John: Eternally Secure!

John 10:22-42

In 167 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes entered Jerusalem to impose Greek culture on the Jewish people. He defiled the temple by installing an altar to Zeus and sacrificing a pig on it. This event became known as the “abomination of desolation.” It was the last straw for the Jews. 

This sparked an uprising. A Jewish priest named Mattathias and his sons, Jonathan, Simon, and Judas Maccabeus, led the rebellion, with Judas Maccabeus serving as the main leader. It became known as the Maccabean Revolt. 

In 165 BC, the Jews recaptured, restored, and reconsecrated the temple. This event was celebrated with an eight-day festival called the Feast of Dedication, honoring Israel’s victory over its enemies. 

During the annual celebration of this feast, the Jewish leaders confronted Jesus and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:22-24). Jesus responds:

John 10:25-30
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, 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. I and the Father are one.” 

Here are three essential theological truths in Jesus’ response.

• Signs of the Messiah. Jesus said that the works he does “bear witness about me.” The religious leaders were experts in the Old Testament and would have been familiar with the passages that described the works of the coming Messiah. Isaiah said that, when the Messiah came, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isa. 35:5-6). The signs were clear, but the religious elite refused to accept the evidence. This serves as a timely reminder for us not to miss the signs revealing that Jesus is at work in our lives and the world around us.
  
  
• Eternal Security. This is a key passage when discussing the believer’s eternal security. Using the shepherd/sheep analogy, Jesus confirms that those the Father calls will respond and follow (John 6:44, 65; 15:16). Eternal life is not earned because Jesus states, “I give them eternal life.” When Jesus gives us eternal life, it is a completed action. The believer will never perish; we will pass from death to life. God is the one who keeps us secure. Jesus said that no one can snatch the believer from his hand or the Father’s hand. This is, in effect, double security! The believer is kept safe forever in Jesus!
  
  What an incredible truth! For many years, I believed I could lose my salvation. I thought I could be a Christian in the morning, sin in the afternoon, and no longer be a child of God by evening. When I finally understood the truth that my eternity was secure and would remain so forever, it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I experienced the freedom that only Jesus provides. Not freedom to sin, but freedom to follow the One who loved me so much that he died for my sins once and for all on the cross. I pray that you have experienced this freedom in Christ. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God found in Jesus (Rom. 8:31-37).

• Equality with God. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” He could not have made a more explicit statement. He was equal to God because he was God in the flesh.

The religious leaders understood the claims Jesus was making. They had asked Jesus to tell them directly if he was the Christ, but the proof he provided caused them to accuse him again of blasphemy. When Jesus stated, “I and the Father are one,” they “picked up stones again to stone him,” saying, “you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:32-33). 

In John 10:34-38, Jesus responds to the Jewish leaders using a common method of argument in Jewish circles. However, we need to think it through to gain a deeper understanding.

“Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (John 10:34)

Jesus quoted Psalm 82. Typically, “the Law” refers to the first five books of the OT. Here, the entire Old Testament is included.

Psalm 82 portrays God as the true judge (Ps. 82:1). It also talks about men whom God appointed as judges, but they fail to administer justice (Ps. 82:2-7). “Gods” in Psalm 82:1 and vs.6 refer to these human judges, but they do not have divine natures.  

“If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:35-38)

Jesus’ words, “and Scripture cannot be broken,” are crucial in understanding his argument. He emphasizes that Scripture is without error, asserting its inerrancy. 

Bible scholar Edwin Blum further explains the point Jesus is making:

Jesus now completed His argument. Since the inerrant Bible called their judges “gods,” the Jews could not logically accuse Him of blasphemy for calling Himself God’s Son since He was under divine orders (set apart) and on God’s mission (sent into the world) . . . Though the Jews were reluctant to believe Jesus’ words, God was giving them miracles (lit., “works”; cf. vv. 25, 32), which He was doing through Jesus. These signs were given for their learning so that by pondering their significance they might recognize Jesus’ oneness with the Father (the Father is in Me, and I in the Father). Nicodemus had recognized this for he said, “No one could perform [those] miraculous signs … if God were not with Him” (3:2).^[1]

I admit that this reasoning takes time to understand; however, the religious leaders were trained in this way of thinking. They understood it, yet they chose not to believe it. They tried to arrest Jesus, “but he escaped from their hands” (John 10:39). 

The Gospels often describe moments when Jesus “walked through their midst” or “escaped from their hands” as the Jews tried to arrest him. These instances show that, when the time came, Jesus willingly went to the cross in obedience to the Father. 

Jesus left the religious leaders and traveled across the Jordan River, near Bethany, where John the Baptist had been baptizing (John 10:40). People followed him, and “many believed in him there” (John 10:42). 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on John 10:22-42. Focus on John 10:28-30 and the truth that, if you are a believer, you are eternally secure in Jesus!

Talking to God: Am I living in the freedom and confidence of eternal security, or do I still carry the burden of trying to “keep my salvation”?

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