In
the first part of John 10, Jesus identifies Himself to us as "the
Door of the Sheep" {vs. 7), and as the Good Shepard" (vs.
11) but in the last half of this chapter we see Him as the "giver
of eternal life (vs. 28) and as the Son of God (vs. 36)...(note ch.
5.17, 18). And as we see from vs. 22, the scene is still at
Jerusalem, and it was the time of the Feast of Dedication, "the
winter of (their) discontent" (Richard iii)! The "Feast of
Dedication" had been mentioned only two other times in scripture
(1 Kings and 2 Chronicles), so there must be some reason for Holy
Spirit referring-to it here. As I've already mentioned, we're
entering into a more private phase of Jesus' ministry , with the
ending of Chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11 (note 11.53,
54). So now we need to really consider the two great purposes of
Jesus' life...first, to reveal Himself to the world as the promised
Messiah, which was by that time, accomplished; secondly to offer
Himself as the last Sacrifice for sin, which is from here on, very
much within sight.
Jesus
has already identified Himself as "the Lamb of God",
thereby separating Himself from the rest of the flock of Israel; in
vs. 36 He notes the fact that He is the One Who "the Father had
sanctified", and in vs. 40 He is shown to us as leaving
Jerusalem and "going away beyond Jordan", and He won't be
back until He returns to be crucified. So from this point forward He
is "dedicated" to the cross, now just weeks away. Winter
is the last of the four seasons and as we read in Jeremiah 8.20, "the
harvest is past, the summer is ended and (so far as the Jews were
concerned anyway), they were not saved". What a predicament to
be in, to have to have missed the harvest, or to have not been
harvested, and winter has come and the fields have been put to bed!
Those Jews really did miss an opportunity!
Vs.
23..."And Jesus walked...". There are only two references
to Solomon's porch, in the New Testament...the first in Acts 3.11, at
the time of the miraculous healing of the lame beggar by Peter and
John. The second, Acts 5.12, is one of my favourite verses of
scripture...a pretty big contrast with what we have with us today...
"And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders
wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in
Solomon's porch." Here in John 10 we're told that the Jews were
very much out of accord, with Jesus. In fact, they were opposed to
Him, as we will see in vs. 31; three very different views of the
Jesus People, there in Solomon's porch! So, like the Jews in vs. 24,
how long will we keep on doubting? If you were to ask me right now,
I would come and lay hands on you. But you know, what that very
question, in and of itself reveals once again, is Satan's influence
on the hearts of man. Jesus' response in vs. 25 is all too
clear..."I have already told you!" You see, They had no
intention of ever believing and receiving, as He had already given
many opportunities to do-so; and as the Lord states clearly in vs.
26, the reason they do not is because they are not from His
sheepfold. They are from "that other sheepfold"...Judaism,
or New Age-ism, or easy believe-ism or some other "ism".
He couldn't tell it any more plainly than He has in this chapter, and
the fact is, they just refused to believe! For them to demand (vs.
24) that He show them, or tell them "plainly" would have
been for the sole purpose of gaining more evidence to take to the
Roman government to have Him arrested. All the signs He had already
performed were more than enough to prove He was Who He claimed to be,
yet they hadn't been enough to break the sinner's heart. There are
all kinds of proofs of the existence of the Devine Creator, and there
are a thousand truths that prove that the holy, inspired Word of God,
really is the holy, inspired Word of God! And there are millions of
witnesses of God's saving grace having saved their eternal souls,
while there are millions more who continue to live in their sins; and
more often that not, just like Adam, continue to transfer the burden
of their unbelief to someone or something else..."the woman that
You gave me...". But Jesus answered them...(vs. 25); the Lord
had already addressed their questions, not to mention their
accusations, eg. 5.46, 6.51 and 8.56. All of these statements spoke
plainly of Jesus as the Prophesied One, of Old Testament scripture.
And so He answered them in vs. 26...just as He had done before, in
8.43, 44.a; they heard not because they were not of God and they
believed not because they were not His sheep. Obviously, as vs. 27
states, if they had been His sheep, they would have heard His voice
and followed Him.
You
know, in these few verses, 27-29, we have explained to us four truths
for the sheep of God. First of all, the Believer is Christ's sheep,
and it is His duty to care for the flock, and when we hear Him we
recognize His voice. Secondly, Jesus' sheep prove they are, because
they follow Him, and there are no exceptions...Jesus' sheep follow
Him! Thirdly, He gives His believing sheep eternal life, which means
they will never perish. Fourth, no one or no thing is able to pluck
them out of His, or the Father's hand. Now that sounds like a pretty
secure hold that He has on us! And to put the icing on the cake, vs.
30.."I and the Father are One", even considering what we
have reported-of Him ahead in 14.28..."My Father is greater than
I!" At the same time, both superior yet equal. That truth
gives us a very clear statement of how the Shepard, and the Owner of
the flock share the very same relationship with, and attitude toward,
the sheep...They both have the same mind and the same devotion toward
those under Their care; very much different from the attitude of the
false shepards of Israel, who would put their sheep out of the
synagogue (9.34), because he told the truth and refused to do the
wrong thing.
And
then we're told in vs. 31 that..."the Jews took up stones to
stone Him." What wickedness Jesus endured from those He came to
die-for! Who could imagine that a man's heart could be so hard and
so cruel as to murder a complete Innocent, for stepping on their
toes? And yet, here are the Jews doing just that, and within the
very confines of the very house of God! Jesus had done those Jews no
wrong; they hated Him without cause. They hated Him because of His
holiness, and due to their own sinfulness (7.7)! But notice Jesus'
soft answer in vs. 32. Just what were, and are the "works"
of Jesus? Well just consider His virgin birth, His perfect life, His
deeds toward others and His wonderful teaching, and the Jews were
perfectly aware of it all, as we read in vs. 33. It just goes to
prove again that, "the carnal mind is enmity against God",
and so it had been from the time of His birth. We're told in Matthew
2 that in His infancy there was a movement organized by King Herod,
to have Him killed; the very first words spoken by Him in the
Nazereth synagogue (Luke 4), at the very beginning of His public
ministry, resulted in a murder attempt! Even Psalm 88, one of the
prophetic Psalms says in vs. 15, "I am afflicted and ready to
die, from My youth up!" And then, our Lord gave those Jews a
proof text, a quote from their own Law, as recorded in vs. 34 (taken
from Psalm 82); and as He said to them in vs. 35..."the
scripture cannot be broken." Now I don't know the mind of our
Lord, but I do know one thing...so far as any one of us are
concerned, the Word of God is our final recourse for appeal. If you
believe that this word is the Divinely inspired Book, with absolute
authority for our day-to-day, and spiritual lives, then just as those
Jews knew, we must believe the purpose and intent of Jesus'
testimony!
"Therefore,
they sought again to take Him" (vs. 39). Soon He would
practically deliver Himself to be arrested, tried, condemned and
executed, but as we know, His time had not yet come, so..."He
escaped out of their hands." Vss. 40-42 tell us that..."He
went away.,."; He left Jerusalem and didn't return till the
appointed time. But we're told that..."many believed on Him
there", away beyond Jordan, and so it is, even today...those who
reject and those who accept, all gathered together, with their own
questions concerning "the Son of God"!
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