We continue from last week’s bible study of John 10 with a reading of the scripture:
19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
Jesus Asserts His Deity
22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” 39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. 41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” 42 Many believed in Him there.
So, what’s going on here? Verses 19 to 21 are still dealing with the ramifications of healing the blind man on the sabbath. The Pharisees had been telling people Jesus had a demon for a while now and we find this in Matthew 12:22-37.
22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
Interesting to note that when confronted by Christ, evil spirits gave terrified testimony that Jesus was indeed God’s Son.
“And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God” (Mark 3:11).
“And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ” (Luke 4:41).
If satanic spirits know who the Son of God is, why do the Pharisees not see this too? James would later write of this: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).
Next up, verses 22 and 23 are talking about Jesus and his disciples walking around the temple of Solomon, it being The Feast of Dedication, which was once also called the Feast of the Maccabees. It was an eight-day winter festival celebrated by the Jews in the month of December or sometimes late November, depending on when it fell in the lunisolar Jewish calendar. Today, this festival is called Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights. I am sure you’ve all heard about Hanukkah but you may be wondering what a Maccabee is? The name Maccabee is often used as a synonym for the entire Hasmonean dynasty which ruled from 167 BC to 37 BC, being a fully independent kingdom from about 110 to 63 BC. They reasserted the Jewish religion, partly by forced conversion, expanded the boundaries of Judea by conquest and reduced the influence of Hellenism. They were also known to be very fierce in battle.
Alexander the Great brought Greek, its culture and language in around 300 BC and the Maccabeeians endeavored to reverse that. Rome came in around 40 BC when the last Hasmonean kings were defeated and killed in battle. In 37 BC, Herod, a son-in-law of Hyrcanus II, was appointed King of Judea by the Romans and when Herod died, Judah came into direct Roman control.
We are now up to date with where Jesus and His disciples were walking the land around in the front colonnade area of Solomon’s temple and because of the festival, many people were about. Because of John the Baptist and what Jesus had done, the healings, casting out of demons and such, this rabbi was well known to them and when people saw Him, gathered around and started a bizarre line of questioning to Him. “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (John 10:24)
These Jews were not seeking merely for clarity and understanding regarding who Jesus was, but rather wanted Him to declare openly that He was Messiah in order to justify attacking Him. Jesus’ response is that He has told them and that His works confirm the truth of who He is. The problem is that they do not believe because they “are not of My sheep” (v. 26).
So these, who were not His sheep and clearly did not want to be one of His sheep, once again picked up stones to stone him with. Jesus’s response to them was one that should have caused them to pause and reflect. He basically confronts their hypocrisy by saying He has done good works from the Father, which one of those do you stone me for? He was asking them to look into their own hearts and use discernment to see what they were doing. They blew right past that with them telling Christ that they were not buying His argument. His good works were not the problem, it was His claim of being God is what made them put stones in their hands. If they would just stop and think for just a bit, at no time in the past had anyone done what this rabbi had done. Then consult with the scriptures to verify what was true. The trouble was their shepherds knew the truth but were blinded by not seeing what their lying eyes were showing them. This goes back to what Christ had said about being a Good Shepherd at the beginning of the chapter. The religious leaders had led the people down the wrong path and were looking for someone that would throw off the shackles of Rome. Their desire was contrary to what the scriptures had told them. They insisted that Jesus was just a man, but never had just a man done what this man did. In plain sight but hidden from the hearts of men.
Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’”? (v. 34) What does this mean?
From commentaires of the MacArthur Study Bible: Quoted from Psalm 82:6 where God calls some unjust judges “gods”, and pronounces calamity against them. Jesus’s argument is that this psalm proves that the word “god” can be legitimately used to refer to others than God himself. His reasoning is that there are others whom God can address as “god” or sons of the Most High, why then should the Jews object to Jesus’ statement that he is the son of God? (v. 36)
Verse 35: Christ told them “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” He is still trying to get them to think, but as we well know, and from our current culture, you cannot tell anybody anything whose mind is made up. What we are seeing right now is everybody has their own truth and there is no absolute truth. Christ was dealing with the same thing. He had claim to the ultimate truth and they denied it, claiming their own.
Jesus did not expect to be believed merely on his own assertions. Since he did the same things as his Father does, his enemies should consider this in their evaluation of him. The implication is, however, that they were so ignorant of God that they could not recognize the works of the father or the one whom the father has sent. (v. 38)
Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp. (v.39) He went away, going to the place where John the Baptist first started baptizing, and Jesus stayed there. (v. 40) This would be a place called “Bethany beyond the Jordan”, located anywhere from 3 to 7 miles North of the Dead Sea.
The scripture states that many came to Him, saying “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” Many believed in Him there. (vv. 41,42)
I encourage you to read through this part of John 10 again on your own. There is a lot of information and history going on here, so if you missed something, it would be good to review it again.