The Lord had been speaking of Himself as the good Shepherd. He had entered the Jewish sheepfold for this very purpose, that He might lead His sheep out, whilst He had other sheep, “not of this fold,” Gentile sheep, which had never known the bondage of the law. These were to be gathered with those who had been led out, and formed into one flock with one Shepherd.
Here we seem to catch the refrain of the ones of Scripture. John says, “ONE flock, ONE Shepherd.” Paul says, “ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE hope of our calling, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:4-6). John speaks of the Good Shepherd calling His own sheep by name, Paul speaks of the hope of the Christian’s calling. John speaks of one flock composed of sheep from both Jews and Gentiles. Paul speaks of the middle wall of partition being broken down, and how of the twain, Jew and Gentile, one new man was created, so making peace.
When the Lord closed His discourse it was to find that His words had produced a division among His hearers. Some said that He had a devil and was mad, so little could they understand the wonderful words of blessing that flowed from His lips.
Others thought otherwise, and said, “Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”
At this point the sacred narrative goes on to say, “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s Porch” (John 10:22-23). The Bible is not to be read like any other book. It stands by itself. Most books need reading only once, and many it is a waste of time to read at all. The Bible is a life-long study, its meaning never fully grasped, the better understood it is the more interesting it becomes. It is the Book that we need when we first enter the Christian path. It is the Book that is last in the hands of the dying saint.
We read it again and again. Words, that we have read often and thought we had understood, suddenly reveal depths of meaning that we never suspected. The Bible does not turn aside to tell you that this is wonderful and that is wonderful. Human books do. Not so the Scriptures.
When God flung the mighty Himalayas against the sky He did not write a label upon them to tell us that they were majestic. When He swathed the mighty oceans He did not inform us that they were vast. When He wrote the Book of books, the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, He does not need to tell us how wonderful they are. God does not yield His secrets to the superficial and the lazy.
We venture to think that the two verses we have just drawn attention to are an instance of what we have just been saying. We do not think that the verses are intended simply to describe the locality and the time that marked this incident in the Lord’s life. It is not a mere question of geography and chronology. We think the words have a wealth of meaning taken in another sense.
The most wonderful city in the world was Jerusalem. It was the city of the great King. It will yet be the metropolis of the millennial earth. The most wonderful building in it was the Temple. It was the centre of the only religious ritual that had its origin in God’s ordering. One of the most wonderful parts of the building was Solomon’s Porch.
We have the most sacred city, the most sacred building in it, a most wonderful part of that building, the anniversary of the most wonderful moment in the history of that building, that of the dedication when the priests could not stand in the building because the glory of the Lord filled it in an overwhelming fashion.
And now we have the surpassingly wonderful PERSON walking there. Shall we have the priests paying homage to the One greater than the Temple, greater than the sacrifices, greater than the types and shadows? All this that lay before His eye was but the shadow. He was the SUBSTANCE Without Him they would never have been, just as a shadow could not be without the substance that casts it.
And yet He was unknown. He was reviled, called a Samaritan, an outcast, charged with being demon-possessed, no priest to do Him homage. No wonder we have the sentence, “And it was winter.”
Truly it was spiritual winter. Not a leaf on the dead tree of ritualism; the shell had no kernel, the profession had no reality, ordinances were without satisfaction.
It shows how far forms and ceremonies may be made to contribute to the flesh and be utterly unavailing for the purpose for which they were ordained. All was absolute emptiness and sterility.
It was indeed spiritual winter in that system, whose leaders were ready to clamour, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.” All fulness lay in Christ. If any wanted the blessing of Jehovah he had perforce to leave the sacred city and the gorgeous building, and hie him to the One, who was rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Today it is the same thing. Winter comes with its icy blasts wherever truth is held in the mere letter, and not holding the heart of the believer in its grip and in its relation to the Son of God. Oh! that we might be kept in living touch with Him, who said, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).