Class Outline:

Sunday November 28,2021

After healing the blind beggar, Jesus then becomes his Shepherd, protecting him from the harsh jealousy of the Pharisees.

 

JOH 10:7-9

Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am [ego eimi = emphasizing Himself] the door of the sheep. 8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them [the sheep are believers if they have not listened to false prophets or shepherds]. 9 "I am [ego eimi] the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

 

EZE 34:15

"I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord God.

 

Directly after this He says that He will feed the bad shepherds with judgment.

 

The thief’s designs for the sheep are wholly malicious; the good shepherd’s plans for them are entirely benevolent. The shepherd desires and promotes their wellbeing. The Lord is for us and not against us, which is an important aspect of divine providence promised to every believer. He is not content that His flock should eke out a bare and miserable existence; He wants us to live life to the full - all of us.

 

This is not the promise of material wealth or physical health. Spiritual maturity is the full knowledge of Christ.

 

Only the believer can know Him. This is a great blessing of eternal life.

 

JOH 17:3

“And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

 

Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is giving to us to guide us into all the truth concerning the Father and the Son.

 

No man on his own can see the true Christ and His eternal life. Only through faith in Him is the veil removed.

 

Those who say they see, without faith in Him, are liars. And now that Christ has come, they cannot escape judgment and they will not see, for terribly, their destiny is the outer darkness.

 

JOH 10:10-11a

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came [ego elthon = emphasizing Himself] that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.I am [ego eimi] the good shepherd;”

 

“abundantly” - perisson = extraordinary.

 

MAT 5:47

"And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more [perisson] than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

 

The translators attempt to expand on the one word perisson by adding “than others.” This is better translated, “And if you greet your brothers only, how are you extraordinary?” He is telling us that the life of His disciple is extraordinary.

 

The good Shepherd has given us an extraordinary life. We each must grab hold of it.

 

EZE 34:23-24

"Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. 24 "And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

 

That the “My servant David,” is a reference to the Messiah of David’s line is also shown in:

 

EZE 37:24-25

"And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes, and observe them. 25 "And they shall live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons, and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant shall be their prince forever.

 

JER 23:5

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely

And do justice and righteousness in the land.”

 

JOH 10:11-13

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life [psuche = life or soul] for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned [melo = does not care for] about the sheep.

 

Giving His psuche implies much more than giving His body (soma or bios) or His way of life (zoe). He gave Himself fully, body and soul, for the life of the sheep.

 

The hireling is not as malicious as the thief, but he lacks the personal care of the sheep that the true shepherd has. He’s not trying to destroy. He simply doesn’t care.

 

The translators leave out a pronoun that John used in vs. 13 because it makes for a clunky English sentence. After melei there is an auto in the dative, meaning “to him.” Literally it would read, “and it is not a care ‘to him’ concerning the sheep.” Wuest’s expanded translation has it: “and it is not a concern to him regarding the sheep …”

 

Kai (and) ou (not) melei (he cares) autw (to him) peri (concerning) twn (the) probatwn (sheep)

 

(w’s are omegas)

 

Why bother? The pronoun adds emphasis. The hireling emphasizes himself (“not a concern to him”) while the Shepherd also emphasizes Himself (“ego eimi”), but in a much different way because He is a much different self. The Shepherd emphasizes that He is the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, while to the hireling, the sheep are no concern to him.

 

If the shepherd doesn’t care for the sheep, but is a hireling, things will go along okay for a while, but when real danger comes, he will not stand in and protect the sheep.

 

PRO 17:15

A friend loves at all times,

And a brother is born for adversity.

 

When the disciples were in danger of being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus commanded that they be let go. Of all that the Father had given Him, He had not lost one except the one of which it was foretold.

 

JOH 18:8-9

Jesus answered, "I told you that I am He; if therefore you seek Me, let these go their way,"  9 that the word might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one."