by
Keith Hunt
The blindness removed from the man born blind on the Sabbath
of the 8th day, the Feast day after the Feast of Tabernacles, is
the glorious example and typology, of the great White Throne
Judgment period (Rev.20), when millions, nay, billions from the
past ages will be resurrected to physical life, have the books of
the Bible opened to them, and the book of life, the way of
salvation given to them, fully, without blindness, knowing with a
clear mind, what sin and grace through Christ Jesus the Messiah
is all about. They, who were never called or chosen in their
lifetime on earth (millions never even knowing that Jesus ever
lived, never hearing His name, or seeing a Bible, less reading
it) shall for the first time be given spiritual truth and
insight; they will have a chance (men, women, children) to accept
Jesus as their Savior, to have their sins washed away in the
blood of Christ; salvation will be offered to them, and they like
us, will be judged by what works they do - living in serving God,
or rejecting it all. That is the message we have just read about
in John chapter 9, the blind from birth (spiritually blind)
having their eyes opened to the books of the Bible and the book
of life - salvation presented to them. No man can come to the
Jesus unless it is given to him of the Father, Jesus taught that
in chapter 6. Now He teaches it again in chapter 10.
There is only ONE correct door into the sheepfold; he that
enters that door is the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep will
hear HIS voice; he calls them by name, he leads them in and out,
when he leads them out he goes before them; the sheep will follow
him for they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger,
they will flee from him, for they do not recognize his voice
(verses 1-5).
That is how attached sheep become to their master and leader
and protector; they get to know him in a deep personal way. We
are to be like sheep in following Christ. We need to read and
hear His words in the Gospels, then we shall know Him when He
speaks through His servants; we will recognize His voice.
Jesus says HE is the door of the sheep, anyone else is a
robber and thief, but Jesus' sheep will not hear them. Jesus is
also the door to the sheepfold, by Him if any man enter in he
shall be saved, shall go in and out and find green pasture
(verses 7-9).
Are you thinking of the 23rd Psalm right now. It's a good
time to stop for a moment and to read it.
Then if you have not done so, in the near future, or during
this Passover Feast, take the time to read Phillip Keller's book
"A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm" on this Website -
it's a wonderful insight of the shepherd and his sheep.
All except the good shepherd, that come to lead the sheep,
are thiefs, coming to steal and kill and plunder. Jesus is the
only true shepherd, and He has come to not only give life but
give it more abundantly. This does not mean we will be guaranteed
an easy, free from troubles, trials, and test, even persecutions,
but through all that, as it came to people like the apostle Paul,
we can have a peace that passes all understanding, an inner quiet
rest, knowing no matter what life hands out to us, what cards we
are dealt, even in death, we can go to our rest as like Paul
said, "I have fought a good fight, I've finished the race, hence
a crown of righteousness waits for me on that blessed day of the
appearing of our Lord and Savior."
It is Jesus that is the only true shepherd. Only He is
perfect and right. Only He has the truth and right pathway to
walk on. So you need to be reading, eating, drinking in, His
words, if you have a red-letter Bible, there they are, easy to
see, written in bold red. I was given a red-letter New Testament
when I was about 10 or 11 years old by an adult member of the
church I attended. It was the first time I'd ever seen one. It
became one of my prized possession during my teens, it was so
easy to read the words of Christ, which I did just about every
night in bed, before I went to sleep.
Jesus is the door, the sheep know Him, and He knows the
sheep. Jesus knows the Father and the Father knows Him, Jesus is
the one who laid down His life for the sheep. Oh yes, Christ has
other sheep that are not part of your little world, they may be
on the other side of the earth, you do not know them, may never
in this lifetime know them, but Jesus knows them, and He will
bring them to Himself, and there will be ONE fold - scattered
maybe, the salt of the earth yes, the very little flock indeed,
but they are the true sheep of Christ, they knowing Him and He
knowing them.
Jesus said He was loved by the Father because He was going
to lay down His life for the sheep; He would freely lay it down;
He had the power to lay it down or not, lay it down or take it
up; the Father was not forcing Him to lay it down. He was going
to lay it down of His own will, because He loves the sheep
(verses 10-18).
We need to stop and think for a moment here. This man Jesus
Christ was the "I AM" of the time of Moses - a perfect eternal
being of the Godhead. He had all that there is to have from the
Godhead next to the One we now know as the Father. Yet in His
love for us, for YOU and for ME, this perfect holy being, was
willing to put aside everything that was the Godhead, and come as
a physical man, come to die for the sins of the world, and die in
no pleasant way - die a horrible painful death, a death whereby
many of His bones could be seen (as it is written - Ps.22:14-18
with Isa.53), and finally be killed by having a spear thrust into
His side. He gave up the glory He had with the Father for 33 and
1/2 years so WE could obtain that glory with Him as the children
of God the Father.
Yes, at this time of the year, it is time to meditate on all
of that. To be humbled but also to be happy and to REJOICE - this
is the BITTER/SWEET Feast of the year.
We can also have confidence being the sheep of Christ, that
doing our part, there is nothing or nobody that can take us from
out of the hands of our Lord and Savior (verses 25-28). The last
days before Jesus comes again, deception will be so GREAT, Jesus
said IF it was possible even the very elect would be deceived.
But we read here in John that it will NOT be possible to deceived
the elect, the sheep of Christ, no deception from man or Satan,
can take them from the caring hands of Jesus, the elect will
remain faithful and will have eternal life and will not perish.
The Father who is greater than all, who is the supreme One of the
universe, He has given the elect to Christ and no man can pluck
them from His hand. Jesus and the Father are ONE - they are the
ONE Godhead - TWO beings but One Godhead. The Father does not
always work arithmetic as we do; He can take one plus one and
have it equal ONE! Did He not do this with Adam and Eve - did He
not say TWO shall be ONE? Yes He did! So friends the simple truth
of the Bible is that God has always been TWO eternal beings - but
ONE God. God the Father is God and the Son, the Word is God. And
the Word was in the beginning WITH God! The New Testament makes
it clear that Jesus went back to heaven to sit on the RIGHT HAND
of God the Father. He does not sit on top of Him, or inside of
Him, like some silly far out planet Pluto ideas of a "trinity"
God proclaim. God can be understood. A child as I was, reading
through the New Testament, as I did when a child, can see as I
did, that God was two beings - Jesus and the Father - being ONE,
and Jesus sitting on the right hand of the Father, and hence we
have what Paul wrote in 1 Cor.11:3. So simple friends. There are
verses in the New Testament where Jesus is called GOD! You can
find them, just use Strong's Concordance of the Bible - do a
little work on your own, you take some time to look them up, they
are there. And God the Father is God, remember Jesus once saying,
"I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and
your God" - look that one up also - I'll give you a clue, it's
also in this Gospel of John.
And another simple thing about God. God the Father is the
greatest of all. Jesus sits at His right hand, not on top of Him
or inside of Him. That also throws a monkey wrench into some of
the strange teachings of the "trinity doctrine" of men.
Right here in this context of John, we find that the Jews,
the scribes and Pharisees had no trouble at all in understanding
what Jesus taught about His connection with the subject of God.
Jesus asks them which work had He done whereby they thought
He should be killed for. Look at their answer, "For a good work
we stone you not; but for BLASPHEMY; because that you, being a
man, makes yourself GOD!" (verse 33).
Yes they understood very well what Jesus taught on that
point, that He was God in the flesh, that He could rightly carry
the name of God, that He could then say He was Jesus Christ God!
Well Jesus answered them from the Scriptures, "Is it not written
in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If He called them gods
(remember in the Greek there was no small and capital letters
mixed in, the Greek MSS were either all small letters and large
letters, one next to the other, no punctuation, no sentences, no
paragraphs, no full-stops, etc.)unto whom the word of God came,
and the Scripture cannot be broken. Say you of Him, whom the
Father has sent into the world, 'You blaspheme' because I said, I
am the Son of God?" (verses 34-36).
Jesus makes the truth here again simple. All who will be a
child, son of God, will carry as their surname "God" - if your a
son of God, you are a son of God, your not God the Father, your
not Jesus Christ God, but you are still a "son of God" and Jesus
used the Scriptures of God to back up that God gives the right
for people to be called by His name! Well I've explained it all
in my study called "A Christian's Destiny" - please make sure you
study it.
The very works that Jesus did should have been enough to
prove He was indeed the Son of God, sent by God the Father. You
take all the miracles He did, them alone should have been enough
for the religious leaders of His day to know He was from God. Now
demons have some power allowed from God, but not even Satan is
allowed to do all the miracles Christ did. Jesus clearly told
them the miracles He did was proof enough He came from God (verse
37-38). So is the DEPTHS of sin, truth can be staring you in the
face, hitting you on the head, stomping you on the toes, kicking
you in the gut, and yet people will NOT want to see it, have no
desire to see it, will come up with every excuse under the sun to
REJECT it, and even go so far as to say it comes from Satan the
Devil!
So during this season think on that, how deep can be the
working of SIN and Satan.
We also find a few more interesting verses here at the end
of chapter 10. Jesus went away to where John the baptist first
started to baptize, and many came to Him, as they realized that
John did NO MIRACLES! But what he told them about the Christ was
indeed true, and so many believed on Jesus (verses 40-42).
They used some common LOGIC! John was not a miracle working
teacher from God, but what he taught about the Christ to come was
absolutely right on the button. And Jesus was working miracles
like as never seen in all history. The logic mind can often out
do the educated PhD mind of "scholars."
John the baptist, was the first fulfilment of the "Elijah to
come" - but he did no miracles! The chances are the Elijah to
come before the day of the Lord, before Christ's return, will
also be a man that does no miracles. Preaching truth is greater
anyway than miracles.
........................
To be continued
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