Recap of 4/22/12 (John 7:1-36):

1.  The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Ingathering) was one of three major festivals in Israel when all Jewish men were expected at the Temple in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16).  It celebrated the harvest and also memorialized God’s provision for Israel in the desert.  The people lived in booths made of branches for seven days in remembrance of that occasion.

2.  Opinions about Jesus were divided.  As Dr. Charles Erdman has written: “There can be but two possible judgments passed: Jesus was either a good man or an imposter; but He could not have been ‘good’ unless He was the divine Son of God, for such He claimed to be.”

3.  Jesus’ teaching was: not His own but God the Father’s (vs. 16); available to those who desire God’s will (vs. 17); not based on a desire for self-glory (vs. 18); true (vs. 18).

4.  The world hated Jesus (and His teaching) because He came as Light to expose the deeds of darkness (sin, wrong values, wrong gods).  The world has its religions, goals, and gods which serve them, but wants nothing to do with the truth.

5.  “The Pharisees spent their days meticulously keeping the rules that they had surrounded God’s laws with.  They created layer upon layer to avoid even accidental sin.  These good intentions had gone wrong though.  They had made their own rules more important than God’s law…We can spend our lives making lists of the dos and don’ts of God’s word, but our lives would be better spent focusing on the beauty of God.  If we stay far, far away from temptation, we could be sure to avoid slipping into sin, but staying as close to God as we can is a better choice.  If we’re always dodging sin, we remain focused on the sins we’re running from.  But if we focus on God instead, we can see where we’re going.” (NLT One Year Study Bible)