John 10:22-42: The Shepherd and the Sheep--Part II

John 10:22-42:

The Shepherd and the Sheep--Part II

By Dr. Hal Harless

Foundation Fellowship of Greenville, TX

January 3, 2010

I. Introduction

A. Please turn to John 10:22.

B. While you are turning....

Although the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday, it is not found in the OT, but it is found in the NT here in John 10. The feast was eight days long and commemorated the rededication of the temple after the successful revolt (167-164 BC) against the Seleucid Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC).[1] The name Antiochus means "opposer" (Would that translate into Heb. Satan?), and Epiphanes means "manifest [as a god]."[2] The historian, Polybius, nicknamed him "Epimanes," which means "utterly insane."[3]

168 BC had been a bad year for Antiochus Epiphanes; the Roman general C. Popilius Laenas had humiliated Antiochus when he invaded Egypt. Laenas had delivered an ultimatum to cease hostilities against Egypt, and drawn a circle on the ground around Antiochus telling him to make his decision before stepping out of it.[4] Antiochus was humiliated and withdrew.

This outrage incensed Antiochus to such a degree that he decided to pursue a policy of forced Helenization of Israel in 167 BC. He outlawed the Torah and circumcision, practicing Jewish rites, and dedicated the temple to Zeus. On the 25^th of Kislev, 167 BC pagan sacrifice to Zeus of pigs was made in the temple.

The resistance began in the village of Modein. An elderly priest named Mattathias refused the Syrian commissioner's command to offer a pagan sacrifice, killed the commissioner, and began a revolt. After his death, his sons continued the rebellion under the leadership of Yehudah, nicknamed Maccabee ("hammer"). Yehudah won decisive victories at Emmaus (165 BC) and Bet-Zur (164 BC) driving the Syrian Greeks from Israel.

The temple was rededicated Kislev 25, 164 BC, three years after its desecration. God miraculously made one day's supply of oil for the menorah last for eight days.[5] Antiochus died in Tabae, Persia that same year.[6]

II. Exposition

A. Background

1. We are still in Jesus' public ministry (John 2:1-12:36a).

2. We are in Judea during the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah.

3. We are studying Jesus' seventh discourse in John's gospel.

4. This discourse falls into two parts both chronologically and thematically.

a. Chronologically.

1) The discourse began immediately before Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication (see John 10:22).

2) The second part takes place soon afterwards during the Feast of Dedication.

b. Thematically.

1) The first part of the discourse focused mainly on the Shepherd (John 10:1-21).

2) The second part focuses on the sheep although it has a lot to say about Jesus also (John 10:22-39).

B. Exposition: The seventh discourse: the Shepherd and the sheep (John 10:1-39)--Part II: The sheep (John 10:22-39)

1. My sheep (John 10:22-29).

a. The Jewish religious leader's question (John 10:22-23)

²²At 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" (John 10:22-24).

1) "At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem."

a) John explained that these events took place during the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah.

b) The date of this feast was Kislev 25-Tevet 2, AM 3793 or December 18-26, AD 32.

2) "It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon."

a) The season was winter and the location was Solomon's portico in the temple precincts.

i) Actually, Herod built Solomon's portico located on the East side of the temple, and named it in honor of King Solomon.[7] The colonnade consisted of a double row of columns forty-nine feet long with each white marble column thirty-eight feet tall supporting a cedar-paneled ceiling.[8]

ii) Peter and James healed a lame man there (Acts 3:11), and it became a favorite Christian meeting place (Acts 5:12).

b) Since this season is cold and wet, it was natural for Jesus to seek the shelter of Solomon's portico.[9]

3) "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."

a) The Jewish religious leaders cornered Jesus and demanded that He plainly state if He were the Messiah.

b) They had earlier asked John the Baptist the same question (John 1:19-34).

c) The reaction that they have later when Jesus does confess under oath to Caiaphas shows their hostile intent (Matt 26:63 ff.; Mark 14:61 ff.; see John 10:31, 33).

b. You are not of my sheep (John 10:25-26).

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" (John 10:25-26).

1) "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."

a) Jesus answered that, in fact, He had told them so. However, they did not believe Him.

b) Jesus told them that His miracles testified to the truth of His Messianic claims.

i) Williams translates, "The works which I am doing on my Father's authority are my credentials" (NTLP).

ii) Jesus had said before that "the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me" (John 5:36).

2) "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep."

a) Jesus indicated that their lack of faith indicated that they were not of His sheep.

i) The Gk. may be quite loose and mean "with the result that."[10]

ii) This has been translated, "But you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine" (Barclay).

b) God from eternity has always had His plan, and He has always known who would respond in faith under that plan; our response is both free and entirely planned for by God.

i) God the Father has eternally given those who will believe to Jesus (John 6:37, 39-40; 10:29).

ii) Wiersbe comments, "In the Bible, divine election and human responsibility are perfectly balanced; and what God has joined together, we must not put asunder."[11]

c. My sheep are secure (John 10:27-29).

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 (John 10:27-29).

1) "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

a) Jesus explained that three things characterize His sheep: they hear His voice, they follow Him, and He has a personal relationship with them.[12]

b) The Gk. present tenses are customary or habitual; the sheep are expected to act this way.[13]

c) Wuest translates, "The sheep which are mine are in the habit of listening to my voice, and I know them by experience" (NTET).

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

a) Jesus said that He gave eternal life to His sheep with the result that they will never perish.

i) The life that Jesus gives is eternal, not ten years, nor twenty years, but eternal.[14]

ii) The Gk. words translated "never" are a double negative.

iii) Wuest translates, "They shall positively not perish, never" (NTET). Williams translates, "they shall never get lost" (NTLP).

b) He explained that no one could snatch His sheep from Him.

i) This has been translated, "they will never perish, and no one will ever snatch them out of my keeping" (Barclay).

ii) Blum comments, "The security of the sheep is found in the ability of the Shepherd to defend and preserve His flock. Such security does not depend on the ability of the frail sheep."[15]

c) The loss of a sheep reflects on the shepherd, not the sheep.

d) Other Scriptures bear testimony to the security of the believer.

i) Jesus promised this before in Galilee:

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:37-40).

ii) Paul wrote:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

(a) Paul did not say that we could not be separated from God's love in general.

(b) But "in Christ Jesus our Lord."

iii) Paul also used the image of sealing to describe the security of the believer.

(a) He wrote when and how long we are sealed, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30), and "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph 1:13).

(b) Paul explained who sealed us, "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge" (2 Cor 1:21-22).

(d) From the second that we believe until the day of redemption God will deliver us intact.

3) "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."

a) Jesus elaborated that God the Father gave His sheep to Him (John 6:37).

i) The Gk. word translated "has given" is a perfect tense verb.

ii) Wuest translates, "My Father who gave them to me as a permanent gift" (NTET).

b) The Father is greater than all, and, therefore, no one can snatch from the Father's hand.

i) This has been translated, "No one can snatch them out of the Father's keeping" (Barclay).

ii) Therefore, believers are secure.

2. The Father and I are One (John 10:30-39).

a. The declaration (John 10:30)

³⁰"I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

1) Jesus asserted that He and the Father are one.

a) This echoes Moses, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" (Deut 6:4).

b) The verb "are" is plural. This contradicts Modalism and its modern form Oneness Pentecostalism.

c) The Gk. word translated "one" is neuter, i.e. "one thing."

i) Rogers remarks, "Identity is not asserted, but essential unity is."[16]

ii) Robertson remarked, "Not one person ... but one essence or nature."[17]

iii) This contradicts Arianism and its modern form Jehovah's Witnesses.

iv) Wuest translates, "I and the Father are one in essence" (NTET).

2) As Hank Hanegraaff says there are three whos (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), but one what (God).

b. The Jewish religious leader's reaction (John 10:31-33)

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" (John 10:31-33).

1) "The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him."

a) The Jewish religious authorities reacted by preparing to stone Jesus.

b) As we have seen before, John uses the term "the Jews" to refer to the Jewish religious authorities.

c) John wrote "again" since this had happened twice before (John 5:18; 8:39).

2) "Jesus answered them, 'I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?'"

a) Jesus asked them for which of His good works were they preparing to stone Him.

i) The Gk. word translated "good" means "beautiful."

ii) Wuest translates, "beautiful, noble works" (NTET).

b) Jesus said that the source of His good works was God the Father.

3) "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.'"

a) They understood Jesus to be blaspheming and claiming equality with God.

i) The Gk. word translated "blasphemy" (blasphēmia) means "speech that denigrates or defames, reviling, denigration, disrespect, slander."[18]

ii) The penalty for blaspheming God was death by stoning (Lev 24:16).

b) Had Jesus any other intent than claiming deity this would have been the time to explain the misunderstanding.[19]

c. Jesus' explanation (John 10:34-39)

1) Answer with words (John 10:34-36)

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 '? (John 10:34-36).

a) "Jesus answered them, 'Has it not been written in your Law, "I SAID, YOU ARE GODS "?'"

i) First, our Lord answered with words.

ii) Jesus began His argument by quoting from Ps 82:6.

(a) The term "Law" could mean the entire OT. This figure of speech is a synecdoche, using part of a thing for the entire thing.[20]

(b) Some have misused this passage to teach that we are "little gods" or that people can become God (Mormons).[21] This shows confusion concerning God's communicable attributes and His incommunicable attributes.

iii) Psalm 82 is a Psalm of Asaph complaining about unjust judges.[22]

(a) "God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers" (Ps 82:1)--The Heb. word translated "rulers" ('ĕlohîm) means "gods." A more literal translation would be, "God has taken His place in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods" (HCSB).

(b) "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?" (Ps 82:2)--God has two complaints: 1) the judges judge unjustly, and 2) they are partial to the wicked.

(c) "Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked" (Ps 82:3-4)--God charges the judges to defend the defenseless and help the helpless.

(d) God then complains, "They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken" (Ps 82:5).

(e) "I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes'" (Ps 82:6-7)--God calls them "gods" in that they were His representatives since He had given them His word as a standard of judgment.[23]

(i) The same terminology is used in Exodus:

For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before the judges (Heb. 'ĕlohîm); he whom the judges (Heb. 'ĕlohîm) condemn shall pay double to his neighbor (Exod 22:9).

(ii) When God called Moses, he complained that he was not eloquent and asked God to send someone else (Exod 4:10-13). God allowed his more eloquent brother Aaron to be Moses' spokesman (Exod 4:14-16). God said, "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God (Heb. 'ĕlohîm) to him" (Exod 4:16).

(f) In spite of their exulted title, "gods," God told them with biting irony that they would "die like men" (Ps 82:7). God's judgment is upon the unjust judges.

(g) The Psalm ends with the Psalmist's appeal, "Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations" (Ps 82:8).

iv) Therefore, in context this Psalm is a Psalm of judgment on those judges who held a high opinion of themselves while judging unjustly.

v) There was an application here to the Jewish religious authorities!

b) "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)."

i) Jesus constructed a rabbinical argument, arguing from lesser to greater.[24]

(a) This is a first-class condition, i.e., if-and-it-is-the-case.[25]

(b) The Jewish religious authorities would have had to acknowledge this because they too believed in the authority of Scripture, as did Jesus.

ii) The judges that Psalm 82 refers to are indeed called "gods" even though they clearly were not, "you will die like men" (Ps 82:7). They were not even good men in that they were unjust judges.

iii) Nonetheless, the word of God had come to them and they were God's representatives.

iv) The Gk. word translated "word" (logos) is the same word used in the prologue for Jesus (John 1:1-18).

c) "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 '?"

i) Jesus concluded that His much greater claim is not blasphemy and made His next great "I AM" declaration, "I AM the Son of God."

(a) They asked for a plain declaration and He gave it to them!

(b) Echoing the feast's theme of rededication, Jesus noted that God the Father had sanctified or dedicated Him to His task and sent Him into the world.[26]

ii) Jesus' argument from the lesser to the greater was irrefutable.

(a) The unjust judges of Psalm 82 were called "gods" because the "word" (logos) of God came to them. However, Jesus is the "Word" (logos) of God, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).

(b) The unjust judges of Psalm 82 were called "gods" because they represented God. However, Jesus is the perfect representation of God.

(i) "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" (John 1:18).

(ii) Jesus told Phillip at the Last Supper, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

(iii) The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus "is the radiance of His [God's] glory and the exact representation of His nature" (Heb 1:3).

iii) Jesus Christ's claim of deity was not blasphemy because it is true!

2) Answer with works (John 10:37-38)

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" (John 10:37-38).

a) "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me."

i) Second, our Lord answered with His works.

ii) Jesus challenged the Jewish religious authorities to not believe Him if He were not doing the works of God the Father.

(a) This is a second-class condition, i.e., if-and-it-is-not-the-case.[27]

(b) Jesus was referring to the miraculous signs that He had performed.

b) "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."

i) Jesus concluded His challenge to the Jewish religious authorities to believe because of the evidence of His miraculous works.

ii) They should have concluded that God the Father was in Jesus and He was in God the Father, i.e., that they were one essence.

(a) Williams translates, "The Father is in union with me and I am in union with the Father" (NTLP).

(b) This statement brings us full circle back to Jesus' statement in verse 30 that He and the Father are one.

d. The Jewish religious leader's reaction (John 10:39)

³⁹ Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp (John 10:39).

1) Jesus got away from them again (see John 5:13; 8:59).

2) His time was not yet come.[28]

3. Baptizing beyond the Jordan (John 10:40-42)

⁴⁰And 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 (John 10:40-42).

a. "And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there."

1) Jesus went across the Jordan to the place where John the Baptist had first proclaimed Jesus.

2) This place was called Bethany beyond the Jordan (John 1:28). Lazarus is about to die in a village called Bethany near Jerusalem.[29]

3) This region was under Herod Antipas and outside of the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem authorities.[30] Therefore, it was a temporary safe haven for Jesus and His disciples.

b. "Many came to Him and were saying, 'While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.'"

1) The reaction there was positive even without signs.

2) What a contrast with Jerusalem that had seen Jesus' signs and yet rejected Him.

3) John the Baptist's testimony had prepared the way for Jesus.

c. "Many believed in Him there"--Many responded by placing their trust in Jesus Christ.

II. Applications

A. What this says about Jesus Christ ...

1. Jesus Christ alone is the door of the sheep.

2. Jesus Christ alone is the Great Good Shepherd.

3. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

B. What this says to us ...

1. He is the Door; have you entered into salvation by faith in Him?

2. He is the Great Shepherd; have you heard His voice and trusted Him who died for you?

3. He is God the Son; do you really believe so that you have received eternal life from Him?[31]