The Unbreakable Grip Text: John 10:22-30
Introduction: The Demand for a Tame Messiah
We come today to a confrontation in the Temple. It is winter, and the feast of Dedication is underway. This feast, Hanukkah, was a celebration of religious and national liberation, a remembrance of the Maccabean revolt when the Temple was cleansed of pagan defilement. The air is thick with expectation, with nationalism, with a longing for a Messiah who will once again throw off the oppressors, this time the Romans. Into this charged atmosphere walks Jesus, and the Jews surround Him. They corner Him in the Portico of Solomon with what sounds, on the surface, like a reasonable request: "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us openly."
But we must understand what they are asking for. They are not humble seekers of truth. They are impatient inquisitors. They want a Messiah who fits their political checklist. They want a soundbite. They want a "yes" or "no" that they can use. If He says yes, they can accuse Him of sedition before Pilate. If He says no, they can dismiss Him as a fraud before the people. They want to put God in the dock and force Him to answer their questions on their terms. They want a manageable Messiah, a tame lion.
This is the perennial temptation of fallen man. We do not want the God who is. We want a god we can control, a god who will rubber-stamp our agendas, a god who will stay within the lines we draw for him. But the Lord Jesus Christ will not be managed. He will not be put into our tidy little boxes. His answer to them, and to us, shatters our categories and confronts us with a fundamental choice. The issue is not His clarity, but their spiritual condition. The suspense is not in His identity, but in their hearts. And in His response, He reveals not only His own divine nature, but the very nature of salvation itself, a salvation characterized by the unbreakable grip of sovereign grace.
The Text
At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the Portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us openly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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. I and the Father are one.”
(John 10:22-30 LSB)
The Evidence Rejected (vv. 22-26)
The scene is set with a demand for plain speaking.
"The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, 'How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us openly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.'" (John 10:24-26)
Jesus’s response is a direct counter-accusation. The problem is not a lack of clarity on His part, but a lack of faith on theirs. He says, "I told you." He had told them repeatedly, though not in the crude political terms they wanted. He had said, "I am the bread of life." "I am the light of the world." "Before Abraham was, I am." He had just finished teaching them that He was the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. The evidence was there, but they refused to see it.
So He points them to a second witness: "the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me." His miracles were not random acts of power. They were signs, Messianic signs, that fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. He healed the sick, He gave sight to the blind, He cast out demons. These were the very works the Father had given Him to do, and they testified to His identity. The evidence was overwhelming. The problem was not in the evidence, but in the jury. They were spiritually deaf and blind.
And then Jesus gives the ultimate reason for their unbelief, and it is a hard word. "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep." Notice the order. He does not say, "You are not My sheep because you do not believe." That would put the ultimate decision in their hands. That would make their faith the determining factor. No, He says their unbelief is the result, the symptom, of their fundamental nature. They do not belong to His flock, and therefore they cannot believe. This is a staggering statement of divine sovereignty. Faith is not something a man produces from his own autonomous will; it is the mark of a sheep who has been chosen by the Shepherd. Their inability to believe was not a lack of information, but a spiritual inability rooted in the fact that they were goats, not sheep.
The Marks of the Sheep (v. 27)
Jesus then contrasts these unbelievers with the nature of His true flock.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;" (John 10:27 LSB)
Here are the three defining characteristics of a true Christian. First, "My sheep hear My voice." In a world full of shouting voices, distractions, and deceptions, the sheep are those who can distinguish the Shepherd's call. This is not just an auditory function; it is a spiritual recognition. The Word of Christ resonates in their hearts, and they recognize it as truth, as life, as home. They have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Second, "and I know them." This is not mere intellectual awareness, as God knows all things. This is the language of intimate, covenantal relationship. It is the same word used for the intimate knowledge between a husband and wife. The Shepherd knows His sheep by name. He knows their needs, their fears, their weaknesses, and their destiny. Our salvation is not based on the fact that we know God, but on the glorious, bedrock reality that He knows us.
Third, "and they follow Me." Hearing and being known inevitably results in obedience. Faith is not a static, intellectual assent. It is a walk. It is a journey of following the Shepherd wherever He leads. True sheep do not just admire the Shepherd from a distance; they get up and follow Him, through green pastures and dark valleys. This following is the evidence of the first two marks. A faith that does not produce obedience is a dead faith, and a sheep that does not follow is no sheep at all.
The Unbreakable Grip (vv. 28-29)
From the nature of the sheep, Jesus moves to the absolute security of the sheep. This is one of the most glorious promises in all of Scripture.
"and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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." (John 10:28-29 LSB)
The gift the Shepherd gives is "eternal life." This is not just life that lasts a long time; it is a quality of life, the very life of God Himself, given as a present possession to the believer. And the result is that "they will never perish, ever." The Greek here is emphatic, a double negative. It is an impossibility. A true sheep cannot be lost.
Why? Because of the Shepherd's grip. "No one will snatch them out of My hand." Our security does not depend on our feeble grip on Christ, but on His omnipotent grip on us. We may stumble, we may wander, but His hand holds us fast. No demon, no temptation, no failure, no power in heaven or on earth can pry open the hand of the Good Shepherd.
But it gets even better. The security is doubled. Jesus says, "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." We are a love gift from the Father to the Son. We are held securely in the Son's hand, and the Son's hand is held securely in the Father's hand. This is a divine double-lock. To be lost, a sheep would have to be snatched from the Son, who is omnipotent, and from the Father, who is "greater than all." It cannot be done. This is the perseverance of the saints, grounded not in our perseverance, but in God's preservation.
The Foundation of Our Security (v. 30)
What is the ultimate foundation for this audacious promise? How can Jesus make such a claim? He gives the answer in the final, explosive verse.
"I and the Father are one." (John 10:30 LSB)
This is the plain statement they had demanded, but it was infinitely more than they had bargained for. He is not saying that He and the Father are one in purpose, like two men who agree on a project. The word for "one" here is neuter, not masculine. It means one in essence, one in being, one in substance. It is a direct and unambiguous claim to full deity. The reason no one can snatch a sheep from His hand or the Father's hand is because those two hands are the hands of one God.
Our eternal security is not based on a promise from a great teacher or a moral example. It is based on the very nature of the Triune God. The Son who bought us and the Father who gave us are one God, and His power is absolute. This is the bedrock of our confidence. The Jews understood exactly what He was saying, which is why in the very next verse they pick up stones to kill Him for blasphemy. They knew He was claiming to be God.
Conclusion: In Whose Hand Are You?
This passage leaves no room for neutrality. It forces a decision. The words of Christ divide humanity into two camps and two camps only: those who are His sheep, and those who are not. There is no third option of "remaining in suspense."
For those who are not His sheep, the message is a stark warning. Your unbelief is not a sophisticated intellectual position; it is a spiritual condition. You cannot hear His voice because your heart is stone. You must not trust in your own ability to believe, but rather cry out to this sovereign Shepherd and ask Him to perform a miracle, to give you a new heart and new ears, to make you one of His sheep.
For those who are His sheep, for those who have heard His voice, who know He knows you, and who seek to follow Him, this passage is a fortress of comfort. Your salvation is not a fragile thing that you might lose at any moment. It is not dependent on your performance. It is held fast by the unbreakable, double-grip of the Father and the Son, who are one God. This truth is not a pillow for us to become lazy upon. It is the fuel for fearless obedience. Because we are eternally secure, we are free to risk everything for the Shepherd. We can face trials, temptations, and even death, knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and nothing can snatch us from His hand.