Jesus in the Gospel of John, Part 2: Fulfilling the Law and Keeping the Feasts

In Part 1 of this series, we learned that the gospel of John shows Jesus as the Son of God. His genealogy in John calls him “the only begotten of the Father.” We also saw that Jesus often spoke of bringing eternal life as savior. Here in Part 2, we’ll focus on Jesus fulfilling the law and keeping every required feast. Later, in Part 3, we will see Jesus proclaiming his intimate love for his heavenly Father.

Christ, the End of the Law

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Old Testament law. He was the end of the law for righteousness so that we could believe on him and be saved by grace.

Matthew 5:17,18:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

John 1:17:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:4,9,10:
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Keeping the Feasts

Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. The gospel of John shows Jesus keeping every major feast at Jerusalem. All males were to attend three major feasts mentioned in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 16:16:
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread [Passover], and in the feast of weeks [Pentecost], and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty.

Another feast, Dedication, was instituted in the year 165 B.C. by the reformer Judas Maccabeus, his brothers, and Judean elders. It commemorated the consecration of the Temple after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes three years earlier. It corresponds to the modern Jewish feast of Hanukkah.

The Bible is amazingly accurate when it comes to recording events about Jesus Christ. Based on what the Bible says of itself and related historical evidence, it indicates that Jesus was born in 3 B.C. and died in 28 A.D. Note the Biblical record:

• Prior to Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because of “a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed [registered]. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria)” (Luke 2:1,2). This registration refers to a Silver Jubilee registration to honor the Roman Emperor Augustus, which took place in 3 B.C. in Judea. Historically, Cyrenius was on special assignment in Syria at that time.
• Biblical research shows that Jesus Christ was probably born on September 11, 3 B.C. (based on Revelation 12:1-3, the death of Herod, astronomical events, and Eastern customs).
• At the time of his baptism by John, “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). If Jesus was born in September of 3 B.C., Luke 3:23 would have occurred in 27 A.D.
• When Jesus was at Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Judeans there said “Forty and six years was this temple in building” (John 2:20). The first-century historian Josephus records that this building began in 19 B.C., which means John 2:20 would have occurred in 27 A.D.
• Jesus was crucified and buried shortly before sunset on Passover, April 28, 28 A.D. (Nisan 14). According to chronology, that was a Wednesday. Since he was in the grave for three days and three nights, he would have been raised just before sunset on Saturday, May 1, 28 A.D., and seen in his resurrected body the next day.

The following chart shows how the gospel of John records Jesus attending these feasts.

Click to see chart

Let’s look at some scriptures relating to these events.

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Jesus was in Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread from April 10 to 17, 27 A.D. During that time, he cleansed the Temple and met privately with Nicodemus. Some of the great truths of all time were spoken then.

John 2:13-16:
And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and [even] the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

John 3:1,2,10,16,17:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night.
Jesus answered and said unto him…
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks

John 5 tells of another feast that Jesus attended.

John 5:1:
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Although this feast is not specifically named, Deuteronomy 16:16 showed us that the next required feast after Passover was  Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. If John 5:1 refers to Pentecost, then Jesus would have been in Jerusalem, on June 1, 27 A.D. On that day, he healed an impotent man and confronted Judean leaders who wanted to kill him.

John 5:5,8,9,16,17:
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

The Feast of Wood Offering?

John 6:4:
And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

Although this verse is omitted by two Greek manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries A.D., it does occur in most major Greek texts. Biblical scholars Westcott and Hort, in their appendix to the New Testament in the Original Greek (1896), spend four pages discussing whether this verse was in the original Greek text of John. They conclude that “a considerable body of patristic evidence points to the absence of the words in at least some ancient texts, and internal evidence is unfavorable to their genuineness.”

Some Greek texts omit “the passover” and simply read “And a feast of the Jews was nigh.” One possibility for this feast is the Memorial of  Blowing of Trumpets which took place in September of that year. This was not one of the three feasts Jesus was required to attend.

Since John 6:4 says this feast “was nigh,” it could even refer to the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles in October. It does not specifically say how near the feast was.

Another possibility is the Feast of Wood Offering, which is mentioned in Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 10:34:
And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.

This feast occurred on Ab 15 in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponded to August 7 in the year 27 A.D. That would fit correctly between Pentecost (June) and the next feast mentioned in the gospel of John, Tabernacles (October). Also, Jesus is not recorded as going to Jerusalem in John 6, as would be required for Passover or a major feast. Instead, he miraculously fed about 5,000 men plus others.

John 6:10-12:
And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
When they were filled….

The Feast of Tabernacles

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles from October 4 to 11, 27 A.D. During that time, he foretold of the coming gift of holy spirit, boldly declared the truth, healed a man who was born blind, and taught that he was the good shepherd.

John 7:37-39:
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John 8:31,32:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 9:1,7:
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

John 10:10,11:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

The Feast of Dedication

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the the Feast of Dedication from December 13 to 20, 27 A.D. During that time, he claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God, as he did the works of God, his Father.

John 10:24,25,36-38:
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Passover

One year after cleansing the Temple as recorded in John 2, Jesus Christ was back in Jerusalem. After nearly forty hours of torture, illegal trials, and public humiliation, he was crucified on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 28, 28 A.D. This was Nisan 14, a special Sabbath, a “high day” on the Judean calendar. Jesus Christ was our Passover sacrifice on that day.

I Corinthians 5:7:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.

John 19:30,31:
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [Passover], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day).

On that same day, he was buried in a sepulcher by Joseph of Arimathea. Later, Nicodemus embalmed the body of Jesus and returned it to the sepulcher.

John 19:38-42:
And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

Pentecost

After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ visited his disciples for forty days. He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the gift of holy spirit.

Acts 1:3-5:
To whom [the apostles] also he [Jesus Christ] shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

This gift came on the Feast of Pentecost on June 20, 28 A.D. The twelve apostles were born again and spoke in tongues.

Acts 2:1-4:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Jesus was not physically at this feast. He had fulfilled the law and was seated at God’s right hand. Peter declared to all those present that Jesus was lord and Christ, and that God had raised him from the dead. About 3,000 believed and were also born again that day!

Acts 2:36-41:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Loving the Father

The gospel of John shows Jesus Christ lovingly being in the right place at the right time. He based his life and actions on what his heavenly Father wanted him to do. Jesus Christ so loved that he gave his life for us. He loved the Father and carried out His commandments. He obeyed God’s will, fulfilling the law and keeping every required feast, so that we could be saved in him. By doing the will of the Father, he showed the entire world his great love for Him and for us.

John 14:31:
But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

In Part 3, we will see Jesus loving his Father.