These wondrous words were not without effect even then among the Jews. Love unknown before, the lowliness of a servant, the dignity of One consciously divine, wrought in some consciences, while they roused others to a deeper hatred. So it is, and must be, in a world of sinful men, where God and Satan are both at work in the momentous conflict of good and evil.
“There was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings; but many of them said, He hath a demon, and is mad: why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of one possessed by a demon: can a demon open blind [men's] eyes?” (Vers. 19-21.) The greater the grace, and the deeper the truth, the less does the natural mind appreciate Christ. He is indeed the test of every soul that hears His word. But if some imputed what was infinitely above man to a demon, and to the raving consequent on such a possession, others there were who felt how far the words were from those of a demoniac, and who bowed to the divine power which sealed them. The words and the works to their consciences had another character and import.
"Now it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem, [and] it was winter; and Jesus was walking in the temple in the porch of Solomon. The Jews therefore surrounded him, and said to him, How long dost thou hold our soul in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us openly. Jesus answered, I told you, and ye believe not. The works which I do in the name of my Father, these bear witness of me; but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall in no wise ever perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand. My Father who hath given to me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize out of the hand of my Father. I and my Father are one.” (Vers. 22-80.)
We are many of us familiar with the effort to sustain tradition and human authority in divine things by such a passage as the opening of verse 22. But it is really futile. For here we learn nothing of our Lord's participation in any observances of men, whatever they may have been, but of His being then in Jerusalem, winter as it was, and walking in Solomon's porch, when the Jews came round, and kept saying to Him, Till when (or How long) dost thou excite our soul (or keep it in suspense)? Wretched and guilty as their unbelief was, the Jews drew no such inference from His presence then and there. They were uneasy, spite of their opposition to Him. “If thou art the Christ, tell us openly.” But the fatal hour was at hand, and the power of darkness; and the light was about to pass away from them after its full manifestation in their midst. “Jesus answered, I told you, and ye believe not.” Take only His words recorded in John 5; 7, and 8. A plainer and richer testimony could not be. But testimony does not always last. It is given freely, fully, patiently, and may then be turned aside from those who reject to such as hear. Thus is God wont to act, and so does the Lord answer on this occasion. “I told you, and ye believe not."
But there was more than words, however truly divine, words of grace and truth according to His person. There were works of similar character; and the Jews were accustomed to look for a sign. If they sought honestly, they might see signs beyond man's numbering or estimate. “The works which I do in the name of my Father, they bear witness of me.” What could account for such hardness in any heart? “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.” Solemn solution of a difficulty, of a resistance to truth, of a rejection of Christ, as true now as ever!
Men trust to themselves, to their own feelings, to their own judgments. Have these never played them false? Have they ever been true before God? What suicidal folly not to distrust themselves, and look to God, cry to God, ask of God, what is His way, His truth, His Son! But no, this were to believe and be saved, and they will not. They are too proud. They will not bow to the word that arraigns them as sinners, even though it sends them the message of remission of sins on their faith. They feel that such grace on God's part supposes utter guilt and ruin on theirs, and this they are too hard, too proud, to own. They believe not; they are not of the Savior's sheep. Criminals, heathen, perhaps, may need a Savior; not decent, moral, religious men like themselves! They do not, will not, believe, and are lost, not because they are too great sinners for Christ, but because they refuse Christ as the Savior, and deny their ruin as sinners. They prefer to go on as they are, as the great mass of men: God, they think, is too merciful, and they hope to improve some day if they feel not quite right to-day. Thus are they lost. Such is the way and end of many an unbeliever now, as of the Jews then.
How, then, are Christ's sheep characterized? We need not hesitate to receive the answer, for here is His own account of them. “My sheep hear my voice:” a quality incomparably better than doing this, or that, or all things without it. It is the obedience of faith, the holy parent of all holy issues. Without faith it is impossible to please God; and this is the present characteristic of those who are of faith; they hear the voice of Christ. It is not self-assertion, nor the forgetfulness of their own sinfulness and of His glory. It is the truest owning of His grace, and of their own need; and thus only are souls blessed to God's glory.
This, however, is not their only privilege. “And I know them,” says the Savior. It is not here said that they know Christ, however true by grace. But He knows them, all their thoughts and feelings, their words and ways, their dangers and difficulties, their past, present, and future. He knows themselves, in short, perfectly, and in perfect love. How infinite the favor and the blessing!
But there is more. The sheep not only hear Christ's voice, but, says He, “they follow me.” For faith is living and practical, or worse than useless. And as it is due to Christ that His own should follow Him, so they need it, exposed as they are to countless foes, seen and unseen. It is their security, whatever the circumstances they pass through: Christ who leads the sheep cannot fail, and, as He knows them, so they follow Him.
“And I give them life eternal, and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand.” Thus the Lord guarantees His own life to them, not the life of Adam, who brought in death, and died, and left the sad inheritance to all his offspring; whereas the second Man and last Adam, being Son of God, quickens whom He will, and quickens with and to life everlasting. Is it said, however, that the sheep are weak? Unquestionably; but here He excludes fear and anxiety for all who believe in Him, for He immediately adds that “they shall in no wise ever be lost.” No intrinsic weakness, therefore, shall compromise their safety for a moment. Nor shall hostile force or wiles jeopard them; for “no one shall seize them out of my hand.” (Vers. 27, 28.)
Could love assure its objects of more? His love would impart to them the certainty of His own deepest joy, His Father's love, as sure as His own; and so He closes His communication with it. “My Father who hath given to me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize out of the hand of my Father. I and my Father are one.” (Vers. 29, 30.) Here we rise into that height of holy love and infinite power of which none could speak but the Son; and He speaks of the secrets of Godhead with the intimate familiarity proper to the Only-begotten who is in the Father's bosom. He needed none to testify of man, for He knew what was in man, being Himself God; and He knew what was in God for the self-same reason. Heaven or earth made no difference, time or eternity. Not a creature is unapparent before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare in His eyes with whom we have to do. And He declares that the Father who had made the gift resists all that can threaten harm, and as He has given to Christ, so He is greater than all, and none can seize out of His hand. Indeed the Son and the Father are one, not one person (which ἐσμέν, with every other scripture bearing on it, refutes), but one thing, ἕν, one divine nature or essence (as other scriptures equally prove). The lowliest of men, the Shepherd of the sheep, He is the Son of the Father, true God and eternal life. And He and the Father are not more truly one in divine essence than in the fellowship of divine love for the sheep.