First Presbyterian Church
Marianna, Florida
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sermon by Huw Christopher, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Revelation 7:9-17
                                John 10:22-30
Sermon Title: “Sharing the Victory of Jesus as We Rest Securely in the 
Hands of Jesus”
Sermon Text: John 10: 27-28: “My sheep know my voice. I know them, 
and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.  
No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

	“No one will snatch them out of my hand.”  What picture came to your mind 
when you heard those words of Jesus this morning?  “No one will snatch them out 
of my hand.”  I must admit that the rather graphic nature of those words struck me 
in a new way a few years ago. As has been the experience of many people in 
reading or hearing some words of Scripture it was as if I was reading them for the 
first time.  Indeed, the word, “snatch” with all of its graphic implication caught my 
attention so much that I thought this must just be a modern translation in the New 
Revised Standard Version. When I went back, though, to look at the earlier 
Revised Standard Version and most of the earlier translations the same word, 
“snatch,” was right there. I did find that the King James Version used a slightly 
milder and less graphic translation when it used the word, “pluck” rather than the 
word “snatch.” The word “snatch,” though, probably is a better English translation 
of the original Greek word which means to “take away forcefully.”  The words we 
heard from John’s Gospel are in fact the only two places in the New Testament 
where this word, “snatch,” appears.
	With this background let me ask you again to think what picture comes to 
your mind when you hear the words of Jesus, “no one will snatch them from my 
hand.”  For me at least these words were ones that gave a picture of security.  They 
stood in contrast for me to the way in which the word “snatch” is so often used in 
ordinary language as we speak of “purse snatchings” or even “baby snatchings.”  
The whole implication of such pictures is that something is being done to us or to 
other people that we do not desire or do not want.  A purse or a pocketbook or a 
wallet contain so many personal items that are difficult often to replace if they are 
taken away from us. For most people there is great anxiety and apprehension if 
they are simply lost or misplaced without even any deliberate attempt by someone 
to snatch them from us.  The same, of course, is true of baby or child snatching. 
The picture is of someone trying to do some thing that is unnatural and unwanted 
as they try forcefully to remove a baby or a child from his or her parents against 
their will.  
	To speak of purse snatchings or baby snatchings immediately creates an 
atmosphere of fear and or apprehension.  This is the type of thing that makes the 
bad news that get in our newspapers and on our television news programs.  These 
are situations in which people seek the help of the law enforcement authorities. 
What a contrast we see then as Jesus speaks words of assurance and of comfort 
when he says that when we know a relationship with him, and have come to 
experience his gift of eternal life, no one can snatch us out of his hand.  His words 
remind us that we may choose to turn away from God, and we may decide that 
even his gift of eternal life is not as exciting and as glamorous as other people may 
have cracked it all up to be, but when we seek to be faithful in our relationship to 
God there is nothing that can separate us from the love that God has shown for us 
in Jesus Christ.  These certainly are words of comfort and assurance.  For me the 
picture they give is of being able to climb into the lap of Jesus and allow his arms 
to embrace me and his hands to hold me securely knowing that nothing is more 
powerful than his love for me.  It is certainly this picture of security that Charles 
Wesley sought to paint for us in our opening hymn as he reminded us of what it 
means to be able in all the storms of life to know that nothing will snatch us away 
from the hands of Jesus, the lover of our souls.
	Another picture of what it means to rest securely in the hands of Jesus is, of 
course, painted by his earlier words when he had said, “My sheep hear my voice. I 
know them, and they follow me.”  Earlier in this chapter in John’s Gospel Jesus 
has spoken of himself as the Good Shepherd.  I do not know whether the 23rd 
psalm on which our anthem was based this morning was as familiar to those who 
heard Jesus speak as it is to most people today.  But certainly for most of us to hear 
Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them and they follow me,” reminds 
us of all the security that it is reflected when we are able to say, “The Lord is My 
Shepherd,” and remember all that the picture of God’s presence and guidance 
reflected in Psalm 23 means to us.  
	In response to our Assurance of Pardon this morning we sang the words, 
“Each newborn servant of the Crucified bears on the brow the seal of Christ who 
died.”  The reference is to the Sacrament of Baptism in which we frequently state, 
“In baptism God claims us, and puts a sign upon us to show that we belong to 
God.”  Each time I hear those words my mind goes back to my home area of Wales 
where sheep frequently would wander into town, and walk across roadways and 
become quite a danger to drivers.  Unlike the deer that are such a menace and 
danger to drivers in this part of the world, and which no one claims to own it was 
very rare to see a sheep that was not branded in some way to show to which farmer 
it belonged.  No doubt such a sign or seal was needed because of sheep stealing 
and sheep snatching by other farmers over the years.  As we remember our 
baptisms we are reminded that we have the sign or the seal of Christ upon us and 
that with that sign and seal comes the promise of Jesus that no one will snatch us 
from his hand.
	Since I was not leading worship last Sunday I was reflecting on these words 
of Jesus over a week ago when my mind and the minds of so many were centered 
on the tragedy that occurred on the campus at Virginia Tech.  That experience 
reminded me not only of how easily and quickly loved ones can be snatched away 
from family members, but of how easily and quickly the very gift of life can be 
snatched away from people.  In the news media following that tragedy there were 
reports of special services being held.  Caught up in the emotion of interviewing 
the family members of those who had been killed many reporters assured them of 
their prayers.  That experience reminds us again of the security that comes to us as 
we share the victory of the resurrection of Jesus.  This is the picture that John gives 
us in the words that we heard this morning in the Book of Revelation.  He shares 
his vision of heaven with those who were facing persecution for their faith by the 
Roman authorities.  Even as they and those they loved faced what he terms the 
great ordeal there is that assurance that nothing will snatch them from the hands of 
Jesus. Even now Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was crucified, is the Risen Lord, 
who is still their shepherd who guides them to springs of the water of life.  His 
words remind us that even though loved ones may be snatched away from us even 
in death, they still cannot be snatched away from the hands of Jesus, so that we can 
know that we need not fear any evil even as we walk the valley of the shadow of 
death, because the worst evil cannot snatch us away from the presence of God seen 
in the loving, welcoming hands of Jesus.  This is also our assurance as we face the 
reality of our own deaths, and the deaths of those we love.  As Jesus said, “What 
my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the 
Father’s hand.”  
	I cannot say what picture came to the minds of those who first heard those 
words of Jesus or what sort of assurance people felt as they heard him say, “No one 
will snatch them out of my hand.”  As those who share the victory of Jesus who by 
his resurrection has shown us that God’s love for us is indeed greater than all else 
we can know that assurance that in life and in death we belong to God.  It is indeed 
the victory of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, a victory in which we share by faith and 
symbolically through our baptisms that also gives even more significance to the 
familiar and beloved words of the 23rd Psalm as we remember all that it means to 
us to say, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.”  Ours is the privilege to claim the security 
that comes as we know such a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ 
from whose hands no one will ever snatch us away.  Let us claim that assurance 
again as we affirm our faith together using the familiar words of Psalm 23 as they 
come to us from the King James Version.  If you need the words to follow they are 
printed in the bulletin.  Let us stand and affirm our faith together…

    The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. [2] He maketh me to lie down in 
green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. [3] He restoreth my soul: 
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. [4] Yea, 
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for 
thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. [5] Thou preparest a 
table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with 
oil; my cup runneth over. [6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all 
the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Hymn based on Psalm 23 No. 170                                                                Crimond
                                                    “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”
 
 
 
 


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