"Hanukkah - Part 2"
How does the celebration of Hanukkah, a festival NOT found in the Old Testament, provide greater insight into biblical themes such as the Messiah? How is Hanukkah handled in the New Testament?
Go to "Hanukkah - Part 2".
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Rejecting the True for the False
Then Jesus gave His pastoral discourse, which goes back to Psalm 23. It has Maccabean allusions to it because they were the true shepherds. Most of the clergy went along with the people
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:5).
Characteristic of John’s Gospel is the frequent reference to the Antichrist more than any of the other apostles, even more than Paul. In his Gospel he deals with Antichrist; in his epistle he refers to the Antichrist (1 John), and in the book of Revelation he fully reveals him. In his Gospel he quotes Jesus’ many references to the man of lawlessness: “If another comes in his own name, him you will believe” (John 5:43). “You are going to reject Me, but you will follow the false Christs,” ultimately, the Antichrist. He will make a treaty with them. He will deceive them.
In any event, John is always alluding to things about the Antichrist. Well, this is a general truth, but it becomes an eschatological truth. “Those who are really Mine, they are going to know the difference between Christ and Antichrist.”
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:1-4).
Somebody will know if something is of Jesus or not. If you believe the Bible, if you have the Holy Spirit, you will know if something hasn’t got it. You’ll know. “My sheep hear My voice.” (Jn. 10:27)
This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them (John 10:6).
A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?” (vs. 19).
Again, if you operate in the Spirit of Jesus and if you minister in His character, those who are willfully blind are going to say that about you.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.