{"id":311,"date":"2024-01-10T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=311&2024"},"modified":"2024-01-08T17:00:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T00:00:28","slug":"what-my-father-has-given-john-10-22-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/what-my-father-has-given-john-10-22-42\/","title":{"rendered":"What My Father Has Given: John 10:22-42"},"content":{"rendered":"
Focus Passage: John 10:22-42 (GNT)<\/div>

22\u00a0<\/sup>It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. 23\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus was walking in Solomon’s Porch in the Temple, 24\u00a0<\/sup>when the people gathered around him and asked, \u201cHow long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?\u201d<\/p>

25\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cI have already told you, but you would not believe me. The deeds I do by my Father’s authority speak on my behalf; 26\u00a0<\/sup>but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep. 27\u00a0<\/sup>My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28\u00a0<\/sup>I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. 29\u00a0<\/sup>What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father’s care. 30\u00a0<\/sup>The Father and I are one.\u201d<\/p>

31\u00a0<\/sup>Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. 32\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus said to them, \u201cI have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?\u201d<\/p>

33\u00a0<\/sup>They answered, \u201cWe do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!\u201d<\/p>

34\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cIt is written in your own Law that God said, \u2018You are gods.\u2019 35\u00a0<\/sup>We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. 36\u00a0<\/sup>As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? 37\u00a0<\/sup>Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. 38\u00a0<\/sup>But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.\u201d<\/p>

39\u00a0<\/sup>Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.<\/p>

40\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there. 41\u00a0<\/sup>Many people came to him. \u201cJohn performed no miracles,\u201d they said, \u201cbut everything he said about this man was true.\u201d 42\u00a0<\/sup>And many people there believed in him.<\/p>

Read John 10:22-42<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n

Have you ever read something multiple times, and perhaps on the fifth time you see something new?<\/p>\r\n

It is this way for me with this passage. I have read it numerous times, but just today, I noticed a phrase that I\u2019ve not seen or paid attention to before.<\/p>\r\n

When Jesus is sharing His first response, before the people respond in anger, He says the following sentence: \u201cWhat my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father’s care.\u201d<\/strong> (v. 29)<\/em><\/p>\r\n

This is a summary statement for what Jesus was saying, but when reading it this time, a phrase and idea jumped off the page: \u201cWhat my Father has given me . . .\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The subject matter is Jesus\u2019 followers, and how they are drawn to Him, and in this statement, Jesus says that God is the One who brings people to Him.<\/p>\r\n

This has two huge implications:<\/p>\r\n