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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, The argument on Solomon's porch, Part XXXVIII, John 10:37-11:1 - Lesson 85
Lesson - Continuing the "Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, The argument on Solomon's porch.
Jesus Christ is in Jerusalem during the feast of the dedication of the temple.
His discourse on Solomon's porch continues:
Read Verses John 10:33-36 for review: The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
John 10:37,38, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Jesus Christ gives a formula for belief.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Are we given faith by some mystical process? No!
It comes by the word of God.
Jesus tells the Jews here that though they may not believe him, go ahead and examine my works.
If you examine my works with a sincere heart this will lead to faith in me.
Examine the miracle of giving sight to a man born blind?
Examine the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been ill for 38 years?
Examine the cleansed lepers and the dead who now live and the evil spirits cast out and the dumb who now speak and the deaf who now hear and the lame who now walk?
Examine the multitudes that I fed?
Take steps to faith! Look at the works and then look at the worker.
Even today we are to examine the works of Christ.
Study them in his word and believe what his word says about his works.
This will lead to a belief that he is in the Father and the Father is in him and then before long a belief in the person of Christ will result.
His works declare what he tells us is true.
Is not this the way that we learn to trust people?
Don't actions speak louder than words at the beginning of a relationship?
After we accept the fact that a person's works are valid, aren't we ready to accept their words?
Isn't this the order whereby trust is realized?
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
John 10:39, Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
Man's hand is incapable of thwarting the purposes of God.
His appointed hour had not yet come and there was no power on earth vast enough to take Jesus Christ at this time.
Soon he would be ready to to deliver himself into their hands but they were powerless until that time.
John 10:40-42, And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.
At this point Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes to the place called Bethany (house of unripe figs) that is beyond the Jordan River.
This is not the Bethany that is on the east slope of the Mount of Olives.
This Bethany is the same place where John had bore witness to him before his public ministry.
His public ministry to Israel is over so he has returned to the place where it had begun..
He will not visit Jerusalem again until Palm Sunday, three or four months later.
At that time he will be crucified.
John the Apostle relates that the testimony of John the Baptist lived on after he had been imprisoned and executed.
His words bore fruit.
People remembered what he said and they compared the life of Christ to John's words and found his words to be true.
John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
John did no miracle but note how powerful and effective was his witness.
They remembered his witness about Christ and Christ had verified his witness by his life.
John's witness was confirmed by the evidence of their eyes and ears.
His witness may have been three years ago, but here it bares fruit for:
Many of them believed on Jesus Christ there.
So the Lord Jesus Christ rests with his new believers beyond the Jordan in Bethany before his final confrontation with the Jews of Jerusalem.
John 11:1, Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
BETHANY - Known primarily in the Gospels as the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, ancient Bethany occupied an important place in the life of Jesus.
Jesus often found Himself staying in Bethany at the home of his closest friends as He ministered in Jerusalem.
Bethany is located on the Mt. of Olives' eastern slope, about two miles southeast of Jerusalem.
It was the final stop before Jerusalem just off the main east‑west road coming from Jericho.
Since Bethany was at the foot of the mountain, the people living there could not see Jerusalem, thus giving Bethany a sense of seclusion and quietness.
The road between Bethany and Jerusalem was a journey taking about fifty‑five minutes to walk.
The primary event in the New Testament takes place in this eleventh chapter of John and involves the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
This wonderful miracle by Jesus demonstrated His authority and it prepared for His resurrection.
It was even magnified through the name of His friend, Lazarus (an abbreviation of Eleazar, "God has helped").
Another significant event in Jesus' life occurred in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper.
Late on the Tuesday night of Jesus' last week, a woman (we are told that she was Mary in John 12:3) gave Jesus His "burial anointment."
Besides a number of smaller references to Bethany, one final event took place there.
Bethany provided the location for Jesus' final blessing to His disciples and His subsequent parting.
This encounter made up the final scene of the ascension of Jesus Christ as recorded in Luke's Gospel. |