And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 

John 10:28 

Christ gives His people eternal life. When His enemies asked Him to tell them plainly if He was the Christ, He answered by pointing to His works. He elaborated by saying He calls His sheep, knows His sheep, and leads His sheep. To make the final and most telling point He declared, ‘I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish.’ If there was any doubt as to Jesus being the Christ this would remove it. Out of the mouth of anyone else it would be a most outrageous and arrogant assertion; however, Christ made it in a calm and factual manner. This is the definitive answer to the identity of Christ. It is a glorious prospect for all who are Christ’s. This means that the life we are living is the prelude to eternity. The life we live is the antecedent to life that never ends. It is the gift which Christ gives to all who are His. This gives us every reason to hear the voice of Christ, to recognize Christ, to follow Christ and to make much of Christ. He gives us eternal life and we shall never perish. We are secure in Him. 

O, Great Shepherd of the sheep, 
we rejoice at how You lead us. 
We praise You that You will continue 
until we see Your face in God’s eternal day. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. 

John 10:37 

Christ proved Who He is in both words and deeds. When He spoke, ‘he spoke as one having authority.’ What He did was miraculous. The combination of these bore eloquent testimony to His identity as the Son of God. This challenged the pretentions of the religionists. They sought continually to discredit Him and were miserably unsuccessful. Eventually they would decide that since they could not succeed against Him in any other way, they would kill Him. Christ responded to their accusations that He was committing blasphemy by claiming to be the Son of God, with the words of our text. Beyond anything He said, His works bore testimony that He was God, and of God, His Father. The thought here is that deeds prove where connections lie. If we are Christ’s, what we do will make it very clear. Christ redeems us, and the Holy Spirit renews us in the whole person after the image of Christ. This means that our actions imitate His, not as miracles, but as deeds which remind others of Him. 

Our Glorious Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You have done all things well. 
We praise You that You have set before us a pattern that we may follow, 
to learn to do well. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 

John 10:11 

Christ is The Good Shepherd. Having thus identified Himself, he goes on in the rest of the passage and explains what it means. He was saying that the proof of His being the good shepherd was to give His life for the sheep. Here is the epitome of love and the meaning of Christ’s mission to give life more abundantly. He would make a full sacrifice of Himself in order that His sheep might live abundantly. He went on later to say, ‘I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.’ There is no life more abundant than eternal life, secure in the arms of the Good Shepherd. Christ had a wide vision of those whom He would redeem. He spoke of the ‘other sheep,’ who were ‘not of this fold’ that is, not of Israel and said, ‘them also I must bring.’ Revelation reveals that this would be, ‘a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.’ It is for all these that Christ, The Good Shepherd, would give His life down to the shedding of His Own blood. In the sacrifice of Christ, we see the epitome of the outpouring of love. 

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the Good Shepherd. 
We praise and thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf,  
to give us abundant life. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

John 10:10 

Life can be, and should be more than mere existence. Christ understands this because He, as God, ‘gives to all, life, breath, and all things.’ Because Christ intends for life to be more than mere existence, He came in order that, ‘they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ Who are ‘they?’ Christ speaks of them as ‘my sheep. He says, ‘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.’ He is speaking of those whom He came to redeem. John describes them in Revelation as, ‘a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.’ This means that Christ redeems very many and in a very inclusive manner. Hence the Gospel should go forth and Christ set forth to all people everywhere. This is at the heart of the Great Commission and is the purpose of preaching. The end result of that is a personal knowledge of Christ and of God the Father Who sent Him. This is the abundant life. Christ said, ‘and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’ Christ is essential to this life. He came to give life and died to guarantee it. Christ is the key to abundant life.  

Our Glorious Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You are the way, the truth and the life. 
We praise You that all that You have done 
has been with the intention 
that we should live abundantly. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

John 10:10 

Christ came to give, preserve, and promote life. His behavior in word and deed was active testimony to that. All that He said and did, demonstrated His utmost dedication to life, even to the point of snatching life out of the jaws of death. He raised the son of the widow, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus from the dead. The words He spoke were the words of life. When it came to the final moments, His personal self-sacrifice was what would guarantee life for all who would believe in Him. The message He communicated was, ‘I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.’ He contrasted His purpose to those who came ‘to steal, to kill, and to destroy.’ To follow Christ is to believe what He said and to do as He did. The contemplation of Christ leads to the imitation of Christ. Love engenders love, and hatred engenders hatred. Without love, and the active demonstration of it, life becomes hollow, hopeless and horrible. Christ has never varied from His purpose to bring life. His message is still the same. His actions are still the pattern. His purpose has not changed. 

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the Lord of Life. 
We praise You that You have done all that is necessary 
to bring life, to a great multitude 
which no man can number.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning