And many of the people believed on Him.
The favourably disposed, and the malignantly opposed to Christ
I. THOSE WHO WERE FAVOURABLY DISPOSED (John 7:31). The commonalty, who were more or less unsophisticated and free from religious prejudices. These “heard Christ gladly.” This favourable disposition
1. Was founded on facts. There does not seem to be any question, even among His opponents, as to the reality of His miracles.
2. Intensified the opposition of His enemies (John 7:32). They felt that if the people believed in Him their influence, honour, etc., would vanish; and so they were inflamed. Through all Christendom there has always been a large class favourably disposed towards Christ; and this upon a basis of facts. This class still intensifies the opposition of enemies when the atheist, the worldling, etc., mark this disposition they, too, become the more anxious to banish Him from the world. But popular sentiment is our bulwark against infidelity.
II. THOSE WHO WERE MALIGNANTLY OPPOSED. Pharisees and chief priests.
1. They were to be deprived of the fellowship of Christ (verse 83). But six months after this Christ returned to the bosom of the Father. It was only “a little while” He was in their midst, it would have been well had they availed themselves of it. The period of redemptive mercy with all men is but “a little while.”
2. They would vainly seek the help of Christ (John 7:34). The hour was approaching for the fall of Jerusalem, and when the Romans were at the gates they would look for deliverance and not find it. There is a time to seek “ the Lord, while He may be found”; and there is a time when He will be sought and not found. “Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord!” etc.
3. They misunderstood the meaning of Christ (verses 35-36).
(1) They started from His words an ungenerous conjecture, “Will He go” etc., i.e., amongst the Jews scattered among the Gentiles, or to the Gentiles. In either case He will go to a contemptible class, and leave our glorious country.
(2) They failed to attach to His words the true idea, “What manner of saying is this.” They were carnal and judged after the flesh. Thus is it ever with this class. They are deprived of His fellowship. By their corrupt natures they are excluded from the sublime region of purity and benevolence in which He lives. They must all seek His help when too late. They all misunderstand Him. “They have ears but hear not.”
Conclusion: To which class do you belong?
1. Probably to the former. But to be favourably disposed is not enough; there must be decision, consecration, vital affinity.
2. If to the latter, ponder your condition ere it be too late. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The coming of the bailiffs
I. A HOSTILE EMBASSY.
1. Its occasion--the favourable impression made on the multitude.
2. Its promoters. The chief priests and the Pharisees, who resolved to take a forward step by dispatching their constables to the Temple (verse 82).
3. Its object. To mingle with the crowd, show as much favour as possible, so as to throw them and Christ off their guard, and then embrace the first opportunity of detaching them from Him, or Him from them, and took Him prisoner to the council chamber.
II. AN UNEXPECTED GREETING. Having observed the officers and their intention, our Lord replied to this forward movement by announcing His departure.
1. It,would be soon, “a little while.” “The increasing hostility of the rulers, and the fickle character of the populace, made it apparent that tile final collision could not be long delayed.
2. It would be voluntary. The designs of the rulers would in the providence of God lead to His departure but would not be its cause (John 10:18). “I go.”
3. It would be a homegoing (John 7:33; John 6:62), like an ambassador to report about His mission, or like a Son to the presence of His Father John 14:2).
4. It would terminate their day of grace. His appearance had been a day of salvation (Luke 19:42), which at His departure would be over (verse 34; Luke 17:22).
5. It would place an impassable gulf between Him and them (verse 34). Without foreclosing heaven’s gate upon the crowd, many of whom were probably afterwards converted (Acts 2:41), or upon individual members of the Sanhedrim (John 19:38-39; Acts 6:7), the words announced that when Christ departed their day of grace as a nation would be over for impenitent individuals.
III. A MELANCHOLY RESULT.
1. Perplexity. They failed to understand the Saviour’s meaning, or pretended to do so (verse 36); as the apostles did an analogous expression John 16:17). Yet Christ’s language was plain. But they did not wish Christ’s words to have the sense they conveyed, and so pronounced them nonsensical.
2. Ridicule. They endeavoured to sport with Him and His words. Tomorrow they will ask Him if He purposes to commit suicide (chap. 8:12), to-day they inquire if He contemplates playing at Messiah among the Greeks (verse 35).
3. Rejection. The true reason why they could not understand Him was, that already in their hearts they had rejected Him and them.
Lessons:
1. The day of grace to all is of limited duration.
2. Those who improve that day so as to find Christ will ultimately be with Him.
3. To such as find Christ, death will be going home.
4. Those who reject Christ here will not be able to accept Him hereafter.
5. Christ’s sayings are enigmas to those who do not wish to understand Him.
6. Scoffing at good men marks the last stage of depravity. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The boldness of Christ
The officers were after our Lord, and He knew it. He could spy them out in the crowd, but He was not therefore in the least afraid or disconcerted. He reminds me of that minister who, when he was about to preach, was stopped by a soldier, who held a pistol at his head, and threatened that if he spake he would kill him. “ Soldier,” said he, “do your duty; I shall do mine”; and he went on with his preaching. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while am I with you
One saying with two meanings
(text and John 13:33)
1. No greater contrast can be conceived than between these two groups. The one consists of tile officers sent to seize Christ, but were restrained by an awe inexplicable even to themselves. The other consists of the little company of His faithful, though slow scholars. Hatred animated the one, love the other.
2. Christ speaks to them both nearly the same words, but with what a different tone, meaning, and application. To the officers they exhibit the triumphant confidence that their Maker is omnipotent. When He wills He will go, not be dragged, to a safe asylum, where foes cannot follow Him. The officers do not understand. They think, that bad Jew as they have always believed Him to be, He may consummate His apostasy by going over to the Gentiles altogether; but at any rate they feel that He is going to escape their hands. The disciples understand little more, and though the upper side of the saying seems to be full of separation, there is an underside that suggests reunion.
3. The words are nearly the same, but they are not quite identical.
I. THE TWO SEEKINGS.
1. The enemies are told they will never find Him.
(1) No man with hostile intent seeking for Christ can ever find Him. All the antagonism that has stormed against Him and His cause has been impotent and vain. The pursuers are like dogs chasing a bird which all the while carols in the sky. As in the days of His flesh His foes could not touch His person till He chose, so ever since no weapon that is formed against His cause or His friends shall prosper. All Christian service is a prolongation of Christ’s, and both are immortal and safe.
(2) But it is not only hostile seeking that is vain. When the dark days came over Israel, and amidst the agonies of that last seige, do you not think that many of these people said, “Ah! if we had only Jesus back for a day or two.” They sought Him not in anger any more, nor in penitence, or they would have found Him, but simply in distress, and wishing that they could have back again what they had cared so little for when they had it. And are there none to whom the words apply, “He that will not when he may, when he will it shall be nay.”
(3) There is another kind of vain seeking--intellectual, without the preparation of the heart. Many a man goes in quest for religious certainty and looks at, if not for Jesus, and is not capable of discerning Him when He sees Him because His eye is not single, or his heart is full of worldliness and indifference, or he begins with a foregone conclusion. He will never find Him.
2. The seeking that is not vain. “Ye shall seek Me,” to any heart that loves Christ is not a sentence of separation, but the blessed law of Christian life.
(1) That life is one great seeking after Christ. Love seeks the absent. If we care anything for Him at all our hearts will turn to Him as naturally as when the winter begins to pinch, the birds seek the sunny south. The same law which sends loving thoughts across the globe to seek husband, child, or friend, sets the Christian heart seeking for Christ.
(2) And if you do not seek Him you will lose Him, for there is no way of keeping a person who is not before our eyes near us except by diligent effort--thought meditating, love going out towards Him, will submitting. Unless there be this effort you will lose your Master like the child in a crowd loses his nurse if his hand slips from the protecting hand.
(3) And that seeking in this threefold form is neither a seeking which starts from a sense of non-possession, nor one which ends in disappointment. We seek Him because we possess Him, and that we may have Him more abundantly, and it is as impossible that such a search shall be vain as that lungs dilated shall not fill with air. A mother will sometimes hide that the child’s delight may be the greater in searching and finding; and so Christ has gone away for one thing that He may stimulate our desires after Him.
II. THE TWO CANNOTS. “Whither I go ye cannot come,” says He to His enemies, with no limitation or condition. To His friends He only says, “now,” and “thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” So then Christ is somewhere, He has gone into a place as well as a state, and there friend and enemy alike cannot enter while compassed with “the earthly house.” But the incapacity goes deeper, no sinful man can pass within. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Our power to enter there depends on our union with Christ by faith, and that will effect the preparation. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
I go.
Three Greek words are thus translated in St. John, and two of them in similar connections. Each expresses a distinct aspect of departure, and its special force must be taken into account in the interpretation of the passage in which it is found.
1. ὑπάγω, which is used here, emphasizes the personal act of going in itself, as a withdrawal (John 8:14; John 8:21; John 13:3; John 13:33; John 13:36; John 14:4; John 14:28; John 16:5; John 16:10; John 16:16).
2. πορεύομαι marks the going as connected with a purpose, a mission, an end to be gained (John 7:35; John 14:3; John 14:12; John 14:28; John 16:7; John 16:28).
3. ἀπεοχομαι expresses simple separation, the point left (John 6:68, John 16:7, (“go away”). The differences are very clearly seen in a comparison of John 16:10 (ὑπάγω) with John 14:28 (πορεύομαι) and the succession of words in John 16:7-10. (Bp. Westcott.)
While Christ is near we must cry to Him for pardon
A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had a Christian governor, there was a young man down in one of the counties who was arrested for murder. He was brought before the Court, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. His friends thought there would be no trouble in getting a reprieve or pardon. Because the governor was a Christian man they thought he would not sign the death warrant. But he signed it. They called on the governor and begged of him to pardon the young man. But the governor said “No; the law must take its course, and the man must die.” I think the mother of the young man called on the governor and pleaded with him; but the governor stood firm and said, “No; the man must die.” A few days before the man was executed, the governor took the train to the county where the man was imprisoned. He went to the sheriff of the county and said to him, “I wish you to take me to that man’s cell, and leave me alone with him for a little while; and do not tell him who I am until I am gone.” The governor went to the prison and talked to the young man about his soul, and told him that, although he was condemned by man to be executed, God would have mercy upon him and save him, if he would accept pardon from God. He preached Christ, and told him how Christ came to seek and to save sinners; and, having explained as he best knew how the plan of salvation, he got down and prayed, and after praying he shook hands with him and bade him farewell. Some time after the sheriff passed by the condemned man’s cell, and he called him to the door of the cell and said, “Who was that man who talked and prayed with me so kindly?” The sheriff said, “That was Governor Pollock.” The man turned deathly pale, and he threw up both his hands and said, “Was that Governor Pollock? was that kind-hearted man the governor? Oh, sheriff, why did not you tell me? If I had known that was the governor I would have fell at his feet and asked for pardon; I would have pleaded for pardon and for my life. Oh, sir, the governor has been here, and I did not know it.” Sinner, I have got good news to tell you. There is one greater than the governor here to-night, and He wants to pardon every one. (Moody.)
Seeking in vain
A young policeman was in the Edinburgh infirmary with an injured leg. There was a man lying on the next bed to him exceedingly ill, and his life despaired of by the physicians, but who would not allow any one to speak to him on religious subjects, or pray either for his recovery, or for the salvation of his soul. At first he himself had no idea that death was so near him; but when its ghastly presence could no longer be denied, then this bold impenitent sinner became a victim of despair. Again and again did he cry out for the chaplain to pray for his soul. Of course there were many prayers offered for him, but his day of grace was over, and he continued to shriek aloud for mercy, until finally his voice became too weak for utterance, and full of dreadful apprehensions of “the wrath to come,” he expired. (T. Mahon.)
Resisting the light will prove our undoing
It is related of Jeine, the chief of one of the South Sea Islands, who had offered no small amount of opposition to the introduction of Christianity, that, during a sickness which terminated in his death, he manifested more mental distress than is usually seen in a heathen. He often expressed a wish that “he had died ten years before.” And why? The light of life and love had been shining around him, but he had opposed its entrance into his heart, and its power over his people. And now, having loved darkness, in darkness of soul, stung by an upbraiding of conscience, he must die. (Biblical Museum.)
Those who refuse Christ when offered may soon seek Him in vain
I was once called upon to visit a dying man in Bristol, under the following circumstances: He had not entered the church for many years. At last he made up his mind to go, and on the morning of the Sabbath he and his wife went. But the door was closed, the church being under repair. They returned home disappointed. In the evening they went to another church. But it was so crowded that they could get no farther than the doorway, and were unable to hear a word. On the following Sunday he resolved to make another effort; but while he was dressing he fell down in an apoplectic fit, and never spoke again I He knew me when I entered his chamber. I preached the gospel in his dying ear, but he was speechless, and I could not learn the state of his mind. This case illustrates some paris of the first chapter of Proverbs: “Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.” The procrastinating sinner may say, “I will serve God by and by. He shall have the services of my age:” and God may say, “No; thou shalt not have old age to offer Me.” (J. East.)
The imperilled condition of the impenitent sinner
Two friends were in the Highlands recently, shooting, and one of them observed an animal on a jutting rock. He inquired, “Is that a sheep?” and looking through his field-glass he saw that it was. In search of herbage the sheep had descended from one grass-covered ledge to another, and found it impossible to return. No shepherd in Scotland dare risk his life by going down the declivity. The sheep must remain there till an eagle observed it, when in eddying circles it would hover over the poor animal, drawing nearer and nearer, until at last the affrighted sheep would take a dreadful leap into space, to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below, and then become the eagle’s prey. (W. HayAitken.)
The dispersed among the Gentiles, or simply the Dispersion was the general title applied to those Jews who remained settled in foreign countries after the return from Babylon, and during the period of the second Temple. The Hebrew word applied to these foreign settlers (see Jeremiah 24:5, Jeremiah 28:4; Ezra 6:16) conveys the notion of spoliation and bereavement, as of men removed from the Temple and home of their fathers; but in the LXX. the ideas of “sojourning,” and of a “colony,” were combined with that of a “captivity,” while the term “dispersion” Deuteronomy 28:25; cf. Jeremiah 34:17), which finally prevailed, seemed to imply that the people thus scattered (Deuteronomy 30:4) in bondage (Macc. 1:27), and shut out from the privileges of the human race (text), should yet be as a seed sown for a future harvest (cf. Isaiah 49:6, Hebrews) in the strange lands where they found a temporary resting- 1 Peter 1:1). The schism which had divided the first kingdom was forgotten in the results of the general calamity. The Dispersion was not limited to the exiles of Judah, but included “the twelve tribes” James 1:1), which expressed the completeness of the whole Jewish nation (Acts 26:7). The Dispersion really dates from the Babylonish exile. Uncertain legends point to earlier settlements in Arabia, Ethiopia, and Abyssinia, but these must have been isolated and casual, while the Dispersion was the outward proof that a faith had succeeded to a kingdom. Apart from the necessary influence which Jewish communities, bound by common laws, ennobled by the possession of the same truths, and animated by kindred hopes must have exercised on the nations among whom they were scattered, the difficulties which set aside the literal observance of the Mosaic ritual led to a wider view of the scope of the law, and a stronger sense of its spiritual significance. Outwardly and inwardly, by its effects, both on the Gentiles and on Israel, the Dispersion was the clearest providential preparation for Christianity. But while the fact of a recognized Dispersion must have weakened the local and ceremonial influences which were essential to the first training of the people of God, the Dispersion was still bound together in itself and to its mother country by religious ties. The Temple was the acknowledged centre of Judaism, and the faithful Jew everywhere contributed the half-shekel towards its maintenance Matthew 17:24; Jos. Ant. 16:6). The tribute was indeed the simplest and most striking outward proof of the religious unity of the nation. Treasuries were established to receive the payments of different districts, and the collected sums were forwarded to Jerusalem, as in later times the Mohammedan offerings were sent to Mecca. At the beginning of the Christian era the Dispersion was divided into three great sections, the Babylonian, the Syrian, and the Egyptian. Precedence was yielded to the first. The jealousy which had originally existed between the poor who remained in Jerusalem and their wealthier countrymen at Babylon had passed away. From Babylon the Jews spread throughout Persia, Media, and Parthia; but the settlements in China belong to a modern date. The Greek conquests in Asia extended the limits of the Dispersion. Selencus Nicator transplanted large bodies of Jewish colonists from Babylonia to the capitals of his western provinces. His policy was followed by his successor, Antiochus the Great, and the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes only served to push forward the Jewish emigration to the remoter districts of the empire. In Armenia the Jews arrived at the greatest dignities, and Nisibis became a new centre of colonization. The Jews of Cappadocia (1 Peter 1:1) are mentioned in the Mishna; and a prince and princess of Adiabene adopted the Jewish faith only thirty years before the destruction of the Temple. Large settlements were established in Cyprus, in the islands of the AEgean, and on the western coast of Asia Minor. The Romans confirmed to them the privileges obtained from the Syrian kings; and though they were exposed to sudden outbursts of popular violence, the Jews of the Syrian provinces gradually formed a closer connection with their new homes, and, together with the Greek language, adopted in many respects Greek ideas. This Hellenizing tendency, however, found its most free development at Alexandria. The Jewish settlements established there by Alexander and Ptolemy I. became the source of the African Dispersion, which spread over the north coast of Africa, and perhaps inland to Abyssinia. At Cyrene and Berenice (Tripoli) the Jewish inhabitants formed a considerable portion of the population. But the distinction in language led to wider differences, which were averted in Babylon by the currency of an Aramaic dialect. The Scriptures were no longer read on the Sabbath, and no fire signals conveyed the dates of the new moons to Egypt. Still, the spirit of the African Jews was not destroyed. After the destruction of the Temple the zealots found a reception in Cyrene, and in A.D. 115 the Jewish population in Africa rose with terrible ferocity, and were put down by a war of extermination, and the remnant who escaped established themselves on the opposite coast of Europe, as the beginning of a new Dispersion. The Jewish settlements in Rome were consequent on the occupation of Jerusalem by Pompey B.C.
63. The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him were located inthe Trans-Tiberine quarter, and by degrees rose in station and importance. They were favoured by Augustus and Tiberius after the fall of Sejanus, and a Jewish school was founded at Rome. In the reign of Claudius the Jews became objects of suspicion from their immense numbers; and the internal disputes, consequent, perhaps, upon the preaching of Christianity, led to their banishment from the city (Acts 18:2). But this was only temporary, for in a few years the Jews at Rome were numerous (Acts 28:17), and continued to be sufficiently conspicuous to attract the attention of the satirists. The influence of the Dispersion on the rapid growth of Christianity can scarcely be overrated. The course of apostolic preaching followed in a regular progress the line of Jewish settlements. The mixed assembly from which the first converts were gathered on the day of Pentecost represented each division of the Dispersion, and these converts naturally prepared the way for the apostles. The names of the seven deacons are all Greek, and one was a proselyte. The Church at Antioch, by which St. Paul was entrusted with his great work among the heathen Acts 13:1), included Barnabus of Cyprus, Lucius of Cyrene, and Simeon, surnamed Niger; and among his fellow labourers at a later time are found Apollos of Alexandria, Urbanus, and Clement, whose names, at least, are Roman. Antioch itself became a centre of the Christian Church, as it had been of the Jewish Dispersion; and throughout the apostolic journeys the Jews were the class to whom “it was necessary that the Word of God should be first spoken” (Acts 13:46), and they in turn were united with the mass of the population by the intermediate body of “the devout “ who had recognized in various degrees “the faith of the God of Israel.” (Bp. Westcott.)