My sheep hear my voice

In chapter 9, one of the key characteristics of believers is that they can see, and in particular they can see who the Lord Jesus is. In this section we will find that true believers can also hear,and as a result they follow Him. These two spiritual faculties are key components of eternal life which is given to all who are His sheep.

Although the subject matter of this section (i. e., sheep and a Shepherd) appears to follow directly from the first half of the chapter, there is actually a three month break between the two sections. The events recorded in the second half occur during a visit the Lord made to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication.

While walking in the temple confines, He was again confronted by the Jews who asked Him a question, ‘How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly’, v. 24. In effect, they were accusing Him of deliberately hiding His identity and misleading them. But, as He goes on to show them, the fault did not lie with Him but with them.

The reason for their unbelief was not that they had not had clear statements regarding His identity, but because they were not His sheep and had failed to hear Him. They were completely deaf to His claims of being the Messiah. On the other hand, the thing that characterizes those He calls ‘my sheep’ is that they hear His voice, and by faith they follow Him, v. 27.

His sheep are intimately known by Him, v. 27, are given eternal life, and are eternally secure, v. 28. Our eternal security does not rest on our merits or efforts, but is dependent on the ability of the Father and the Son to keep us and the fact that we possess the same life as They do. The believer is held in the hand of the Son and His hand is secure in the Father’s, v. 29. Our relationship with the Son is as indissoluble as His relationship with the Father, because we all share one thing in common - eternal life.

In claiming oneness with the Father, the Jews accused Him of blasphemy and took up stones to stone Him. So this period of our Lord’s ministry ends in open hostility, with the Jews desiring to have Him stoned as He escapes out of their grasp.