John • The passed-over passages 11 • Jesus Asserts His Deity

Steve Schott
1 day ago
10 min read

► Previously in John we looked at the 7 signs recorded, and referenced in John 20:30-31, where it says

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

► We also explored the 7 "I AM" statements that do not always correspond to the signs, but also add definition to the nature and purposes of Jesus.

► Links to all of these posts can be found at the end of this posting

► Now I'm going to turn my attention to what I call the "passed-over" passages, Those passages from chapter 1 to chapter 12 which I haven't previously dealt with.

► After that we'll deal with chapters 13 to 19, which I call "the end of it all". These chapters deal with a single 24-hour period, that starts with the last supper in the upper room, and takes us all the way to the cross and the tomb.

► And then we'll end with chapters 20 and 21 that I call "the new beginning".

► In a segue of sorts, plunked down in between Jesus telling us both "I am the door of the sheep" and "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:1-21 → "I Am" statements 3 & 4), and the raising from the dead of Lazarus (John 11:1-46 → Sign #7), we have an episode where Jesus, after intense questioning by the Jews as to whether or not He was the Christ, plainly tells them "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30). The immediate response of the Jews to that comment is to attempt to kill Jesus. Let's look at the details...

I and the Father are one → John 10:22-30

John 10:22-30 → 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.”

► 10:22 → "Feast of the Dedication"... while many may not know specifically what this feast is, you might know it by it's other name - Hanukkah. I remember when I was younger, that my Jewish friends would celebrate Hanukkah, right around the time my family was celebrating Christmas, and I was a little jealous, because we only dedicated one day for our event, but Hanukkah was celebrated over a period of 8 days!

→ This feast was actually instituted during what we would call the "inter-testamental" period, meaning during the 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. It is in recognition of the rededication of the Jewish temple, after the Maccabean revolt, after Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 BC. You can read all about it in the Apocryphal books 1st and 2nd Maccabees.

→ It's also called the "Feast of Lights". There is a legend that at the time of the rededication, that there was only enough oil to light the "eternal" lamp (not sure what that is) for a single day, BUT supposedly the light continued to shine for 8 days. This is replicated in Jewish homes at Hanukkah by lighting a single candle on a nine stemmed Menorah. The primary (shamash) candle is used each day to light the other 8 candles, one per day.

► 10:23 → "in the temple in the portico of Solomon." This is a section of the temple (as it stood during the time of Jesus) that ran along the eastern wall of the temple.

While it looks crowded, it was used a lot for open air meetings within the temple.

→ Peter preached his 2nd post-Pentecost sermon at the Portico of Solomon (Acts 3:11ff).

→ The Apostles were performing "many signs and wonders" at the Portico of Solomon (Acts 5:12)

► 10:24 → The Jews then ask Jesus to "tell us plainly" whether or not He is "the Christ".

→ Taken at face value, one would think that they genuinely wanted, almost needed, the assurance that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, God in flesh appearing before them. But the responses to Jesus' statements later will show us their true motivation.

► 10:25 → Jesus responds by stating that all of the "works" that He had been performing, that "these testify of Me." At the same time He points out their unbelief.

► 10:26 → And Jesus tells them "you are not of My sheep."

► 10:27 → Jesus amplifies this by stating what His sheep are really like... they "hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;...". Again, flat out saying that they do none of this.

► 10:28 → Jesus goes even deeper talking about the eternal benefits of being Jesus' sheep...

→ "and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand."

→ Again, the implication is that the Jews he's speaking to will also NOT receive eternal life. Hard words.

► 10:29 → Jesus goes on to say, basically, that if you don't think I can carry this out, then understand that "the Father" is. Jesus' sheep not only can't be taken out of Jesus' hand - they also can't be snatched "out of the Father's hand."

► 10:30 → Then Jesus goes for the throat - "I and the Father are one", literally meaning "one" in nature and purpose, but not one in identity. This may sound a little confusing, but the intent is to clarify that while Jesus is God, He is also a unique person within the Godhead (Trinity).

You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God → John 10:31 to 39

John 10:31-39 → 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.

► 10:31 → The Jews response is immediate and drastic. They want Jesus dead.

→ Stoning was not for hurting someone. The process was to kill someone.

→ This is what happened to the disciple Stephen in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 7. After a lengthy defense of his participation with the believers before the high priest (Acts 7:1-53), near the end of which he said they were "men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51), they picked up stones and began throwing them at him until he was dead (Acts 7:54-60).

► 10:32 → Jesus responded by asking for which of My "many good works... are you stoning Me?" Jesus is saying "let's be very clear - why are you going to kill me?" He doesn't need or want the answer to the question. He wants them to actually make the point that He's been trying to get them to.

► 10:33 → The Jews, while they don't accept the truth that Jesus has led them to, now acknowledge the clarity with which Jesus has boldly made his claim. They say they are stoning Him, not for any bad works that He has done, but for blasphemy. Because they believe that He "being a man, make Yourself out to be God." Give them a gold star for understanding EXACTLY what Jesus was saying. They don't believe it to be true, but they do believe that Jesus believes it.

► 10:34-36 → This section is a little hard to understand at face value (at least for me).

→ Basically what is happening here, is that Jesus is referencing Psalm 82:6, where sinful Israelite leaders are called "gods", as they had the responsibility to speak for God, and in that Psalm they are also referenced as being "sons of the Most High".

→ But since Jesus, "whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world", has said of Himself "I am the Son of God", the Jews want to kill Him, even though the Father has sent Him specifically to do this work.

→ They can't see - they don't want to see - that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ. They are going out of their way to try to get Him to incriminate Himself of blasphemy because they refuse to consider, even with all the signs, that Jesus could be anything other than just a normal man.

► 10:37 → Jesus basically tells them - if I'm NOT doing God's work, don't believe in Me.

► 10:38 → Then Jesus counters by saying that if I am doing the works of God, even if you don't believe or trust in Me, at least understand that the Father is doing a work through Me.

► 10:39 → Totally blinded to anything Jesus has to say, they try again to seize Jesus, but fail once more as He finds a way to exit the area without being captured.

→ I can only imagine that there are a lot people around, and many voices yelling back and forth, and a lot of confusion, creating a large enough pandemonium to allow for Jesus to exit.

→ Sort of like a spy movie, where the character in question keeps his head down and keeps changing the way he looks (different coat, hoodie up, hoodie down, baseball cap, etc.) to evade capture.

Many believed in Him there → John 10:40 to 42

John 10:40-42 → 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.

► 10:40-42 → So Jesus goes back to where His ministry really had it's beginning, Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan. Where He had been baptized by John the Baptist, and his first disciples first followed Him. And now people were coming up to Him, remembering John, and remembering Jesus' signs, and acknowledging the truth of who Jesus is. And BELIEVED IN HIM!

So what?

► This passage so clearly demonstrates the basic reality of how the claims of Jesus are dealt with in the world today.

► Some respond with contempt, refusing to even consider that Jesus, if He's even actually a real person, could be anything other than a normal man. A holy man maybe. A good teacher possibly. A prophet pointing to a better society perhaps.

► But how could anyone realistically consider Jesus to be anything other than a crazy man, or a liar, since He was clearly teaching that He was equal to, and in full communion with, God?

► Unless He really is God in the flesh, and His words are true.

► And if that is correct, then there is a dilemma for each of us.

► Each of us needs to consider the claims of Jesus. If what He said is true, then we need to respond to Him in faith, accepting His death on the cross as being the payment for our sins, so that we might have eternal life.

The Signs

► Sign 1, Water to Wine, Jesus is the master of the ELEMENTS → John 2:1-12

► Sign 2, Nobleman's Son, Jesus is the master over DISTANCE → John 4:46-54

► Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME → John 5:1-18

► Sign 4, Feeding of 5,000+, Jesus is the master over DIMENSION → John 6:1-15

► Sign 5, Jesus walks on water, Jesus is the master over NATURE → John 6:15-21

► Sign 6, The Man Born Blind, Jesus is the master over HISTORY → John 9:1-41

► Sign 7, The Raising of Lazarus, Jesus is the master over DEATH → John 11:1-46

The "I AM" Statements

► I AM #1 • I AM the Bread of Life - Jesus ELIMINATES HUNGER → John 6:26-58

► I AM #2 • I AM the Light of the World - Jesus ELIMINATES DARKNESS → John 8:12-9:5

► I AM #3 • I AM the Door of the Sheep - Jesus ELIMINATES DEATH & DESTRUCTION → John 10:1-10