[19] Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. [20] And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” [21] Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

(Verse 22-24) - This is literally the feast of the renewing or of the renovation. We know it as Hannukah.

It was winter...and so was cold and uncomfortable. This gives us the reason why He went to Solomon's Porch. It was to gain some shelter from the elements. It also gives us a reason why so many others were there as well. Solomon's Porch was a covered area inside the the eastern entrance to the Temple and immediately to the south of the entrance. It stretched all the way to the southeastern corner of the Temple compound.

The Messiah had been predicted to come as a shepherd and Jesus had seemed to apply those predictions to Himself. Many had simply dismissed Him as a kook or a fraud, but there was enough of a controversy to prompt a cry for a ''clear" answer.

This feast was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus, in the year 164 B.C. The temple and city were taken by Antiochus Epiphanes in the year 167 B.C. He killed 40,000 inhabitants, and sold 40,000 more as slaves. In addition to this, he sacrificed a sow on the altar of burnt-offerings, and a broth being made of this, he sprinkled it all over the temple. The city and temple were recovered three years afterward by Judas Maccabaeus, and the temple was purified with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony of purification continued through eight days, during which Judas presented magnificent victims, and celebrated the praise of God with hymns and psalms. “They decked, also, the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold and with shields, and the gates and chambers they renewed and hanged doors upon them:”. On this account it was called the feast of renovation or dedication. Josephus calls it the feast of lights, because the city was illuminated, as expressive of joy. The feast began on the 25th day of Chislev, answering to the fifteenth day of December. The festival continued for eight days, with continued demonstrations of joy.

(Verse 25) - It is not recorded that Christ had told them in so many words. However, He had used expressions that were designed to express the same truth. There is no doubt that this was His intent and little mistake that the Jewish Leaders understood Him to be claiming just that! Everything He did and everything He said testified to the reality of Who He really was.

One of His titles for Himself, ''Son of God", is a phrase taken to be equivalent to declaring Himself the Messiah. He had often used this of Himself in a sense not to be mistaken. The Son is the extension of the Father. He is the Father's heir and shares all that the Father has including the Father's authority, position, and power. This is what Christ was claiming for Himself in all of its glory and implications.

''The works" is a reference to all of the miracles of God done by Christ in all the various physical realms. Desist, by those miracles, demonstrated His power and authority over all realms of human existence. From healing to power over the natural realm Christ showed that the authority of the heavenly Father was His as well. These works all testified to His identity and His commission by the Father. This is backed up by the next phrase: ''In My Father's Name" and speaks of the source of the power and the authority Christ exercised. These miracles spoke reams about Who Jesus was and about His Authority and commission by God.

The conclusion was as inescapable then as it is now. Either Jesus was the. Messiah, or He was, for one reason or another, a fraud.

(Verse 26) - ''You are not of My sheep..." and thus, by implication, not of God's flock either. This, more than anything, was what angered the Pharisees. The implication, actually, the clear statement of Christ, was that their position in the religious hierarchy was illegitimate. There might have been room for coexistence had their been room in His doctrine for them to maintain their power. There was no such room. Christ was very, very clear! They were not of His flock - and thus were not under the blessing of God!

Christ is as much as saying "Except for the stubborn pride in your hearts, and your selfish ambition and intent to wrest the flock of God to your own gain - you would have seen the works I have done and recognized them and me for what is true." The missing of the opportunity to believe (in this case - deliberate rejection) it at the some time one of the most tragic and one of the most frustrating things in spiritual work. It was their own pride and foolish stubborness that kept them in their sin.

The reason people persist in unbelief is never, ultimately a lack of information. We like to think this in our day and age. It is our perception that the reason people persist in bad behavior is that they simply don't really understand the implications or the solution of or for their behavior. While that may be true, it is not the case that when that ignorance is relieved, the steps to resolve the problem are taken. The Leaders had all the information and yet did not believe. The problem was, in Jesus' words, they did not believe because they were not of His sheep. .

(Verse 27) - ''My sheep" speaks of a unique possession of the believer by Christ. They are His in a way that the unredeemed are not. This possession of Christ, this knowing, proceeds, in His own words here, the believing spoken of. Belief is a result of being known by Christ.

There is a relationship between being one of the sheep and hearing Christ's voice. As we have seen, one must belong to Christ in order to believe. Further, one cannot truly hear Christ's voice unless one is already of His flock. Hearing, of course, speaks of more than just perception. It speaks, in this context, of understanding as well. Only those who belong to Christ can not only perceive His voice, but understand what He is saying. They recognize Who it is that is speaking to them and that makes a difference to them with regard to how they respond to what is said.

''I know them" speaks of Christ's personal, intimate and comprehensive knowledge of believers. It is personal in that we are not simply a part of the larger group. Christ's knowledge of us is personal in that we are known individually. It is intimate in that it concerns the particulars of our make-up. He knows all about us! There is no aspect of our being that H does not know. It is comprehensive in that He knows every part of us and He knows it completely.

''They follow Me" speaks of one of the great inevitabilities in the Christian life. Believers follow Christ! There is no such thing as a believer who does not follow after Christ. It is true that some follow to a greater degree than others; but follow Him all do! 

How do those facts apply to my life?:

Why is it that we are not willing to be this definite? How is it that we are so willing to allow people to think what they will? Why is it that we are so willing to compromise and let people think that they are OK when we know that they are not.