October 3, 2020 -- John 10:29-30 -- My Father is Greater than All!

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

John 10:29-30 English Standard Version

This hurricane season many of us have watched the successive waves of hurricanes form out in the ocean, strengthen and make landfall. The devastation is terrible. The power in such storms boggles the imagination. The winds of an “average” hurricane have the equivalent power of 12 hours output of all the world’s electricity generating power. When you calculate the wind, the waves, the rain, and so on, the power of an average hurricane is 200 x the power of all the electrical generating power of all the power plants on our planet. During its life-cycle a typical hurricane releases the power of 10,000 nuclear bombs! (This is from the website How Stuff Works).

Yet the planet does not explode. Though the on-coming storm can generate numbers on the Richter scale, so that a storm far out at sea produces tremors on the land—it is as if the land shivers in anticipation of the violence about to hit it. The LORD our God is greater. His power is greater than all. Why does this matter?

The Father has determined who will be saved. The Father has given to Jesus Christ the sheep and Jesus by His once-for-all sacrifice has rescued us from the powerful wrath of God—greater than all the storms ever generated on our planet. Jesus has entrusted us, delivered safe from the anger of God and has given us the righteousness He lived. Jesus, filled with divine power greater than all the storms of the earth, was able to endure the holy anger of God against our sin. When God sees us, He sees the love of His Son poured out on us. When God the Father considers our ways, the good-conduct and right-living of Jesus is credited to you and me! Jesus then entrusts us into the hands of our Father so that we will never lose our salvation, we will never lose our way.

Knowing this makes us desire Jesus more. Knowing this truth fills us with the Spirit’s deep and abiding love for Jesus so that the Word becomes sweeter. The obedience we offer to Jesus is whole-hearted. Our sins—oh the wretched persistence of them!—becomes more hateful. No matter the energy of the storms and trials thrown up against us, the Father is greater and He has rescued us in Jesus Christ and the Father and the Son send the Spirit so that this greater than all hurricane force power resides in us bringing us to eternal life and fullness of joy in the presence of our God.

God of Majestic power and glory, Moses described You as the God Who rides above the storm. What a picture of Your divine omnipotence! Thank You for making Your determination of our rescue effective through Jesus Christ. Thank You, Father in heaven, for the life of the Spirit, spawning in us resurrection life. Triune God of Splendor and Glory, direct us ever deeper into Your love and more determined to serve You with all exuberance and wonder until we see You face to face and our sins will finally be vanquished and we will live with You and sin no more. Even death itself will be captive-led to hell. Increase our capacity to think on such things. Increase our marveling in Who You are as we ponder them so that many around us will be drawn to the powerful life of Christ shining out from us. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_NMrhO7rDo