand of the Father, pleading the cause of His Church. Knowing her
difficulties, foreseeing her perils, reading all that is in the hearts
of her enemies and her own, He stretches out His hands, points to His
wounds and, for Zion's sake, He will not hold His peace! For
Jerusalem's sake He will not rest until her righteousness shall go
forth as brightness and the salvation of His people shall be as a lamp
that burns! There, Church of God, is your star of hope! The interceding
Savior is our unfailing protection, our strong bulwarks and our
munitions of war! Fear not, O Zion, for, while the Savior pleads, He
that sits in the heavens does laugh at His enemies–the Lord has them
in derision–
"Before the Throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who always lives and pleads for me!
My name is engraved on His hands,
My name is written on His heart–
I know that, while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ, my Savior and my God!" But some will, I hope, go home in
quite another mood. I trust that some will go home to mourn over sin. I
hope that out of this company which I am now addressing, there are some
who are going home to pray. As you, by your bedside, pour out your
supplications to "Our Father who are in Heaven," do not forget that
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray–and remember that He is
still praying for His people before His Father's face. Sinner, there
will be two pleading for you while you are praying for yourself! As you
plead with Christ, Christ pleads for you. When you put your case into
His hands, every groan of yours is sprinkled with His precious blood
and every penitent tear of yours is made acceptable to God through the
merit of Christ's Sacrifice. Be not discouraged if your words will not
come, if there are within you groans which cannot be uttered, or if you
are half choked with emotion, so that you cannot speak out what you
really feel within, for there is One who can speak for you as never man
spoke! And if you cannot plead for yourself, He can plead for you
according to that gracious assurance, "If any man sins, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." Just as Jesus
went to the Mount of Olives to pray for His people, He has now gone up
to Heaven to continue pleading for them and also to make intercession
for the transgressors.
It is very likely that many will go to their houses simply to sleep, as
most of those probably did in our Savior's day. Many professing
Christians come to God's House to sleep and then go home to sleep. They
walk about sleeping, sleeping with their eyes open, spiritually
sleeping while they are wide awake about mere secular matters. But it
is a comfort to know that while professors sleep and lambs sleep, Jesus
still goes, spiritually, to the Mount of Olives. The only hope for the
slumbering Church is the wakeful Savior! Even if the earthly watchmen
sleep, the best of all Watchmen keeps guard over the vineyard which He
has planted. He says, "I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every
moment. Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." "The eyes of
the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him."
It may be that some of you will go home to be tempted. It is a sad
thing to go from the House of God to meet with temptation, yet that
happens to many of you. You come in here on Sabbath days or weeknights
and try to get spiritual food for your soul and then, perhaps, the
first word that you hear as you cross the threshold of your home is an
oath. What a comfort it is that Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to
plead for you and that He knows, beforehand, the exact temptation which
you will have to meet, even as He said to Simon Peter, "Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat;
but I have prayed for you, that your faith fails not." Be satisfied, O
Believer, that Christ will never put His gold into the furnace without
Himself sitting at the mouth of it to watch the whole purifying
process! He never takes His eyes off the precious ingot as long as it
is in the furnace–and only when He sees His own image reflected in the
pure metal does He take it out of the fire! You can be sure of this,
though the devil may come out against you and assail you in fashion
which shall utterly stagger you, God has not forgotten you! Jesus has
gone up on high and He is pleading for you that in this, your time of
utmost weakness and need, the Grace of God shall be sufficient for you
and make a way of escape for you out of all your troubles and
temptations!
I might enlarge upon this fruitful theme, but I will not do so. And so
I close by expressing the hope that some of us intend, from this day
forth, to serve God better than we have ever done. I know that there
are some members of this Church who feel stirred up to do more than
they have ever yet done for Christ and, after all, the most of our
members do not do much for Him. There are some in the Church who have
no share in all that is done for Christ. It is not the many, but the
few, who really do the work. If all the members of this Church felt
such love for Christ as some do, and were all as ardently devoted to
His cause as some are, I know not what we might not do for Christ, nor
how rapidly His Kingdom might be extended by us! If any of us go to our
homes solemnly praying that we may, from this day forth, be completely
consecrated to the Lord, to serve Him with a perfect heart, we may rest
assured that Jesus is praying a similar petition before His Father's
face! He is praying that His people may be holy! That they may be
happy! That they may love Him with their whole heart and bring forth
much fruit to the praise and glory of His holy name! So, when you truly
desire to serve God, Christ hears you and His prayer and your prayer
agree well together!
Let us, therefore, go to our houses remembering that thought of Jesus
retiring in secret to pray for His people–and before we close our
eyes, let us go again to the Mercy Seat where Christ has often met with
us. And as we close this service, let us for a few moments go in spirit
to the Mount of Olives in prayer.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 7:30-63; 8:1.
John 7:30, 31. Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on
Him, because His hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed
on Him, and said, When Christ comes, will He do more miracles than
these which this Man has done? Well might they ask that question, for
Jesus had worked such marvelous miracles that they could not
imagine anything greater! Surely this must be the Christ or if He were
not, when the Christ did come, could He and would He do any greater
miracles than this Man had done?
32. The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning
Him. Whispered these things, afraid to speak out boldly because of the
Pharisees and, therefore, they quietly said it among themselves and,
after all, there is no fire more to be dreaded than a smoldering fire.
32, 33. And the Pharisees and the chiefpriests sent officers to take
Him. Then saidJesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and
then I go unto Him that sent Me. That was a blessed way for Christ to
describe His return to the heavenly world–"I go unto Him that sent
Me." Possibly He said this to the very men who were sent to take Him.
34. You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and where I am, there you
cannot come. No officers can arrest Him now that He has gone up into
His Father's Glory. There is no fear of any of them being there to
catch Him in His speech, or to drag Him before the ecclesiastical and
secular judges, as they did when He was here.
35, 36. Then said the Jews among themselves, "Where will He go, that we
shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles
and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this that He said, You
shall seek Me and shall not find Me: and where I am, there you cannot
come They appear to have had some intimation of that glorious love of
Christ which was not to be confined within the bounds of the Jewish
nation, yet they could not or would not understand His words.
37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried. Shouted, spoke with all His might! And He stood, although He
usually sat to deliver His messages. But now, as if His whole being was
awakened to its utmost energy, on account of the last day of the
gathering having come, when perhaps the people would go home and He
would be unable thus to speak with them again, "Jesus stood and cried."
37. Saying, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me, and drink. O
blessed invitation! How sweet it should be to every thirsty soul! "If
any man"–prince or pauper! "Any man"–moral or utterly debauched! "If
any man thirsts, let him come unto Me"–not to ordinances, nor to human
priests, "let Him come unto Me, and drink," as much as He will "without
money, and without price."
38. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of His belly
shall flow rivers of living water He will not only drink enough to
satisfy his own thirst, but he will, himself, become a
fountain–streams of Grace shall be communicated to his fellow men
through him.
39. (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him
should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that
Jesus was not yet glorified). He was not given then, but later. On the
day of Pentecost He was given–and He has never been withdrawn!
40-43. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying,
said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.
But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture
said that Christ comes of the seed of David, and out of the town of
Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people
because of Him. It is still true that Christ is a cause of division, as
He, Himself, foretold that He would be.
44. And some of them would have taken Him but no man laid hands on Him.
In the 30th verse of this chapter, and in the 20th verse of the next
Chapter, we are told why they did not take Him–"His hour was not yet
come." And, like their Lord, saints are immortal till their work is
done!
45-48. Then came the officers to the chief priest and Pharisees; and
they said unto them, Why have you not brought Him? The officers
answered, Never man spoke like this Man. Then answered them the
Pharisees, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the
Pharisees believed on Him? They professed to be the spiritual leaders
of the nation and expected all to follow them.
49-51. But the people who know not the Law are cursed. Nicodemus said
unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them), Does
our Law judge any man before it hears him and knows what he does
Nicodemus asked a simple question, but they could not answer it without
convicting themselves of disobeying that very Law of God of which they
pretended to be the exponents.
52, 53. They answered and said unto him, Are you also of Galilee?
Search, and look: for out of Galilee arises no Prophet. And every man
went unto his own house.
John 8:1. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.