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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman Previous Section - Chapter 10:1 - 21 Next Section - Chapter 11:1 - 16
The
Unbelief Of The Jews (ch.10:22-42) This section opens in verse 22 with Jesus being in Jerusalem at the temple during the Feast of Dedication.
Most scholars suggest that Jesus returned to The
Feast of Dedication was held in the middle of our December.
It was not a feast that the Law of Moses mandated.
It was a feast celebrating the rebuilding of the temple that took
place 167 B C. One of the
highlights was the decorating of houses with lights.
This sounds a little familiar.
This is why it's often called the "Festival of Lights." Jesus
would leave John
mentions the fact that it was winter.
We know that the Feast of Dedication was in winter so he did not
mention that for this reason. Maybe
he mentions it because he also mentions in verse 23 that Jesus was walking
in Solomon’s Colonnade. This
was a porch that would have protected Jesus from the harshness of winter.
During
this time the Jews ask Jesus again to show them for sure that He is the
Christ. In verse 24 they ask,
"How long will you keep us in suspense?"
The fact is that if there was any suspense, it was on their part,
not Jesus’ part. He had told
them plainly over and over again that He was the Christ.
They had seen the miracles, but it appears they did not satisfy
them. We
should note here that the Jew's thinking concerning the Messiah, or the
Christ, differed from Jesus' thinking.
They saw the miracles, but now they wanted to see Jesus rise up to
political prominence as their version of the Messiah was.
They wanted to see Jesus overthrow the Romans, but that was not
God's will for Jesus at that moment in history.
That will come later at His second return.
So
in verse 25 Jesus says, "I did tell you but you did not
believe." Then again He
says, "The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me."
So there you go. They
had all the proof they needed. His
miracles should have been sufficient to prove that He was in fact sent
from God as He had been saying all along. Note
that the miracles Jesus performed were in His Father's name, not His own
name. It was God that sent
Jesus into the world. Jesus
represented God His Father to the world.
Jesus went forth in God's name.
It is different for us Christians.
To be technical, it is Jesus who sends us out of the world to
represent Him. We go forth in
Jesus' name, not God's name. We
must therefore, speak more about the Lord Jesus Christ than we do about
God, but that is not always the case these days.
If we simply preach God, the world will not know what God we
preach. We do not serve a
generic god, a one god fits all. We
serve the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In
verse 26 the real reason Jesus gives for the Pharisees unbelief is that
they are not His sheep. They
can’t hear His voice because they do not belong to Him.
In fact they belong to their father the devil, as seen in chapter
8, who is a robber trying to climb the fence and steal Jesus’ sheep.
So Jesus says that the Pharisees are attempting to steel His sheep.
On the other hand, the Pharisees most likely think that Jesus is
trying to steel their sheep.
In
verse 27 Jesus says that His sheep hear His voice, follow Him, and He
gives them eternal life. In
verses 28 and 29 Jesus makes a very interesting statement.
He says that no one can snatch His sheep out of His hands.
Neither can anyone snatch the sheep out of His Father’s hands
because He is the greatest one of all.
Many have taken these verses to prove that once one is saved, he is
saved for ever. This is called
"eternal security," or "once saved always saved."
I don’t believe that the devil can steal any true Christian away
from Jesus or God. It is clear
that he can tempt Christians to sin, but he can't steel them.
On the other hand, I do believe that we ourselves can lay aside the
trust we have in Jesus that got us saved in the first place.
Salvation comes only through trusting Jesus.
If we no longer trust Him, we lose our salvation.
It is that simple. So, no man, no demon, can steel us away from
Jesus. We, however, can leave
Jesus, but you can't call that steeling.
If
Jesus wasn’t clear before on whom He was, He is now.
In verse 30 He says, "I and the Father are one."
He is not saying that He and the Father are one in purpose, one in
mind, or one in anything. He
and God are simply one – one united being separated only in bodily form.
This is one very important verse when it comes to the doctrine of the
Deity of Christ. In
verse 31 we see once again the Jews had enough of what they saw was
blasphemy from the lips of Jesus. They
took up stones to kill Him. This
is not the first time that they took stones up to kill Jesus.
If you think about it, understanding the number of Pharisees in
attendance and the number of guards standing by, it's a miracle that Jesus
escaped the stones and his murder.
In
verse 32 Jesus asks for what miracle have I done in the Father’s name
that warrants this stoning. Jesus
knew that the stones were not a result of the miracles, but His claim to
be God. You
would think that Jesus would try somehow to escape this stoning, but He
didn't. He stays, asks a
question, and continues the dialogue.
Truly, He trusted his life with His Father.
Jesus’
claim to be God is the foundation stone of what we accept as truth.
If this pronouncement of Jesus is not true, then all else we
believe cannot be true. This
claim by Jesus must be taken seriously by everyone for the mere fact that
He is the only creditable historical person in history who has had any
impact on history making such a claim.
If we don’t give Jesus’ claims serious thought then we have no
understanding of the importance of history, no understanding or desire to
understand truth. We are superficial and live only for the moment. In
verse 33 the Pharisees tell Jesus that they aren’t stoning Him for the
miracles but for the fact that He is claiming to be God.
The Pharisees took Jesus’ claim very seriously.
That is one thing in their favour.
They just didn't believe Him. All
men and woman should take Jesus’ claims just as seriously, even if they
come up with the same conclusions as the Pharisees. In
verses 33 to 36 Jesus defends Himself with a quote from "their
Law." This might well
refer to both the Law of Moses and all of the rabbinical laws that
Pharisees have added to the Law of Moses.
Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6. Psalm
82:6 calls all men "gods", that is "gods" with a small
"g." Jesus’ point
here is that if the Scripture, that cannot be broken, calls men gods, why
can’t He be called God because He was sent by God.
Jesus is saying that the Old Testament, at least on one occasion,
called men gods. That would be
blasphemy in the eyes of the Pharisees.
Jesus is trying His case on a technicality.
Even Jesus gets technical at times, something the postmodern
Christian should take note of.
In
verses 38 and 39 Jesus goes on to say that if you don’t believe me when
I say that I do what my Father wants me to do, you should believe me for
the miracles I perform in His name. Thus
miracles are used for a sign, that is, to point the way to God.
These miracles then should tell you that the Father and I are one,
as Jesus says. This
argument did not fly with the Pharisees.
They saw that Jesus was saying He was God, that is, with a capital
"G," not a small "g."
They tried again to stone Him but this time He slipped away from
their grasp. This
chapter ends in verse 40 to 42 with Jesus leaving Our
testimony about Jesus should be like John the Baptist’s.
Even though we may not do many miracles, maybe none at all, what we
say about Jesus should be true and powerful enough to lead people to
Jesus.
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