Jesus came back to the temple for the next feast and encountered the religious leaders again.
click here for an online Bible John 10:22-42
Jesus has been very confusing for them. On the one hand, he heals people and performs other amazing miracles. He teaches with authority and draws crowds to himself. On the other hand, he breaks the Sabbath laws and treats the religious leaders with contempt. He keeps calling himself the Son of God which they consider blasphemy. So they ask him directly if he is the Christ.
They asked him a plain question. He answered but it wasn’t really a plain answer. Why didn’t he tell them plainly, “Yes, I am the Christ”? Then he could give them a convincing argument from the scriptures then perform a miracle to prove it all.
They had the same opportunity to believe that others had who had become believers. Their hearts were hard and not open to hear the truth. Jesus told them that the reason they did not believe was that they were not his sheep. But just to show his authority he calls himself the Son of God again, so the leaders were about to stone him.
They said that they were stoning him because he made himself out to be God. Jesus responds with an argument that is a little hard to follow. He quotes Psalm 82:6 (I said, “You are ‘gods’; you are all sons of the Most High.”). In the Psalm God is pronouncing judgment upon the unjust judges of his people. He refers to the judges as gods. This follows some of the language from Exodus in the giving of the law of Moses. Exodus 22:9 and 21:6 tell parties to take their issues before judges. The Hebrew word used here is elohim which mean god. Most English translations of the Bible translate it as judges here, but look at the ESV Bible (click here).
So Jesus is questioning their interpretation of the law. If the law of Moses refers to men as gods, why are they wanting to stone him - particularly, since he is the God.
They had a little Christ. They believed that God would sent a Messiah (Christ) to deliver the people from the Romans. They saw deliverance the way it occurred many times in the Old Testament. God delivered the nation of Israel from their enemies. Jesus didn’t fit their picture of what a deliverer was supposed to look like. They didn’t even understand deliverance. Jesus did come to deliver his people. But his people were those who believed in him. He came to deliver them from slavery to sin.
Sometimes we are guilty of the same thing. We have a model that we think God has to fit into. We are afraid to obey God because we don’t have confidence in his plan or his power.
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2 comments:
It amazes me how much Jesus escapes death... but is He really escaping death? I think He maybe hiding the fact that they would not be able to kill Him though they tried. Jesus was perfect and the punishment for sin is death, so if no one sinned then no one would die. Logically this sounds like a fair statement. The only question is whether they would have the choice? I strongly believe that Jesus choose to die for the sins of this world, so that if we believed in Him we would not die but have life everlasting. Though I go into the ground, I will be raised -- the Lord has shown this to me so many times before. Every sacrifice I make He has returned to me more than I could have ever imagined. He has hardened my heart and is still hardening my heart towards this world... I see what He is doing -- and it is most wonderful. It is so hard for me to take a humble approach about what God is doing in my life. I have a tremendous amount of reverence/fear of God. I know He can do all things and He could break me like a dry twig -- but I trust Him to put me back together again better than I was before I was broken. I expect to burn in Hell, but its not eternal for my God is mighty to save and will save me and I will shine as bright as Christ -- oh how I love Him. I try to conform, but I fail, the Lord knows my heart and He picks me up. A lady at work hurt me terribly today, but you know I prayed for the forgiveness and I was very careful to not let it show that I was hurt by her comment, but I'm sure she saw it. We all try very hard to live our life according to Christ. And so it hurts when people do not give us their trust. She said "you look so innocent, but you're really not, are you?" If I had to do it over again I would have stood my ground and simply said yes you are correct -- I am legally innocent until proven guilty, but morally I will never measure up to what I expect of myself and therefor I am guilty until I am made innocent. This truth hurts like a hot iron. But I much rather burn now and a little bit later, to be able to stand with Christ in the end. The big take away from these passages is that we need to be able to tell people we are Christ, not baptist not even Christians, but we are Christ. This is not some sort of "positive thinking self help Mo Jo" either, it is simply taking Him at His word.
Love,
EJ
I find on much of my scripture reading, I tend to lock-in on the apologetic verses. In this case it is verse 30, I and the Father are one. This is yet another verse to quote to the JW's that come knocking on your door. As always, we have to look at the verses before and after for support and cross-references for further support - context is king!
Before and after context: In my own paraphrase, they ask Him if he is the Messiah, He states His works testify to that AND He and the Father are ONE, and then they want to kill Him for blasphemy. It seems in the context of their language from their reaction, He did indeed make Himself up to be God, the Messiah. Cross-references:
1Jo 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among nations, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.
Mat 11:27 All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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