And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
—John 10:28
The “them” of this verse are the sheep Jesus came to lay down His life for. I am thankful for this verse because eighteen verses earlier, in John 10:10, Jesus revealed the existence of a thief who would try to snatch us out of His hands by stealing, killing, and destroying. However, Jesus assures us, in essence, “He can try, but he will fail.” So eternal life cannot be taken from us, nor can we be snatched from His hand of protection.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the enemy doesn’t try. I find it odd that he keeps trying to accomplish something he cannot possibly succeed at, but it is true, nonetheless. He tries to steal, kill, and destroy our salvation, but He has no weapons capable of defeating Jesus’ nail-scarred hands. He cannot make the accusation that we got away with our sins, for Jesus was punished for them. He cannot say we are imperfect creatures and thus do not meet the entrance qualifications for heaven, for we are in Christ, the one who is perfect. He cannot say that our failures since salvation now disqualify us, for Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father as our intercessor and advocate.
The scars on Jesus’ hands are the reason we cannot be snatched from them. As long as those marks remain on His precious hands, the devil’s efforts to snatch us from them will fail. As it has been said, the only manmade thing in heaven will be Jesus’ scars, but by them Jesus gave us eternal life. If we could be snatched from His hands, then the life He gave was not eternal. If we could lose that which He gave, then it was only temporary.
This is such a wonderful truth for all who feel like they have lost their salvation. Be assured, if you ever actually had it, you can’t possibly lose it! So if you know that you are His and that you definitely gave your life to Him at a certain point in time, then nothing can snatch you from His hands.
I do want to say, however, that feeling unsaved usually comes from acting unsaved. Whether through disobedience or disengagement, the feeling of being unsaved will change with a change of actions. But being snatched from His hands can never happen. The scars on those hands prove it to be so!
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