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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            I am guessing that you have sung—or you’re at least familiar with it—the song “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” He’s got the whole world in His hands. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? You and I might want to answer immediately that it’s a good thing. But it may not be so straightforward. Consider someone who is suffering. Someone who’s in constant pain. Someone who is grieving, whose loved one has just died. Someone who has constant strife in her family. And then think about God having the whole world in His hands. Good thing or bad thing? Because that means that He’s got those things in His hands as well.

            Now you might want to defend God here, and say, well, He didn’t cause those things. He didn’t do that. But then, who did? In whose hands are those things? In the devil’s? In ours? But then those things are outside His control, not in His hands. In fact, God does have, not just the whole world, but all creation in His hands. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses is giving his farewell song to the people before he dies, and he speaks on behalf of God. As God’s prophet, he says, “I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. And there is no on who can deliver out of My hand” (32:39). No God but Yahweh. And no one can deliver out of His hand. He has death and life both.

            And it’s interesting because those are almost the exact words that Nebuchadnezzar says in Daniel 2. You recall the story of the three Israelite young men. We know them most of the time by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But their Hebrew names are Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And Nebuchadnezzar is mad that they won’t bow down and worship his image. He says, bow down and worship, or I will throw you in the fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you from my hand? You can do what you want, but if I want you dead in the furnace, not even Yahweh can help you then. Who is the God who will deliver you from my hand? But Yahweh says that not even Nebuchadnezzar can deliver you from My hand. And He saves them by one like the son of the gods, and the fire doesn’t touch them and they don’t even smell like smoke when they come out of the furnace, unharmed.

            There is no authority, no government, no ruler, nothing that can deliver you from Yahweh’s hand. But when we hear God’s word in Deuteronomy 32, it can sound a little like Nebuchadnezzar; that is, it can sound like a threat: “no one will deliver you from My hand.” And yet these words are also very close to what Jesus says in John 10: “no one can snatch or seize them out of My hand.” But we generally don’t hear that as a threat, but as a promise. So what makes the difference between a threat and a promise? What makes the difference between “no one will deliver you out of My hand” and “no one will snatch them out of My hand”?

            God’s word in Deuteronomy 32 is an absolute statement. He is the only God. He kills and He makes alive. He wounds and He heals. No one can deliver from His hand. He holds Israel, and He holds their enemies. He knows that the false gods in which even Israel trusted will fail them, and then what? If Yahweh doesn’t hold all things in His hands, then no one does. But in John 10, Jesus is talking about His sheep, the ones who listen to Him, believe Him, follow Him, and live from His life. The basic and all-important difference between the threat and the promise is simply faith. It is simply believing Jesus.

            Because the people who surround Him in the courtyard of Solomon say to Him, If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. He says, I did tell you and you did not believe. The works I am doing bear witness that I am the God who judges and gives life. The Father has given judgment into My hands. And I give life. You do not believe because you are not My sheep. It is sort of a Catch-22 of faith: You are God’s sheep if you believe Him; and you believe Him if you are His sheep. You are not His sheep if you don’t believe Him; and you do not believe Him if you are not His sheep. Only the Holy Spirit can cut that knot, and in a miraculous moment, by the word of Jesus, He makes believers out of unbelievers. Like He does with Thomas. Jesus says, Stop being an unbeliever, and be a believer. Which is absurd if it’s left to Thomas, or to anyone else. Instead, it is the word of Jesus that makes Thomas a believer. It is Jesus the Word who was dead, but is now alive, who makes Thomas a believer. He says, look at My hands and side, and come and put your hands here. Stop being an unbeliever and be a believer. And He does. “My Lord and my God.” So He has done for you. At some point, by the word of baptism, or by the word of Jesus that lead you to baptism, the Spirit made you a believer. He opened your ears to hear Jesus, your Good Shepherd, and to believe and follow Him. All this is written, John says, so that you will know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in your believing, have the life He gives.

            So Jesus says, My baptized, believing sheep know My voice. They listen to Me. I will give them life, and they will never die forever. And no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. Greater than powers and authorities, greater than life and death, greater than sin and hell. And no one can snatch them out of the hand of My Father.

            So far, so good. But then we look for evidence of this power. Against the power of pain and suffering, war and violence and bloodshed, death and grief and mourning; against the power of everything we face, strife in our families, the loss of a job, whatever it is—against all that, we look for the power of God to be greater than all of that. And then it doesn’t look like it is. All those things still happen, and they all still happen to the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. But it’s no different than it was in John 10. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. But when the right hand of God’s power is revealed, when His holy arm is bared before the sight of all the nations, all we see is arms stretched out and hands nailed to a cross. What power is there in a dead man? What power in crucifixion? What power in all this weakness and foolishness? What kind of a good shepherd would go out among the wolves and simply die? Doesn’t that just leave the sheep vulnerable to them?

            And, in fact, He would not be a good shepherd if He simply died. No use to be the sheep of a shepherd who lays down his life and just dies. But God has brought to life the Shepherd of the sheep. He is not dead. He is the Lamb who was, indeed, slain, but who lives forever. And death is not His lord. This Lamb, who went to the slaughter; who, before His shearers, was silent, is the Lamb who has conquered, who has the power and authority to do the entire will of God. He is the right hand of God’s power, and He gathers all the sheep whom the Father draws to Him by the Spirit.

            And you are those sheep, the sheep of the living and good shepherd, who lay down His life for you and took it back up again. This is the holy and eternal Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world He has in His hands. Because He is alive, He can give you life. And there is nothing greater than the one who has raised Him and the one who has been raised: the One on the throne and the Lamb. And He has all things, all creation, you in His hands. And no one and nothing can take you out of His hands; no one and nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in this Jesus.

            He has you in His hands, even when it doesn’t look like it or feel like it. He has you in His hands, even in suffering and pain. He has you, even in grief. He may kill, but it is only to raise to life. He may wound, but it is only to heal. He has you, especially, in your sin and death. Because He has taken both on Himself, and they are no longer in your hands, but in His. See the print of the nails in His hands. See His side. He calls you, and because you are His sheep, you hear Him, believe Him, follow Him, and He gives you life. And He will raise you up on the last day, because that’s what happens to those who belong to the resurrected Jesus. He is the only God there is, and He’s got all things in His hands, including you. And no one can take you out of His hands.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV).  Amen.

–Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 5/11/25