Skip to main content

The Unity of the Father and the Son in Salvation by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
     Over the last two weeks we’ve taken a close look at John 10:27-28, and we’ve learned a few things about how salvation works and what it does in the lives of those who believe. This week we need to ponder one more question, namely, how can Jesus so confidently make the promises and claims he made in these verses? Jesus answers in John 10:29-30, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them [my sheep] out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
     First, he says that his Father has given his sheep to him. In other words, Jesus’ authority over the sheep and his stunning gifts to the sheep are ultimately rooted in the authority and benevolence of his Father.
     Second, Jesus says that his Father is greater than all, and while the Jews may have objected to Jesus calling God his Father, they would have agreed that no one is greater or more powerful or more capable or more faithful than God. Therefore, since God is so great and so strong, no one is able to snatch his sheep out of his hand which is as undeniable as it is obvious. If Jesus were to stop here, he would be saying something like, “The reason I can make such astounding promises is because I serve as the Good Shepherd under the authority of the Father who has all power to care for the sheep.” However, Jesus didn’t stop there but rather continued, “I and the Father are one.”
     Jesus draws his train of thought to a close by saying, “The reason I can make such astonishing promises is because the strength that belongs to the Father also belongs to me. I do not simply have access to his power, rather, I have the fullness of his power in myself. Therefore, in communion with my Father, I personally exercise my power on behalf of my sheep and give them eternal life, eternal protection, and eternal security.”
     So we are now in a position to see that the sheep belong to Jesus because the Father and the Son are one. The sheep hear the voice of Jesus and awaken because the Father and the Son are one. The sheep are known by Jesus because the Father and the Son are one. The sheep follow Jesus because the Father and the Son are one. The sheep gain eternal life, eternal protection, and eternal security because the Father and the Son are one.
     Beloved, the entire mission of God toward his own flows out of the profound and passionate communion of God with God, of the Father with the Son, which is why so much of the language in this part of John is relational, for example, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (10:14-15).
     One of the reasons Jesus reveals so much about our salvation is so that our joy in salvation will increase as our understanding increases. So join me in pondering John 10:27-30, in asking for insight in our salvation, in asking for renewed joy in our salvation, and in asking for fresh power to share the gospel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

When Children Say "I'm Bored" By Julie Lowe

By
This Article is written by Julie Lowe and was originally posted on the CCEF blog.  I highlighted the areas of particular interest. I had already prepared a blogpost on dealing with boredom from a Christian worldview and then came across this. There is much overlap between the two, perhaps this one is more concise while my work attempts to explain the connection between the ability to think and the ability to be happy. You can visit the original blogpost in the link provided below.  https://www.ccef.org/resources/blog/children-say-im-bored   We have a common crisis in our home; it is the calamity of boredom. Our children might even consider it a catastrophe. “I’m bored” is repeated so often it would not be an overstatement to say that these words echo continuously throughout our home especially during any break from school. These are children with limited media time but still children with a Wii and Xbox system, a pool outside our door, multiple games, toy...
Post a Comment
Read more