My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:29-30 WEB

The Old Testament promises a Messiah. Because of this, many came to assert their fulfillment of this promise. In the first potion of chapter ten in the Book of John, Jesus presents himself as the promised Savior calling himself the good shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. In addition, he calls those who falsely came before him thieves and robbers. 

The Lord’s teaching offended the religious leaders of the day. They assumed Jesus as a fraud just as Christ asserted the fraud of others making a similar claim. But unlike the others, Jesus performed miraculous healings which puzzles some of his detractors. Also, with the words Jesus preached, the faithful recognize his voice as genuine and coming from God. 

In My Father’s Name

Knowing that Jesus teaches that he is the promised Savior, his critics confront him in the second half of the chapter saying, if you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus responds in John 10:25-27, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. WEB”

Christ proceeds to teach that no one can snatch his followers, as he said, “out of my Father’s hand.” Calling God his Father, Jesus offends the religious traditionalists of his time. The Lord further upsets them with his claim, “I and the Father are one.” This is taken as blasphemy by the religious leaders and so they take up stones to kill him.

Good Works From My Father

Jesus responds to this in John 10:32 saying, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me? WEB” Jesus’ accusers respond in John 10:33 saying, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God. WEB” 

Jesus’ claim that he and the Father are one is a statement of his unity with God. When Christ says, “No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand,” he assures his faithful devotion to those who follow him. With these words and his assertion that he lays his life down for the sheep, Christ asserts his sacrificial service to the kingdom of heaven. 

In addition, Jesus hints of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these three elements of the one true God exist in one another. As Jesus says of his deeds in John 10:38, “But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. WEB” 

Yesterday’s Devotional: Seven Ewe Lambs