“And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.”
That porch was very large; it was at an entrance, or “gate”, where the people went in and out of the building, and where many people could talk and be together. It was on this porch that the Lord Jesus answered the men who asked Him to tell them if He were the Christ. He had told them many times before, and had done the great deeds no other could do. He had just spoken those wonderful words that He was the Good Shepherd who would give His life.
Simple Words, Simple Faith
The time and place of His talk seem to have been written that all since who read it would know His words were meant for all people; they were said in a public and proper place for so important a matter. Those leaders did not believe Him because they wanted to keep on in their sins. Yet He explained carefully, and in that way the people about him heard, and many believed Him, and many since have been blessed by His words.
Jesus spoke of sheep so all could understand His meaning. Even children of every land know what sheep are. He said, “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.”
To “hear’’ His voice, is to believe His words, and by His words know He is the Shepherd. He knows His “sheep,” each one who believes Him, and He gives them eternal life — the Christ-life that cannot end.
Secure Forever
One or all the sheep of a flock might be snatched from a shepherd by robbers or wild animals, or they might perish or die in a storm. That cannot be true of “the sheep” of the Lord Jesus.
He said, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck (or snatch) them out of My hand.”
The “eternal life” He said He gives, would not be eternal if it could stop or end; that life is a part of His own life, so it cannot be lost.
The Lord’s “sheep” often go astray on earth, and then are not in His path here, for “He leadeth me in paths of righteousness’’ (right way). But David, who wrote that, also knew the Lord as the Shepherd who, “restoreth my soul.” David also knew he could not perish. He wrote, “I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” That is to be in the presence of the Lord, his Shepherd, forever.
While the Lord Jesus was on earth He spoke of God the Father as greater. Here he mentions His “sheep”. He said, “No man, (meaning ourselves, men or Satan) is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” Then He said, “I and My Father are one,” teaching us that His own, those who believe Him, are kept by both the Father and the Son of God.
Further Meditation:
1. What does it mean to “hear” the voice of the Shepherd?
2. How else do the Scriptures show that a person with true faith in God can never lose their place as His sheep?
3. You might find more, very encouraging words, in the small pamphlet Can a Sheep of Christ Ever Perish?