Deuteronomy 5 "Honoring Our Parents"

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you (the 5th commandment); that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (v.16)

Honor for fathers and mothers is an essential building block for the stability and health of all society. If the younger generations are constantly at war with older generations, the foundations of society will be destroyed. Rebellion is costly, and many have paid a high price personally for their rebellion against their parents.

The year was 1727. The place was a small bookshop in Lichfield, England. A man who kept bursting into violent fits of coughing was packing books to sell in his market stall in Uttoxeter. Between coughs he asked his 18-year-old son to take the books that day. But the young man, deeply engrossed in the Latin classic he was reading, heard him but ignored the request. The stagecoach arrived, and the father stepped out into the pouring rain with his load of books to take the 20-mile ride to the market. 


Fifty years later an elderly man stood for hours in the pouring rain at a market stall in Uttoxeter. When the storm finally subsided, he slowly walked back to a waiting carriage and returned home. There he bowed his head and sobbed. That man was the famous literary genius Samuel Johnson. He was still haunted by the memory of what he did so long ago.  - Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread)

Honoring our parents is more than an obligation. It’s also a privilege. As children we honor them by obedience; as adults, by frequent calls or visits and self-sacrificing care. Missed opportunities to show love and honor may bring deep regret years later. 

Don't miss the opportunity
, To honor and obey


The parents God has given you—
For they'll be gone someday. —Sper

The Truth: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” (Ephesians 6:1-3)

Deuteronomy 4 "Listen And Obey"

"Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (vv.1-2)

In our text the Israelites finally enter into the good land God had appointed for them, and as they entered He told them how they could obtain His blessing. He called them to do what every parent since Adam and Eve has called their children to do: listen and obey. And neither God’s desire to bless His children nor the way to obtain that blessing has changed one bit over that period of time; we must listen and obey His word.

God has warned His people that there is great danger in tampering with His word. But it is so difficult to keep on the straight and narrow, isn’t it? Some have decided that because it is so difficult, there must be something wrong with the Bible itself. So they decide to adjust the Word of God to fit their lifestyle, instead of letting the Word of God adjust them. 

We all must guard against this temptation to allow ourselves to judge the Word instead of it judging and changing us. How can it change us? When it painfully points to our sins of omission and commission, it forces us into a corner where we have to make a decision. Will we deny our guilt, deaden our conscience, and compromise our integrity? Or will we simply stop, quiet ourselves before the Creator, and once again ask for His forgiveness?

I fear that many in the world today ignore biblical standards and simply do what is right in their own mind. The prevailing philosophy seems to be, "whatever makes you happy," or "whatever makes you feel good," throwing ethics, morals, laws, and even common sense to the wind. Obedience to any authority, let alone God's Word, to them is refutable. 

However, in light of who God is, and the sacrifice He gave to redeem us back to Him, obedience to His commands makes perfect sense. It is simply what should be done. We are fools to disobey or count lightly the consequences of a life spent in rebellion to His Word. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'LORD, LORD,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Therefore, it seems reasonable for us to listen and obey.

The Truth: "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD." (Isaiah 1:18).   

Deuteronomy 3 "God Shows His Faithfulness "

And I (Moses) commanded Joshua at that time saying, "Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings: so shall the LORD do to all the kingdoms where you pass. You shall not fear them: for the LORD your God He shall fight for you.” (v.21-22)

Joshua had a huge job to do – to bring a whole nation into a land where they would not be welcome, and where they would have to fight to possess what God had rightfully given to them. With this huge challenge in front of him, Moses was now encouraging Joshua not to fear what kingdoms may lie ahead, but to consider what God has done and what He has promised, “That He will fight for you.” This was just the beginning of how God would show His faithfulness to His people in the promise land.

So too the Lord has provided miraculous victories in the lives of His people today. Many can testify to the life changing events because of His love and patience in drawing them unto Himself. Remembering God’s past faithfulness is key to present and future victory.

This year was my 6th year anniversary of God's protective hand on my life by delivering me through open heart surgery (quadruple bypass), through the skill He had given others, and restoring me to complete health. I give praise to Him for every breath I've drawn, every experience I've had over the past 6 years He extended to me. 

Thank you Lord for Your faithfulness and all the victories given to me in my life, both small and great. You have so graciously provided for me. Forgive me for wanting more and help me in whatever state I am in, to be content. Amen.

Blessed beyond understanding.

Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.’ (2 Chronicles 20:15b)

Deuteronomy 2 "Moses Recalls The Desert Years"

“And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the LORD had sworn to them.” (v.14) 

If you travel to the Sinai Peninsula today, you find that from Kadesh Barnea to the Brook of Zered is only 50 miles, but it took the children of Israel 38 years to travel that distance. It wasn’t that they were lost; Moses knew how to get there. Rather it was their disobedience and the fact that they would not believe or trust the Lord, even though He was showing His power and faithfulness to them daily, that they wandered all those years. 

As a result, God allowed an entire generation of Israelites to die because they would not follow Him to the place where He wanted to bless them. They wasted their lives going in circles and letting the sin of the surrounding peoples rub off on them and their children. 

Today many believers still get stuck somewhere between Kedesh Barnea and Zered in their Christian life. Through disobedience and lack of faith, we can wander round and round in circles, never arriving at the place God wants for us. Better to "press towards the goal for the the prize of the upward call of God in Christ," than to wander or settle for less than God has for us because we get tired of the journey.

God also told His people here in chapter 2 not to meddle with certain people groups that they passed. He was warning them not to get entangled in the affairs of the world. And that’s true for us as well; if we ignore the warning of God and get too mixed up in the value system of this unbelieving world, we will find ourselves again going around and around the same mountain, wandering in circles because we ignored God’s will for our lives and attempted to do things our own way.

The Truth: "One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13–14).

Deuteronomy 1 “Trust In The Lord”

The book of Deuteronomy is a review of the Israelites history, a reminder of how their fathers failed miserably but how God saw them through mercifully. 

The biggest failure of God’s people was one of trust. God told them through Moses to take the land of the Amorites, that He had given it to them. However, they decided to send in spies first, to check it out. This shifted them now from the place of obedience to evaluation. Big failure, for who is God's counsel? 

Later, God tells His people through Moses not to go to war against the Amorites as He would not be with them due of their earlier unbelief and they should turn into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea to avoid conflict. However again, the children of Israel did not heed God’s counsel but did what they thought was right in their own eyes. Another big failure! 

The lesson eventually learned by the Israelites and a good one for us as well, wherever God directs us, is the correct path. Ours is not to question, or evaluate His direction in our lives, we must simply trust in Him.

The Truth
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

John 21 "Keep Following Me"

"Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” (vv.18-19)

Here Jesus spoke of Peter’s past, reminding him of his younger days when he had less responsibility and could do (more or less) as he pleased. Most of us know what these younger years were like. Jesus also spoke of Peter’s future, when another would bind him (gird you) and carry Peter to a place he would not want to go – a place with stretched out hands, crucified on a cross. It would be by this death he would glorify God. 

Ancient writers have documented that, about thirty-four years after this, Peter was crucified; and that he deemed it so glorious a thing to die for Christ that he begged to be crucified with his head downwards, not considering himself worthy to die in the same posture in which his Lord did. 

After speaking to Peter about his death, Jesus gave these last words to him, "Follow Me." Peter had followed Christ, but not continuously in the past. Scripture tells in Johns’ gospel that Peter even denied knowing Jesus three times shortly after His arrest in the garden, and he even went back to his former occupation of fishing. However he was later restored by Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias and called to follow steadfastly in the ways of the Lord and to Feed His Sheep (vv.15-25).

We too, despite our pasted, are to keep following Jesus. The command ‘Follow me’ is a present imperative, which literally means Keep on following me. Even though we may have denied Christ in the past, He knows His children - His Spirit calls us to repentance, and to keep following Him, giving our attention to; His Word, His calling, exhorting and serving others, and exercising the gifts God has given us. Then in so doing we like Peter become restored in Christ. 

The Truth: "Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:13-16)

John 20 "Doubting Thomas"

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (vv.26-29)

After eight days: The idea here is that Jesus had an additional meeting with the disciples (now including Thomas) eight days after the first one. And again Jesus enters the room in the same mysterious and remarkable way in which He had before in verse 19 (the doors being shut, and stood in the midst). Jesus also gave the same greeting (Peace to you!). 

At this meeting Jesus grants Thomas the evidence he demanded in verse 25, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side." Jesus was not obligated to do this; He could have rightly demanded faith from Thomas on the basis of the reliable evidence from others. Yet in His mercy and kindness, Jesus gave Thomas what he asked for. 

Jesus then gives Thomas a command, "Do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jesus was generous and merciful to Thomas and his unbelief, but He did not praise his unbelief. Jesus wanted to move him from doubt and unbelief to faith. Because Thomas did not believe in the resurrected Jesus, Jesus considered him unbelieving. Thomas’ response was an immediate transition from declared unbelief (John 20:25) to radical belief (John 20:28). He addressed Jesus with titles of deity, calling Him Lord and God. It is also significant that Jesus accepted these titles, and did not tell Thomas, “Don’t call Me that.”

Peter would later says to those who believed, “Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). 

The lesson here for us is, true faith comes from the reliance upon the Word of God, and not on the eyes of man. For trusting in what one sees is not trust at all, it requires no faith. But relying on God's Word, even when we can not see the outcome, is evidence of a much "stronger faith."

The Truth: But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:5)

John 19 "It Is Finished"

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished and He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (v.30)

Those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus saw His hours of agony and heard Him cry out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” as He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). His final words from the cross were not a cry of painful defeat but of triumph, because He had accomplished all that the Father sent Him to do. In that deep darkness when God hid His face and could not look upon His Son, the rocks split, the veil ripped and the graves were opened (Matthew 27:51-52) and His work of salvation was complete. 

No one took Jesus’ life from Him; He, in a manner unlike any man, gave up His spirit. Death had no righteous hold over the sinless Son of God. He stood in the place of sinners, but was never a sinner Himself. So He could not die unless He gave up His spirit. As Jesus said, I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. (John 10:17-18)

Jesus died that we might live, He suffered that we might rejoice, He took our condemnation that we might have justification. His finished sacrificial work on the cross brought the gift of salvation to all. But His free gift must be accepted. One must believe in His death, burial and resurrection in order to become adoptive sons/daughters, and heirs to His kingdom. If you have not yet received His free gift, I invite you to do so today. Simply pray the prayer to the right of this page (connect with God) to become an heir to His kingdom.

The Truth: He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:6-8)

John 18 "The Trial of Truth"

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” (vv.37-38)

In our text Jesus' answer to this question, "Are You a king then?" interested Pilate. He didn’t mind religious leaders among the Jews, even crazy ones, as long as they kept the peace and did not challenge the rule of Rome. A rival king though might change the status quo, and Pilate wanted to investigate this. 

In His response Jesus did not deny that He was a king. In fact He insisted that He was born a king, and to be a different kind of King. He came to be a King of Truth, that He should bear witness to the truth. 

Pilate’s cynical response, "What is truth?" showed he thought Jesus’ claim to be a King of Truth was foolish, and that there was no truth in the kind of spiritual kingdom Jesus represented. For Pilate, soldiers and armies were truth, Rome was truth, Caesar was truth, and political power was truth.

This exchange with Jesus was the closest Pilate would come to life’s greatest discovery. The Roman politician had asked the right question of the right Person, and his answer was standing before him. But instead of falling to his knees in repentance, confession, and faith, he could only pass off the answer by concluding, “I find no fault in Him.”

Sooner or later, all of us find ourselves in Pilate’s position, where we must decide what to do with the Man who claims what no other can claim—that He is the truth. Millions of people down through the centuries have found Jesus’ life, His words, and His resurrection to be convincing evidence of His credibility. And they have concluded that knowing the truth must begin with a personal relationship with Christ.

Have you found the answer to life’s most important question? If not, consider Jesus’ statement in John 14:6.

The Truth: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

John 17 “A Prayer Of Unity”

“I pray for these men. But I am also praying for all people that will believe in me because of the teaching of these men. Father, I pray that all people that believe in me can be one.” (v.20-21)

Here Jesus is not only praying for His disciples but, also for all those who would come to believe in Him through them. That includes you and me. He looked beyond this first generation of believers and saw those whom the gospel would reach around the world. His prayer for them and for us, is that we would be unified as one. That we would believe God sent Jesus to be the Savior of mankind. Not just to the Jews, but the gentiles as well.

Therefore brothers and sisters we are one in Jesus and should be united together in our service to Him in whatever He has called us to do.

The Truth: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

John 16 "Be Of Good Cheer"

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (v.33)

Here, hours before His crucifixion, Jesus has been reminding His disciples of all His previous assurances; His promises of peace, of courage, and victory over all the evil power of this world. Why? that they may find peace. He also reminds them that in this world (controlled by satin) they will have trials and tribulations and will be hated for His sake - persecuted, afflicted and tormented. But, He adds, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus did not promise peace; He offered it. He said, “that you may have peace.” People may follow Jesus yet deny themselves this peace. We gain the peace Jesus offered by finding it in Him. We won’t find real peace anywhere else other than in Jesus. He made the way to peace with God - "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

Jesus also said, "In the world you shall have tribulation." Peace is offered to us, but tribulation is promised. When we become Christians we may bring fewer problems upon ourselves, but we definitely still have them. Understanding this removes a false hope. Struggling Christians often hope for the day when they will laugh at temptation and there will be one effortless victory after another. We are promised struggle as long as we are in this world; yet there is peace in Jesus.

In His statement, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world: Jesus proclaimed the truth of His victory. This was an amazing statement from a man about to be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, tortured and executed. Judas, the religious authorities, Pilate, the crowd, the soldiers or even death and the grave could not overcome Him. Instead, Jesus could truly say, “I have overcome the world.” If it was true then, it’s even truer now. Therefore, be of good cheer!

The Truth: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Revelation 12:10-11) 

John 15 "Abide In Me"

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Here in the first sentence of our text Jesus emphasized a mutual relationship. It isn’t only that the disciple abides in the Master, but the Master also abides in the disciple. Jesus used this picture to assure His disciples of a continued connection and relationship even though He was about to depart from them.  

He then goes on to say, as long as we stay connected to Him (the vine), we (the branches) will remain spiritually nourished and bear fruit. But, break that connection and we will begin to spiritually wither and die, and like a broken branch, we will not blossom - bear fruit.

Staying in Jesus means digging into His Word and filling our hearts and minds with His nourishing truth. This strengthens our inner man and prepares us to share with others (as the spirit leads), feeding them from the fruit we have developed by abiding in Christ.

However, break that connection and we will be as useless as a fig tree without figs, or a grape vine without grapes. We can do nothing for Him because our witness, our testimony, our walk, has become lifeless, withered and unfruitful. Therefore, abide in Him.

The Truth: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)

John 14 “I Am The Way”

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.” (v.6)

Here Jesus is saying He is the way to heaven and all those who wish to go there, must come through Him. By His sacrifice, He became the way of salvation itself and there is no other name under heaven by which one can enter in.

Jesus is also declaring Himself to be the truth, meaning truth itself. He is the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the savior, the true way to eternal life purchased through His obedience to death, even the death of the cross. Furthermore,  Jesus is life, both the principle source of life, and life in the future world. He is the author and giver of life; natural, spiritual, and eternal.

Finally, He is the only way of access to the Father. There is no coming to God on our own merit or without a mediator. Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and there is no coming to the Father but by Him.

The Truth: "I Am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Mw, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:25-26)

John 13 “Love One Another”

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (v.35)

Jesus spoke of love often during His ministry, encouraging all His followers to; "Love the Lord their God with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind" (Matthew 22:31), to "Love your neighbor as yourselves" (Matthew 22:39); and even to “Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44).

Now Jesus is giving His disciples a new commandment, to  "love one another." Therefore, in light of Jesus's teachings (which His disciples bore witness to), this seems like a very strange command. Why would He feel the need to say this? The first part of our text gives us the answer, "All will know that you are My disciples, IF you have love for one another."

Love is the ID card of the Christian. It is the outward sign to those around us that we identify with Him. The Apostle Paul describes this kind of brotherly love in first letter to the Corinthians, "Love like this suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

This is the type of love which allows us to have peace in the middle of the storms and trials of life. This kind of love binds us together and draws others to it. May your life be marked with His love for others.

The Truth
"For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." (1 John 3:11)

John 12 "Lazarus A Living Witness"

Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus." (vv.9-11) 

The chief priests were for the most part Sadducees (Acts 5:11). Their hostile attitude is shown in that, while no charge is brought against Lazarus, they took counsel on how they might kill him, and watched for their opportunity. Why? because his life was a living witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ, and a denial of their own doctrine that there is no resurrection (Acts 23:8). 

During this time many Jews were coming to Bethany, not only because Jesus was there, but to see the risen Lazarus as well. What a testimony he must have had. The truths he must have spoken giving honor and glory to God. As a result, Christ’s followers were increasing while the priests and Pharisees followers were decreasing. Therefore, they consulted to take the life of Lazarus and Jesus as well, to preserve their positions.

Today there are those who are consulting to kill the Gospel, trying to legislate God out of existence. But your changed life, your resurrected soul, can be a living witness to the power of the gospel. And like Lazarus, you can bring many to Christ by sharing your testimony of what God has done for you. 

The Truth: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

John 11 "I AM The Resurrection"

“Jesus said to her (Martha), I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Believe you this?” (v.25-26)

Here Jesus is once again speaking to Martha of the resurrection. But this time He states, “I Am the resurrection." Signifying He is able to raise men from death to life and that He could do it now. Literally telling her not to worry, your brother Lazarus will rise. 

Martha is so grief stricken she does not make the connection. She believes in the resurrection of believers “in the last day”(v.24), but did not see it as a possibility this day. However, from the moment Jesus heard Lazarus was sick He knew, “It was not unto death, but for the glory of God. That the Son of God might be glorified thereby and men would acknowledge Him for who He is” (v.4). 

Today many are sick unto death, but there is a remedy for all who believe. Just as Lazarus’s was raised from physical death and was resurrected to glorify the Father and the Son, so all who believe in Jesus may be resurrected from spiritual death to glorify the Son and the Father. For He has concurred sin, death, hell, and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:55-56). Thanks be to God!  

The Truth: Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.” (John 17:1) 

John 10 "He Knows His Sheep"

Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father’s hand.” (vv.24-29)

Here we see a hostile ambush of Jesus as He simply walked into the temple. The sense is that the Jews encircled him, preventing His escape with a hostile purpose. The religious leaders (once again described as the Jews) refused to listen to or believe in Jesus. The problem wasn’t that Jesus was unclear about who He was and where He came from. The problem was that the religious leaders had hearts of unbelief that they wanted to discredit Jesus. Yet, the works Jesus did demonstrated that He was from God, and that He was true to His word. 

The religious leaders wanted Jesus to speak plainly, and here He spoke more plainly than they probably wanted. Jesus previously told them they were not true shepherds (John 10:5, 10:8, 10:10, 10:12-13). Now Jesus tells them they were not even true sheep, because the Messiah’s sheep believe and hear His voice. Meaning, His people, those who believe He is the Son of God, hear and obey His Word - and He knows them. 

In Jesus’s day many people that followed Him were not of Him. Not being true believers they wanted something from Him; healing, food, to witness one of His miracles. But those who truly believed He knows, and gives them eternal life (v.28).

Some people today are still looking for something from God. In times of trouble they check-in with Him, even make a request of Him pretending to know Him. Oh they might even go to church on occasion. But, according to our passage, He does not know them. Why? because they do not believe in Him (v.26)  and neither do they hear His voice (v.27). 

The Truth: “The Lord knows those who are His.” (2 Timothy 2:19)