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.
The Feast of the Dedication is what we now call Hanukkah or the Feast of Lights. It is only mentioned in the Bible here. This feast is celebrated on the 25th of the nineth month, Chislev. It celebrates the cleansing of the temple after it was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes (175 BC – 164 BC). It is interesting that Epiphanes means God Manifest.[1]While this feast is not commanded in the Old Testament, it is still celebrated in modern history. There seems to be some irony in the fact that Jesus clearly reveals himself as God Manifest during a feast that commemorated the overthrow of a pretender to the title. This may have influenced those questioning him in their response to Jesus’ claim. To add to the irony, the early church selected December 25th of the Roman calendar to celebrate Jesus’ manifestation to the world with his birth.
Christmas Not Pagan
The Encyclopedia Britannica says, “December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later became the universally accepted date.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas). Creation Ministries International states, “Observation of this date by Christians goes back at least as far as AD 202 by Hippolytus of Rome in his Commentary on Daniel.” 72 years before the Roman pagan holiday Sol Invictus. (https://creation.com/celebrating-christmas). Uninformed Christians take a stand against celebrating Christmas because they think it is a pagan holiday. Even though it probably isn’t the exact date, let us celebrate Jesus’ arrival on December 25th.
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.”
The Jews were in suspense about the identity of Jesus. Over and over, Jesus explained who he is, but they didn’t have ears to hear or eyes to see what he was doing. They didn’t believe. It is as simple as that. When we witness to people about who Jesus is, people often respond as if they are deaf and blind.
They can’t understand what we tell them about Jesus. And Jesus even tells the Jews why they can’t understand and why many people we tell about Jesus can’t respond to him. The only ones who will understand are the ones chosen by the Father and given to Jesus. Jesus calls them his sheep. This is a theme repeated multiple times in the Gospel of John. People can only believe in him if they are one of his sheep. They can’t believe because they can’t hear. Notice that the operative word is “can’t.” It means the inability, not permission. Just as Paul explains in Ephesians 2:1-9, a dead man can’t respond in faith until God makes him alive. At some point in every Christian’s life, he is made alive, and it is then that they can hear and believe. They were always Jesus’ sheep from eternity past, but they hadn’t been called yet (2 Tim 1:9).
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.”
These are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. They are a synopsis of a Christian’s life. The first stage of life is being counted as one of Jesus’ sheep before we were even born. We were chosen by the father to be his sheep. Jesus knows who we are and at the right time, he calls us. The second stage comes when we hear his voice. This is an effectual calling. We may have heard about Jesus and the gospel multiple times, however this time, it is Jesus calling when the Holy Spirit makes us alive. This is the point where Jesus gives us eternal life. The next stage is when we follow Jesus. It lasts forever because we are given eternal life. His promise and the promise of the Father is that we will never be carried away from him by any evil, sin, or even our own desires.
There is no way that anyone can honestly look at the promise of never being snatched out of either Jesus’ hand or the Father’s hand and come up with a valid reason for a saved person to ever perish in hell. The conclusion is that only a force, person, or self who is greater than God could cause one of God’s chosen people to be lost. The final seal of this eternal security is that Jesus and the Father are one. They are one in essence and one in purpose. The essence of Jesus and God the Father is what makes God, God. As we have flesh God has a substance that is spirit. Both the Son and the Father are spirit because they are God. Their one purpose described here is our salvation and the surety of our salvation.
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."
Why would the Jews ever want to stone anyone? And if you are not familiar with the concept this is a designated form of capital punishment. They want him dead. They were following what they believed the Old Testament commanded them to do when someone blasphemed God. This was the penalty for simply cursing God or using his name as a curse (Lev 24:10-16).
Wisely, Jesus asks them why they want him stoned. He had shown them miracles of healing as well as feeding thousands. What was in these words that could cause them to want him dead? Jesus wants them to clarify the reason and that reason is clarified for our sake. They clearly understood what Jesus was saying. Jesus is telling them plainly that he is God. Don’t let anyone tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God. The people who knew the language of the time didn’t misunderstand Jesus.
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."
Jesus didn’t tell them that they misunderstood him. If he was not claiming to be God, then he should have bluntly told them they misunderstood. He would have taken back what he said and rephrased it. That was not his answer.
It is easy for us to look at Jesus answer and wonder what he means. He quotes Psalm 82 where God sits in judgment of the judges of this world and condemns them. In it, he calls these judges gods. Warren Wiersbe explains this:
The Hebrew word elohim can be translated as "god" or as "judges," as in Ex 21:6 and 22:18-19. It is also one of the Old Testament names for God. The Jewish rulers certainly knew their own language and they knew that Jesus was speaking the truth. If God called human judges "gods," then why should they stone Him for applying the same title to Himself?[2]
Jesus’ appeal to Scripture is emphasized by telling them that they can’t argue with God. While it would be easy to say that his argument means he is only calling himself a judge, Jesus reiterates his claim to being God. First, he has been sent by the Father and is sanctified. He is claiming to be holy and set apart and it is confirmed by the Father. Second, he appeals to the miracles that the Father has worked through Jesus. He even goes so far as to demand that they reject him if the works are not miracles done by the Father. There seems to be no argument there. Even Nicodemus had to admit that no one could do what he was doing unless God was with him (John 3:2).
Jesus is no longer appealing to acquit himself of blasphemy, but he is earnestly appealing for the Jews to believe so they can be saved. He emphatically asks them to get it through their thick heads (stony hearts) that he is God by explaining that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him. How can anyone not see that this is a clear claim to being part of the Trinity?
39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
It doesn’t do any good. They are not like liberal theologians or anti-Christians who sit back and think that these verses somehow teach that Jesus was denying that he was God. They still understood what Jesus was saying about himself and their need to believe in him for salvation. They still want to kill him and again, he slips away. There is no way that Jesus could be killed before his time or any way other than being crucified on a cross. Had they been able to stone him, prophecy would have not been fulfilled and it would have proven that Jesus was not who he claimed to be.
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.
With this threat to Jesus, he leaves the vicinity of Jerusalem. He will stay there until it is time for him to again come to the towns around Jerusalem. His ministry isn’t diminished by his sojourn because people are still coming to him. The ones who were John the Baptist’s disciples believed not because of any signs from John, but on his testimony.
Unfortunately, we have preachers today who depend on their signs or instruct people to believe because of their signs. For some reason they believe that it isn’t enough to preach the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit work. I’ve heard radio advertisements for these so-called miracle workers where they claim that miracles will happen at their crusade. How arrogant of them to know what the Holy Spirit is going to do. It makes me wonder what kind of faith people have who believe on Jesus because of these miracles. Is their belief salvific? Only time and eternity will tell.
I’m not talking about places where the gospel hasn’t been told, where people don’t have Bibles and have never heard of Jesus. There are enough true-life stories of people being healed and then a whole village comes to know Jesus as they are shown the Jesus Movie in India, Africa, and other places. But here in America, we don’t have to have signs and wonders because we have Bibles. We are like the rich who was in hell and wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so they would believe. This is what Jesus said at the end of the parable:
But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:29-31 ESV).
