<p>10:28 <i>And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand</i>- The gift of eternal life is in the present tense, in that the Lord gives His spirit to us, the kind of life we can eternally live. &quot;They shall never perish&quot; refers to the condemnation of the last day; if we continue living the Kingdom life now, we shall not be condemned. If the Spirit of the Lord Jesus abides in us now, that same Spirit shall energize our bodies after the power of an endless life (Rom. 8:11).</p><p>The eternal type of life being given is an ongoing process. Consider the repeated parallelisms in the Lord&rsquo;s teaching:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=10 cellpadding=0 width=80%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>            Labour / work, as Israel worked to gather manna, as the crowds walked around   the lake to get to Jesus</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>For the food that gives eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Believe in me</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Receive eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Eat me daily, eat / absorb my body and blood, the   essence of My sacrifice; have this as your real food and drink in life</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Receive eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Come to me, having heard and learnt of the Father</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Never hunger, never perish, receive eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Behold the son, believe on him</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Receive eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;I am&rdquo;, God manifested in the person of Jesus</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>The bread that gives eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>The manna of Christ</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Gives eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Jesus came down from Heaven i.e. manifested the   Father</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Gives life unto the world</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>By Jesus doing God&rsquo;s will</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>I get eternal life for you (&ldquo;the world&rdquo; of   believers)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>By giving His blood to drink and flesh to eat</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Gives eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>The Spirit and words of Jesus</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>Quickens / gives eternal life</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>The Spirit of Jesus, His disposition, His mindset, His way of thinking and being, is paralleled with His words and His person. They both &lsquo;quicken&rsquo; or give eternal life, right now. &ldquo;It is the Spirit that quickeneth present tense&hellip; the words that I speak unto you, they are right now spirit, and they are life&hellip; thou hast right now the words of eternal life&rdquo; (Jn. 6:63,68). Yet at the last day, God will quicken the dead and physically give them eternal life (Rom. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:22,36). But this will be because in this life we had the &lsquo;Spirit&rsquo; of the eternal life in us: &ldquo;He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by on account of his spirit that dwelleth in you&rdquo; (Rom. 8:11).</p><p>This unreal shepherd not only dies for the sheep but gives them eternal life, making them eternal sheep (Jn. 10:28). We&rsquo;d understand it more comfortably if He spoke of giving His life for people, and then them living for ever. But He speaks of giving eternal life to a sheep, who wouldn&rsquo;t have a clue what that really entailed. But that&rsquo;s just how it is with us, who by grace are receiving an eternal Kingdom, the wonderful implications of which are beyond our appreciation, due to the intrinsic limitations of who we are as sheep. See on Jn. 15:15.</p><p>The context of chapter 10 is the shameful treatment of the blind man by the Jewish shepherds in chapter 9. The Lord is assuring His flock that if they hear His voice, then He will preserve them from any robbers who seek to grab them for themselves.</p>