John 10:7-18

⁷Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The 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. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴"I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me-- ¹⁵just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father--and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. ¹⁷The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life--only to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father."

First, Jesus is the door, or the gate, of the sheepfold. If the sheepfold signifies the elect, the true Church, eternal life, security, and good pasture, then it is only through Jesus that the sheepfold may be entered. When Jesus says, “All who ever came before Me,” He is not speaking of God’s prophets, but of everyone who offers life and salvation through some other way; and He calls them thieves and robbers. When Jesus says that the one who enters through Him will “come in and go out,” that is a phrase that means, “to dwell.” Those who are in Christ dwell in Christ, abide in Christ, rest in Christ, and find pasture. A pasture is a good place for sheep to stay. Jesus says that thieves come only to steal and kill and destroy. We are to be on guard, expecting assault, just as Paul tells us in Colossians 2:8. Jesus contrasts Himself with thieves, for He has no intentions of stealing, killing, or destroying; we ought to take comfort in His rod and staff (Psalm 23:4). He is life; He is truth; He is the only way, and in Him, there is not just life, but abundant and full life – eternal (high quality) life. Calvin says, “Life is continually increased and strengthened in those who do not revolt from [Jesus]. And, indeed, the greater progress that any man makes in faith, the more nearly does he approach to fullness of life, because the Spirit, who is life, grows in him.”

Second, Jesus is the Good Shepherd; He is so focused on the salvation of His sheep, that He does not even spare His own life. We saw that thieves, false teachers, destroy the sheep; now we are introduced to the hired hands, who are just nominal, uncaring shepherds; they may have sound doctrine and by such lead people to Christ, but their motives are impure, perhaps selfish, and not driven by and for Christ’s glory. The hired hands are not willing to sacrifice for the good of the sheep (unlike the pastor in The Mission). While they rightly take no ownership over the flock, as tenants of the owner, they ought to show care for His possessions. But they do not, and by fleeing in the face of danger reveal their hypocrisy.

On the other hand, the Good Shepherd lays His life, as the Lamb of God, down for His sheep. The Old Testament speaks of God as shepherd (Genesis 48:15; 49:24; Psalm 23; 28:9; 78:52; 80:1; Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 13:7). The New Testament also speaks of Jesus this way: Matthew 26:31; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 7:17. Jesus, knowing that His sheep were in mortal danger, because of their sins, voluntarily sacrificed His own life, so that they would be saved. This is an example of paternal affection, as in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus implies that knowledge proceeds from love, and is accompanied by care. And just as He loves, knows, and cares for His sheep, His sheep love, know, and care for Him. Our intimacy with Jesus is likened to Jesus’ intimacy with God the Father. To say that God knows you is to say that He is committed to your redemption. This is how we can tell if we are His sheep – not that we won’t have moments of fleeing in the face of danger – but that we are driven by love for Him and His sheep and by progressing in obedience and knowledge of His ways.

Third, Jesus speaks of His sheep. The sheep in the fold are the people of Israel, whom the Pharisees were supposed to protect – but not all of them are Jesus’ sheep. Which sheep do belong to Jesus? Those who hear His voice and follow Him. Just as we saw in chapter six, those whom the Father has not given to Jesus will flee at the sound of His voice and refuse to believe Him. But those who are His are taught by the Father and will hear and follow Him. Jesus is going to take His true sheep, which hear His voice, out of the midst of the sheep of Israel, which belong to a different master. But that is not all: for He also has sheep who are not from the fold of Israel – and so He is going to call out His sheep from the Gentiles, just as He did from Israel, and bring them all together as His true people. There would no longer be any distinction between Jew and Gentile, but there would be one fold and one shepherd.

Augustine said that just as there are many wolves within the fold, there are many sheep outside the fold. Here Jesus calls certain unbelievers “sheep;” in so doing, not only does He point out what they will be, but He refers this to the election of God. We are already God’s sheep, before we are aware that He is our shepherd. Romans 5:10; Galatians 4:9 And He must bring them also. His mission is round up all those whom the Father has given Him, and He’ll do it perfectly and completely (John 6:37; 17:12). We see it evidenced by so many different kinds of people from all over the world following His voice (Revelation 5:9).

V17-18 are amazing, because Jesus actually says that He will lay His life down and take it up again. It has been said that nothing that happened on Good Friday cost Jesus His life. The thorny crown, the beatings, the weight of the cross, the nails through the hands and feet were not responsible for His death. A “normal” man undergoing that same crucifixion would have taken much longer to die than did Jesus, and the cause of death would have been asphyxiation for a “normal” man. But Jesus determined the right time for His death, and it wasn’t due to any outside cause. He laid down His life once His work was finished.