John 10:22-42- One With the Father

Explanation- The Jews ignorance is continually on display and no less in this passage. They seek for Jesus to tell them plainly whether or not He is the Christ. Their hardness of heart cannot be ignored for He has revealed to them on multiple occasions and through many signs and wonders that He indeed is the Son of God. I believe that much of the Jew’s skepticism comes from their misunderstanding of who exactly the Christ would be once He came. Many believed that the Christ would come and physically defeat Israel’s enemies and establish His kingdom on earth. They were looking for a warrior who would fight their battles for them and overthrow the Roman occupation which they were under. What they did not know was that the Christ must first suffer. Certainly, Christ would be a ruler, but He must first make an end of sin in His people. In order to accomplish this, He must first lay down His life for the sheep. Christ came to give life to His people. He came to be the ransom for their sins. But because the Jews did not see their need for forgiveness, they turn a blind eye to Jesus.

Here also, Christ clearly identifies Himself to the Jews that He and the Father are one. At this the Jews seek to stone Him! They believe that Jesus is blaspheming God by claiming equality with Him. It has not been granted unto these men to believe and this is evident by their conduct in the presence of Christ. Ironically enough, it is the Jews who are blaspheming, for they deny the very works of God that are taking place before their eyes.

Despite this rebellion and attack on Christ, there were still those who were granted eyes to see Christ for who He is. In verse 42 we are told that many believed in Christ as they pondered the ministry of John the Baptist. John gave no sign that he was the Christ, but he gave a sure testimony that pointed them to Jesus.

Application- As we have seen, the Jews had a false idea of who the Messiah would be. In their own wisdom they misinterpreted the Scriptures and missed the Messiah who they had so long expected to come. As we think of this let it encourage us to make it our business to know Christ for who He has revealed Himself to be, and not how the world would interpret Him. Even in our own day many men have opinions of Christ that are not backed up by the Scripture. They in turn make a god in their own image and bow down to the work that they have created. They pick and choose which pieces of Christ they would like to keep and which to discard. Make no mistake, this idolatry. We must come to God as He has revealed Himself or we shall not come at all. Our understanding is weak and feeble at best, so let us not trust it to reveal things that only God can. We must be men and women of the Book and let our chief end be to know and love God, and to enjoy Him forever!