Lesson #169
With this lesson we will finish the fourth section of chapter 10, defined by John 10:11 – 18. We will pick up our study at verse 17: “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John 10:17 ESV). Why does the Father love Jesus? “For this reason” looks back to Jesus as the shepherd in verse 16 who is calling the sheep out of the sheepfold to himself, but in order to have these sheep he must die for them. This brings great delight to the Father because in this way Jesus is reconciling us to the Father. He loves us so much and his desire for a relationship with us is so great that he is willing to sacrifice his only Son to obtain it. Our salvation is dearer to him than his Son’s life. To think that the Father would ask his Son to drink the cup of his wrath in our place shows that in his mind he values us as equal to that of his Son. That is the price he is willing to pay to obtain us. It is for that act of obedience that the Father loves Jesus.
This act of obedience, on the part of Jesus, eternally changes him. It starts with the necessity of the Son taking on our flesh and becoming Jesus the God-man and taking that flesh to the cross as the perfect sacrifice. Through our faith in him and what he is doing we are joined to him in his death; we die together physically, but it doesn’t end there. Jesus has the power to lay down his life when his work is done and then he has the power to take it up again. His resurrection doesn’t raise just him, but those of us who by faith died with him. “For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5 NET). This union with the resurrected Jesus is the great mystery of the ages, “which is Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). Forever, he and we are intermingled together as one. As he is one with the Father and the Spirit dwells in us, thus we are one together with God. If we really understood this and embraced it, it would radically change our lives. We would indeed by seen as aliens and strangers and would be willing to forsake our idols of safety and comfort and sacrifice our lives, if called upon, and stand as a witness for our Lord.
Jesus continues his discourse: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:18 ESV). Jesus is totally in control, even while dying on the cross. He knows when his work is done; when all the sin for those chosen by the Father have been covered; have been paid for by his shed blood; he then cries out “It is finished.” (John 19:28); “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46). Then on the third day he frees himself and us, who are joined with him through faith, from death. We rise with him, to forever be one with him. It is no longer us and him, but we. I am sure it will take an eternity to fully fathom the meaning of this “we” and what it will be like.
Prayer
Father, as I begin to understand how much God has done for me, through the preparation of these 169 lessons, I find myself standing more and more against the world and standing with more determination with the Lord as a witness. Activities that I engaged in with the world a short while ago, I can no longer tolerate. The constant desire of my heart is to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ and serve him in loving obedience. As I continue to study and pray, God continues to change me. Father, thank you for the change.
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