I And the Father Are One

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John 10:22–42 ESV

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said 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 bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, 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.” 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. 40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.

Setting: Feast of Dedication (v. 22)

John 10:22 ESV

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,

If you don’t remember reading about the Feast of Dedication in the Old Testament, it’s because it’s not there. This is not one of the Festivals that God had commanded the people to celebrate in Leviticus 23-25.

The Feast of Dedication began during the 400 silent years between the Old and New Testaments.

It celebrated the revolt of Judas Maccabaeus against the ruler Antiochus Epiphanes in the 160s B.C. In 164 B.C. they successfully recaptured the temple and on the 25th day of the month Kislev (December in our calendar), they reconsecrated the temple to God, since the pagan ruler had defiled it.

This festival lasted for 8 days, and it became a tradition for the people to celebrate this holiday for 8 days every year, beginning on the day of the cleansing or rededication of the temple. This festival is also known as Hanukkah.

It is also called the Feast of Lights. Similar to the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) in early October, there were ceremonies of lighting lamps or candles, and the Apocryphal book of 2nd Maccabees refers to it as “a Feast of Tabernacles in the month Kislev.”

So this was an important festival for the Jews, one that celebrated the purification of their religion and freedom from the oppression of their enemies. So it was both a religious and political holiday, and so they are naturally thinking about their coming Messiah, whom they expect to be both a religious and political figure.

This sets the stage for their question (or rather demand!) in v. 24.

Picture of a Silver Menorah used for Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication) at a museum in Israel

Solomon’s Colonnade (v. 23)

John 10:23 ESV

23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.

The colonnade (or portico / porch) of Solomon was a porch (probably a covered porch) on the east side of the Temple. John tells us that it was winter and so this covered porch area probably would have provided more shelter from the cold. This is the kind of detail that probably only an eyewitness would think to mention.

This was also the same place mentioned in the book of Acts where Peter and John healed a lame man in Acts 3:11, and later on the apostles were preaching and performing many signs and wonders at this same place in Acts 5:12.

Picture of Solomon’s Colonnade / Portico

The Jewish Leaders’ Demand (v. 24)

John 10:24 ESV

24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

The Jews here surround Jesus demanding a clear statement from him that he is in fact their long-awaited Messiah.

But let’s understand — they had no intention of believing it, even if he were to say so in these exact words.

Just like an atheist who might say something like, “If God would just write a message in the sky and say something like “God is real”, then I would believe.” But they have no intention of believing, and almost certainly would not believe even if God did something miraculous like that. Their stubborn, hard heart refuses to accept any evidence whatsoever, and that was the case for these Jews as well.

In the case of the atheist, God has provided more than enough evidence for his existence. The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), your conscience tells you of a moral law-giver (Romans 2), the intricate design of your own body and everything else tells you that someone is behind it all. But the atheist refuses to accept this evidence, even though Paul says in Romans 1 that God has made it plain and clear.

In the case of these Jewish leaders here, Jesus had also made it clear that he is in fact the Messiah. The claims that Jesus made in the first half of this chapter to be the door and the good Shepherd are a clear claim to be the Messiah. And Jesus goes on to say as much, and he also says in v. 25-26 that his works unmistakably point to him as the Messiah.

The Works of Jesus Demonstrate That He Is the Messiah (Christ)

John 10:24–25 ESV

24 So the Jews gathered around him and said 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 bear witness about me,

How had Jesus told them that he is the Christ?

We don’t have any record of Jesus saying plainly to the Jews that he was indeed the Messiah. The only record John gives us of such a clear claim is in the private conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well. But as far as we know, he had not made this claim public, and in the other Gospels, it tells us that Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

So when Jesus says “I told you,” in v. 25, I think he’s referring to the other statements he has made, especially right at the beginning of this chapter. Jesus had said that he was the Good Shepherd. Ezekiel had prophesied that God would place the Messiah as the shepherd of Israel. There were many other things that Jesus said and claimed that pointed clearly to him as the Messiah, but what he especially draws our attention are his works.

How had his works demonstrated that he is the Christ?

“The works that I do in my Father’s name (as my Father’s representative) bear witness about me.”

Just like Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist in Matthew 11, the kinds of works he was doing were evidence that he was the Messiah. He was preaching good news to the poor, healing the sick, raising the dead, etc.

Isaiah had foretold multiple times of how the coming Messiah would open the eyes of the blind, and that’s just what Jesus did in his sixth sign in John 9.

Just as God had foretold through the prophets hundreds of years before, Jesus was doing all these things.

But the Jewish leaders refused to accept him as the Messiah. Why? Because they misunderstood the Messiah’s mission.

They expected the Messiah to come and set up an earthly kingdom, destroy the Romans who were oppressing them, and restore them to the peace and prosperity that Israel enjoyed under David and Solomon.

But that’s not why Jesus came — the first time. He will come again and consummate his earthly kingdom, destroy his enemies, and restore his people to peace and prosperity that far outweighs the time of David and Solomon. And we long for that day when he makes all things new.

But that was not his mission the first time.

The Messiah was coming to deal with a problem much bigger than Roman oppression, or famine, or disease.

The Messiah was coming to deal with sin. Like John the Baptist testified, he is the Lamb of God who came to take away our sin. Like Jesus said earlier in this chapter, he came to lay down his life for the sheep. That was his mission. He came to die so that we would live.

And these religious leaders were unwilling to accept Jesus as the Messiah because they were not willing to admit their sin. They were too proud to admit that just like everyone else, they were sinners in need of a Savior.

So the works of Jesus demonstrate that he is the Messiah. Whether you believe it or not, that is who Jesus claims to be, and that’s who his works demonstrate him to be. But also,

The Works of Jesus Demonstrate That He Is One with the Father

John 10:26–30 ESV

26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, 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.”

What works of Jesus demonstrate his oneness with the Father?

When Jesus says “I and the Father are one”, he does so in the context of His sovereignty in salvation (only one who is God has the right to make claims like v. 26-29).

There are three claims here that only someone who is God has the right to make:

First, v. 26: “You are not among my sheep.” This is a very sobering verse. Jesus is telling these religious leaders in so many words that they were not chosen by God for salvation. He says that the reason that they do not believe him and receive him as the Messiah is that they did not belong to God, they were not part of God’s flock of sheep. They were not the ones who would receive the benefits of his death and resurrection, and so they would not have eternal life. This is a shocking claim.

Who has the right to make that claim? Who has the right to tell people that God has not chosen them for salvation? Only God! Election is God’s business, not ours. Predestination is one of those secret things that belong to the Lord, not to us. We can’t know this information about anyone else, and many people are mistaken even about themselves.

This is information that only God has access to. So Jesus’s knowledge of this information shows that he is one with the Father, because together with the Father he shares the knowledge of election.

Second, Jesus claims to be the one who gives eternal life. (v. 28a) Again this is something that only someone who is God can do.

Third, Jesus says that both he and the Father hold the sheep securely in their hands. If you are one of his sheep, if you belong to him, both the Father and the Son hold you securely in their hands, and there’s no chance that anyone can take you out.

What amazing security we have as believers, that because Jesus is one with the Father, we are held secure in the hands of both the Son and the Father. Our eternal security rests not on ourselves and our own ability to persevere, though we are called to persevere and fight the fight of faith. But we are secure because we are in the hands of the sovereign God of the universe who made us and chose us for himself.

And this is who Jesus is claiming to be when he says, I and the Father are one.

We know that because of the response of the Jewish leaders.

The Response of the Jews to Jesus’s claim in v. 30

John 10:31–33 ESV

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

-same response as in John 8:58-59 when Jesus claims to be Yahweh (God)

John 8:58–59 ESV

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

They were partially right, of course. He was claiming to be God.

John 10:33 ESV

33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

But actually the opposite was true. He had not blasphemed, but spoke the truth. He was God, who had made himself a man. They had it backwards.

Jesus had done many good (KIND) works which demonstrated the truth of his claim, but they were blind and could not see how his works demonstrated in fact that he is God.

Jesus’s Defense of his claim from Scripture

John 10:34–36 ESV

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

From an obscure passage in Psalm 82 that is very difficult to interpret. It’s unclear who exactly is being addressed in the Psalm (when it says “You are gods”): divine beings, rulers of other nations, rulers or judges of Israel, or the nation of Israel itself. Many Jewish leaders interpreted it as addressing the people of Israel, and Jesus picks up on this and says, if the people of Israel (the ones to whom the word of God came) are addressed in Psalm 82 as gods, why are you so mad when I claim to be the Son of God?

Jesus is using Scripture to back up his claim, and what he says about the Scripture in v. 35 is amazing. “The Scripture cannot be broken.” This was Jesus’s view of Scripture, and it must be ours as well. Everything that God has spoken and written through the prophets is true and trustworthy, even the parts that are difficult to interpret.

The Works of Jesus Demonstrate That He Is the Son of God (36-38)

John 10:36–38 ESV

36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

This is a similar claim to saying that Jesus is one with the Father or equal to the Father.

But specifying that Jesus is the Son of God shows us that within the Godhead are distinct persons. There is one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus says that his works demonstrates that he is the Son of God, or in other words, God the Son.

Jesus may be claiming in v. 36 to be the fulfilment of the Festival they are celebrating. The Jews were celebrating the dedication of the temple, how it had been consecrated or set apart to the Lord, and Jesus says, “I’m the one whom the Father consecrated.” Jesus is the true Temple, as he claimed in John 2. And they would destroy the temple of his body, but he would take it up again.

The end of v. 36 is perhaps one of the clearest statements we have from Jesus about his identity. Jesus says in very clear words here, I am the Son of God.

And he says that his works confirm this claim.

Who can open the eyes of a man born blind?

Who can walk on water?

Who can speak to the wind and waves and cause a storm to stop?

Who can speak a word and raise the dead?

Who has authority to take his own life back from the dead?

Only Jesus — the Messiah who is also the Son of God.

And we see the compassion of Jesus here as he makes one last appeal to these people. Many times already he has called them to follow him, to believe in him, to trust him, and they have rejected him every time. Even now as they have stones in their hands to kill him, he pleads with them once again to believe. Even if you don’t feel like you can accept what I say, at least look at what I do and see how that demonstrates that I am who I say I am!

This was possibly the final appeal — the last opportunity these people had to hear the words of Jesus and believe. And they rejected him.

What about you?

This may be your final appeal too. You don’t know if you will ever have another opportunity to hear the voice of Jesus calling you through the gospel to come to himself. Do you hear his voice? Are you following him?

The Jews Reject Jesus and he leaves

John 10:39–40 ESV

39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. 40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.

Jesus left the area, he left the Jewish leaders in their unbelief, but the story doesn’t end on this sad note. Though many rejected him, many also received him.

And this is the right response to Jesus. Receive him, trust in him!

The Proper Response to Jesus is Faith (41-42)

John 10:41–42 ESV

41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.

Many believed! Not just a few, but many. This is encouraging.

-because of the testimony and the faithfulness of John the Baptist.

“everything that John said about this man was true.” I’d love to have this said about me after I’m gone. He didn’t do any miracles, but everything he said about Jesus was true.

Thank God for faithful men and women who have gone before us and have pointed us to Jesus like John the Baptist did for these people.

Faith is the proper response to what Jesus has said and done. We must trust in him and give our lives to him.

Have you trusted in Jesus? Do you believe that he is the Messiah, that He is One with the Father, that He is the Son of God?

Believe it because he said it, and believe it because his works prove it.

The Purpose of John

John 20:31 ESV

31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

And this is the whole point of John.

Believe that Jesus is who he says he is.

And if you truly believe, you are eternally secure in the sovereign hands of the Son and the Father.