Thursday, April 1
Read John 10
Think About It:
The truths that cluster around the image of the Shepherd and the sheep are found throughout the Bible are important to us today. The symbols that Jesus used help us understand who He is and what He wants to do for us.
The True Shepherd comes in through the door, and the porter recognizes Him. The thieves and robbers could never enter through the door, so they have to climb over the wall and into the fold through deception. But even if they did get in, they would not get the sheep to follow them, for the sheep follow only the voice of their own Shepherd. The false shepherds can never lead the sheep, so they must steal them away.
It is unfortunate that John 10:1 is often used to teach that the Shepherd is in heaven, and that those who try to get in by any way other than Christ are destined to fail. While the teaching is true (Acts 4:12), it is not based on this verse. Jesus made it clear that the fold is the nation of Israel (John 10:16). The Gentiles are the “other sheep”, not the fold of Israel.
As the door, Jesus delivers sinners from bondage and leads them into freedom. They have salvation! This word ‘saved’ means “deliver safe and sound.” It was used to say that a person had recovered from severe illness, came through a bad storm, survived a war, or was acquitted in court. Some modern preachers want to do away with an “old fashioned” word like “saved,” but Jesus used it!
Under the old dispensation, the sheep died for the Shepherd, but now the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep! Five times in the sermon, Jesus clearly affirmed the sacrificial nature of His death (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). He did not die as a martyr, killed by men; He died as a substitute, willingly laying down His life for us.
Because He knows our nature, He also knows our needs. Often, we do not even know our own needs! Psalm 23 is a beautiful description of how the Good Shepherd cares for His sheep. In the pastures, by the waters, and even through the valleys, the sheep need not fear, because the Shepherd is caring for them in meeting their needs. If you connect with Psalm 23:1 and 6, you get the main theme of the poem: “I shall not want… All the days of my life.”
The missionary message of the gospel of John is obvious: “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). Jesus Himself defied custom and witness to a Samaritan woman. He refused to defend the exclusivist approach of the Jewish religious leaders. He died for a lost world, and His desire is that His people reach a lost world with the message of eternal life.
His voluntary death was followed by His victorious resurrection. From the human point of view, it appeared that Jesus was executed; but from the divine point of view, He laid down His life willingly. When Jesus cried on the cross, “It is finished,” He then voluntarily yielded up His spirit to the Father (John 19:30). Three days later, He voluntarily took up His life again and rose from the dead. The Father gave Him this authority in love. Sometimes the scriptures teach that it was the Father who raised the Son (Acts 2:23, Romans 6:4, Hebrews 13:20). But here, the Son stated that He had the authority to take up His life again. Both are true, for the Father and the Son work together in perfect harmony (John 5:17, 19). In a previous sermon, Jesus had hinted that He had the power to raise Himself from the dead (John 5:26). Of course, this was a claim that the Jews would protest; because it was equal to saying, “I am God!”
If you review our Lord’s teaching about His ministry as the Good Shepherd, you note that He has a threefold relationship with His sheep. He has a loving relationship because He died for the sheep, as well as a living relationship because He cares for the sheep. It is also a lasting relationship, for He keeps His sheep and not one is lost.
Our Lord made a statement that He knew would startle His enemies and give them more reason to oppose Him (John 10:30). It was the “plain answer” that the religious leaders had asked for. “I and my Father are one” is as clear a statement of his deity as you’ll find anywhere in scripture. This is even stranger than His statement that He’d come down from heaven in John 6 or that He existed before Abraham ever lived in John 8:58.
The Word does not suggest that the Father and the Son are identical persons. Rather, it means that they are one in essence: the Father is God and the Son is God, but the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. He is speaking about unity, not identity.
Family Time:
- Jesus said He was the “Good Shepherd”. List some of the things He says about what shepherds do.
- How did the religious leaders react when He said, “I and the Father are one”?
