John 10:27-30 - My sheep

10:27,28

In contrast, those who are Jesus’ sheep do listen to His voice. They know Jesus and follow Him. So listening to Jesus and following Him is not the means by which we become disciples, but is the fruit or the sign of being a disciple.

Jesus gives them eternal life. This is not just something that happens when we die, it starts now. Eternal life is about the nature of life, the quality of life, not just the longevity of life. They shall never perish. We can sometimes think that we are going to perish, that our life is going to be destroyed. I am not just talking about death itself, but there are circumstances and situations in life when we think everything is falling apart, our life is falling apart. In the midst of those circumstances we should be confident in the fact that we will not perish. “No one will snatch them out of my hand”. Why won’t we perish? Because Jesus is taking care of us, no one and nothing can snatch us out of His hands. Our security rests in Jesus.

10:29,30

We now get more on the security we have and the grounds for that security. The Father has given us to Jesus, and He is greater than all. So whatever forces are opposing us, are threatening our lives, they are not as great as our Father and He has the last word. Our security lies in the fact that God is greater than all, and that He has given us to Jesus. He is the source of our salvation, our faith is not the source. So to snatch us out of Christ’s hands someone or something would have to snatch us out of the Father’s hands, and there is no way that that can happen.

Notice the transition from snatching out of Jesus’ hands to snatching out of the Father’s hands. The two are one, and Jesus now states this explicitly. As a technical note, the Greek here is neuter “one thing”, not “one person”, the Father and the Son are distinct persons, but completely united.