BIBLE LESSON

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

— John 10:17-18

A shepherd would risk his life and sometimes lose it to defend his sheep. As the Good Shepherd, when Jesus came into the world, He knew that He would die to save His sheep — all those who would receive Him as Lord and Savior and enter His sheepfold.

Only by God's Son dying on the cross as a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of God's children could God be both just and merciful to forgive them for their sins and prepare them for eternal life with God and all who love God and one another. Jesus knew what His Father expected of Him and what He had agreed to do before He was born in human flesh.

When Jesus obeyed His Father's command, Jesus fulfilled their agreement and sealed the new covenant between God and His people in His own shed blood.

As the Son of God, Jesus did what no mere human could do. Jesus chose His way of death and His moment of death, not by suicide, but at the hands of sinful men in fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Then Jesus chose His way to live again in a glorified human body that could pass through walls and appear to His disciples in a room or on a road. Jesus did and continues to do all God promised, so we can safely entrust our future into Jesus' loving care.