Today we need to learn a little bit about shepherding and sheep. I've thought that the following portion of Scripture was interesting for a while because Jesus shows up in multiple places in His allegory.
John 10:1-6
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
The sheepfold was a defensive structure to protect the sheep. The analogy that Jesus is developing makes sense because of the production practices used in that day. Sheep lack defenses and the shepherds took care of the sheep. In this picture, there are no electric fences and no dogs that either look like sheep or help you move the sheep. There were two places to have sheepfolds. First there was often a sheepfold attached to the house but that is not what is in view in Jesus' teaching. Secondly, there were relatively large stone structures located out in the pastureland. These structures were shared among shepherds with multiple flocks in the same sheepfold at night during the grazing season. The door was guarded and they had to guard the perimeter of the sheepfold to keep thieves from stealing sheep. Stealing food was common and this was where the "food" was.
The sheep needed to eat and when it was time, the shepherd would have the gate opened and call his sheep. The sheep would only respond to the correct shepherd. Sheep are dumb and smell bad but they do bond to a shepherd and they don't respond well to novel situations or new shepherds. They listen to the voice. So note the door, the gatekeeper, the shepherd, and the voice in relation to the sheep. However, the Jews of His day didn't understand how what Jesus was saying was relevant in a spiritual sense. Jesus needed to explain the significance of this example.
John 10:7-13
So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
In His explanation then we see Jesus in multiple places. He is both the door and the shepherd. God the Father is the "Gatekeeper". God the Son is the door. This is confirmed by other Scripture telling us that Jesus is the "Way" (John 14:6) and by Jesus telling us to, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). Right after this saying in Matthew, Jesus tells us that there will be those who are in the flock but not of the flock and are wolves rather than sheep. This precedes His frightening statement about those who say they have done great things for Christ but have come over the wall rather than through the Gate and will not be with us in eternity.
Being the "Way" or "Gate" is intimately tied to the Cross. It is a once and for all time payment for our sins because we can't pay. It is also that application of Christ's perfect obedience for our righteousness so that we may stand forgiven and righteous before God's judgment. So the "Gate" is tied to Christ's actions here on earth. His perfect life and sacrifice are in view as the "Way" in which we are atoned for or become "at one" (atone) with God and have peace with God. This grace or undeserved blessing is the only way to have peace with God. Without being dogmatic about it, I'd like to use the "Gate" as Jesus in humanity today. This is only generally because, as we will see, there is no separation in Him but I think we can see why He stands in two places in this example.
Jesus is also the Good Shepherd. He is a shepherd who focuses on the sheep in contrast to the thieves and hired servants who either want to take and destroy or simply abandon the sheep when they are under attack. This is not just a New Testament picture (as here in John) but is of course an Old Testament picture of God (For God as the Shepherd of His people, see Gen. 48:15; 49:24; Ps. 23:1; 28:9; 78:52; 80:1; Is. 40:11; Jer. 31:10; Ezek. 34:11–16. A prophecy in Zech. 13:7 concerning "the Shepherd" of Israel was applied by Jesus to Himself in Matt. 26:31).
So today I'd like to think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd referring to Jesus in His divinity. The reason why I'd caution against trying to make this dogma is that this imagery is so rich that you should spend time thinking about it in other ways. The Lamb of God is the Good Shepherd and He is the Gate and He is the Sacrificial Lamb and through Him all things were created that were created (including all sheep, shepherds, and gates). It is a useful way to think and understand this passage but Scripture is deep on the Person and Work of Christ.
Think of His voice and His sheep hearing it as the Holy Spirit. In that case we have a complete picture of the actions of God the Father, God the Son as both human and divine, and God the Holy Spirit sent to save the lost.
My work has brought me in contact with bad shepherds and good shepherds. In Indonesia, there was no history of shepherding in the people we were working with. People who were gardeners were relocated from Java to Sumatra and given too little land. We were trying to introduce sheep so that they could feed themselves. We had a herd and would give a few sheep and they would pay back the sheep from the offspring. We hired men from the native population to take care of our herd. They liked to show up and get the sheep out by 10 am and put them away about 3 pm so they could get home early. The sheep didn't get enough grazing time but the local employees were more concerned with their schedule than the sheep. It was tough. I remember once we found the herd headed off the property because one of the shepherds forgot his lunch and went back to get it. He just left the sheep. No wolves to deal with but plenty of hungry people who would simply grab one and eat it.
In contrast, I worked in France. In France the shepherds had thousands of years of shepherding experience. The fathers taught the sons the trade. They would wake up and think of the needs of the sheep. They had the whole day planned and they knew where the best pastures were and they would lead the flock to the best places and change places and pasture to keep them eating and give them rest. They would save the best for last and try to bring them back home near sundown with as full a belly as possible. The shepherd's schedule was all about the sheep's needs. The contrast with the Indonesians was like night and day.
You can be so thankful that your shepherd thinks of your needs. Think of the following verses from 139 in the context of the Good Shepherd.
Psalm 139:
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
…
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
It is mind boggling that our Shepherd has such deep knowledge of us and has identified with us. Meditating on this degree of care and knowledge of our needs should bring us faith and confidence in our Savior.
John 10:14-18
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
Jesus makes a particular doctrine clear at this point that we mentioned a few weeks ago. I generally call it "Specific Atonement" but it is also "Definite Redemption". As I said last time, Jesus didn't die with just a hope that someone would respond to His call. He knows His own and when the voice of God in the Holy Spirit enlivens our dead hearts then we respond to the Shepherd. You are (at least most of you) the sheep from another fold. The move of the Holy Spirit in the gentiles was a mystery and that we would become the Offspring of Abraham by the power of God.
Jesus is likely speaking directly to more than one of those who would be directly responsible for His death. He makes the point that He lays down His life for the sheep. Without this action we would have no "Gate" and this is the will of the Father. Christ has the authority to lay His life down and take it up again.
John 10:19-21
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?" Others said, "These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
So His words brought division because only the Sheep responded positively. The others could not "hear" what He was saying.
John 10:22-31
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
This occurred during Hanukkah so we are reading about what happened in December during the last year of Jesus' ministry.
It is a little hard to have much sympathy for people who take up stones to kill Christ for telling them that He is the Christ when they asked Him to tell them plainly if He was the Christ. Sin is a overwhelming thing. Jesus points back to the signs which were given to validate His ministry to those who were questioning Him. Here we also have the doctrine of the Preservation of the Saints. It is the root of our eternal security to realize that it is God holding our hands and not we ourselves. The Preservation of the Saints is a testimony of God's faithfulness and not our faithfulness. When you were going somewhere and your father said, "hold my hand" then was it your strength or his that made that a safe thing to do? God gets all the glory for our assurance of salvation.
John 10:32-39
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
Jesus is using an argument with a "least" to "greatest" example here. First, He draws them back to the signs. They reject the signs and accuse Him of blasphemy so He points back to what seems to be a legal example of judges functioning to deliver the word of God (Psalm 82:8, Elohiym) being called gods (the least) to the example of God's Anointed One (the greatest) being criticized for using the term "Son of God". He also again points at the works as signs that should make them stop and think long enough to see that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. But sin blinds them and Jesus withdraws.
John 10:40-42
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him. And they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." 42 And many believed in him there.
So, for the sheep, the witness of John, the signs given by God, and the voice of their Shepherd was sufficient and the foundation began to be built in this last winter of Christ on earth.
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