John 7

Because the religious Jews of Judea wanted to kill Jesus, He stayed in Galilee. Before His death, Jesus' half-brothers (James, Joses, Simon, and Judas) did not believe He was whom He said He was. They coaxed Him to continue performing miracles in Judea (during the Feast of Tabernacles), though we do not know why. It may have been politically motivated because Jesus told them His time had not come. 

He eventually went up to the feast, though not publically. There He taught in the temple, though the Jews were amazed and questioned Him because Jesus had never studied at a rabbinical school. He told them that His doctrine is not His but of the One who sent Him. 

The Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take Him, but Jesus told them He would only be with them for a short while, and then He will go to Him who sent Him. They will seek Him and not find Him, and where He goes, they cannot go.

On the final day of the feast, Jesus cried out: 

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.  

COMMENTARY

The events of chapter 7 occur in the last year of Jesus' ministry. 

The world had become hostile to Jesus because He is the Light and the Light reveals sin. Jesus condemns sin; therefore, that is why He is hated, even today. Man's heart is evil, but Jesus went to the cross because He wanted to redeem mankind. 

The Jews, or religious rulers, expected Jesus to come to the Feast of Tabernacle, which is the final feast that will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to the earth. The feast represents the consummation of all things, and when the Lord appears, it shall be suddenly (Mal. 3:11). The Feast celebrated the fact that God (through Moses) gave them water from a rock, but the Rock is Jesus, and He declared to them that He is that Living Water. 

The Jews rejected the message of Jesus, and therefore, they rejected the message of God. They did not want to hear God. They were religious hypocrites because they believed they could live by the Law, but the Law was given as a mirror to reflect that no one can keep the law. Everyone is a lost sinner and needs a Savior. 

When the Pharisees sought to take Him, He told them that once He left them (after His death, resurrection, and ascension), they would never touch Him again. And this was fulfilled.