Who Is This Man? (John 7:32–52) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

SPROUL: I now invite the congregation to stand  for the reading of the Word of God. We continue   to read today from the gospel according to St.  John. We’re in chapter seven, reading from verse   thirty-two through verse fifty-two. Hear, then,  the Word of God. “When the Pharisees heard the   crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, then  the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers   to take Him. And then Jesus said to them,  ‘I shall be with you a little while longer,   and then I go to Him who sent me. And you will  seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot   come.’ Then the Jews said among themselves,  ‘Where does He intend to go that we shall not   find Him? Does He intend to go to the dispersion  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is   this thing that He said, “You will seek me and  not find me, and where I am you cannot come?”’ “Then on the last day, the great day of the  Feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying,   ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said,  

“Out of his heart will flow rivers of living  water.”’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit   whom those believing in Him would receive,  for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because   Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore many  from the crowd, when they heard this saying,   said, ‘Truly this is the prophet!’ Others  said, ‘This is the Christ!’ And some said,   ‘Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not  Scripture said that the Christ comes from the   seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem,  where David was?’ And so there was a division   among the people because of Him. Now some of them  wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. “Then the officers came to the chief priests and  the Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you   not brought Him?’ And the officers answered, ‘No  man ever spoke like this man.’ And the Pharisees   answered them, ‘Are you also deceived? Have any of  the rulers of the Pharisees believed in Him? This   crowd, that does not know the law, is accursed.’  Nicodemus, he who came to Jesus by night,   being one of them, said to them, ‘Does  our law judge a man before it hears him  

and knows what he is doing?’ And  they answered and said to him,   ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and look  that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’” He who has ears to hear the Word  of God, let them hear. Let us pray.   Father, take now this Word that you  have revealed by your Spirit of truth,   and use it to pierce our souls, to cut between  bone and marrow, between sinew and muscle that   we may be changed by its hearing. We ask  it in Jesus’ name, amen. You may be seated. Once again we notice the context of the narrative  that I just read to you, that these things have   taken place during the Feast of Tabernacles,  when the pilgrims from all over the country   journeyed up to Jerusalem to spend a week there  in celebration. Earlier in our study of John’s   gospel, we saw Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles,  at the beginning of His ministry, and now He   returns again to Jerusalem for that same Feast. If  you recall, that Feast commemorated the time that  

the Israelite people spent in the wilderness, and  two benefits they received from God during their   sojourn in the dessert are recalled and celebrated  in the liturgy of tabernacle. The one was the   receiving of the manna from heaven, in which God  provided the necessary provisions to keep these   pilgrims out of Egypt alive. And that, of course,  is linked to what we just studied recently,   where Jesus gave His discourse on the bread of  heaven, the bread that He is – the bread of life. But the second commemoration of tabernacles  had to do with Moses providing water from the   rock for the people of God when they were  besieged by thirst during the wilderness   experience. And that’s important because  during the celebration of the tabernacles,   as I mentioned earlier in the text,  there was a water-pouring ceremony,   which water was carried to the Temple in golden  vessels. And that was the highlight of the Feast.

And we will see, then, what transpires in the  middle of this celebration of the tabernacles.   The section I read this morning begins with a  somewhat ominous announcement that the authorities   in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, had written a formal  commission for Jesus’ arrest, and they sent the   Temple officers with their announced task and  duty to go and search Him out, and to put Him   under arrest, and to bring Him back for trial with  a view towards execution. And we’re only in the   seventh chapter of John! It’s too early for us to  have Jesus being arrested and executed. And Jesus,   of course, has already noted, that His hour had  not yet come. The Pharisees were convinced that   the hour had come. They had had all they wanted  to hear from Jesus, and so they were prepared   to act and to act decisively so the arrest  warrant was issued and the officers were sent.

And it’s in this context of the arresting officers  coming to Jesus that Jesus speaks publicly,   and He says, “I shall be with you a little while  longer. Then I go to Him who sent me. You will   seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot  come.” Now the people had no idea what Jesus was   talking about here, but the rest of the text of  Scripture makes it abundantly clear what Jesus was   talking about, particularly in later chapters in  this very gospel. But Jesus is talking about His   departure by way of ascension. I’m convinced  that the most neglected dimension of the life   of Jesus in our church today is the ascension.  Without the ascension the cross is meaningless   and the resurrection is meaningless. But the  climax of Jesus’ earthly ministry comes when He   ascends into heaven and is seated at the right  hand of God, where He goes to His investiture,   to His coronation, where the Father crowns  Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.  

And it’s at that moment that the glory is  restored to Christ in His heavenly kingdom. Now we know that Jesus is talking about that  by what He says just a few moments later;   but for now it’s cryptic. He said, “I’m going  someplace, and where I’m going you’re not going   to be able to find me; and where I’m going you’re  not going to be able to go.” And the Jews said   among themselves, “Where does He intend  to go that we won’t be able to find Him?   Is He going to go to the dispersion among the  Greeks and teach the Greeks?” – those Jews who   had been dispersed beyond the borders of Israel,  into Alexandria, into Greek colonies around the   world. Those were the Greeks of the Diaspora, or  the dispersion – the Greek-speaking Jews. “Is that   where He’s going? Is He going to leave the nation?  Is He going to go out into the hinder lands,   where those Greek-speaking people are  that we’ll never be able to find Him?   What is this thing that He said you will seek me  and not find me, and where I am you cannot come?” Now the narrative breaks at this point. It  leaves us with this discussion among Jesus’   contemporaries about His enigmatic statement,  but then in verse thirty-seven we read what   happens on the last day of the Feast. “On  the last day, the great day of the Feast,  

Jesus stood and cried out” – now let’s get that in  our minds. Here are all these people gathered in   Jerusalem for this sacred celebration, and Jesus  comes into the middle, and He begins to shout; and   everybody stops what they’re doing, and they turn  and listen to His words because indeed His words   are provocative. He says, “If anyone thirsts”  – this is while they’re pouring the water out,   remembering the water that comes from the rock in  the Old Testament. Jesus hollers, “Is everybody   thirsty? Anyone? Come to me and drink, for He who  believes in me as the Scriptures have said, out   of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  These very words that our Lord virtually whispered   privately to the woman of Sychar, to the Samaritan  woman at the well, He now screams to the masses.

“But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom  those believing in Him would receive. For the   Holy Spirit was not yet given because  Jesus was not yet glorified.” Beloved,   do you hear this? What does that mean – the Holy  Spirit was not yet given? Through the pages of   the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is all over  the place. It’s the Holy Spirit that anoints   the prophets. It’s the Holy Spirit that anoints  the priests. It’s the Holy Spirit that anoints   the king. It’s the Holy Spirit that changes the  hearts of unbelievers in the Old Testament and   makes them the people of God. There’s no  regeneration, there’s no salvation apart   from the operation and ministry of the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost was present in the Old Testament.   But the anointing of the Holy Ghost,  the empowering of the Holy Ghost was   limited to a few isolated individuals  like Moses, or Elijah, or Samson.

Now you recall the story of Moses, when  God commanded him to take seventy elders,   and He would take from the Spirit that was upon  Moses and distribute it to those seventy so that   those seventy could help carry the burden  of ministry with Moses. And when the Spirit   came upon these men, we remember the story of  Eldad and Medad, wandering outside the camp,   speaking in ecstatic utterances; and people  began to realize that the Spirit was upon   them. And Joshua was very upset, and he came to  Moses. He said, “Moses, Eldad and Medad are out   there prophesying in the camp! Forbid them!” And  Moses said, “Are you envious, Joshua, for my sake?   I would to God that all of the Lord’s people  were prophets and that He would put His   Spirit upon them.” And that anguished cry of  Moses became a prophecy on the lips of Joel,   and that looked forward to the day where, what  Luther called the priesthood of all believers,   would be made a reality, when every single member  of the community of faithful would be endowed   by the Holy Ghost, empowered from on high to  participate in the ministry of Christ’s kingdom.  

If you are a Christian then you have received  the Holy Ghost. You are an anointed person,   and you are to be used of God for the  furtherance of the kingdom of Christ. But that great outpouring of the Spirit upon  the people of God was a future hope in the Old   Testament, and it was not fulfilled until the day  of Pentecost when all heaven broke loose and the   Spirit descended upon the church. But what we’re  told here in the text is that couldn’t happen   until first the Messiah entered into His glory.  The Spirit had come upon Him at His baptism, but   it was not to come onto the church until He was  lifted up, until He was returned to the Father.   Then together the Father and the Son send the  Holy Ghost into the world in a more powerful way,   in a more complete way to apply the work of  the Son. Today that is the chief ministry   of the Holy Ghost – to take the work of  the Son and bring it to fruition in us.  

So Jesus is saying here what He says in  more detail later to His disciples, “Hey,   I have to go away because until I  go away the Spirit cannot come.” “Therefore many in the crowd, when they heard  this saying, said, ‘Truly this is the prophet.’   Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some  said, ‘The Christ? Is the Christ going to come   out of Galilee? Nazareth? We all know where the  Christ is going to come from. We’ve read the Old   Testament. We’ve read Micah. Christ is going  to come from Bethlehem, from Judea, from the   city of David.’” Now these people had no idea  that that’s exactly where Jesus had been born.   All they knew is that He had come to them from  Galilee, and so the people are scratching their   heads. “Who is this man? Is He a prophet? Is He  demon possessed? Is He the Christ, from Galilee?” “So there was a division among the  people because of Him.” What else is new?   That division is as serious this morning in  this world as it was that day in Jerusalem.  

Now listen to this: “Some of them wanted to take  Him, but no one laid hands on Him.” Where were   the cops? They were sent to arrest Him, and when  they come there, they come to arrest this man,   and while they come forward to grab Him, all of a  sudden everybody stops, and they hear this voice,   “Is anybody thirsty?” And the police stop in their  tracks, and they listen to all these people around   Him saying, “This is the prophet,” “This is the  Christ.” So with their tails between their legs   they go back to the authorities in Jerusalem, and  the Pharisees are beside themselves. “Where’s your   prisoner?” “We didn’t get Him.” “Why not?”  “We’ve never heard anybody talk like this   before. You should have been there! There was  no way we were going to put our hands on Him.” “Then the Pharisees said, ‘Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed   in Him? But this mob that does not know the law is  accursed.’” I tell you what, ladies and gentlemen,   there’s never been a more arrogant bunch in all  of history than the Pharisees. In the rabbinic   tradition they talk with contempt about what they  called the amhorets – the people of the earth.  

The Greeks would call them the hoi polloi – the  uneducated masses, the people who didn’t have   the sophisticated learning that we looked at a  couple of weeks ago with respect to Jesus and   His credentials. These Pharisees thought, “What  are you going to listen to these people that say   that He’s the prophet and that He’s the Messiah?  Is anybody saying that who’s a Pharisee? Just   the people of the earth,” and they’re saying, “Let  the people be damned.” That’s what they’re saying. Then one of their own steps forward and says,  “Excuse me. Is this the way we operate with our   law? Do we condemn somebody without even  hearing him, or without investigating,   without having the evidence in place? Excuse me,  I’m not one of the amhorets. My name is Nicodemus.   I’m a member of the Sanhedrin,” and here this  one who came secretly to Jesus at night now,   in this crisis moment in the life of Christ,  steps up to the plate and speaks in our Lord’s   defense. And so the moment passes, and  the attempt to arrest Him was aborted,  

as the people continued to argue who He was. But already the storm clouds were rising,   and Jesus could see the ominous foreboding  events that were about to unravel,   that would take Him out of this world and  back to His Father. And that’s why we’re here.   That’s why the table is set. That’s why the  apostle reminded us in the words of institution   for the Lord’s Supper that in the night in  which He was betrayed, our Lord took bread.   And when He had blessed it, He broke it, and He  said, “This is my body that is broken for you.”   And then after they had eaten, in like manner,  He took the cup. And He said, “This is now the   cup of the New Testament, the cup of my blood,  which is shed for the remission of your sins.”   And His church invites all who are in Christ, all  who examine themselves, all who are in a posture   of humility and who are in a spirit of repentance  are invited to come because we are thirsty people.  

We are to come to Him and drink. We are to come  to Him that He would touch us and minister to   us. And yet we are warned, and I have to  warn you as the New Testament warns us,   not to come to this table if you’re  not a believer because no one comes   neutrally to the Lord’s Table. You  either drink this cup unto life,   or you drink it unto damnation. There’s no  drinking of this cup in unbelief with impunity. So again, we fence the table, inviting all  Christians – Christians who are not under   the discipline of a true church, who have  not been banned from the table because of   discipline – but all who are in Christ are  not only invited but encouraged to come.   Come because you’re thirsty, because  you have a hunger and thirst for Him,   and He is here to give you to drink and to  feast upon the bread that is from heaven.

Let us pray. Our Lord Jesus, that we could come to  your table is almost impossible for us to believe;   and yet you have made a place for each one of  us there. We are thirsty. Take these common   elements now, and by the power of your Holy  Spirit, transform them into the uncommon,   to the holy and to the sacred that  our thirst may be satisfied. Amen.