The feast of the dedication was not one of the three feasts ordained by God, but a feast instituted by man, to commemorate the purification of the temple after Antiochus Epiphanes, a heathen king, had defiled it by idols. This feast, however, was observed by Jesus; hence we may conclude that he does not disapprove setting apart days for the remembrance of special mercies.
As it was winter, the Lord taught in a part of the court of the temple that was covered in and sheltered from the weather. His enemies came to him, pretending to desire to know the truth—"If you be the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus, however, knew their malicious design. He knew they sought to accuse him of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin. The answer that he made was not that which they expected, for he told them first, not who he was, but what they were. He said, "You are not of my sheep." He did not tell them plainly that they were the thieves, the strangers, and the hirelings, described in the parable; but he did tell them plainly, that they were not the sheep.
Christ knows his own sheep; the world cannot distinguish them from wolves in sheep's clothing, but it is enough, if their shepherd knows they belong to Him. However the flock may be scattered, not one of them shall ever be lost. Jesus knew that great efforts would be made to steal, and kill, and destroy them, but that all these efforts would be vain. He promised, "They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." The Pharisees had sought to pluck the poor man, born blind, out of his shepherd's hand—to arguments and threatenings they had added insults and injuries; but he had refused to hear their voice, or to follow them.
Do we belong to the little flock? then Satan will seek to pluck us out of the Savior's hand. We know not in what manner he will seek to separate us from our shepherd, for Satan has many devices. In the histories of the saints recorded in the word of God, we find instances of his temptations. Satan attempted to induce Job to forsake his shepherd by severe afflictions—he endeavored to drive away Peter by the fear of man, and to allure Moses by the riches of Egypt; but he never succeeded in plucking one sheep out of the shepherd's hands,—and he never will. In the last prayer Jesus offered up in the presence of his disciples, He said of them, "These that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition." Judas was not one of Christ's sheep; if he had been one of them, he could not have been destroyed by Satan's power.
And why can neither man nor angel destroy one of the sheep? Because their shepherd is God. Jesus is the shepherd, and the Father is the shepherd, and yet there is one shepherd; for Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." The shepherd who gave his life for the sheep is He whom Israel worshiped in days of old, saying, "It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
The glorious Creator is that tender shepherd who carries the lambs in his arms, and gathers them in his bosom.
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