10:16
Jesus now extends further, this time with regard to who His sheep are. One of the unique features of God as portrayed in the Old Testament is that He is the God of all mankind and all of creation, unlike the “gods” of the nations which usually had a very restricted sphere of influence. He also sought to bless all of mankind. Right at the beginning in Genesis God blessed man in general. He promised to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. The prophets spoke of God reaching out to other nations. So here Jesus says He has other sheep. They too would listen to Him, and they, along with the believing Jews would be one people under one shepherd. There are two major errors that some Christians make. Some regard Israel as being under a different covenant to the rest of us. This is totally unbiblical, Eph 2:11-22 makes this clear, as do Jesus’ words here. The other error is to assume that Israel no longer has any special place in God’s plans. This negates numerous promises in the Old Testament.
10:17
“For this reason the Father loves me”. This does not mean that Jesus has somehow earned the Father’s love, rather it means that the Father and the Son are one in Jesus going to the cross. The cross was a joint effort between the Father and the Son (and the Holy Spirit!). They were in complete agreement, they were both committed to the path and they knew it was the only way to achieve the desired goal, our salvation. And note that it involves both the cross and the resurrection, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again”.
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