John 10:7-10 NKJV
John 9
John 9:40-41 NKJV
Revelation 3:20 NKJV
From the Beginning
God is the Door and in John 10:7-8 He makes it clear that He stands at the door where the sheep can enter. We read, “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”
What did it mean when Jesus said He is the door to the sheep? In ancient times the shepherd would often build a large pen made of stacked stones so the sheep could be protected at night. The stone walls had a small opening on one side and that was the only entry point to the pen. At night the shepherd would lay across the entry point acting as a ‘gate’ to the pen. Jesus started this section by giving his audience a visual of the sheep being protected because He guarded the only open spot in the sheep’s pen.
When we choose to turn to God, we are protected.
Jesus stands guard at the door.
Jesus made it clear in John 10:8 that those who came ‘are’ men who claim they protect the sheep. Jesus likens them ‘thieves’ or someone who steals what does not belong to them, and ‘robbers’ who forcibly take what is not theirs. He uses the verb ‘eisen’ in the Greek translated as ‘are’…present tense. He refers to religious leaders in His time who pretend to have the power to control them. In the last part of verse 8, Jesus says even the sheep do not hear them.
In His next statement, Jesus tells the crowd that those who came before are thieves and robbers. Before this (John 9) Jesus had just healed the man who was blind from birth. The Pharisees questioned the man’s parents about who healed the man. Then they questioned the blind man (again) about who healed him. The blind man told the Pharisees that it was Jesus who gave him sight and so the Pharisees cast the blind man out (see John 9:34).
When Jesus heard that the Pharisees cast out the blind man he circled back around and found the man. Jesus ended up asking him if he believed (in Jesus and what He did) and in John 9:38 the man who was born blind told Jesus he DID believe.
Well, there were Pharisees nearby who apparently took offense at that and they cornered Jesus asking Him in John 9:40, “Are WE blind also?”
Jesus answered them in John 9:41 and “Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”
THAT conversation set the stage for John 10. This is a clue as to why Jesus used the word ARE when he referred to the religious leaders at the time.
Jesus made it clear he stood at the entry way to the sheep’s pen. In His next statement in John 10:9, He clearly declared, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.“
Jesus was telling them to come on in.
He wanted them to know they would be safe because He would protect them.
Which begs the question, why did they need protection? In John 10:10 he tells them the answer.
He said, John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Given the procession of events from Jesus’ heated discussion with the Pharisees in John 9, it seems Jesus is still talking about the thieves and robbers. Jesus tells the crowd they want to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came to give them LIFE.
ABUNDANT LIFE.
The verb used in the last part of John 10 is ‘have’ and the adverb is ‘abundantly’.
Jesus wasn’t just talking about a mundane life where they survive. By His discussion with the Pharisees in John 9 and His actions that led Him to heal a man blind from birth (John 9), Jesus made it clear he wanted them to SEE and HAVE access to a life that would be good and filled with plenty.
Jesus didn’t want them to just survive.
He wanted them to thrive.
The same John who wrote the Gospel of John would later receive the Revelation of John while he was imprisoned on the Island of Patmos.
When John received the revelation he was no longer a young man. He received God’s message many years after Jesus had been crucified, died, buried, had risen again, and ascended to heaven.
The same John wrote in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
John the disciple who was now John the Apostle brought us full circle back to the door. This time he showed us Jesus-God urging us to hear Him and open the door. John promised that Jesus, THE DOOR will come in and will reside IN us. John told us Jesus will live in us, dine with us, and together we will share abundant life.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Hear God
Practice hearing God. Sit quietly and listen. Spend as much time as you like listening and sitting to hear Holy God IN you.
In God, Deborah
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