John 10:22-33\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0<\/i>Then came the Festival of Dedication\u00a0at Jerusalem. It was winter,\u00a023\u00a0and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon\u2019s Colonnade.\u00a024\u00a0The Jews\u00a0who were there gathered around him, saying, \u201cHow long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.\u201d\u00a0 25\u00a0Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cI did tell you,\u00a0but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father\u2019s name testify about me,\u00a026\u00a0but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.\u00a027\u00a0My sheep listen to my voice; I know them,\u00a0and they follow me.\u00a028\u00a0I give them eternal life,\u00a0and they shall never perish;\u00a0no one will snatch them out of my hand.\u00a029\u00a0My Father, who has given them to me,\u00a0is greater than all;\u00a0no one can snatch them out of my Father\u2019s hand.\u00a030\u00a0I and the Father are one.\u201d 31\u00a0Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him,\u00a032\u00a0but Jesus said to them,\u00a0\u201cI have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?\u201d 33\u00a0\u201cWe are not stoning you for any good work,\u201d they replied, \u201cbut for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
The Festival of Dedication was once called the Feast of Maccabees and is today called the Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights. Remembering that these feasts are in commembrance of an event or person in which God gave a victory. Hanukkah is remembering when the Maccabees overthrew the Seleucid empire whose king Antiochus Ephiphanes profaned the Jewish Temple by setting up a pagan god in the temple to be worshipped. This is an act that will be repeated by the Antichrist. (Matthew 24:15-16<\/b>) The Maccabees retook the temple and the temple was rededicated to the one true God.\u00a0\u00a0This happened during the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament.<\/p>\n
According to rabbinic tradition when the Jews were reclaiming the temple they could only find one small jug of olive oil that only had enough oil to light the menorah for one day.\u00a0\u00a0Instead the oil lasted for eight days which the Jews considered a miracle.\u00a0\u00a0It is to celebrate the rededicating of the Temple and the miracle of the one day of oil lasting for eight days that Hanukah lasts for eight days.\u00a0\u00a0Another name for Hanukah is the Festival of lights.<\/p>\n
It was at that time of this Festival that the Jews approached Jesus and asked Him (demanded of Him) when Jesus would plainly tell them if He was the Messiah or not.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus replied \u201cI did tell you, but you do not believe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Jesus pointed that the things He had done and said were evidence that He was the Messiah, but they did not receive the signs and rejected His words.\u00a0\u00a0Yet both were working in union to declare the majesty of Jesus. The both bore witness of who Jesus was.\u00a0\u00a0All who were seeking the Lord, who were truly relying on the scriptures to lead them to the Messiah, would recognize Him by the signs He performed and the works He did.\u00a0\u00a0Those who had right hearts would recognize Jesus and follow Him.\u00a0\u00a0Those whose hearts were not for God would not recognize and would not follow Him and thereby lose their souls.<\/p>\n
All who heard and heeded Jesus\u2019s words and saw the signs He was giving as proof of who He was, Jesus said would have an eternal life that no being could take it away from them because it was God Himself who gave them the eternal life.\u00a0\u00a0Brothers and Sisters, what God gives to us no one and nothing can take from us. Like our salvation, what God gives is between us and God and no one and nothing can come between us and God, as long as we cling to Him and His promises.\u00a0\u00a0The love of God, the joy of God, the peace of God that He has given to us is always and forever ours and cannot be taken away, just as the eternal life He gives us cannot be taken away.\u00a0\u00a0Cling to faith in God and in His Word and be safe.\u00a0\u00a0Who can push God back to separate Him from us?\u00a0\u00a0No one and nothing can.\u00a0\u00a0God has put in His bond within those who believe in, obey and follow Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0No one and nothing can push God from us.\u00a0\u00a0We are safe as long as we love and so believe and obey Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Now, and forever.<\/p>\n
Because these men, who could quote the scriptures but never had scripture illuminated to them by God did not believe in the only Son of God, they could see but not understand the signs and the words that Jesus gave them. Committing the sin of unbelief they accused Jesus of being the sinner.\u00a0\u00a0This is what sinners still do.\u00a0\u00a0In the absence of rightness in their souls they accuse others of what they are doing.\u00a0\u00a0Liars think all others also lie.\u00a0\u00a0Cheaters think all others cheat.\u00a0\u00a0These priests who blasphemed God by teaching error to the people thought Jesus was a blasphemer.\u00a0\u00a0They were blind and deaf to the ways of God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Titus 1:15<\/b>\u00a0\u201cTo the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/i><\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 10:22-33\u00a0–\u00a0Then came the Festival of Dedication\u00a0at Jerusalem. It was winter,\u00a023\u00a0and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon\u2019s Colonnade.\u00a024\u00a0The Jews\u00a0who were there gathered around him, saying, \u201cHow long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.\u201d\u00a0 25\u00a0Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cI did tell you,\u00a0but you do not believe. The works…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[100,101,94,1874,17,105],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-titus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}