John chapter 10 - Futility of human leaders

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

Isaiah 55:8   For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

:9   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Humans do not understand God's thinking.

God thinks in terms of the needs of individual persons as well as in terms of His Great Plan for the seven church ages.

We humans can see our own needs but not what is needed to fulfill God's final plan for all the church ages.

So for a group of people to accept one man as their leader, when that human leader also does not understand God's plan for these final confused days, is a rather pointless preparation for the Coming of the Lord.

Each individual needs to seek God's guidance and understanding of Scripture for themselves.

No human leader knows what God's will is for another human being. Each human being can only find that out for themselves. Only God can teach each individual that mystery.

The Pharisees claimed to be the shepherds of Israel. But ...

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The only true Shepherd is God, not man.

The supernatural power of Jesus made Him the obvious Shepherd of Israel. But the Pharisees vehemently rejected this challenge to their authority and their income. They had no concern for the spiritual welfare of the Jews. They did not check to see the Scriptures that Jesus fulfilled. Ruling the Jews was to their personal benefit. Raking in the money made them hireling shepherds.

They established a religious system under the tight control of a human leader. There was no room left for individuals to be led by God’s Spirit. Human traditions replaced the Scriptures.

John 10:1   Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

The Jewish leaders robbed the Jews of their right to know God. They did not preach from the Scripture, but from their own ideas and interpretations. Their deception fooled the people into following the Jewish leaders. This took their eyes off the Scriptures.

Daniel 11:14   … also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.

Religious leaders love to exalt their own importance by claiming to guide people to be ready for the coming of the Lord. By exalting their own self-importance, they get the people to focus on the leaders instead of focusing on Jesus and the written Scriptures.

The people are then robbed of a deep personal relationship with Jesus as they fear and obey religious leaders' opinions.

Today, most Christians seek "safety" in the approval of their church leader. Having been taught to admire and follow the church leader, the people tend to become complacent churchgoers, even though there is much of the Bible that they do not understand.

They do not consider ignorance of the Bible to be a problem, because they have an illusion that their safety lies in "going to church" regularly. The church leaders do not understand many of the Scriptures themselves and are content to ignore or change or contradict Scripture when it suits them.

"Going to church" is an unscriptural expression.

But when the Lord did come to the Jews, these very religious leaders rejected Him and stopped the people from following Jesus. History will repeat itself in our day as we prepare for the second coming of the Lord.

There is only one door to Heaven, and that is the written Bible. Whatever we do and believe must be based on linking up written Scriptures to prove our beliefs.

Isaiah 28:10   For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

The truth is established by linking up the Scriptures in different parts of the Bible that refer to a specific topic. Your revelation is only correct if there are no Scriptures that contradict your idea.

Acts 14:27   And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

Romans 10:17   So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith comes from Scripture.

This is the door that we must go through to make Heaven.

John 10:2   But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Jesus was fulfilling Scripture. That was the true Door of faith.

A preacher has to preach from Scripture as his ministry is to point the people to Scripture.

We must believe something only because the Bible says so, not because a man says so. That way, we are following Jesus, because He is the Word.

God had promised that He would do something unusual when He opened blind eyes.

He was not going to work in the Jewish religious system that had been taken over by man-made doctrines.

Isaiah 42:16   And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

:18    Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

That is why we cannot follow human leaders. God thinks differently to us, and human leaders do not know how God thinks. So each one of us needs personal guidance and leading from God.

Isaiah 55:8   For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

So no man can lead you. A man can advise you, but cannot tell you what God’s plan in your life is. All we can do is inform each other about Bible truth so that we can get our facts straight. Then it is up to you to let God lead you.

Humans, unfortunately, prefer to follow the herd. A herd-instinct means we do not have to think for ourselves. We just become second-hand Christians as we copy others' example and strive to be like them instead of being ourselves.

If you follow Jesus, you remain an individual, because there is nobody between you and Him.

Man cannot open the door of faith so that people can see spiritual insight. Nor can humans open blind eyes. Why?

There is a Porter who is the only one who can open the door. That Porter is God. And God only listens to Scripture.

John 10:3   To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

God speaks to us through the Bible.

53-0609 DEMONOLOGY  RELIGIOUS  REALM

God's Word speaks, and that's direct the Voice of God, like the Urim Thummim was before the Bible was written.

61-0108 REVELATION  CHAPTER  FOUR.3

"My sheep know My Voice." And the Voice of God is His Word.

62-0121  AND  THY  SEED  SHALL  POSSESS  THE  GATE  OF  HIS  ENEMY

Stay with the Word, that Voice of God that speaks to you.

63-0630   THE  THIRD  EXODUS

Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God calling to you in this day.

By opening blind eyes, Jesus was showing that when He spoke, God the Porter listened and opened the door to natural sight. This proved that He could also get God to open the door to give a person a deeper spiritual insight of Scriptural truth.

Jesus knows each believer personally.

Jesus does not save a church. He saves individuals. Each person must have a deep personal relationship with Him. Each person must be led and guided by His Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit of Christ leads, He "leadeth them out" of the church and its group-think ideas and traditions.

The Person of Jesus Christ is the magnet that attracts a believer. No church, no preacher, must come between Jesus and the believer.

The Bible must be the sole authority for what is true. The Bible must be our Absolute.

Today, "churchianity" and church-goers have replaced Christianity.  There is a growing lack of conviction about believing everything that is in the Bible.

John 10:4     And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

The "voice of God" is the Bible. The Bible tells us what to do and what to believe. Basically, the Bible is Jesus speaking to us.

2 Timothy 3:16   All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Doctrine is the basis for authority.

Mark 1:22   And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

Reproof tells us what we have done wrong. Correction straightens out our wrong beliefs.

The Bible has the information that we need to be righteous. So the Bible is a complete package. We dare not add anything, change anything, or remove anything from what is written.

"The sheep follow Him".

The sheep do not follow the church leader. The sheep disagree with church opinions and traditions.

The sheep are individuals that have been led out of the church by Jesus so that they can just follow Him through the pages of the written Word.

John 10:5   And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

If you do not speak from Scripture, true believers will flee from you.

Hosea 7:14   And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

Wine is the stimulation of revelation.

But their revelation of the Word (the corn) is to change Scripture, ignore Scripture, and contradict Scripture in places. People gather together in a church to develop beliefs of their own, rather than to be Scriptural. Eventually, they reject those who want to be Scriptural. Gathering together then simply confirms them in their unbelief.

A true believer flees as soon as the pastor says something unscriptural.

Follow-my-leader is a denominational habit that is a long-term disaster. That means you are putting a man between you and God. That is wrong. Your focus should be directly on Jesus and the Bible.

In the Old Testament, nobody was above the priest except the high priest.

In the New Testament, every believer is a priest.

1 Peter 2:9   But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;

As a priest, the only person above you is the High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 6:20   … even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Thus there is no person above the believer except Jesus.

We must only believe in the Bible. Every preacher should only preach from Scripture.

Trying to get people to follow a preacher has resulted in more than 45 000 different denominations forming.

Each pastor strives to make his church in his own image.

This eventually ends up as an image of the Roman Catholic beast, which began to have one man dominate the church as the church's head. This is an efficient way of making a religious system. But very few of the Catholic beliefs can be proven from Scripture.

Many of the beliefs of non-Catholic churches also cannot be proven from Scripture.

But a Bible-believer does not show interest in these man-made ideas, nor does he want to follow them.

On Judgement Day, we will be judged only by Scripture, not by what some man said.

John 10:6   This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

The Jews had no idea of what it meant to be Scriptural and to be led by the Holy Spirit of Christ.

Today there are still many Scriptures that the church-goers do not understand.

Ignoring the Scriptures that are not understood has become quite acceptable, just like the Jews ignored what Jesus said because they did not understand him. The Jews did not realize that God was trying to lead individuals out of the religious systems that professed to serve God. But instead of serving God, these systems actually emphasized exalting the human leaders so that the people came to be subject to these religious leaders.

Jesus has the same problems with the church today as He had with the Jews 2000 years ago. All these things happened as a warning not just to the Jews of that time, but also to warn the "church members" (an unscriptural term) of today.

John 10:7   Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

"Ten" and "seven" are significant numbers. They represent the day of atonement.

Leviticus 16:29   And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

:30     For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

Jesus has to be emphasized as the only One Who can make atonement for our sins.

Revelation 1:6   and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

The trumpet of the jubilee was sounded to set the people free from bondage to another person.

Leviticus 25:9   Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

:10    And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:

Jesus came to bring salvation from sin to be free to follow Him without being led by human beings. Men can advise us and inform us, but they cannot expect us to follow them. A preacher should point people to Jesus, the Word, and be careful not to replace Jesus. Pastors who want people to follow them have totally missed their calling.

John 10:8   All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

Preachers must only preach what they can establish in the Bible. Any disagreement with the Bible is a false belief.

We cling to the ignorance of our chosen church.   We end up with diminished expectations, as we do not expect to understand the whole Bible because our church leader does not. And so people bend reality to fit their perceptions.

Genuine believers reject all ideas that are not established on the written Word.

John 10:9   I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

In and out are two opposites.

If we take a problem into our prayer closet, it comes out as a strength and an advantage.

Sorrow wears a dark robe at the beginning but then emerges to produce a soft and considerate heart.

Sorrow is the knife that cuts out the cup that holds our joy.

Jesus is the Door. We must first go in through the Door and have a personal revelation and experience with Him so that the Scripture dominates our thinking.  We must follow Jesus by following our beliefs through the different verses of the Bible. Self-will becomes empty and insignificant. Then we go out through the Door to emphasize Jesus and the Scripture to the people outside.

We go in to decrease, and then come out to focus on His increase. The emphasis is not on the church or the church leader. The emphasis must be on Jesus.

The preacher cannot pass through the Door that is Jesus without regarding the Bible as his Absolute and without having an attitude of self-sacrifice.

No man can lead the sheep. He can only point the sheep towards the Word of God, which is Jesus.

John 10:10   The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Believing Scripture is the key to receiving the Holy Spirit, which is eternal life.

Believing anything that is unscriptural only leads to death.

John 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

The Holy Spirit reveals the truth that is hidden in the verses of the Bible.

Anything different to Scripture is simply death dressed-up in some disguise.

John 10:11   I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Only Jesus is the good shepherd. No other man. Jesus proved this point by dying for the people.

John 10:12   But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

But hireling preachers are mainly out for personal gain. When trouble comes, they flee for safety. Preaching is a profession for which they demand a suitable payment. It is not a calling. When things get dangerous then they depart. The welfare of the sheep is not their main concern.

JOHN 10:13   The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

A hireling sells his talents to the highest bidder. A hireling moves from poorer to richer pastures; from more dangerous areas to safer and more comfortable areas.

They see themselves as superior to the sheep who exist only to serve them. Sadly, they are just ambitious nobodies.

Other than the seventh messenger, the Bible is highly critical of everyone else in our last church age.

Matthew 23:13   But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

The religious leaders stopped the people from going through the Door of the written Word. They dismissed the Scriptures that they did not understand as irrelevant.

Church preachers today reject the revelation of the written Word that disagrees with their own ideas and then bind the people to themselves so that the people will not find the truth.

John 10:14   I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

There is only one good Shepherd, Jesus. He knows the individuals who regard the Bible as their "absolute". Jesus alone knows what God's will is for each individual. In turn, those individuals get their inspiration from the written Word, not from any church leader's ideas and opinions.

They only recognize as truth the statements that are written in the Bible.

Church leaders are supposed to point people to the Scripture, not to their own opinions.

JOHN 10:15   As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Jesus, as the Son of God, knows God the Father Who indwells Him. God, the Father, directs the activities of the Man Jesus.

Jesus saw the danger coming and then met this violent attack head-on at Calvary. He refused to run away from the dangers of the cross. The death sentence for sin that should have struck down His sheep, He took upon Himself. Instead of running away from danger, He saved His sheep from the danger by sacrificing Himself.

Colossians 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus is God showing Himself as a Man.

John 10:16   And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

This is a very deep verse. It means that what Jesus is doing to face His day's problems will also apply to us in the future during the 2000 years of church history. In each of the seven church ages, Jesus will lead his people to follow the revealed truth for that age. Following a man in any age would be pointless because that man would not be available in the other church ages. Thus all the preachers were actually sent to point the people to Jesus, as He alone would be available in all the church ages.

If the Christians in each age followed Jesus in a personal experience, then that would be a unifying feature that would unite all the church ages with their different circumstances.

Following Jesus means you believe what has been revealed in the Bible.

John 10:17   Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

The willingness of Jesus to suffer and die for the cause impressed God, Who dwelled within Him.

A seed has to die and be buried in the soil before it can germinate into life. As the Seed of Eternal Life, Jesus had to die and be resurrected before He could extend eternal life towards the believers in the seven church ages.

John 10:18   No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Cruel circumstances did not kill Jesus. He chose to lay down His life to die for our sins. He also chose to rise from the dead, even though the Romans had sealed His tomb and guarded it.

Psalm 16:10   For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

God had written this promise into the Bible as a prophecy.

Thus Jesus knew he could not spend more than three days in the tomb. (After being dead for three days, corruption sets in).

Our ability to fulfill Scripture is our only real guarantee that God is with us.

John 10:19   There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.

The Jews were divided. Some were dedicated to the Pharisees and were only interested in condemning Jesus.

Others were very impressed with the miracles and preaching of Jesus. No other man could be compared to Him.

John 10:20   And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

The Jewish religious leaders used an instinctive approach to someone who could outperform them. They simply accused Jesus of being a devil. They could not tolerate the fact that Jesus disagreed with the church leadership.

But their accusations revealed their own deficiencies.

Romans 2:1    Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Thus the Jewish leaders were guilty of what they accused Jesus of. Rejecting the Word for their day revealed the Devil that was in them.

They followed Cain’s murderous example as their only desire was to kill Jesus.

John 10:21   Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

Those Jews who were not intimidated by the religious leaders pointed out the obvious fact that if upright men could not make the blind see, then the Devil couldn't do this.

Would the Devil, whose only interest is to inflict suffering, want to remove suffering from somebody by healing him?

John 10:22   And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

The annual feast celebrated for eight days beginning in the 25th of Chislev (middle of our December), instituted by Judas Maccabaeus  in  164 B.C. in memory of the cleansing of the Temple from the pollution of the Greek leader of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes.

This feast was not Scriptural. It was not part of the Old Testament writings.

Judas Maccabeus was a political leader. His ideas were accepted as though they came from God, but God had said no such thing. God had stopped speaking to Israel around 397 BC when their last prophet, Malachi, spoke to them.

Doctor Scofield provided this date.

This feast was introduced when the Jews were busy backsliding away from God.

It was a preview of the unscriptural winter "Christmas" feast that the Roman Catholic church introduced on 25 December around AD 350. The Bible never asked us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This was part of the unscriptural beliefs that the Roman Catholics were introducing into the church. A bishop was first put in charge of a church soon after the year AD 100  in Antioch. This idea rapidly spread to the other churches. Then God was turned into a philosophical "Trinity" that completely defied understanding.

Unscriptural phrases like "God the Son", "God the Holy Ghost", "Second Person of the Godhead", and "One-God-in-three-Persons" became the belief of the church after the Nicaean Council of 325 AD.

Eventually, by AD 606, the Roman Bishop would claim supremacy over all the Bishops.

But Jesus knew that the future church would introduce beliefs that were not written in Scripture. That way, the people took their eyes off the Bible (which is Jesus in Word form) and preferred to follow the church leaders' ideas. Human leadership would take the church into the Dark Ages.

John 10:23   And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

This diagram shows the Temple in red, surrounded by the Priest's Court. Then there was the Court of Israel where the Jewish men stood. Then the Court of the Jewish women.

Then there was an inner Court that Gentiles had to stay out of. Then the Gentile's Court was outside the inner Court. Solomon’s porch was the outermost section that surrounded the main Temple building. It was outside the actual Temple building and the Court of the Gentiles but still within the High Wall that surrounded the Temple complex.

Thus Jesus, as the Word, was not actually in the main Temple building itself. He was as far removed from the Temple building as He could be, yet still inside the High Wall surrounding the Temple buildings.

This symbolized how the Jewish religious leaders rejected the Word of God (which is Jesus) and pushed Him as far away from themselves as possible. Yet He was their Messiah, so they could not get rid of Him, which is what they wanted to do.

Another symbol was the winter feast of the dedication of the Temple that was not actually part of the original Old Testament belief. God's Word was being pushed aside as human leaders added their extra bits to God’s Word.

The Word was being pushed aside as man-made commandments took precedence.

Jesus, being the Word, was walking in the outer porch of the Temple. When He died at Calvary, God tore up the Temple veil as proof that God had finally left the Temple completely.

John 10:24   Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

They wanted Jesus to say that He was the Messiah. Then they could kill Him for "blasphemy". They were too blind to see the Scriptures that He fulfilled.

They were also too obsessed with political freedom from Rome. They wanted a Messiah Who could lead an army against the Romans. Mixing religion and politics always breeds out errors.

But many common people were impressed with His miracles. The religious leaders, however, were too worried about losing their personal importance. They had a comfortable lifestyle in this man-made religious system and thus had much to lose. Self-sacrifice was not to their liking.

John 10:25   Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

Jesus performed about 42 miracles during His ministry. The religious leaders performed none. Yet they were unable to believe. Only the Messiah could perform those miracles. But if they accepted Him as Messiah, they would lose their exalted positions and lucrative pay packets.

John 10:26   But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Jesus is blunt. His sheep recognize Scripture when it is fulfilled.

John 10:27   My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

His sheep know that Jesus is fulfilling Old Testament prophecies. He knows His people personally and knows what God's will is for every individual.  His sheep follow Him because He is the only Man who actually does what the Scripture said that Messiah would do.

John 10:28   And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

If you give your life to Jesus, nobody can remove you from His safe-keeping. The Devil may knock you down, but he cannot keep you down.

Difficulties make a believer grow up, not give up.

Looking past the short term pain, they see the long term benefit.

Their motto is that "the purpose of your difficulty is to shape you the way God wants you".

Dying in this world is no big issue because following Jesus simply means that the Door opens for you to move into Heaven.

John 10:29   My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Following Jesus produces a mindset where every storm is a school, every trial a teacher, and every experience is an education.

Every difficulty is for your development as God’s purpose is greater than your pain.

Jesus has the power of God on His side. God is greater than any person, any spirit, or any devil. Thus nobody can be removed from the hand of God.

John 10:30   I and my Father are one.

Jesus is the Man on the outside. God is the Spirit on the inside.

In Jesus, we have the merging of the natural and the supernatural.

Colossians 2:9    For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus and God are the same Person. God became a Man and was called Emmanuel.

John 10:31   Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Facing their Messiah in the flesh was too much for these Jews. They preferred to kill Him. Then they could keep their exalted positions in society. Coming face-to-face with the Word of God makes religious leaders reject the truth.

John 10:32   Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

The Spirit of God that was inside Jesus had done many amazing miracles. Healing had occurred on many occasions when big numbers of people had been sick or possessed of evil spirits. Which great healing miracle was worthy of a death sentence?

John 10:33   The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Now the Jews showed their demonic hatred. Messiah would be God in the form of a Man. But any Man who called himself God they would kill for blasphemy. Thus they would end up killing their Messiah.

John 10:34   Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

Psalm 82:6   I have said, Ye are gods;

Isaiah 41:23   Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods:

The prophets, who foretold the future, were called gods.

John 10:35   If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Jesus had lived a life more holy than any other prophet. He had performed miracles that no other prophet had done, like walking on water and feeding  5000 men with a boy’s lunch.

John 10:36   Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

As a Man, the only way Jesus could do those miracles was to have the Spirit of God dwelling in Him.

John 10:37   If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

If Jesus was unable to perform God's supernatural works, then they did not need to believe in Him.

John 10:38   But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Even if they did not like Jesus, common sense should have revealed to them that only God could perform those miracles.

The Spirit of God was in Jesus. And Jesus was in the Word of God because He fulfilled the Scriptures that spoke of the Messiah.

John 10:39   Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

In a moment of madness, they sought to arrest Him. But they were dealing with a Man from a higher dimension. He could move through realms that they knew nothing about.

By disappearing into a higher spiritual dimension, Jesus again displayed the power of God that was in Him.

John 10:40   And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.

That place was Bethabara on the eastern side of Jordan.

John 1:28   These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Jordan is the river that runs into the Dead Sea. Jesus was preparing for His death. At the end of His ministry, He came back to where He had been baptized at the beginning.

He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.

This diagram shows the River Jordan running through the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea.

Bethabara is the "place of the crossing" of the river Jordan. This was where Joshua did his famous crossing of the River Jordan when he entered the Promised Land.

So John the Baptist baptized here because He knew that the Law of the Old Testament would "cross over" into the Grace of the New Testament when Messiah arrived.

Moses represented the Law. He handed over to Joshua, who represented the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came back to this place because the time had now come when the Crossing over from the Jews to the Gentiles would occur on the Cross at Calvary. This would happen because the Jews were about to finally reject and kill Jesus, Who was their Messiah.

John 10:41   And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.

Miracles should have convinced everyone that Jesus was the Messiah.

But some believed because of John's testimony, and John himself had performed no miracles. The ability to believe in the absence of miracles is a true test of faith.

John 20:29    Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

But the Jewish religious leaders who saw miracles and did not believe show the depth of unbelief that religious leaders can sink to.

John 10:42   And many believed on him there.

There is no record that Jesus performed any miracles at Bethabara. Yet many were able to believe on Him there. Far away from the poisoned atmosphere of the religious leaders in the headquarters at  Jerusalem, many Jews were able to believe in Jesus.

This merely established that their religious leaders were more of a stumbling block than a help.

And history repeats itself.