John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
While the Lord’s “sheep” frequently endure tribulations and trials and sickness and even death in this present world, “they shall never perish”! To “perish” is to be fully and finally destroyed. Those who are not the Lord’s “sheep”, at the end of time, “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (II Thessalonians 1:9); thus, they will not be annihilated, but will “perish” (be eternally separated) from the presence of the Lord and His blessings that they enjoyed alongside the Lord’s “sheep” in this present life. But, there is absolutely nothing that can separate the Lord’s “sheep” from Him and His “love” (Romans 8:35-39). Sin cannot separate the Lord’s “sheep” from Him and His “love”; for, our Lord came into this present world to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), and He did (John 19:30). Not even death can separate the Lord from His “sheep”; for, in death, the body dies, but their “soul” (Genesis 35:18) and “spirit” returns “unto the father who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The Lord told one of the men that was crucified with him that “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43); his body was left behind until the Resurrection, but that very day, his “soul”, “spirit” was with his Lord in “paradise”. Our “Good Shepherd” Who “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) has authoritatively declared “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish”! We have every reason to worshipfully rejoice, even in the very midst of this world’s tribulations and trials!