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7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. John 10:7-13
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. John 10:7-13
There are seven "I am" statements mentioned by the Lord Jesus throughout John's gospel. Again, the theme of "His fullness" is highlighted with the number seven being the number for fullness or completion.
In v.7, the third of these seven statements is used. The Lord Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep. In our text, the Lord Jesus uses certain characteristics of a shepherd to impart understanding of His identity. In so doing, He is clearly contrasting Himself with the false shepherds who are challenging Him.
Today's text follows the healing of the man born blind, who had been cast out of the synagogue because of his faith in the Lord Jesus. These religious leaders had taken the truth and twisted it to mean something different than intended by God. Thus, they valued the Sabbath more than the welfare of a man born blind.
The Lord Jesus identifies Himself as "the gate for the sheep." After shepherding the sheep for the day, in the evening, the shepherd would lead His flock to the holding pen. The pen was a corral-type structure within which the sheep was protected from danger during the night. The pen had an opening across which the shepherd himself would lie across so that the sheep would be protected from any dangerous animal that would want to ravage the sheep. This is why the sheep love the shepherd so much, He lays down His life for the sheep.
In v. 9, the Lord Jesus said, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture." This is similar to what the Lord Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is saying I am the door. If you believe in me, and trust me to be the only path to God, I promise you two things (John 10:9): You will be saved; and you will go in and out and find pasture.
We were created for more than to be protected by the Shepherd, we were created to "go in and out, and find pasture." To find pasture is to experience "eternal life." This eternal life is an intimate, personal relationship with God.
To go into the fold means to find security in the Lord Jesus. There is no security to be found in this world. But the wonderful thing is the danger and the lack of security is a means to getting to know Him more. All things out there outside the pen are to be viewed as a means of anticipating the arrival of the Shepherd. This is where real life, real security, is found.
But more than that, we will experience the freedom that enables us to go out into the dangerous world again. The Shepherd is with us, He owns us, thus we have the freedom to move out into life, into any dimension. And, it is exciting because He is with us and we discover Him more deeply.
In v.10, we read, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Full life, not just surviving, barely making it from day to day, but a life filled with joy and peace and love. Full life, of course, means a life filled with excitement and adventure with Him. The full life is filled with constant expectation of what is coming next. Sometimes it is dangerous, sometimes it hurts, but it is filled with a sense of adventure. That is what Jesus means by "the full life."
According to v.11, the good shepherd loves the sheep unto death. This is what lures our hearts, His heart for us. The, religious leaders are thieves who are in it for selfish gain. They want something for themselves. They regard the sheep as something to be exploited, to be used to advance and to build themselves up. When the sheep get into trouble, they run, leaving the sheep to fend for themselves.
Incidentally the Lord Jesus uses the word "own" in v.12. The Greek word used for "own" is the word from which we get our English word "idiot." As Bob Dylan so long ago sang, "you're gonna have to serve somebody." We serve that which owns us.
Finally, the abiding presence of the Shepherd comforts the sheep. It is His presence in our lives which causes us to abide with Him. Without His abiding presence, we would be hopeless. Watchman Nee once said, “I must first have the sense of God's possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me.”
