In talking about giving His life for His sheep, Jesus makes a profound statement about the power He had to both lay down His life and take it up again. He had a commandment from the Father to lay down His life, and He knew that by grace He would get the power He needed to do it. Why? Because He had a commandment from the Father.
Jesus knew that because of this commandment, He would have to be obedient in order to get the power He needed to follow through with His commission (fully laying down His life), which would be no easy task and require a lot of power. Jesus would have to make a choice. Honor the commandment and receive this power, or reject it and be taken by force. By force or by choice?
Jesus had the power to choose between the two; lay down his life for others, or, have his life forcefully taken and destroyed by others. When we become sons and daughters by surrendering our lives to Christ and living in obedience to Him and His word, we too must accept this same challenge and choice.
