THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part XXVII: Trusting In Christ For His Illuminating Effect On Even Unbelievers Who Rejected Him

(John 10:19-21)

I. Introduction

A. John wrote in John 1:11 that when Jesus came unto His people Israel, they as a whole did not believe in Him.

B. However, in writing about those who failed to trust in Him in John 10:19-21, there is an effect Jesus had even on those who rejected Him, which effect is very illuminating to us, and it serves to give evidence Jesus' credibility as Messiah and God, and instructs us relative to discerning godly from ungodly messengers today:

II. Trusting In Christ For His Illuminating Effect On Even Unbelievers Who Rejected Him, John 10:19-21.

A. Immediately following Jesus' great John 10:1-18 discourse on the Good Shepherd, John 10:19-21 reports on the response of the unbelieving crowd to Christ's delivery of that discourse.

B. Specifically, Jesus' hearers were divided over His credibility due to that discourse, John 10:19: (1) many of the hearers in a first group felt He had a "devil," that is, a "demon, evil spirit" (daimon, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 168) and was thus "mad," or "out of [His] mind" (mainomai, Ibid., p. 487), so they asked why anyone listened to His teaching, John 10:20. However, (2) those in a second group of hearers said, "These are not the words of him that hath a devil," John 10:21a. They asked a rhetorical question that expects a negative answer [using the subjunctive negative adverb me with the indicative mood of the verb dunamai (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 367; The Analy. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 108; J. Gresham Machan, N. T. Greek for Beginners, 1951, p. 197] to the first group, and we paraphrase their rhetorical question to reflect its thrust as follows: "Certainly, a demon can not open the eyes of the blind, now, can he?" (John 10:21b)

C. For a crowd that still did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah and God, their response testifies of their darkness:

1. The second group of unbelieving hearers nevertheless RESISTED the first group's view that was held by many (polus, John 10:20a; Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 694-696), the view that Jesus had a demon and was insane, and this second group so resisted this negative charge by the first group because of their stated reason that He had miraculously healed a blind man, John 10:21b!

2. Then, this second group's rhetorical question that expected a negative answer went unchallenged by the first group, meaning no one present could deny that Jesus had healed a blind man, and, in the context, a man who was born blind, what had not occurred since creation, John 9:1-41 with 9:31-33 and 10:1-18!

3. Also, and most remarkably, the crowd contained Pharisees (cf. John 9:13, 16, 40) whose theology even Jesus Himself condoned as generally correct (Matthew 23:1-3), men who held most of all to the divine authority of the Old Testament Scriptures (Z. P. E. B., v. Four, p. 747), and at Isaiah 35:4-6 they foretold that when God visited Israel, one of the miracles that would occur would be the healing of the blind. Thus, for both groups of unbelieving Hebrews, some of whom were even usually theologically conservative Pharisees, to admit that Jesus had healed a man born blind and still not acknowledge that He was at least a Messenger of God in line with Isaiah 35:4-6 is evidence of enormous spiritual blindness in both groups!

D. In the midst of all this, the Apostle John's burden was to record information that would lead the reader to hold that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, that thus believing they would be saved, John 20:31. Thus, John simply recorded his John 10:19-21 response of the unbelieving crowd, and left that response itself to speak volumes as to the credibility of the fact that Jesus had undeniably healed a man born blind, something everyone present assumed had never happened since creation, which miracle aligned with the Isaiah 35:4-6 prophecy on the sign of One present Who was at least a true Messenger from God! This crowd's response is great evidence of Jesus' credibility, for it involved the actions of people who did not even believe in Him!

Lesson: Due to the way the unbelieving listeners were divided over Jesus' Good Shepherd discourse and the power by which He had undeniably healed a man born blind, and that regardless if some present knew Isaiah 35:4-6 taught this event signaled the presence of God's true Messenger, Israel had no excuse for rejecting Jesus Christ.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Messiah and the Son of God to be saved, John 20:31. (2) To test a spiritual teacher's credibility today, may we rely on Scripture. (3) In doing so, may we recall that the truth about a teacher is not necessarily reflected in the opinion of the majority or even in the opinion of those who are usually considered to be theologically conservative, for in Jesus' case, the majority erred, and among them where reputably theologically conservative Pharisees! We must heed Scripture as our ULTIMATE source of REALITY!