My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. — John 10:27-29
Think for a moment about your hand. What is it’s purpose? What does it represent? Certainly we use our hands to grasp things and pick them up. We use them to work, get dressed, type, etc. Hands can be used for communication through sign language or just waving them around when we are talking. We can communicate emotions with them, such as a soft caress. We use them to care for others. These hands God gave us, are quite useful for life.
In the Bible, the word “hand” is used in several ways:
- A physical body part, such as when Noah reached out his hand to bring the dove back into the ark in Genesis 8:9
- A period of time, such as “the day of the Lord is at hand” (Isaiah 13:6, Joel 1:15, Joel 2:1, and Zephaniah 1:7)
- The hand of the Lord, such as “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not to short, that it cannot save.” (Isaiah 59:1)
In John 10, Jesus teaches several things about the hand of God to teach us that we saved, safe, and secure in His hand.
What do you think of when you think of a hand? When you think about your Father’s hand, think of his provision, his power, his presence, and his protection.
There is provision in the hand of God
In verse 28, Jesus that He gives. Specifically in this verse, His provision is for eternal life. There is no possible way that we can give ourselves eternal life. Instead, it can only be received as God graciously gives us eternal life as gift. Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God also supplies our every need out of His own riches. Philippians 4:19 tells us: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” That doesn’t mean He gives us our every want – but He does give us what we need.
In Matthew 7:11, we find that God’s hand of provision gives us good things: “your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him“
In 2 Peter 1:3, we find “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” These include spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.
All this is graciously provided from the very hand of Almighty God.
There is power in the hand of God.
Jesus tells us in verse 29, “My Father…is greater than all.” There is no one more powerful than God. The story of Job is a great example. God allowed Satan to test Job and some rather awful things happened to him. He lost all of his children, wealth, crops, health. He basically lost everything except for some nagging friends who were insistent that God was punishing him for some reason and a nagging wife who wanted him to just curse God and die.
Job was a righteous man, and still these things happened to him. But what we learn is that Satan couldn’t do anything to Job that God didn’t first allow to happen. And at the end of Job’s story, we find that God blessed Job even more so than before. So there is nothing on this earth or in the spiritual realm that remove us from the powerful hand of God. In verse 29 Jesus said, “no man is able to pluck you out of my Father’s hand.” The power of God’s hand, means eternal safety and security for those who place their faith and trust in Him.
Being held in the Hand of God means His Presence is always near to us
Jesus wanted us to know that God is always near us. Jeremiah 23:23 says, “Am I a God near at hand…and not a God afar off?” Sometimes it feels like God is way up there in heaven and so far removed from our struggles, but we need to remember that he holds us in the palm of His hand. So we are never far from His presence. In Psalm 139, David asks, “Where can I go that you, God, are not there?” In Hebrews 13:5, we have the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. What’s more, there’s fullness of joy in the presence of God. Psalm 16:11 tells us, “in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.“
There is protection in the Hand of God.
In verse 28, Jesus said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” We can’t lose our salvation once we give our lives to Christ. We are eternally protected and secure. Peter tells us our salvation is “reserved in heaven” for us. He also wrote that it is “undefield, it cannot change or decay.” (I Peter 1:4-5.) Paul let us know that once we are adopted into God’s family He will never disown us (Ephesians 1:5). Jesus said in John 6:39 that every one of us who trusts Him for salvation is give to Him by the Father and they he loses none. And here in John 10, Jesus says that He is the giver of eternal life and no one who accepts this gift will perish. We are eternally protected from the condemnation and wages of sin.
As you go about your day today, whenever you notice your own hand, think about the hand of God and remember He gives us His provision, power, presence, and protection. Remember that He holds us in His Hand and no one can remove us from it. Remember that the same hands that created the universe and keeps it perfectly orbiting around the sun keeps you saved, safe and secure in his Son. The result: His sheep “shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” This is the security the sheep enjoy.
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