John 10:31-39

Jesus had just claimed that He and the Father were one. Some today might try to say that Jesus merely meant He was fully devoted to the Father’s work and teachings. But that’s not how the Jews heard it, and they were there.

 

The Jews prepared to stone Jesus. When He asked them what He had done, they responded that what He had done was great; the problem was what He had said. “You, being a man, make yourself out to be God.”

 

Now Jesus could have smoothed this whole problem over very quickly. He could have apologized immediately, saying, “Oh, no. No. No! You did not understand what I was saying! I just meant such and such. Of course, I’m only a man! This is just a big misunderstanding.”

 

But that’s not what Jesus did. Instead, He defended His claim as the Jews understood it; Jesus defended His claim to be God! First, He went to Scripture and pointed out that people who had received the Word of God were called gods at one point. His argument from there said, essentially, “If normal men are called gods, shouldn’t it be clear that I can be called God, and the Son of God, since the Father Himself set me apart and sent me into the world?”

 

From there Jesus’ argument went to His actions, His good deeds. He claimed to be doing the works of His Father, so His question to the Jews was, “What do you think? Are these my Father’s works or not?” If the Jews agreed that Jesus’ works were good works, and if the Scripture makes it plain that mere men may be called gods, and if Jesus is greater than mere men because He was personally set apart by the Father and sent into the world, THEN… Jesus’ claim is not blasphemy! Even though the Jews had correctly understood Jesus’ claim to be God, Jesus proved by His argument that they had every reason to believe Him. Between the Scriptures, Jesus’ claim to have come from the Father, and the good works Jesus was doing, Jesus thought that He had every right to claim to be the Son of God – to be God Himself!

 

The Jews weren’t convinced and continued their efforts to seize Him (I’ve always wondered why it was that they couldn’t). But this is the question for us today: Is Jesus the Son of God? Is He God? He claimed to be, even defending His claim in the face of a lynch mob.

 

If Jesus was not God, then the rest of the gospel message is pointless. If Jesus was not God, then Jesus was a sinner. If Jesus was a sinner, then He could not be a perfect sacrifice. If Jesus could not be a perfect sacrifice, then His death on the cross could not free anyone from sins. If Jesus’ death could not free anyone from sins, then Jesus Himself was not freed from His sins by His death and we Christians are still viewed by God as sinners who will one day justly be cast into hell for our rebellions and willingness to accept whatever evils tempt us, along with our sinful and merely human hope, Jesus Christ.

 

But the point is that we do have hope, because Jesus is God. He was without sin, and He was able to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, freely offering salvation to all who would trust in Him. And I have trusted in Him, and therefore I have hope along with all who have confessed their sins, repented, and put their faith in Jesus Christ!

 

Father, thank You for hope! Thank You that Jesus made it so clear that He was Your Son, and that as Your Son, He was and remains God forever. Thank You for passing this truth on to us through Your servants the apostles. May we cherish it dearly, and proclaim boldly that Jesus Christ is not just our Master, but the Lord of all Creation!