John 10:3-10 (WEL) “The doorkeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 “As soon as he puts his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 “They will not follow a stranger but will run away from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus gave them this illustration, but they didn’t understand what he was saying to them. 7 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I say to you, I am the door for the sheep. 8 “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 “I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, will go in and out, and will find pasture. 10 “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
V3 “The doorkeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
The doorkeeper is John the Baptist:
AskAndyAI (Dr. Andy Woods) explains:
“In John 10 the doorkeeper is identified as John the Baptist in the sense of admitting Christ into the sheepfold of national Israel. In that first scene the hired doorkeeper opens the door, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name—an action fulfilled when John the Baptist authenticated Jesus to Israel and many of Israel’s sheep followed (i.e., came to Christ). Later in the chapter Jesus shifts the picture: he Himself says, “I am the door,” describing how He is the one true entrance to salvation and pasture for His sheep. So: the doorkeeper figure who opened the fold to Christ is John the Baptist, while Jesus is ultimately “the door” through which people enter.”
The sheep are believers and the shepherd is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way for anyone to be saved; he is the door (John 10:7).
V4 “As soon as he puts his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
A good shepherd leads, not drives, his sheep to good pasture and still waters. See Psalm 23:1-6. We do not follow some “voice” in a mystical sense of an inner conversation. We do follow the voice of God that most call the Bible. The Bible is 100% and the only 100% truth. Following any other with 100% trust will potentially lead us astray.
The voice of God today is the Scriptures. We cannot discern perfectly. Don’t trust any voice, impression, or spiritual experience. The Scriptures are the only 100% true and trustworthy voice.
V5 “They will not follow a stranger but will run away from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The stranger is any person one follows with complete trust for food, shelter, safety, and water. Yet for most of history, people followed a teacher. Compare 1 Corinthians 1:12-13.
Today, people are listening more to media influencers than reading the Bible.
Any spirit or person communicating a message from God must be in perfect alignment with the Scriptures. We must know the Scriptures. We must read and study them in their plain, normal sense. Any other sense will lead to error. Compare 1 John 4:1, 1 Timothy 4:1, Acts 17:11, and 2 Timothy 3:16.
V6 Jesus gave them this illustration, but they didn’t understand what he was saying to them.
Jesus is the Shepherd of the Sheep (John 10:14). Most of the Jews put their faith and trust in the religious leaders of the day. They claimed to follow Moses but really don’t; they follow their religious leaders’ interpretation of the Bible.
V7 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I say to you, I am the door for the sheep.
Jesus states plainly that He is the door. If any person wants to be in Jesus’s flock of sheep, he/she must come through Jesus (Acts 4:12).
We do not go through some priest, teacher, experience, ritual, etc., to be saved, born again, to enter the sheepfold. See Acts 4:12.
Barclay (beware) comments:
“To describe something of what that entrance to God means, Jesus uses a well-known Hebrew phrase. He says that through him we can go in and come out. To be able to come and go unmolested was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely secure and safe. When a man can go in and out without fear, it means that his country is at peace, that the forces of law and order are supreme, and that he enjoys perfect security. The leader of the nation is to be one who can bring them out and lead them in (Numbers 27:17). Of the man who is obedient to God it is said that he is blessed when he comes in and blessed when he goes out (Deuteronomy 28:6). A child is one who is not yet able by himself to go out and to come in (1Kings 3:7). The Psalmist is certain that God will keep him in his going out and in his coming in (Psalm 121:8). Once a man discovers, through Jesus Christ, what God is like, a new sense of safety and of security enters into life. If life is known to be in the hands of a God like that, the worries and the fears are gone.”
V8 “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.
The thieves and robbers were those leaders and teachers seeking followers. Real believers in the times before the Lord Jesus would not follow false teachers and sometimes died for it. Compare Hebrews chapter 11.
Pett comments:
“There have been false Messiahs and false teachers, under whatever guise, but they would not gain wide acceptance by the true people of God. The ‘all’ refers to those who in one way or another had taken advantage of the people’s expectations, pointing in the end to themselves rather than to God. Thus it refers to those who have sought to replace Him as a Savior by propounding other ways of salvation, something that Abraham, Moses, and the true prophets never did as He has previously made clear (John 5:39; John 5:46; John 8:56).
“They included the Pharisees who pointed to another way of salvation through commitment to the covenant in a way which meant keeping the Law in accord with the dictates of the Rabbis; false Messiahs who periodically appeared, false prophets who pointed elsewhere to other than the true way, of which many are mentioned in the Old Testament (e.g. Jeremiah 50:6; Ezekiel 34:2-10; Zechariah 11:15-17); false priests who emphasized the ceremonies more than their meaning; or other religious figures of any kind who offered salvation apart from Christ.
“They all entered the fold by a way other than the doorway, and they sought to lead out the sheep by another way than the doorway. And many sheep were deceived. But not His true sheep. His true sheep did not follow the false shepherds. For such false shepherds see Isaiah 56:9-12; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Jeremiah 25:32-38; Ezekiel 34:1-22; Zechariah 11:1-17. Once again we see Jesus bringing out His uniqueness. If these shepherds had been true shepherds they would now be pointing to and magnifying Jesus.”
V9 “I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, will go in and out, and will find pasture.
The person who places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation will be safe, secure, blessed, fed, watered, etc., with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).
The shepherd, Jesus, will grant blessings to those who believe then are born again.
V10 “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
The goal of the shepherd is to keep the sheep in safety, rest, low anxiety, watered, fed, healthy, etc.
The goal of the fake is to steal, kill, and destroy. Steal implies they steal what is God’s. Kill implies that a fake will lead them recklessly to death. Destroy implies the destruction of their simple, childlike faith in Jesus alone.
Concerning steal, compare Jeremiah 21:30, Matthew 7:15, 2 Peter 2:1, and 1 John 4:1.
Concerning kill, compare Psalm 37:32, Psalm 94:21, and Isaiah 59:7.
Concerning destruction (character, finances, reputation, health, etc.), compare Daniel (Daniel 6, where his enemies sought to destroy his reputation and when they could not maneuver to have him killed), Jeremiah 38:6, and Acts 5:40.
Agents of destruction as satan who masquerades as an angel of light, so also his ministers (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). They look and talk righteous, give spiritual experiences, visions, dreams, etc.
Wicked people entice people into sin, lies, complete trust in themselves and their method of interpretation.
Even natural human and societal influences are being cool, promising money, promising health, love of pleasures, persecution, etc.
The opposite is the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who desires to save, instead of steal, give life; instead of kill; and instead of destruction, build up and edify the faith.
We learn:
- Jesus Christ is the door and shepherd of the sheep.
- About fake shepherds.
Questions:
- Do you know how to follow the true shepherd, Jesus Christ?
- Do you recognize error from false shepherds?