Matthew Poole and continuators on John 10:17

17 Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again :

Christ here asserteth Two things. 1. That he was about to lay down his life, and should now very shortly lay it down; but yet so, as he should take it again. i. e. rise again from the Dead, Death should not have Dominion over him; by which he comforteth his Disciples concerning his Death, declaring, 1. That he was a Freewill-Offering, as he further openeth it in the next Verse. 2. That he should not perish in the Grave, but rise again from the Dead. 2. That therefore the Father loved him; for by this means he declared himself with power to be the Son of God, and the Father could not but love his Son. And 2. By this means also he humbled himself, and became obedient unto Death; even the Death upon the Cross, Phil. 2.8. So as that the Father had many reasons to love the Son, so amongst others this obedience of his to Death, even the accursed Death upon the Cross, to fulfill his Fathers Will, for the Redemption and Salvation of the Sons of Men, was not the least: and by this also he commendeth his Fathers love to those that are his sheep, in that his Father loveth him with the more exceeding love, for laying down his Life, to purchase their Redemption, and Salvation.

Marginal references: Isa. 53.7, 8, 12.