Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
Jesus spoke the words to His unbelieving brothers when they urged Him to go openly to Jerusalem for the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, a joyful gathering of people from many lands in thanksgiving for the year's goodness. By My time is not yet come He meant His appointed hour to go openly to Jerusalem and face the danger and events leading to His death had not yet arrived. By your time is alway ready He meant they could go to Jerusalem whenever they chose without facing danger. The difference was that the world hated Him because He testified that its works were evil, while His brothers shared its spirit and unbelief and were in harmony with it, so they met no opposition. Every step of His work had its hour appointed by the Father in the plan of redemption, so He waited patiently and would not rush into danger or hasten His death, yet when the hour of His sacrifice drew near He set His face toward Jerusalem and went forward publicly in obedience.
Setting and Contrast
The words were spoken in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles, a seven-day celebration that drew people from Palestine and other lands to Jerusalem in rejoicing and thanksgiving to God for the year's goodness. "My time is not yet come" meant His appointed time to go openly to Jerusalem and to the feast had not yet arrived. It was the appointed time to face danger there and the events leading to His death, to go publicly to Judea and present Himself publicly as the Messiah. He would not hasten those events by exposing Himself prematurely to His enemies, rushing into danger or bringing on a crisis prematurely.
"Your time is alway ready" meant His brothers could go to Jerusalem and to the feast whenever they chose. They could act at any time according to their own wishes and aims, without facing danger, because they did not face the world's hatred. The difference was that the world hated Jesus because He testified that its works were evil. His unbelieving brothers shared the world's spirit, aims and unbelief, and their worldly spirit made them acceptable to the world. They were in harmony with the world and like the world, so they met no opposition from it and were left unthreatened.
Their urging that He show Himself came from unbelief. They were dissatisfied with His manner of working and held worldly aims. Their pressure came with sarcasm, from a false idea of the Messiah's work and lack of faith in His divine character. They wanted Him to prove His Messiahship before the world by making Himself known, asserting His power and sustaining His claims. His timing was governed by His mission, not by their sarcasm and pressure or by His family's timetable.
Divine Timing and Obedience
Every event in the work of Christ had its appointed hour given by the Father in carrying out the plan of redemption. His time to go to the feast and face the danger there had not yet arrived, while His brothers could go whenever they chose. He was sent to accomplish redemption, and therefore He waited patiently rather than acting presumptuously, rushing into danger, or bringing the crisis forward prematurely.
He was governed by His mission rather than by His brothers' or family's timetable, and He would not hasten the events leading to His death by exposing Himself prematurely to His enemies. He knew the world hated Him because He testified that its works were evil, and that His work would end in His death, yet to expose Himself before the Father's appointed hour would not have been the Father's will. He patiently awaited the time appointed for Him and would not rush into danger, bring on a crisis prematurely, or hasten His death.
To preserve His life until the appointed time He delayed going to Judea, where hostility put His life at risk. He left places where opposition threatened Him because the appointed time for His final suffering and the completion of His earthly work had not yet come. He withdrew where opposition risked provoking an outbreak, so that a mob would not bring His work to an end before the time appointed for Him to leave it. He went secretly rather than publicly, and later among the crowds, so He could teach without being singled out, seized, or killed, since traveling openly with His brothers would have identified Him where people wanted to seize and kill Him. His timing was governed by His mission, not by sarcasm or pressure or a refusal to do the work, and He guarded the time available for His ministry, using it to teach His disciples what they would need to say after He was gone.
When He told His brothers His time had not yet come, the appointed hour for offering Himself for humanity's sins had not arrived. At the Feast of Tabernacles He therefore would not present Himself publicly as the Messiah but traveled secretly. When the appointed time for His sacrifice drew near He did not change His course to avoid death but set His face toward Jerusalem and went forward publicly in obedience to the Father's will, so that attention would be directed to Him as the Savior.
Those who work for God must in no case imperil the cause of God and their own influence by perverted ideas. They must follow God and heed His counsel, and God will work with a person just as long as he follows.
Jesus spoke the words to His unbelieving brothers when they urged Him to go openly to Jerusalem for the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, a joyful gathering of people from many lands in thanksgiving for the year's goodness. By My time is not yet come He meant His appointed hour to go openly to Jerusalem and face the danger and events leading to His death had not yet arrived. By your time is alway ready He meant they could go to Jerusalem whenever they chose without facing danger. The difference was that the world hated Him because He testified that its works were evil, while His brothers shared its spirit and unbelief and were in harmony with it, so they met no opposition. Every step of His work had its hour appointed by the Father in the plan of redemption, so He waited patiently and would not rush into danger or hasten His death, yet when the hour of His sacrifice drew near He set His face toward Jerusalem and went forward publicly in obedience.
Setting and Contrast
The words were spoken in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles, a seven-day celebration that drew people from Palestine and other lands to Jerusalem in rejoicing and thanksgiving to God for the year's goodness.
"My time is not yet come" meant His appointed time to go openly to Jerusalem and to the feast had not yet arrived.
It was the appointed time to face danger there and the events leading to His death, to go publicly to Judea and present Himself publicly as the Messiah.
He would not hasten those events by exposing Himself prematurely to His enemies, rushing into danger or bringing on a crisis prematurely.
"Your time is alway ready" meant His brothers could go to Jerusalem and to the feast whenever they chose.
They could act at any time according to their own wishes and aims, without facing danger, because they did not face the world's hatred.
The difference was that the world hated Jesus because He testified that its works were evil.
His unbelieving brothers shared the world's spirit, aims and unbelief, and their worldly spirit made them acceptable to the world.
They were in harmony with the world and like the world, so they met no opposition from it and were left unthreatened.
Their urging that He show Himself came from unbelief.
They were dissatisfied with His manner of working and held worldly aims.
Their pressure came with sarcasm, from a false idea of the Messiah's work and lack of faith in His divine character.
They wanted Him to prove His Messiahship before the world by making Himself known, asserting His power and sustaining His claims.
His timing was governed by His mission, not by their sarcasm and pressure or by His family's timetable.
Divine Timing and Obedience
Every event in the work of Christ had its appointed hour given by the Father in carrying out the plan of redemption. His time to go to the feast and face the danger there had not yet arrived, while His brothers could go whenever they chose. He was sent to accomplish redemption, and therefore He waited patiently rather than acting presumptuously, rushing into danger, or bringing the crisis forward prematurely.
He was governed by His mission rather than by His brothers' or family's timetable, and He would not hasten the events leading to His death by exposing Himself prematurely to His enemies. He knew the world hated Him because He testified that its works were evil, and that His work would end in His death, yet to expose Himself before the Father's appointed hour would not have been the Father's will. He patiently awaited the time appointed for Him and would not rush into danger, bring on a crisis prematurely, or hasten His death.
To preserve His life until the appointed time He delayed going to Judea, where hostility put His life at risk. He left places where opposition threatened Him because the appointed time for His final suffering and the completion of His earthly work had not yet come. He withdrew where opposition risked provoking an outbreak, so that a mob would not bring His work to an end before the time appointed for Him to leave it. He went secretly rather than publicly, and later among the crowds, so He could teach without being singled out, seized, or killed, since traveling openly with His brothers would have identified Him where people wanted to seize and kill Him. His timing was governed by His mission, not by sarcasm or pressure or a refusal to do the work, and He guarded the time available for His ministry, using it to teach His disciples what they would need to say after He was gone.
When He told His brothers His time had not yet come, the appointed hour for offering Himself for humanity's sins had not arrived. At the Feast of Tabernacles He therefore would not present Himself publicly as the Messiah but traveled secretly. When the appointed time for His sacrifice drew near He did not change His course to avoid death but set His face toward Jerusalem and went forward publicly in obedience to the Father's will, so that attention would be directed to Him as the Savior.
Those who work for God must in no case imperil the cause of God and their own influence by perverted ideas. They must follow God and heed His counsel, and God will work with a person just as long as he follows.