After the word about the sacrament of communion in John 6 that we looked at in our last teaching called “To Die is Gain,” in John 7, Jesus left Judea and walked through Galilee where His family lived. They all prepared to go to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Jesus stayed back at first saying His time had not yet come, but later went in secret. He heard people talking about Him, whether they thought He was true or a deceiver. About halfway through the feast, He went into the Temple and taught. People were astonished at His knowledge not having studied. They began to murmur, but He addressed them saying in verse 16 of John 7, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning His doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” He said He doesn’t seek His own glory but that of the One who sent Him.
All that said, He defended His teachings as coming from the Father and revealing the ultimate truth of God not for His own glory, but for the sake of the people and God’s glory. Just a little later in a different scene in John 8:32, He spoke to the Jews saying, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So, yes, Jesus taught for the glory of God, but He also opened up the path to discipleship and freedom to all who listened. So today I want to zoom in on a particular statement Jesus taught in the Temple at this feast.
In verse 32 of John 7, the Pharisees and chief priests heard the crowd murmuring that He could be the Messiah and they sent officers to take Him. But, with authority that has the final say in the matter, Jesus spoke of His upcoming cross and death and tells them something really interesting that stumped them, saying, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” They wondered among themselves where this might be. Perhaps He planned to go to the Dispersion and teach the Greeks? But, they wondered, what is this thing that He said?
People sometimes claim that Jesus never said He was God. But in this scene, we see Pharisees and priests who were offended that He claimed to be sent of God, and now, when He claims that He will be returning to heaven from which He came, they can’t even recognize His true meaning. They were blind to His claim. Even today, some are blind when they say He never claimed to be equal to God the Father. He never claimed to be sent from heaven. But where does He go that we cannot come? Where does He go when we seek Him and cannot find Him? Some seek Him in their blindness denying faith that He is God in their search. They seek a teacher or an impactful martyr who stood for good ideals and make Him into a social activist who stood up for the poor. They deny His claims about dying and the need for all men to be born again.
But here Jesus is saying we need to look to His words and teachings to understand where He goes and search the mystery of His words enough to seek Him and find Him in His true home in heaven. Look at what He says to His disciples in John 14:1-4—”Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Then Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” In verse 6, Jesus answers him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Thomas is basically saying exactly what Jesus said to the Pharisees at the feast—that they do not know the way to Him. And it is true for those unwilling to become disciples—they don’t know the way or where He is going. They remain in the dark. They remain without the truth and without life. They cannot come to the Father—their true and only heavenly Father—because they do not receive Jesus as His only begotten Son. But look what Jesus offers His disciples—He encourages them not to let their hearts be troubled. We who receive Him have hope in our anxieties and fears. And what hope does He offer them? A home in His Father’s house, heaven. Jesus died in our place to go prepare us a heavenly home so that we may be where He is when we die, to be united with God in our true resting place—a place of joy and family.
Solomon revealed wisdom from above in the book of Ecclesiastes, saying in verse 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Similarly, Paul quoted scripture in the first letter to the Corinthians in 2:9-10, “ ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ –the things God has prepared for those who love Him—these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.” By the Holy Spirit in Jesus, in Solomon, and in Paul, God has shown us what Jesus said is true. God has not only prepared a place for those who love Him and His Son, who place their faith in Him—He has put this longing for our eternal home in our hearts. We were made for His gift of eternal life. We were made to be home with our Father in heaven.
Indeed, God made us in His image and gave us His spirit in our human conscience when we come into this world. He has shared of His essence and truth with us and made us a piece of His own soul and being. He has shared of Himself intimately with us as human beings. We were designed to be united with Him in the intimacy we find in Jesus. Through our faith in Jesus, we receive His Holy Spirit. It is noteworthy that the section right after Jesus addressing the Pharisees in John 7:33 is about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Again, the section right after the verse about Him preparing a place for us in John 14:2 is about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Right after Jesus teaches about our home in heaven, He teaches us about God making His home in our hearts. God grants us a gift from heaven when we put our trust in Jesus to keep our hearts from being troubled in this world—to let the hope of our heavenly home rest in our hearts and guide us in our lives.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke God’s word to the Israelites in Jer 29:12-14, “’Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring your back from captivity.’” This is a promise to us as well and a word of wisdom. Jesus told the Pharisees they know not the way because they refuse to call on God and search for Him with all their hearts or they would see Jesus truthfully and not seek His death. The disciples, on the other hand, know the way even when they don’t realize it! They see Him truthfully and place their faith in Him. They seek Him with all their hearts.
David, the first king of the eternal throne of Jesus, a man after God’s own heart with whom God made a covenant personally, expressed his faith in God in the famous Psalm 23 about the good Shepherd Christ, saying at the end, “Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” This is Jesus’ promise to us also. We too must pursue Him with the passion and commitment that David describes in Psalm 27:4 stating, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD, all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple.” We too must long for the courts of our God and seek to gaze upon His beauty!
So let us not be like those in the crowd believing Jesus to be a deceiver, or like the Pharisees and priests who do not seek the truth of God in Christ and will not know how to find Him in His home in heaven. Let us “will to do His will” and thus recognize that Christ spoke the word of God. We must appreciate that Jesus taught for our sake, to set us free. Let us recognize that we come from God and carry His conscience and spirit and have the hope of intimacy in this world and in the next. By faith and obedience, God makes His home in our hearts and turns our bodies into His temple.
Indeed, we also can dwell in His house, just like David said in his passion, in this world and not just the next. God has made this precious possibility available to us by His own sacrifice. Let us also say, “One thing I seek” and seek it with all our hearts that we may find Him and dwell in His house all the days of our lives and for all eternity in heaven. Thank You Lord for this tremendous gift! May all seek You and honor You and find a home in You. Amen.