It is probable, that, after this, Jesus returned to Capernaum in Galilee. Two months passed, during which he was undoubtedly active in his mission; but we have no record whatever of any thing which he said or did. The feast of the dedication commenced on the fifteenth day of December, and continued eight days. We find Jesus again at Jerusalem. The record of John is as follows:―― “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 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.” Jesus replied, “I told you, and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I and my Father are one.”[28] This assertion of the oneness of Jesus with the Father so exasperated the unbelieving Jews, that they took up stones to stone him. Jesus said to them, “Many good works have I showed you from my Father: for which of those works do ye stone me?” They replied, “For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Jesus replied in words which the Jews understood to be reaffirming his statement, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, 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? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; 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.” This renewed assertion of his equality with God induced the Jews again to take up stones to stone him; “but he escaped out of their hands.” Leaving Jerusalem, he crossed the River Jordan, and entered that wilderness region which had been rendered memorable by the preaching and the baptism of John. There, at a distance of about a hundred miles from his implacable foes, beneath the shadows of Mount Gilead, he resumed preaching the gospel to the multitudes of the common people who resorted to hear him. It is written that “many believed on him there.”