And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28).  

The Lord Jesus makes five different never promises to anyone who believes in Him. Whoever believes in Him will never: 1) thirst, 2) hunger, 3) be cast out, 4) perish, or 5) die [spiritually].  

In part 4, we will consider the fourth never promise in John’s Gospel—the promise that the believer will never perish. It is found in John 10:28.  

The word perish (Greek apollumi) most often refers to destruction or physical death (cf. Matt 8:25, 32; 26:52; Luke 13:3, 5, 33; John 6:27; 11:50; Acts 5:37). However, about ten percent of the time, it refers to eternal condemnation. John 3:16 and 10:28 are two prominent examples. The one who believes in Jesus will never be eternally condemned.   

Blum comments,  

They shall never perish is a strong affirmation in the Greek: ou mē apolōntai eis ton aiōna (“they will indeed not ever perish”; cf. John 3:16, mē apolētai, “never perish”). The security of the sheep is found in the ability of the Shepherd to defend and preserve His flock. Such security does not depend on the ability of the frail sheep. No one can even snatch His sheep out of His hand. “Snatch” is harpasei, related to harpax (“ravenous wolves, robbers”). This is a fitting word here for the same verb (harpazei) is used in 10:12, “the wolf attacks” (lit., “snatches away”) [“John” in BKC, p. 311, emphases his]).  

Leon Morris writes,  

It is one of the precious things about the Christian faith that our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on his firm grip on us. We should notice that the teaching of this verse is not that believers will be saved from all earthly disaster, but that they will be saved, no matter what earthly disaster may befall them (John, p. 463).  

Jesus promised that the moment anyone comes to Him in faith, he has everlasting life and will never be eternally condemned. What a promise, don’t you think?  

Keep grace in focus, and you’ll never fear spending eternity in the lake of fire.