Jn. 10:1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”
Jn. 10:2 “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”
This story must be understood in the light of the concept of the shepherd. God Himself was called the shepherd of Israel. Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd;” Psalm 80:2 says, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock.” The motif of the shepherd is a familiar one to the people of Israel. What makes this illustration more poignant is that throughout this whole story Yeshua is claiming that He is the God of Israel who is the Good Shepherd.
Jn. 10:3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.”
Jn. 10:4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
Jn. 10:5 “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jn. 10:6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
In this verse, Yeshua’s method of teaching the masses comes out. This parabolic form of teaching that He was to veil the truth to the spiritually blind.
Jn. 10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
Here we have the third of John’s seven “I am’s,” that is, “I am the door of the sheep.” It is repeated in verse #9.
Jn. 10:8 “All who ever come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”
Yeshua reiterates that the Pharisees are like thieves and robbers because of their false teachings.
Jn. 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone who enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Yeshua came to do two things: (1) He came to provide salvation by setting up the Kingdom of God; and (2) to provide power to His followers for daily living.
God denounces false shepherd and promised to provide the True Shepherd, the Messiah. “Then will I appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them - My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them” (Ezek. 34:23). In Ezekiel 34:11-16 God laid out the precepts of His salvation for His people: (1) I will seek them out; (2) I will rescue them: (3) I will bring them to their own land; (4) I will feed them; (5) I will look for the lost; (6) I will bring back the strayed; (7) I will bandage the injured; and (8) I will sustain the weak.”
Source: Ezekiel 34:23
Jn. 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Jn. 10:11 “I am the Good shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep.”
In this verse is the fourth of John’s seven “I am’s,” - “I am the Good Shepherd.”
Jn. 10:12 “But he who is a hireling and not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”
Jn. 10:13 “The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.”
God had given great responsibility to the leaders (shepherds) of Israel, which they failed to respect. This verse expounds on the motivation of a lot of the Pharisees. That motivation was more for self-interest and self-glorification, rather than love and compassion for the people God gave them charge over.
Jn. 10:14 “I am the Good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
Jn. 10:15 “And the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Jn. 10:16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
This is a veiled reference to the fact that one day the Gospel will go to the Gentiles. But the Lord never intended that there would be two separate branches like there are today. Jews and non-Jews were to be one body, shepherded by the same Messiah. Ezekiel 37:24 says: “My servant David shall be King over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws.”
Jn. 10:17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.”
Jn. 10:18 “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Yeshua’s death on the cross was completely voluntary. A lot of people, Jew and Gentile, would be involved in it, but it was God’s plan from the very beginning.
Jn. 10:19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of this saying.
Jn. 10:20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
Jn. 10:21 Others said, “These are not words of one who has a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
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