CHAPTER 10

(A.D. 32)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

¹Verily, verily, I say unto you, He who enters not by the door into the sheepfold (proclaims to us that there is a door, and, in fact, only one door!), but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber (using a way other than Christ; He Alone is the Door).

²But he who enters in by the Door (Way) is the Shepherd of the Sheep (Jesus Alone is the True Shepherd).

³To Him the porter opens (means that the Law, the Doorkeeper, immediately admitted Him because He had perfectly kept the Law, and actually was the only One Who had done such a thing); and the Sheep hear His Voice (means that True Sheep hear the Voice of the True Shepherd): and He calls His Own Sheep by name (this speaks of relationship which Salvation automatically brings), and leads them out (speaks of finding suitable pasture; the one who truly wants to know the Word of God will be led into all Truth [Jn. 16:13]).

⁴And when He puts forth His Own Sheep (He is Owner as well as Shepherd of the Sheep, and has, therefore, so to speak, a double love for us), He goes before them (He has planned everything), and the Sheep follow Him: for they know His Voice (the true heart will know His Voice, and the false heart will follow others).

⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him (refers to thieves and robbers, and false prophets [Mat. 7:15-20]): for they know not the voice of strangers (True Sheep cannot be deceived).

⁶This Parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which He spoke unto them (the Pharisees did not understand because they were not True Sheep).

EXPLANATION

⁷Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the Door of the Sheep (I am, exclusive of all others! there is only One Door, and that Door is Christ).

⁸All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers (pertains to any and all before or after Christ, who claim to have the way of Salvation without Christ!): but the Sheep did not hear them (True Sheep cannot be deceived).

⁹I am the Door (presents an emphatic statement; the Church is not the door to Christ, as the Catholics teach, but Christ is the Door to the Church): by Me if any man enter in, he shall be Saved (as the Door, Jesus is the Saviour), and shall go in and out, and find pasture (they went in for safety and went out for pasture).

¹⁰The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (speaks of Satan and his emissaries who peddle a false way of Salvation): I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (the Source of this Life is Christ; all true Believers have such; however, all true Believers enjoy such only by constant Faith in Christ and the Cross).

¹¹I am the good Shepherd (speaks of Jesus dying for the Sheep; the Good Shepherd dies for the Sheep, the Great Shepherd lives for the Sheep [Heb. 13:20], and the Chief Shepherd comes for the Sheep [I Pet. 5:4]): the Good Shepherd gives His Life for the Sheep (the Cross: His Life, if given for the Sheep, would guarantee Eternal Life; the Cross is ever the Central point of Christianity).

¹²But he who is an hireling, and not the shepherd (presents the one who poses as a shepherd, but really is not), whose own the sheep are not (True Sheep do not belong to false shepherds), sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees (the purpose of the hireling is to fleece the sheep, not protect the sheep): and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep (destruction awaits those who follow false shepherds).

¹³The hireling flees, because he is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep (false apostles have no real concern for the sheep, but only for other things, mostly money).

¹⁴I am the good Shepherd, and know My Sheep(the Lord approves those who are His because they have trusted Him for Salvation), and am known of Mine (I know My Sheep, and they know Me).

¹⁵As the Father knows Me, even so know I the Father (in effect, Jesus is claiming omniscience exactly as God, for He is God!): and I lay down My life for the Sheep (once again speaks of the Crucifixion).

¹⁶And other Sheep I have, which are not of this fold (speaks of the Gentile Church): them also I must bring, and they shall hear My Voice (the Apostle Paul was used by the Lord to help plant the Gentile Church); and there shall be one fold (one flock, made up of both Jews and Gentiles), and one Shepherd (the Lord Jesus Christ).

¹⁷Therefore does My Father love Me (proclaims that what Christ was to do held a special value in Gods Heart), because I lay down My Life (the entirety of the idea of the Incarnation was to purposely lay down His Life), that I might take it again (the Resurrection).

¹⁸No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself (His Death was not an execution nor an assassination, it was a Sacrifice; the idea is that He allowed His Death to take place). I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again (proclaims that what He did, He did voluntarily; He did not step out of the path of obedience, for He died as commanded). This Commandment have I received of My Father (this means that God the Father gave Him the latitude to do what He desired, and His desire was to do the Will of God; so He purposely laid down His Life).

DIVISION

¹⁹There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings (this tells us of the fact of the division, while the cause of the division lay with the religious leadership of Israel).

²⁰And many of them said, He has a devil (proclaims the policy of the Pharisees and Scribes who claim that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Satan), and is mad (claiming He was insane); why hear you Him? (This portrays the Pharisees seeking to dissuade the people from paying attention to Christ.)

²¹Others said, These are not the words of Him Who has a devil (demon). Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? (The answer is an obvious no.)

MESSIAH

²²And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter (this particular Feast was appointed by Judas Maccabaeus to commemorate the purification of the Temple, after Antiochus Epiphanes had defiled it; it took place in December, and actually was not a Biblical Feast).

²³And Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomons porch.

²⁴Then came the Jews round about Him (portrays them doing such in a threatening manner, demanding an immediate answer), and said unto Him, How long do You make us to doubt? (It was not Christ Who made them doubt, but rather their own unbelief.) If You are the Christ, tell us plainly (actually, He had already told them in every conceivable way possible).

²⁵Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not (refers to their expectations of a type of Messiah, which role Jesus would not fill): the works that I do in My Fathers Name, they bear witness of Me (this witness was Scriptural and, therefore, pointed Israel to the Bible [Isa. 61:1]).

²⁶But you believe not, because you are not of My Sheep, as I said unto you (they were not His Sheep because they did not desire to be His Sheep; the decision was theirs, and reached because of unbelief).

²⁷My Sheep hear My Voice (Christ is the head of the Church, not men), and I know them (refers to perfect and absolute knowledge, even on an individual basis), and they follow Me (proclaims what True Sheep will do):

²⁸And I give unto them Eternal Life (carries with it a promise that cannot be matched elsewhere under any circumstances); and they shall never perish (means that no Believer need ever fear that God will change His Mind respecting their Salvation), neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand (refers to any and all outside forces; however, if one so desires, one can take ones self out of His Hand, which regrettably millions have done).

²⁹My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all (proclaims the Power of God that is able to keep any and all, which He does through the Spirit by what Christ did at the Cross, and our Faith in that Finished Work); and no man is able to pluck them out of My Fathers hand (when one has Christ, one at the same time has the Father, and the protection of the Father).

³⁰I and My Father are One (the Greek Text says, We are One; these simple words destroy the teaching of those who deny the distinction of persons in the Godhead, and those who question the Deity of Christ).

THE JEWS

³¹Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him (thus was the answer of Gods chosen people to Gods chosen Gift, the Lord Jesus Christ!).

³²Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from My Father (speaks of healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, etc.); for which of those works do you stone Me? (This is a good question indeed!)

³³The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone You not (at the same time meant the Jews had no regard for His Good Works, and in reality would have stopped them had they the power); but for blasphemy (the truth is they were the blasphemers, not Christ); and because that You, being a man, make Your self God (it was true that He was a Man, but at the same time He was God!).

DEITY

³⁴Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law (presents the Lord taking up one illustration from among many in the Scriptures that the union between man and God lay at the heart of their Law; by Jesus using the word your, He was not implying that the Law was not His; actually theres not a shadow of disrespect cast on the Law by the pronoun, but it is used in such a sense that His hearers may identify with it), I said, you are gods? (This is taken from Ps. 82:6; the word gods is used here in the sense of magistrates and Prophets appointed and energized by the Word of God. In this case, it did not refer to Deity.)

³⁵If he called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came (once again, gods as used here refer to Magistrates and Judges, etc.), and the Scripture cannot be broken (proclaims to one and all the standard to which our Lord held the Scripture);

³⁶Say ye of Him, Whom the Father has Sanctified, and sent into the world (for the purpose of the Redemption of mankind), You blaspheme (presents a most serious charge indeed!); because I said, I am the Son of God? (This portrays Him presenting Himself in a far greater dignity than even they had aspired the Messiah would be.)

³⁷If I do not the Works of My Father, believe Me not (He tells them to judge Him on the basis of the Miracles He has performed, in effect, telling them that everything He did was commanded Him by God).

³⁸But if I do (refers to the carrying out of these Mighty Works), though you believe not Me, believe the Works (actually says they are without excuse): that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him (further explains Verse 30, I and My Father are One).

JESUS

³⁹Therefore they sought again to take Him (speaks of their efforts, but without success): but He escaped out of their hand (Reynolds said, His escape was facilitated by the strange moral power He could exert to render their physical assaults upon Him in vain. They stretched out hands which dropped harmlessly at their side, verifying the solemn statement of Verse 18.),

⁴⁰And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there He abode (our Lord had about three and a half months of Ministry remaining before the Crucifixion).

⁴¹And many resorted unto Him (indicates that they did so in the right way), and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this Man were true (they accepted Him as Lord and Saviour).

⁴²And many believed on Him there (these recognized the fact of sin and the need of pardon, which, no doubt, evidenced a True Faith that was different from the carnality of Jn. 2:23 and 8:30).