The Messiah Is the Son of God

Notes

1. 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."

2. "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 pre-existed 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 this charge He was condemned. . . . When brought before the Sanhedrim, 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 cannot 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? . . . The idea of the purpose for which Christ was sent into the world, is indicated in the emphatic use of 'the Father.' He was sent to do the works of the Father; to manifest to men the benignity, tenderness, compassion of the Father; to encourage them to believe that the Father, the Source of all life, was in their midst, accessible to them. If Jesus failed to reveal the Father, He had no claim to make."

Suggestions for Further Study.

1. Jesus says of those whom He designates as "My sheep," "They follow Me." Is any further description necessary?

2. On what charge had the Jews previously sought to slay Jesus? Is there any essential difference between the two charges?

3. 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?

4. Christ's use of Scripture is worthy of special study. Mark the force of the testimony of its own Author that "the Scripture cannot be broken."

5. How is life only through Christ taught in this lesson?

6. What were Christ's credentials from the Father?