Bible Study series: John 10:1-6. Those who will become his sheep are listening and will walk through the door.
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In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 10:1-6
1 “I tell you the firm truth: The one not entering through the door into the sheep pen but climbs over by another way is a thief and a robber. 2 But the one entering through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To this one the doorkeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and goes out with them. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, and they recognize his voice. 5 They do not in any way follow a stranger but flee from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus told them this figurative language, but they did not understand what things they were that he spoke to them. (John 10:1-6)
Comments:
1:
Jesus is still speaking to the Pharisees, and they are the strangers in this proverbial teaching.
“I tell you the firm truth”: it literally read, “amen, amen, I tell you.” Jesus’s faith in his own words is remarkable and points to his unique calling. It means we must pay attention to it, for it is authoritative. He is about to declare an important and solemn message or statement. The clause appears only on the lips of Jesus in the NT.
So now here is Jesus’s solemn pronouncement. It’s the Pharisees, as a single collective, who are the thief and the robber. The man born blind from birth sought help from the religious leaders, but they were impotent before his congenital blindness. They were not his true shepherds, who actually care for people, not cross-examine them in a courtroom, as we saw in John 9.
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
The thief and robber mislead the sheep, exploits them, steals them away from the true shepherd, destroys their faith with falseness—false doctrine or an over-emphasis on the law and heavy-handed regulations. Such were the Pharisees.
“Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!” (Zech. 11:17, NIV)
Here is another passage on what bad shepherd do:
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 23:1-2, NIV)
Here is how God will intervene. He will tend the sheep themselves, and then place good shepherds over them.
3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior. (Jer. 23:3-6, NIV)
So vv. 5-6 elevates the prophecy to include a righteous Branch from the line of David, the people’s Righteous Savior.
2:
Jesus uses two metaphors: the door and the shepherd. So let’s set up our two-level diagram again.
Jesus will say that he is the door (v. 7). And in v. 8, he will say that anyone who enters through it will be saved. Only he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by him. He is the entrance to a secure relationship with the Father (14:6).
For more information about the shepherd, see v. 11.
3-5:
It is not clear to who the doorkeeper is. He is probably an undershepherd, or he may be the hired man, though this man abandons the sheep (v. 12), while the doorkeeper is responsible enough to open the door to the shepherd. He may be a foil in this illustration, to contrast him with the Good Shepherd (v. 11). A good man, but not on the same rank as the Good Shepherd. He opens the door / gate to the Good Shepherd.
I really like Bruce’s comments here.
The details were familiar to many of Jesus’ hearers; even today they are aptly illustrated by the way of a shepherd with his sheep in the Holy Land. The fold [pen] would be a stone enclosure, roughly square in shape, with an entrance on one side. This entrance was guarded by a doorkeeper or watchman whose business it was to admit authorized persons and keep out intruders. If anyone were seen climbing into the fold on one of the other sides, it was safe to assume that he was an intruder, up to no good. To discourage such persons, the top of the wall might be protected by briars. (Bruce, comment on vv. 3-5)
Bruce goes on to say that in the Scottish Highlands the shepherds claimed that he could call each sheep by his name, and the sheep would respond to it. It was the personal bond between each sheep and the shepherd. And the shepherd of the Bible days did not have a sheepdog.
I recall hearing a real-life illustration on a youtube channel. A European was having a picnic lunch in Palestine and saw flocks of sheep being led to a waterhole. The sheep from different flocks mingled. How would the shepherds sort them out? When the shepherds finished visiting, each shepherd, one at a time, raised his voice, called out, and the sheep snapped awake, leaped to their feet, and followed their shepherd out to the fields. No shepherd lost one sheep, for they recognized his voice. They followed him when he called.
Believing in his name means to believe in him, his person, his character, and his being—who he is, the Lord, the Son of God and the Messiah. The noun name stands in for the person—a living, real person. Let’s develop this thought, so it can apply to you.
What’s in a name?
You carry your earthly father’s name. If he is dysfunctional, his name is a disadvantage. If he is functional and impacting society for the better, then his name is an advantage. In Jesus’s case, he has the highest status in the universe, next to the Father (Col. 1:15-20). He is exalted above every principality and power (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8). His character is perfection itself. His authority and power are absolute, under the Father. In his name you are seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1). Now down here on earth you walk and live as an ambassador in his name, in his stead, for he is no longer living on earth, so you have to represent him down here. We are his ambassadors who stand in for his name (2 Cor. 5:20). The good news is that he did not leave you without power and authority. He gave you his. Now you represent him in his name—his person, power and authority. Therefore under his authority we have his full authority to preach the gospel and set people free from bondages and satanic spirits and heal them of diseases.
Remember that believing in his name is more than just intellectual assent or agreement with a doctrine. Belief has to go from the head to the heart (1:6-8), or so says the entirety of the Gospel of John.
6:
“figurative language”: this is not quite the same as a parable, but a proverb. In any case, the Pharisees were supposed to recognize themselves in this figure of speech—the thief and robber—and the people were also to see themselves in the illustration—the sheep. Jesus was the door, and relationship with him is the way to relationship with the Father.
Bruce:
The sheep in the fold [pen] were protected by the walls. But when the shepherd summoned his own sheep out of the fold, what protection had they then? None, except what he provided. So long as they kept close to him, however, all was well: it is the mark of a good shepherd that he defends his sheep, even at the risk of his own life. This good shepherd is not only revealed as the true King of Israel; he is also the obedient Servant of the Lord, fulfilling the first part of his commission—‘to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him. (Isa. 49:5). (comment on v. 6)
Go to John 12:37-43 for a fuller explanation of figurative language and the religious leaders’ inability to understand.
GrowApp for John 10:1-6
1. How did you first hear his voice that led to your salvation and relationship with him? Tell your story.
2. How do you keep hearing his voice through the Word and the Spirit—both?
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3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
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