Aug 8, 2021
Scripture Reading: John 10:30-42
In the discourses between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, in the gospel of John, we are brought into the glories and mysteries of the infinite God. Jesus says things that can only be true if He is God in human flesh. "Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise" (Jn 5:19). "Before Abraham was, I am" (Jn 8:58). On both occasions, the Jews wanted to put Jesus to death.
In today's passage the leaders had the same reaction to the same implication in what Jesus was saying. The implication in Jesus' words was His equality with God and the reaction is a desire to kill Him. Referring to God as His Father, Jesus says, "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30).
This is not to say that the Son and the Father are one person, but one entity. We can, and must, distinguish between the Father and the Son, but we cannot, and must not, separate them. In John 10:38 Jesus says, "The Father is in me and I am in the Father." The mystery of the Trinity is that there are three persons in one Godhead. There are three distinct persons, but with such a unity that there is only one God.
Lest we think that this mysterious doctrine is irrelevant to our lives, Jesus connects the unity of the Godhead with our salvation and our eternal security. He follows the declaration "I give them eternal life and they will never perish" with "no one will snatch them out of my hand" … "no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:28-30). Our everlasting safety rests on the union of God the Father and God the Son. Can there be any greater reason for us to feel safe, both now and forever?