Safe and Secure from All Alarms

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John 

August 16, 2024

Safe and Secure from All Alarms

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

John  10:28-30

In Jerusalem for Hanukkah, Jesus’ words reach new heights of controversy. Approximately 200 years before Jesus’ ministry, Israel had been overrun by an invading army. The army occupied Israel, desecrated the Temple, and put the people under oppression. A man named Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt against the foreign army and defeated them. The people made Maccabaeus their king, and his family ruled Israel until the Roman invasion 100 years later. (Last month, when Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, he referred to the Israeli Defense Force as present-day Maccabees.)

Maccabaeus led the people to purify the Temple, and to hold a festival every year to commemorate the rededication of the Temple. This festival, Hanukkah, which means dedication, is held at a time on the Jewish calendar that is close to our December 25^th date. Against this backdrop, where the people are remembering their last true and brave King who fought the invaders, Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah King, but he is not leading a revolt against the Romans. The people don’t want a shepherd; they want someone to fight for them.

Jesus was fighting for them, and us. He was fighting the forces of evil; he was fighting sin and death. When Jesus proclaims he is the Good Shepherd, he gives his followers their greatest assurance. His followers will live eternally with him. His followers can rest in the absolute assurance that they are safe and secure in the grasp of Jesus. Jesus says that when we choose to follow him, the Father gives us to Jesus, and because the Father and Jesus are one, we now find ourselves safely in the Father’s hand.

My Takeaway: I wonder if it was this assurance from Jesus that inspired the Apostle Paul to close the beautiful Chapter 8 of Romans with these words:

“If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? No, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:31b, 35a, 37-39 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.