What is your take on John referring to unrepentant Jews as "the synagogue of Satan"?
Joseph , isreals Youngest and 12th sons dream
“And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and,
behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.”
Genesis 37:9 KJV
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:”
Revelation 12:1 KJV
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold
a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And his tail drew
the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for
to devour her child as soon as it was born.”
Revelation 12:3-4 KJV
…..And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee
into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word:
for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
Matthew 2:7-13 KJV
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Ezekiel 18:4 KJV
“Being
forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
And
the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
And
Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and
said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
And
Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation,
he departed from him for a season.”
Luke 4:2-13 KJV
“And
all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
And he said unto them,
I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for
therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.”
Luke 4:28-30, 43-44 KJV
“After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because
the Jews sought to kill him.”
John 7:1 KJV
“And
they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
Mark 3:2,
“And as he said these things unto them, the
scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.”
Luke 11:53-54 KJV
“They say unto him, Master,
this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now
Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”
John 8:4-6 KJV
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that
after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Then
assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.”
Matthew 26:1-4 KJV
“Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called
the Passover.
And
the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and
communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.”
Luke 22:1-5
“And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.”
John 19:19-21 KJV
The Jews who are defined by full dedication to Moses law , rejected the messiah and his word at every point, and constantly looked for ways to accuse and condemn him.
“But
last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son,
they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh,
what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will
let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus saith unto them,
Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Therefore say I unto you,
The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
Matthew 21:37-43
They the Jews who rejected Jesus like the Gentiles that do the same later were unwittingly serving Satan the dragon the whole time , trying to tempt Jesus and find some sin some way to stop this from happening he was trying to destroy the messiah before this could be
“And she brought forth
a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
Revelation 12:5
but he and they failed because they didn’t drop the messiah from taking his place at the throne
“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,
he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.”
Mark 16:19 KJV
Fulfilling all the prophets had said of Christ being born as a son of man , being anointed with the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel , to offer repentance his true judgement and salvation his promises to believers . Him dying for sins , and after being raised up to eternal life and seated at Gods right hand in heaven
Satan was working hard to stop the plan of salvation that depended on Jesus being without sin or accusation never transgressing Gods word in him.
he tried when He was born to destroy him , tried after he was anointed with the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel , tried to tempt him to transgress. Tried throughout the gospel to trip him up in his words , accuse him by the law somehow , provoke him to somehow provide a way to kill him by the law
then tried to break him by the suffering of the cross but Jesus was unbreakable our messiah and savior and became everything God said was to
Come In the prophets and law Satan wanted Jesus mission to fail because it’s our salvation