John 10:34-39 -- 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.
Thank You Lord for being my strength and rock. Thank You God for watching over and taking care of everything in this day. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
I'm finishing quiet time with the Lord at 9:15 PM due to an extremely late night getting home from a Christmas lights event in Dallas, then an early morning taking my wife to get a procedure done on her eyes. It's been a long, very exhausting day, especially for her. There's been tons of prayer and several times I've had to step away and ask God to be my strength through it. If not for God, I'd be an empty shell every time it comes to my wife's procedures. He never fails, ever, to be the rock, and holds me up, then fills me with what is needed to take care of her. It's God, every single time, period.
Today we have a lot of scripture to close out John chapter ten. Jesus finishes his confrontation with the religious authorities. They surrounded Him, tried to deceitfully trap Him, then when He said He and the Father are one, they picked up stones to kill Him. Jesus doesn't panic, doesn't run, but instead continues to speak to them.
We find today He uses the Word of God to present them with a theological/scriptural question that made their murderous thoughts dissipate. These men lived to memorize, study, and apply their own understanding to the scriptures, so Jesus' question redirected their murderous anger. Proverbs 15:1 came to mind.
Proberbs 15:1 -- A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Jesus' throws them back to Psalm 82 in which God refers to judges that were set up to carry out His will here as "gods". The psalm goes on to be very clear they were still men; they would grow old and die. So, it was in no way attributing to them they were deified, or they were God.
It really jumped out at me just how crafty it was for Jesus to turn these religious authorities' game around on them. They used the world of God and questions to try and trip up and trap. Jesus stops them in their tracks by asking a deep question about Old Testament scriptures. Jesus' words in Matthew 10:16 jump to mind.
Matthew 10:16 -- “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
We see after Jesus confronts them with this question on scripture, they still do not believe but we see instead of grabbing rocks to kill Him it now says they "sought to arrest Him" instead. His gentle and calm response completely turned away their wrath.
Christian, how do you think Jesus' words in Matthew 10:16 to "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.", apply to you in today's world?
Just something to think about tonight. I pray you won't take my word on anything but be the Berean and read it all for yourself!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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