<p>10:18 <i>No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. This command I received from my Father</i>- See on :17. He had the right &quot;authority&quot; to receive His life again, from the Father, for the Father raised the Son. The resurrection process means that the life we had before resurrection, in our mortal life, is that same life we shall live eternally. And the Lord was our pattern. In this sense we live the eternal life now, living the kind of life, spiritually, which we shall eternally live. Note that He spoke with arresting continuous tenses of how &lsquo;The good shepherd <i>is laying </i>down his life for the sheep... I <i>am laying down </i>my life of myself&rsquo; (Jn. 10:11,18). He <i>would be</i> delivered up, but in principle He went through it in His daily life beforehand.</p>