John 10:3-33

3 John the baptist was the door keeper who opened the door to the true Shepherd. Many another has come claiming to be Israel's shepherd, but they did not come in God's appointed way.

4 The Eastern shepherd never drives his sheep. He calls them. They will not follow a strange voice.

11 In His humiliation He was the ideal Shepherd defending His sheep. In His exaltation He is the great Shepherd, feeding them (Heb_13:20).

16 The dispersion, outside the land, was reached by Peter (1Pe_1:1), in his two epistles.

22 The Dedications must refer to the rededication of the temple, after three years' profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes, in the days of Judas Maccabeus, for Solomon's temple was dedicated in the seventh month, which was about the autumnal equinox, Zerubbabel's temple was dedicated in the twelfth month, the beginning of spring, but Judas Maccabeus held his dedication for eight days, beginning on the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month-in the midst of winter. Besides, neither Solomon nor Zerubbabel made it an annual celebration. Josephus tells about it in his Antiquities, book XII, chapter 7. He takes his account from the first book of Maccabees, IV, 36-59, and the second book, X,5-8. This festival was not of divine appointment, and mars the great series of seven festivals which are a prophetic forecast of Israel's history. These are in two groups, one of which has been fulfilled, and one still future. The Passover, Unleavened, First fruit, and Pentecost are history now. Trumpets, Propitiation, and Tabernacles will be fulfilled when Israel is again in God's reckoning. After the millennium, which is the antitype of Tabernacles, there will not be a rededication of the temple. On the contrary, the temple and its worship will be superseded by reconciliation where no ritual is needed.

22 The Dedications was a sentimental, human anniversary, which never would have been instituted had the people not been blind to the marvelous meaning of Jehovah's perfect series of festivals. It is usually called the feast of Lights. Such it was to the blind man! But to the

Jews as a nation, this light-human amendment of the law and the ritual-was darkness, and how great was their darkness! If our faith is in man and his works, how futile it is! The many church festivals of today are like the Dedications, without foundation in truth, however they may appeal to religious sentiment. God's festivals were filled with spiritual significance and force, which now demands the non-observance of days and set seasons.