The Shepherd is the Provider, Deliverer and Sustainer of the sheepIn verses 7-10 we have two doors in view. In verse 7 we have the first door and in verse 8 we have the relation of the Pharisees to the first door.
In verse 9 we have the second door and in verse 10 we have the relation of the Pharisees to the second door.
In each case we have the truth and then we have those who oppose the truth. The first door is the door of ingress – entering the door, verse 7.
John 10:7 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly [point of doctrine], I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
/“I am” is the present active indicative of eimi, the absolute status quo verb: “the door” – He is not only the door but He keeps on being the door.\
The concept is that this goes on forever and ever and ever, just like all the other “I am” statements concerning Himself.
/1. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.\
/2. John 8:12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."\
/3. John 8:18 "I am He who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."\
/4. John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."\
/5. John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.\
/6. John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.\
/7. John 10:36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world,' You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?\
/8. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,\
/9. John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.\
/10. John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.\
/John 18:6 When therefore He said to them, "I am He," they drew back, and fell to the ground.\
/Ex 3:14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM [the self existing One] has sent me to you.'"\
/I am: Provider Bread of life – came to provide all sustenance. Light of the world – came to open your eyes. Witness – came to defeat enemies Deity – I have all the attributes to accomplish it.\
/I am: Deliverer The door – I am qualified as Savior The good shepherd – I have gone before you in all things. Hypostatic union – I bridge the gap between God and man. Resurrection and life – As I live so shall you.\
/I am: Advocate/Sustainer The way, the truth, and the life – I have not left you alone. The true vine – while you live, abide in Me and bear much fruit.\
Right now we are focusing on Christ as the Deliverer. He is the door. A door has two sides. This door refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ where He entered the world by means of the virgin birth.
/Inside the door are the 33 years that Jesus Christ was on earth as David’s greatest son. The shepherd is bona fide, He was virgin born – Isaiah 7:14; and He is now in hypostatic union – Isaiah 9:6; He has the lineage of David – Isaiah 11:1.\
Isa 11:1-5 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
The healing of the blind man in the previous chapter confirms the right of Jesus Christ to enter that door. It is one of several miracles or credit cards which Jesus Christ will offer, indicating that He has the right to enter.
The first of these credit cards was the turning of water into wine. In chapter 11 we get the last credit card (sign) which is the resuscitation of Lazarus.
The second to last credit card was the healing of the blind beggar in chapter 9, and this is the one that shows that Jesus Christ has the right to be in the sheepfold, He has the right to call the sheep, and at the end of chapter 9 He did call the sheep.
One of those sheep was the blind beggar. One of the things that comes out of that chapter is the fact that in the fold of Israel and until the bona fide shepherd comes they will not respond; they reject false shepherds.
The false shepherds are the Pharisees.
John 10:8 "All who came before Me are thieves [those who rob by strategy = doctrine of demons] and robbers [those who rob by violence], but the sheep did not hear them.
1 Tim 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
This is the strategy of the “thieves” to lead the sheep astray.
And while violence against Christians does not generally exist in the US it does exist elsewhere in the world and has occurred throughout human history and most importantly robbers will exercise their wicked violence upon Christ.
John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
/This door is the way out and therefore the cross. Christ is the only one qualified to open the door and He is the door through whom is salvation.\
When He enters He calls out the gospel, the good news that the Messiah has come and that whosoever believes in Him can walk out of the fold with Him and through Him and be saved from eternal condemnation.
During most of human history the door is always open for anyone [notice that Christ says anyone = unlimited atonement] until physical death and then after that it is closed.
A few times in history the door is closed by God’s Sovereign will. The flood closed the door in the antediluvian age. The Second Advent and the baptism of fire close the door in the Millennium.
All who have experienced a closed door will appear before the Great White Throne Judgment and their deeds will be evaluated. It will be shone beyond doubt that nothing they did was worthy or able to open the door of salvation and that only the perfect +R of Christ was worthy, whom they rejected.
John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me
/“If” is a third class condition given to the free will of every person = if, maybe you will, and maybe you wont, it is completely up to each individual’s self determination.\
John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Since this door represents the cross the entering is not the believer entering the fold again through Him, but rather they enter the plan of God through Him.
/In the allegory they actually are leaving the fold and following the Shepherd and by that means they enter into the plan of God for their lives.\
And so going in and out is not leaving the fold and going back in, although this is exactly what the physical sheep did every day and night, but like all allegories the student of the word of God has to know when they are not perfectly in line.
Remember, in verse 6, this is a figure of speech or a parable. Paroimia meant a road put alongside another road. No parable matches the truth in exactly every point. If it did then it wouldn’t be along side.
/Shall go in = entering the plan of God. Shall go out = out of the gates of Jerusalem to find pasture.\
John 10:9 and find pasture.
/“find” is a Greek word that means to discover. By following Christ’s voice you will discover the entire plan of God for your life.\
You are Indiana Jones discovering the location of the lost ark. It’s not a bad analogy since the Ark of the Covenant is one of, if not the, clearest type of the person of Jesus Christ.
The CWL should be an adventurous journey of discovery, with its victories and set backs, and the believer with PVTD will see it that way.
/And so the pasture is representative of BD, but not only BD, it includes the full realm of everything that God has provided for His sheep, which under the doctrines of election and predestination simply stagger the imagination.\
Believers who remain in the pasture and continue to feed and continue to discover are those who grow to maturity and become conformed to the image of the Shepherd. It’s a lot of feeding and a lot of perseverance in following; decades of time, but these particular sheep love nothing even remotely as much as following their Shepherd.
What Christ is describing here, in reference to the plan of God, concentrates all the details down to one simple truth that many positive believers love:
Ps 23 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. 5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Sometimes we look at the simplicity of God’s plan and sometimes we go into great detail. Both are needed and it is the detail that makes you appreciate the simple and the simple that makes you appreciate the details.
/Don’t become the simple minded believer that always wants the simple and don’t become the theologian that always wants the details; both are needed.\
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