John 10:22-23 reads, “At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.”

If we’re not observant, we can just read right over that verse and subsequently we can miss a tremendous amount of historical significance the depth of which, surely did not escape Jesus.

The festival underway was commemorating the Feast of Dedication—also known as the Feast of Lights. It was a celebration of the time of 167 b.c. and the Maccabaen victory in taking the temple back over and cleansing it.

And now Jesus stood in this temple and and most likely reflected about all of the war that had been fought over it.

While others were celebrating, the mood of Jesus was no doubt sullen. He was standing in the Porticos of Solomon—a porch that looked out over the Kidron valley and the path that he would soon be taking as he headed toward the long walk of the via-dolorosa, the cross awaiting him at its end.

No doubt Jesus was thinking of the long history of this temple complex. The time it was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and then the Babylonians in 586.

As he reflected on the feast at hand, no doubt he was thinking about how the Maccabean revolt, against innumerable odds, was a great testimony of faith, but how it also was a futile effort to reunite Israel with her God. Nothing could accomplish this outside of Jesus giving himself his own blood.

When Jerusalem was destroyed throughout its history, God warned, the people failed to listen, God invoked his judgment—those who were not destroyed were deported into a lifetime of slavery and hard labor.

Within this generation of Jesus, once again the temple would be destroyed, people would suffer, the nation would fall. But this time, God had a different plan that outweighed the outward judgment of a city.

The Jews, pressing Jesus to give them an answer as to whether he was the Messiah or not, were about to hear words that only later would they come to appreciate.

In John 10:27-28, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Unlike the temple wars of the ages, this time Jesus knew that the Father had a plan that once-for-all would establish a kingdom that could never be conquered; an eternal kingdom for an eternal realm.

This is why Jesus goes on to say, “What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.” Jesus knew that he was entrusted with a mission on behalf of a humanity captive to the ways of Adam, the first covenant father. Humanity was bound to a world in need of change so that they could change.

How certain was Jesus that he could bring all of this about? We hear the confirmation as he boldly speaks the words, “The Father and I are one.”

Nothing less than the will of God would produce a sinless kingdom whose walls could never again be breeched, whose city could never again be burned, whose people could never again be captivated by anything other than the infinite and unconditional love of God.

Yes, there was a lot of things on the mind of Jesus on this cold winter dayand with just a little bit of reflection on our part, we can see a key piece in the Greatest Story Ever Told.

The "Presence Today" show premiered a year ago and quickly became the leading weekly broadcast of the fulfilled prophecy world. Shows are archived, so viewers can watch them anytime. See full story and instructions.

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The Gospel of John, Pt 14, Apr 28, 2004

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