John
7:1-9 (NIV) After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away
from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. 2 But when the
Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You
ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the
miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.
Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even
his own brothers did not believe in him.
6
Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for
you any time is right. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I
testify that what it does is evil. 8 You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up
to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.
NOTE: The key to
this whole chapter (7) is the statement "it (the world) hates me because I
testify that what it does is evil." This is the real issue today and it is
the same as it was in Jesus' day. The world hates true Christianity because it
tells us that we are not okay, but are sinners. And because we are sinners, we
need a savior. Those who don't want to believe will find every excuse in the
book to dismiss Christianity. Those who are seeking will search for the truth
that scriptures teaches and will find in it the savior they so desperately
need. In the preceding chapter, Jesus makes it clear that people have the
Prophets (the OT) to guide them, and now they have Jesus's words as well. Peter
sums it up supremely well with his statement, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life." The real believer recognizes that the
Christian life is about eternal life that is found in knowing Jesus Christ and
growing deeper in that relationship, and all of this through the word of God.
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