The Gracious Gift of a Gracious God.

In the first half of John 10:28 Jesus say’s of His Sheep, of those who “listen” to His voice and “follow” in His footsteps, without exception “I give them Eternal Life [That’s the beauty of the ‘gift’ which can never be ungiven!], and they shall never perish.”  Then comes eis ton aiona, a final phrase in the Greek text which goes untranslated in every English version I’ve consulted.  You have a preposition {meaning ‘into’}, a definite article, and the masculine noun aion {meaning ‘Eternity’}.  Here’s how it should read.  “I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...even into Eternity!  I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...unto forever.  I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...into the Eternal Age” {RRExp}.  Boom!  There it is.

And “no one can snatch them out of My hand,” future tense, “from this moment forward!”  “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand!” {v. 29}, present tense.  Let me interpret this for you, “No enemy attempting to seize even the feeblest lamb from My Abba’s Flock will ever be able to penetrate His power!”  Period.  Your Life is as secure as the Son of God Himself!

So, when Jesus say’s, “I and the Father are one” in v. 30, He’s not saying we are ‘one in person’ but that we are ‘one in nature.’  “We are two separate Persons, identical in essence.”  Every Jew within the sound of his voice would recognize, immediately, the level of equality with God He was claiming.  And you can see from the rest of the text, they “pick up stones” in order to kill him.  His response?  “For which of My many miracles, which of My eye-opening wonders, do you stone Me?”  Their reply is, “not for any of these, but for blasphemy, because You, a mere man, claim to be God!,” vv. 31-33 {RRExp}.  He claimed it because He is it.  Jesus’ Deity is a crucial component of His Messiahship.  In order to ‘mediate’ between the two opposing sides, to reconcile fallen Man to a holy God, He must be equal to both parties.

The apostle Paul, after expressing Abba’s deep desire for “all men to be saved” and “come to a knowledge of the Truth,” say’s, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men— the Testimony given in its proper time” {1 Tim. 2:4-6}.  The word “mediator” comes from the root noun mesos meaning- ‘in the middle.’  Reminds us of what Job said in 9:33, “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay His hand upon us both [See this?  A Mediator to ‘stand in the middle,’ someone equal to both parties.], someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that His terror would frighten me no more,” v. 34.  A mesites is one who arbitrates between two parties to remove a disagreement— what we call ‘reconciliation’— and to reach a common goal— which we call ‘redemption.’

This, my friends, is the basis of all our belief, for if we won’t accept Jesus is the Son of God or can’t accept His complete equality with the Father and the Spirit, we have no grounds for standing on His sacrifice as the Savior.  Any good man could die on a cross.  But a ‘good man’s’ death won’t help you and I, a good man’s death can’t save your soul.  Only that of a perfect Man, equal to both parties— God and man.

John, near the end of his 1st Epistle, said: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have Eternal Life” {5:13}.  “Know”... not wonder, not worry, not fear and fret and constantly question, but “know that you have— now as a present possession, now as a constant reality in a chaotic world— Eternal Life,” the gracious gift of a gracious God.  Amen and amen!

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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