June 23, 2023
Living Eternally Sure
“… and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:28-29 (NASB)
One area in the Christian life, at one time or another there is struggle. It is eternal security, or sure one will live in Heaven with God. It normally stems from a misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches. Jesus, in these verses, promises all His sheep that when they enter His fold they will never perish. This is because the promise comes from God, not man. When the Christian understands the power of God, and His omnipotence (all-powerfulness), they realize the work was finished by Christ. It was completed by God, not mankind. God keeps His word; mankind still struggles in this area. It is through understanding this finished work of Christ, that brings assurance to the Christian when it comes to their eternal security. It comes from realizing all that was accomplished was because God knew the answer to man’s problem.
Yesterday, I intentionally left part of the passage, “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish,” out of the conversation. I wanted to address the Father’s power of us in His hands, as a priority. Now let’s work from the back of the passage, forward, so it makes more sense. Think about this, if the Father has all power, He has the ability to give and secure eternal life. It is through His power eternal life was given to all who would receive His Son. “This is the gift of Jesus as stated in 1 John 2:25, “’his is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.’”[1] Without power from the Father, it would be impossible to fulfill the promise “which He Himself made to us.” Jesus did not make these promises through His own power. He included the Father in His work. In verse 30, Jesus made one of the strongest declarations of His deity which are recorded in scripture, “I and the Father are one.” God made it. God provides it by an act of His grace, while at a great cost. We must understand, “Eternal life is a gift (10:28); it is not something we own apart from God because we are not gods. We are absolutely dependent upon Jesus our Shepherd for that gift, and it is incumbent upon us to live in gratitude to God for this new life in Christ.”[2] Because of the gift of eternal life, we should be thankful each day.
When I think about the shepherd and sheep illustrations used by Jesus, they provide an interesting thought. Look at the average sheep. They unfortunately have shelf life. Let’s face it, they don’t live as long as we. One day they will die or be sacrificed if they are of the highest caliber. The shepherd will protect and feed them until then, but they still die. They don’t have the same offering to salvation as you and I. They are animals. With Jesus as our Good Shepherd (10:14), He gives us eternal life to whosoever believes in Him (John 11:25-26). The eternal life He gives cannot be changed, challenged, or conceded. He also assures us that the evil one will never interfere with God’s saving power. We may walk through the valley of the shadow of death one day, but “… but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:8). And no matter how big the problem we face each day is, He is bigger than it. He is the answer to all of life’s needs. Jesus is our Good Shepherd.
[1] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 10:28). Broadman Press.
[2] Borchert, G. L. (1996). John 1–11 (Vol. 25A, p. 340). Broadman & Holman Publishers.