“We are not stoning you for any good work,” said they, “but for blasphemy, because you, who are a man, declare yourself to be God” (John 10:33).
Many of the Jewish religious leaders falsely accused Jesus Christ of blasphemy because their hearts were not capable of believing in the true King of the Jews: their own Messiah who was prophesied to come.
Some of those non-believers were puppets of the Roman Empire's officials headquartered in Israel and in Italy.
The inexplicable unbelief displayed by most of the Jewish leadership was a fulfillment of prophesy (Isaiah 53:3-10):
"He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
And as John wrote, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11).
The Jewish chief priests and officers literally accused Christ of blasphemy because, in their words, Jesus was a mere man yet “He declared Himself to be the Son of God,” equating Himself with God (John 10:33; 19:7).
What is Blasphemy?
Blasphemy is “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God.”
Empowered by and representing Satan, the beast of Revelation is one of the biggest blasphemers found in the Holy Bible:
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy (Revelation 13:1; 17:3).
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven (Rev. 13:6).
This is what Jesus had to say about blasphemy:
"And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (MATTHEW 12:32).
Hebrew Israelite Jewish Laws Against Blasphemy
Under Jewish religious law via God’s commandments, blasphemers were worthy of death:
"Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death. the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native. If he blasphemes the name, he must be put to death" (Leviticus 24:16).
Jesus Was Almost Stoned to Death
The Jews sought to stone Jesus to death on multiple occasions but He always escaped.
Remember, Jesus voluntarily laid His life down, no man took His life from Him. He came into the world to die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world by crucifixion, not by stoning (John 1:29; 10:11-18; 12:32-33).
I Have Said, “You Are Gods”
Jesus answered their false accusations by quoting Psalms 82:6, saying “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?'” (John 10:34).
Jesus further told them that if ordinary men unto whom the word of God came were called gods in Scripture, then God appearing in the person of Jesus Christ cannot be guilty of blasphemy for saying He is the Son of God.
The full verse of Psalms 82:6 is "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High."
Conclusion
The dictionary defines blasphemy as something that disrespects or degrades religious concepts or literature - by way of speech, actions, writing, music or art.
Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy because of their unbelief and because some of them were puppets. The Hebrew Israelite's rejection of Jesus as their own true Messiah was prophesied by Isaiah 53:3.
Jesus was even rejected in his hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 13:54-58; Luke 4:16-30).
Still, He continued to teach in synagogues, in the temple and also kept on doing miracles throughout Israel.
After performing many miracles such as raising Lazarus from the dead and healing a man born-blind – both were miracles rarely if ever seen in Israel before Jesus by the way - the Jewish leaders still accused Him of having a devil and of committing blasphemy.
The Gospel of John says that the Jews first “persecuted Jesus and sought to slay Him,” because on the Sabbath, He had healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem.
While the Holy Bible describes thousands of Messianic Jews and non-Jews believing that Jesus was the Messiah, the chief Jewish religious leaders refused to believe in Him as the Son of God.
Yet He will be the one resurrecting the dead in the last days, granting eternal life to His followers and rendering Final Judgment on the unfaithful.
The elite Jews badgered the Roman Empire's governor Pontius Pilate to allow Jesus to be crucified.
However, The Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection are the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the good news that will endure forever.
Long live the Gospel of Jesus!
Other sources: (Mark 6; John 1:12; Hosea 1:10; John 1:11, 5:18; Romans 8:14-16)
Comments