Finding Ultimate Security: Jesus, the Sovereign Shepherd in John 10:22-42

In the vast landscape of the Christian scriptures, few passages resonate with such immediate assurance and definitive authority as Jesus's self-revelation in John chapter 10, verses 22 through 42. As we continue our expository journey through the Gospel of John, particularly within the series titled "Poured Out," we transition from understanding Jesus as merely the Good Shepherd to recognizing Him as the Sovereign Shepherd.

We currently live in an age characterized by profound uncertainty. Like many ages before ours, we are confronted by instability where businesses close, governments may shut down, and essential resources can seemingly dry up. This environment breeds anxiety, fear, and sometimes a deep sense of hopelessness. While last week we were encouraged to entrust our daily care to the Good Shepherd, this week, we must zoom out to grasp the larger, overarching truth. The primary, stabilizing idea we draw from this passage is foundational to Christian confidence: Jesus is the sovereign shepherd, and therefore, His sheep are absolutely secure.

I. The Critical Historical Context: The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)

To fully grasp the magnitude of Jesus’s claims in John 10, we must first understand the historical and chronological setting outlined in verse 22: "At that time the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter". This "Feast of Dedication" is familiar to many today by the name Hanukkah, a Jewish celebration that took place during the winter season, approximately in December. This setting occurs about two months after the previous declaration where Jesus identified Himself as the Good Shepherd (which took place in October).

The backstory to the Feast of Dedication is essential for appreciating the significance of Jesus's presence and words. Historically, this feast commemorates events that occurred during the Intertestamental Period—the roughly 400 years separating the Old Testament (ending with Malachi) and the New Testament (beginning with Matthew).

The narrative begins following the death of Alexander the Great, the powerful military leader and emperor who had conquered immense territories spanning Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe. Upon his death, Alexander’s kingdom was divided among his generals. One lineage, the Seleucids, eventually produced a figure known as Antiochus IV Epiphanies. Antiochus Epiphanies’s surname, "Epiphanies," meant "god manifest," indicating that he viewed himself as divine.

Seeking to consolidate his vast empire under a single, unified religion, Antiochus targeted the Jewish faith rooted in Jerusalem. He launched a siege on Jerusalem and, in an act of profound sacrilege, marched into the Temple. To desecrate it utterly, Antiochus sacrificed a pig on the altar—an animal strictly forbidden under Mosaic law—as an act of worship to the pagan Greek god, Zeus. This action fundamentally transformed the sacred Jewish Temple into a site for pagan Greek worship, an offense the Jewish people deeply resented.

In response to this oppression, a movement arose led by a group known as the Freedom Fighters. The most notable leader among these was Judas Maccabeus. Judas Maccabeus became a celebrated military figure who successfully led the overthrow of the local oppressive government in Jerusalem. Following this victory, Judas went into the Temple and rededicated or reconsecrated it according to the requirements of the Mosaic law, thus restoring the proper worship of God for the Jewish people. This eight-day celebration was instituted by the Jews to commemorate this historical military victory and the subsequent rededication of the Temple—hence, the Feast of Dedication.

It is important to note that because these events occurred during the Intertestamental Period, the Feast of Dedication was not one of the feasts commanded by God in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, it held immense historical and religious importance for the Jews. At the time Jesus encounters them, the people were celebrating two specific things: first, their national hero, Judas Maccabeus; and second, the secure place of worship provided by the rededicated Temple.

Jesus found himself walking in a covered area of the Temple known as Solomon's colonnade or Solomon's porch. Since it was winter, this area provided protection from the cold elements, making it an ideal gathering place for teaching and discussion. Although Jesus was not required by law to attend this particular feast, He was present to reveal a critical truth to the gathered crowd.

II. The Demand for Clarity and the Condition of the Heart

As Jesus walked in the colonnade, the Jews gathered around Him and immediately demanded a definitive answer regarding His identity: "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly".

This query must be viewed through the lens of the Hanukkah celebration. The Jews were commemorating Judas Maccabeus, a military hero who threw off local oppression. They were looking for a new hero—a Messiah or "Christ" who would usher in a massive, seismic cultural shift. If Jesus were truly the anointed one, they believed He would overthrow the entire Roman occupation and oppression, establishing a long-promised, everlasting kingdom.

However, Jesus immediately challenged their demand for new proof. He responded: "I told you and you do not believe". Jesus reminded them that the "works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me". He had performed "magnificent works" and "miracle after miracle" demonstrating His divinity. The issue was not a lack of evidence or proof, but the condition of their heart which was set in opposition to who Jesus revealed Himself to be.

Furthermore, Jesus clarified the source of His authority, emphasizing that His works were done "in my Father's name" and were intended to fulfill the Father’s will, indicating His obedience and submission. He used familial language—"my Father's name"—to claim a unique, special relationship with God that differentiated Him from the rest of the Jews; He was claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah.

Jesus then delivered the critical reason for their unbelief, one that shifts the paradigm of faith and belonging: "But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep". This statement overturns the common assumption. Jesus does not suggest that their believing makes them sheep; rather, their failure to believe reveals that they are not already among His flock. Belief, in this context, does not create the sheep; it unmasks who the sheep already are.

III. The Markers of the Sovereign Shepherd's Sheep

Jesus subsequently described the intimate, recognizable relationship He has with those who belong to Him: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me".

Jesus’s followers are characterized by a deep, instinctive recognition of the Shepherd's voice. This internal conviction is what theologians refer to as the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. When believers read the Bible, they hear the voice of the Shepherd, leading to an internal certainty and conviction that the scriptures are authoritative and true. The sheep listen, hear, and follow Jesus.

This relationship transcends local boundaries. While He knew the sheep directly in front of Him, Jesus previously stated, "I have sheep not of this fold," implying that there are sheep globally, "from every tongue, from every tribe, from every nation". This truth serves as the foundation for global missions. As the Gospel call goes out, those who are His sheep will inevitably hear, listen, and follow. Missions, therefore, is fundamentally the process of unmasking who the sheep are worldwide.

IV. The Unshakable Security of the Sovereign Shepherd

For those who hear His voice and follow, Jesus promises three certainties that confirm their ultimate security, rooted in His divine sovereignty:

Point 1: The Eternal Light Who Gives Life to His Sheep

Jesus declares: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish". This promise connects powerfully with the symbolism of the Feast of Dedication.

The Hanukkah tradition is intertwined with the miracle of the eternal light. In the Temple, a particular light was required to burn perpetually; a duty entrusted to the priests to ensure it had adequate oil. When Judas Maccabeus rededicated the Temple, the priests discovered they only had enough consecrated oil to keep the light burning for one day. Since it would take eight days to prepare the necessary resupply, they kept the candle lit nonetheless. Tradition holds that, through a miracle of God, the candle burned continuously for eight days on that one-day supply of oil, until the resupply arrived.

This "eight-day miracle" of the eternal light is why the Hanukkah menorah typically features nine candles. Eight candles stand at equal height, representing the eight miraculous days. The ninth candle, often positioned in the middle and raised slightly higher than the rest, is known as the servant candle. This servant candle is lit first and is then used to light all the other candles.

Jesus fulfills this symbolic role. He is the suffering servant and the light of the world. By providing light, He gives life to everyone. Just as God ensured the eternal light in the temple did not go out for eight days, Jesus, the Sovereign Shepherd, keeps the "fire of faith"—the eternal life—burning in His sheep; it will "never go out". This is not a temporary life, but eternal life.

Point 2: The Supreme Fighter Who Perfectly Protects His Sheep

Following the promise of eternal life, Jesus asserts an invincible protection: "and no one will snatch them out of my hand".

This statement employs "fighting language," affirming Jesus's absolute power. This contrasts sharply with the human hero the Jews were celebrating, Judas Maccabeus, who, though a great military leader, lost followers in battle. Jesus, the supreme fighter, promises that He "will lose none" of those given to Him. This is affirmed elsewhere in scripture, emphasizing that it is the Father's will that Jesus should lose nothing that has been given to Him.

To further solidify this protection, Jesus inextricably links His authority and power to the Father's: "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".

This verse answers the question of the origin of the sheep: they are given from the Father to the Son. This concept introduces us to the theological doctrine known as the Covenant of Redemption. This is an eternal agreement forged in eternity past between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Under this eternal pact, the Father agrees to provide a people to the Son; the Son agrees to redeem those people; and the Holy Spirit agrees to internally apply the benefits of that redemption to them.

The sheep are, in essence, a love gift from the Father to the Son. The Father has authority over all, and no one possesses the power to snatch this precious gift from the Father's hand. Believers are this gift, and since the Father is greater than all, He will not permit anything to happen to them.

Point 3: The Declaration of Unity: "I and the Father are One"

This concept of simultaneous ownership and protection by both the Father and the Son culminates in Jesus’s crystal-clear declaration of His full divinity: "I and the father are one".

We must ask: One what?. The Father and the Son are one in nature or in essence. They share the same divine attributes—omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, wisdom, grace, mercy, and love. However, they are not the same person; they relate to one another as Father and Son, a core truth of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Son is from the Father, while the Father is from no one. This divine unity explains a profound theological reality: how the Father can give the sheep to the Son, and yet the sheep remain the full possession and ownership of both.

The Jews fully understood the implication of Jesus’s statement. This was a direct, unambiguous claim to full divinity, to being Yahweh Himself. Consequently, "The Jews picked up stones again to stone him". Stoning was the penalty for blasphemy. Jesus, however, did not immediately escape as He had in previous encounters; He paused to address their intended violence. He questioned them: "I have shown you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you going to stone me?". He emphasized that His works were also the Father's works, confirming the intertwined identity of the Son and the Father.

The Jews’ response confirmed their reason for wanting to stone Him: "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself God".

V. Closing the Loophole: Jesus as the Greater Temple

The final segment of the passage is dedicated to Jesus closing a potential theological loophole. Someone might later argue that Jesus merely took the title of God but wasn't truly claiming to be the divine Yahweh. Jesus refuted this by referencing Psalm 82: "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'?".

In Psalm 82, the psalmist is discussing God judging human judges, leaders, or representatives whom He had put in place to govern His people. These representatives failed to uphold God’s righteousness and became evil. Though these leaders were called "gods" and "sons of the Most High" in the Old Testament, they were ultimately flawed humans who would die.

Jesus uses this context to draw a stark contrast. He asks: If the scripture (which "cannot be broken") called these failed human representatives "gods" because "the word of God came" to them, why do they accuse Him of blasphemy?. Jesus is fundamentally different: He is the one "whom the father consecrated and sent into the world".

This word "consecrated" is highly significant in the context of the Feast of Dedication. Judas Maccabeus consecrated (rededicated) the Temple through human effort and religious ritual. In contrast, Jesus is consecrated by God Himself. Jesus is not merely assuming a title like the failed human judges; He is claiming to be the actual recipient of God’s consecration, affirming His identity as God Himself.

The Doctrine of Indwelling and Inseparable Operations

This introduces Point 3: The Sovereign Shepherd is the Greater Temple Who Dwells Within His Sheep.

Jesus points back to His works, insisting, "if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father".

This statement embodies two critical theological concepts:

1. The Doctrine of Inseparable Operations: This means that when God acts, all three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are actively involved in that act. The works of the Son are inseparable from the works of the Father. Therefore, rejecting Jesus’s works is equivalent to rejecting the works of the Father.

2. Mutual Indwelling (Perichoresis): This signifies that the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. This mutual indwelling demonstrates why their acts are inseparable.

Crucially, this mutual indwelling also reveals Jesus as the new temple. In the Jewish Temple system, God's presence was specifically located in the Holy of Holies, the physical structure of brick and mortar. By declaring, "the Father is in me," Jesus is relocating the presence of God. Wherever Jesus is, there is the Temple and the presence of the Father.

Jesus is the perfect, invincible temple. Unlike the physical temple that could be destroyed by enemies, Jesus promised: "Destroy this temple [His body] and in three days I will raise it up".

VI. Security in Worship, Even in the Wilderness

Because Jesus is the new, perfect Temple, our worship of God can be in no other way than in Christ. Worship apart from Christ is impossible. Furthermore, Jesus promises to dwell in those who believe. The Bible affirms that believers are now considered "temples of the Holy Spirit". We become consecrated to God because "Christ lives in us, the hope of glory". The dwelling place of God is no longer tied to a building but resides in the hearts of believers.

After their hostile confrontation, the Jews again sought to arrest Jesus, but "he escaped from their hands". He then departed across the Jordan, returning to the general area where John the Baptist had first been baptizing. This location was characterized as the wilderness.

Jesus intentionally leaves the physical temple in the city and retreats to the wilderness. The implication is profound: Even in the wilderness, Jesus is present, and worship is possible. The wilderness represents those places in our lives where we struggle, where things seem to fall apart. Yet, because Jesus is the new Temple and dwells within us, we can worship Him even in those desolate places.

Judas Maccabeus fought to secure the freedom to worship within the physical temple. Christ, the ultimate freedom fighter, frees His sheep to worship everywhere.

Jesus, the Sovereign Shepherd, fulfills His glorious, trifold office in this passage, confirming the absolute security of His followers:

• He is the Prophet that provides light and eternal life to the world.

• He is the Priest who is the Temple, dwelling within us.

• He is the King who perfectly protects us from all our enemies.

If you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart. Come to the Sovereign Shepherd, for in an age of profound uncertainty, His sheep remain eternally secure in Him.