True and false sheep

 John 10v 31-42

Jesus had been walking in the temple in Solomon’s porch, which was the place where most of the teaching was done.  He wasn't actually teaching, he was just walking, and the Jews had encircled Him, surrounding Him, and demanding that He speak to them in plain language-v23-24.  In the event, He did as we have seen, and they didn't like it.  They took up stones to throw at Him, but He escaped out of their sight, for it was not the time. He would submit, when the time came (a few months hence), but not until then.  He simply reasserted the fact that He was the son of God, and the evidence was plain because the works He had done were beyond any human ability.  He had just demonstrated to them that He was who He said He was.  He refers them back to the scriptures in Psalm 82v6 “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 scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world,  thou blasphemest , because I said, I am the Son of God.  If I do not the works of my father, believe me not.  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that ye may know, and believe that the Father is in me and I in Him.  This was a searing condemnation and Jesus left immediately for He will not debate with those who don't want to hear Him.

The rulers of Israel have challenged His integrity and rejected His word.  Jesus wanted to separate from them as far as he could possibly go, so He went away again beyond Jordan to the place where John at first baptised, and there he appeared. This is a few months before he would return to Jerusalem, which would lead to the crucifixion.  Facing, shortly, the end of His public commission, He retreats to the beginning of it all, where John baptised beyond Jordan.  What thoughts must this have evoked within Him?

Ø John was preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Jesus had no sins of his own but He identified Himself with the repentant people of Israel-a place of renunciation.

Ø It was there, the Spirit of God came in bodily shape like unto a dove and rested upon Him-a place of repose.

Ø It was there, the voice of the Father's approval was heard from heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”-a place of recognition.

Where better to retreat, to refocus on the task ahead, but to rest in the Father’s approval, and to proceed in the Spirit’s power?

It was here, for the few months before the cross, He was able to rest.  It was also here many resorted to Him, and many believed in Him.  The people who came gave the greatest commendation of John the Baptist ever given by men, “John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were true.”

In contrast to the rejection in Jerusalem, the scene ends with the happier note “…and many believed on him there.”