John 10:31-38, Scripture Cannot Be Broken

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" 33 The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." 34 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." 

Never has the situation surrounding Jesus been so hostile. His detractors are ready to execute him for blasphemy, claiming to be God. Leviticus 24: 16 reads, “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.” By stating, “I and the Father are one,” Jesus has stepped over the line of blasphemy. For the Jews, their tight monotheistic understanding of God and their interpretation of Scripture is clear. An execution is in order. However, unlike the original sin of Adam, a mere man who aspired to become like God, Jesus has renounced equality with God, not seeing his own glory but the glory of the father. Jesus presents a face of God they do not know, appearing as the Son of the Father in a richness of internal being. God is not an undifferentiated monad but the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus God discloses his comprehensive richness to his people, whose leaders reject this fuller revelation. 

In response to his accusers, Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, which refers to divinely appointed leaders as “gods.” He is making the case that if mere men of the Old Testament can be called uncapitalized “gods”, then how much more appropriate that he, who has been set apart (dedicated and consecrated) by God and sent into the world (as the Word made flesh), should be called “the Son of God.” The word translated “set apart” in Greek comes from the root “to dedicate” and Jesus is teaching at the Feast of Dedication, as we discussed a few days ago. This feast celebrated the rededication of the temple and the return of the living God. God dedicated Jesus before all eternity to be the meeting place between God and man. Jesus fulfills this feast because he is the true temple of God where God and man meet face to face. That is why Jesus never rebuffs his disciples or anyone else when they worship him. 

Jesus proves through the Scriptures that he is who God said he would be. He presents God’s Word as trustworthy and true. J. C. Ryle wrote, “Wherever the Scripture speaks plainly on any subject, there can be no question about it. The case is settled and decided. Every jot and tittle of Scripture is true and must be received as conclusive.” This is Jesus’ point to his detractors and is a truth still ringing out today. Do we accept God’s Word as trustworthy and true? Or do we doubt it like Adam and Eve – or even worse, try to stone the living God himself because we fail to comprehend the clarity of the divine voice? 

Ask the Lord to help you hear his voice clearly today.