People today seem more prone than ever to fears of different kinds. How safe is the food we eat? How safe is the rail network? How safe are the roads? Can we ever be safe from terrorist attack? Safety can never be guaranteed. We have heard in the news of the tragic death of a teenage girl on the ‘Hydro’ ride at Oakwood Leisure Park in west Wales. Danger is all around, and not just in the more obviously risky activities.

Christians are certainly not immune from danger or death. As the Good Shepherd Jesus undertakes to keep his sheep safe: 

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. I and my Father are one (John10:28-30).

‘We should notice that the teaching of these verses is not that believers will be saved from all earthly disaster, but that they will be saved, no matter what earthly disaster may befall’ (Leon Morris). Not one of them will perish everlastingly. Not a single one of Christ’s sheep will be in hell. All will be in heaven.

Why are the sheep so safe?

1. They are safe because their shepherd is the Good Shepherd

In John 10:19-21 we read that Jesus caused a division among the people. A debate had gone on for days in Jerusalem. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Many of the Jews maintained he had a demon and was mad. They were not in the least embarrassed on another occasion to accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan. Despite all the evidence of his works, and Jesus’ patient reasoning with them, they gang up on him in the temple (v23-24) and demand that he ends their suspense and tells them plainly whether or not he is the Christ!

We are not in the hands of a demonic or a psychopath. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not mad. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is not one of the hirelings, who care more for themselves than the sheep entrusted to them. In making this distinction Jesus was implicitly referring to the Jewish leaders, whose interest was not primarily the care of their flock but their own gain, financial and otherwise. Christ is the Good Shepherd, one who is prepared to lay down his life for the sheep.

We can trust him as the Good Shepherd to be totally in control. The other day an experienced Virgin Atlantic pilot was prevented from flying his plane full of passengers from the USA to Britain because staff smelled alcohol on his breath. His employers judged that he could not be in proper control of his flight and enjoy the confidence of the passengers. Our Shepherd is always alert. We can trust him totally.

Tragically, we also know of flights where hijackers have seized control of the plane. This can happen despite all the precautions. But no one can wrest control from Jesus. He keeps safe all the sheep entrusted to him.

2. They are safe because they are in his hands

The Jews looked for their safety to the continuance of the temple, the great symbol of their national identity. They felt their position was secure as long as it stood intact. But John in his second chapter has shown that one greater than the temple has come.

Jesus is speaking at the time of Feast of Dedication. There were several important annual festivals celebrated by the Jews at this time. This one does not have its roots in the Old Testament, but in a national deliverance from the inter-testamental period. It was a celebration of the rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in 165BC after its profanation in 168BC by the Romans under Antiochus Epiphanes. The event was a symbol of hope and its annual celebration would have fuelled the Jews’ longing for someone to liberate them from the present Roman oppression.

It is no accident that John locates Jesus’ message in the context of this particular occasion. Compare John 7:37-39, where the Evangelist tells us that Jesus issued the great invitation If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink on the last day of the feast, ie the Feast of Tabernacles. John surely means us to see Jesus’ words there as implying the bankruptcy of external religion, its inability to satisfy the soul.

So it is here. Jesus’ proclamation draws the people’s attention to himself as the one grounds of safety. Only in him can the nation be safe. Today the Church’s safety lies not in her buildings or rituals or organisation but in her Shepherd.

3. They are safe because he is one with God the Father

In the counsels of eternity God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit covenanted together to save a people, a vast number of sinners from all tribes and nations. The Father entrusted to the Son the task of saving his people. My Father… has given them to me. It is the indissoluble union of Son and Father that guarantees the safety of the sheep. Our safety lies in our election. The Son will not, cannot, fail. He will present his people triumphantly to the Father at the end, safe and sanctified.

Jesus the Good Shepherd holds us by the hand. And behind the grip of Jesus is the grip of the Father. Of necessity we are holding his hand too. But it is his grip that ensures our safety. The more we follow him, the more of his voice we hear, the more conscious we shall be of our safety (v27).

How awful to be without Christ in the world, unsafe, unshepherded!