Who Are ‘They?’

Who Are ‘They?’

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

As Christ speaks of the great purpose for which He has come, He identifies a group of people for whom He has come and for whom He is accomplishing this great purpose. In our text, He refers to them simply as, ‘they.’ Who exactly are, ‘they?’ The answer to that lies all around the text. In the first few verses of the chapter, because He is speaking more generally, Christ refers to them as ‘the sheep.’ By verse fourteen, Christ speaks of them as ‘My sheep.’ By verse twenty-six He distinguishes those who are ‘My sheep,’ from those who are ‘not of My sheep.’ By verse twenty-nine, He declares that these ‘sheep’ are those whom ‘the Father’ has given Him. Of these ‘sheep,’ Christ proclaims, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.’ ‘They’ are, in fact the ‘Elect of God.’ God chose them in Christ, ‘before the foundation of the world.’ God has ‘in the fullness of time’ sent forth His Son ‘made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.’ ‘They’ are those of whom Christ speaks in John six when He says, ‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.’ We may take heart in these identifications of these people. By the Grace of God we have come to Christ. We do hear His voice. We do follow Him. Therefore, we are ‘they.’ We rejoice today at this assurance, ‘We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.’

O, Great Shepherd of the Sheep,
we praise You that You have made us Your very Own.
We rejoice that You will lead us all the way to Glory,
and that we, ‘shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning