THE MESSIAH IS THE SON OF GOD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 50.

THE MESSIAH IS THE SON OF GOD

Lesson II.—SABBATH, JANUARY 9, 1897.

THE MESSIAH IS THE SON OF GOD.

Lesson Scripture, John 10 : 22-42, R. V.

22 “And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem; it 23 was winter; and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews therefore came round about him, 24 and said unto him, How long dost thou hold us in suspense? 25 If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not; the works that I do in my 26 Father's name, these bear witness of me. But ye believe 27 not, because ye are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my 28 voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no 29 one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, which hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one 30 is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the 31 Father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone 32 him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed 33 you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone 34 me? The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone 35 thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called

them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the 36 Scripture can not be broken), say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphem- 37 est; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the 38 works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. 39 They sought again to take him; and he went forth out of their hand. 40 “And he went away again beyond Jordan into the place 41 where John was at the first baptizing; and there he abode. And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did 42 no sign; but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.”

QUESTIONS.

What public gathering was now held? At what season of the year?
Where was Jesus?
Who came to him? What did they say?
What did Jesus declare that he had already done? To what did he refer as his credentials?
Why had they not accepted him?
What general truth did he announce?
What gift does Jesus bestow upon believers? What experience will be theirs as the result?
Upon what basis does this certainty of experience rest?
What relation did Jesus declare between the Father and himself?
What effect did this statement have upon the Jews?
What inquiry did Jesus then make?
What answer was given to him?
What scripture did Jesus quote in reply?
How did he apply this scripture in reference to his own mission?
On what condition did he release them from any obligation to believe on him?
What conditional demand did he make of them? For what purpose?
What did they attempt to do? Did they succeed?
Where did Jesus go?
Did he thus escape the notice of the people? What did they say?
What was the result of his teaching?

NOTES.

THE Feast of the Dedication “was instituted by Judas Maccabæus to commemorate the purification of the temple and the renewal of the temple worship, after the three years' profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes. It was held for eight days, commencing on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chisleu, which began with the new moon of December.” “The weather had been wet and rough, so that he (Jesus) was fain to avail himself, like the crowds, of the shelter of the arcade running along the east side of the temple enclosure, known as Solomon's Porch, from the fragment of the first temple, left standing by Nebuchadnezzar.”
“THE comparative equanimity with which they (the Jews) consider the claim of Jesus to be the Messiah, is changed into fury when they imagine that he claims also equality with God. . . . No incident could more distinctly prove that the claim to be the Messiah was in their judgment one thing, the claim to be divine another thing. . . . In a word, it was a Messiah the Jews looked for, not the Son of God. They looked for one with divine powers, the delegate of God, sent to accomplish his will and to establish his kingdom, the representative among them of the divine presence; but they did not look for a real dwelling of a divine person among them. It is quite certain that the Jews of the second century thought it silly of the Christians to hold that the Christ preexisted from eternity as God, and condescended to be born as man. ‘No Jew would allow,’ says a writer of that time, ‘that any prophet ever said that a Son of God would come; but what the Jews do say is that the Christ of God will come.’ . . . This fact, that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be strictly divine, sheds light on the real ground of accusation against Jesus. So long as it was supposed that he merely claimed to be the promised Christ, and used the title ‘Son of God’ as equivalent to a Messianic title, many of the people admitted his claim and were prepared to own him. But when the Pharisees began to apprehend that he claimed to be the Son of God in a higher sense, they accused him of blasphemy, and on that charge he was condemned. . . . When brought before the sanhedrin, he was first asked, ‘Art thou the Christ?’ . . . He merely says that they themselves will one day own his claim. ‘Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.’ This suggests to them that his claim was to something more than they ordinarily considered to be involved in the claim to Messiahship; and at once they pass to their second question, ‘Art thou the Son of God?’ and on his refusing to disown this title, the high priest rends his clothes, and Jesus is there and then convicted of blasphemy.”—Dods.

3. “My sheep hear [are hearing] my voice, . . . and I give [am giving] unto them eternal life.” “Hear, and your soul shall live!” There is life in the voice of the Son of God. John 5:25. His words are life. John 6:63. “If we would listen to his voice, we must let silence reign in the heart. The clamors of self, its pretensions, its lusts, must be rebuked, and we must put on the robe of humility, and take our place as humble learners in the school of Christ.” What has been implied in the former teaching of Jesus, is now expressly stated: He and the Father are one. He appeals to the Scripture in justification of his claim, in repelling the charge of blasphemy which his statement had called forth. He says in effect: “If men were called gods to whom God's word came—and they are so called in Scripture, which can not be broken—appointing them to their office, may he not rightly be called Son of God who is himself sent to men, whose original and sole destiny it was to come into the world to represent the Father?”

Suggestions for Further Study.

Jesus says of those whom he designates as “My sheep,” “They follow me.” Is any further description necessary?
On what charge had the Jews previously sought to slay Jesus? Is there any essential difference between the two charges?
Did the Jews have legal authority to put any man to death on any charge? In their pretended zeal for God, what were they really doing?
Christ's use of Scripture is worthy of special study. Mark the force of the testimony of its own Author that “the Scripture can not be broken.”
How is life only through Christ taught in this lesson?
What were Christ's credentials from the Father?