John 10
Jesus as the Good Shepherd
10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David were all shepherds. Middle Eastern kings and priests often called themselves shepherds and their people sheep.
10:2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
At night, sheep were placed into a walled enclosure. The shepherd laid down at the enclosure. He was the only door into the enclosure. In the morning, the shepherd would enter the enclosure and allow the sheep to roam in the pasture land. Anyone who climbs over the wall is attempting to steal the sheep.
10:3 The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
All of the sheep from different shepherds are mixed together in the enclosure at night. They all know their names. The shepherd calls them out of the pen. They follow his voice to the grazing fields. The other sheep stay in the pen, waiting for the voice of their shepherd.
10:4 When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
The sheep know the voice of their shepherd. People follow God, because He calls them.
10:5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.”
The sheep in the pen will run away from a stranger’s voice. They will wait in the pen until they hear their shepherd’s voice.
10:6 Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
A parable is a story that expresses divine viewpoint. The disciples did not understand this parable.
10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep.
Jesus is the door for the sheep. The sheep can only go into or out of the pasture through the one door of the Lord Jesus Christ.
10:8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
The Jewish religious leaders were thieves and robbers who were not shepherding Israel.
10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.
Sheep are so dumb that they will walk off a cliff. They have no intelligence, claws, fangs, body armor, or speed to defend themselves. Their only hope of survival is a good shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. He is the one who will care for the sheep.
10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
The thief is the false shepherd. He does not care about protecting the flock. He only comes in to steal the sheep when the shepherd is sleeping.
10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The sheep must go through His gate to receive safe pasture. Safe pasture is salvation. Salvation is escape from the false shepherd who desires for the sheep to burn in the Lake of Fire forever. Jesus is such a good shepherd that He will lay down His life in order to protect the sheep from the evil shepherds.
10:12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 10:13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.
When the wolf attacks, the hired shepherd will run away. He does not care about the safety of the sheep. Israel had many kings and religious leaders who were nothing but hired hands who cared nothing for the sheep.
10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me –
Jesus was not a hired hand. He is a good shepherd who loves His sheep. He has an intimate relationship with His sheep.
10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Jesus will lay down His life for the sheep. The hired shepherds would never sacrifice themselves for the sheep. The sheep were just merchandise to them.
10:16 I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.
The other sheep are not the Mormons. The other sheep are the Gentiles. The Jews and Gentiles will combine into one flock called the church.
10:17 This is why the Father loves me – because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.
Jesus will die for the sheep and then resurrect Himself from the dead.
10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.”
Jesus controls the time and method of His death.
10:19 Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words.
The teaching of the gospel causes division. Some believe and some do not. There is no such thing as tolerance or unbiased people. Every person on earth is either for Christ or against Christ.
10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?”
Most of the chosen people thought that their Messiah was demon-possessed.
10:21 Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?”
Jesus performed too many good things and taught too many godly messages to be demon possessed. Others saw Jesus as a good man, a prophet, or the Messiah. Very few saw Him as God in human flesh
Jesus at the Feast of Dedication
10:22 Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem.
The Feast of Dedication is now called Hanukkah (or the Feast of Lights). It commemorates victory of Judas Maccabees over Antiochus Epiphanes. The feast in the days of Jesus was eight days long.
10:23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Portico.
The Feast of Dedication was celebrated in December. Solomon’s Colonnade was a long covered walkway on the east side of the temple.
10:24 The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
The Greek word for “surrounded” is κυκλόω (kuklow), meaning to be surrounded by hostile forces. The Jewish religious leaders were attempting to intimidate Jesus. They asked him if he was the Messiah.
10:25 Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father’s name testify about me.
Jesus can say that He is the Messiah, but if He does not heal the sick, bring sight to the blind, and cure leprosy, then there is no evidence of His credentials. Jesus was performing the exact miracles that the prophets predicted He would do.
10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep.
One cannot be a sheep of God unless he was elected into this relationship before the foundations of the world were created.
10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
The sheep of Jesus will listen to the voice of God through the study of Bible doctrine. The sheep of God will follow Jesus by applying Bible doctrine in their life.
10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand.
The Greek word for “never perish” is οὐ μὴ ἀπόλωνται (ou may apolowntai), an aorist subjunctive middle verb with a double negative. This is the strongest Greek negation. Jesus said that those He gives eternal life to will in no possible way ever perish. Arminians falsely teach that a believer can walk out of the hands of God. If this is true, then Jesus is a liar. Eternal life is not eternal if one can lose it.
The Greek word for “snatch” is ἁρπάζω (harpazo), meaning to seize by force, to snatch up, to suddenly and decisively seize a prize, or to take by an open display of force. This is not a secret taking, but an open display of force. This is the same word used for the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13.
10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.
Not only does Jesus protect the sheep, but God the Father protects them as well.
Jehovah Witnesses will misuse this verse to teach that God the Father is God and Jesus is less than God. Jesus was not saying that He was less than God. He was saying that He was also a man, and in this position, He was in a lower position than God the Father. Jesus was "made for a little while lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:9). Philippians 2:8 states that Jesus "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. “
A comparison can be found in the Biblical marriage relationship. Biblically, a husband is greater in position and authority than his wife. However, he is not the same in nature, being no better or no worse, but equal. Married couples share the same nature of humanity, but they work together as one flesh by love.
10:30 The Father and I are one.”
The Greek word for “one” is in the neuter tense, meaning that the Father and Jesus are both one “essence.” They both are deity, sharing the same essence in their triunity.
10:31 The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death.
If a person claimed to be God, then this was blasphemy. The Mosaic Law penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning. Jesus claimed to be God so the Jews began the execution process.
10:32 Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?”
Jesus showed courage. As they picked up stones, He very calmly asked them a simple question. Jesus had done nothing but show the good works of the Father. They could not pick out any instance when Jesus did something against the will of God the Father.
10:33 The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”
Modern liberals, cults, and isms need to pay attention to this verse. The Jews living in that day completely understood that Jesus claimed to be God. Notice that the Jewish religious leaders looked at Jesus as simply a man. This is the same mistake that the majority of the modern Jews make today.
10:34 Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
Jesus was not teaching that there is a divine spark in man. He was not teaching that men were gods or could evolve into gods, as the Mormons falsely teach. Jesus quoted from Psalm 81:6. The judges on earth were judging in the place of God in heaven. When any judge today puts on the gown and picks up the gavel, he is representing God. Judges have the responsibility of deciding every case in the same way that God would judge the same case. The decisions of the judges are supposed to represent the decisions of God on earth.
10:35 If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken),
Since the Scripture cannot be broken, then there are no errors in the Bible. When man disagrees with the Bible, then it is the Bible which is right and the man who is wrong.
10:36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
Since the inerrant Bible called their judges “gods,” then the Father could also call Jesus “God.”
10:37 If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me.
Nicodemus, the greatest teacher of Judaism of that day, recognized this fact, for he said, “No one could perform these miraculous signs if God were not with Him” (3:2).
10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”
The Old Testament prophets designated what kind of miracles the Messiah would be able to perform. Since Jesus performed these prophetic miracles, then His words should have been believed.
10:39 Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches.
Jesus is God in human flesh. No one can seize Him unless He allows them to do so.
10:40 Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there.
Jesus traveled to the area of Perea, which was the territory of John the Baptist.
10:41 Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!”
John the Baptist did not perform any miracles, but the people believed him. Jesus was received more favorably in Perea mostly because of the ministry of John the Baptist. John was still having a major influence on people’s lives, even though he was dead.
10:42 And many believed in Jesus there.
The people in Judea saw signs and did not believe. The people in Perea did not see signs, yet they believed. The difference is in the audience. The elect will always believe in Jesus. The non-elect will always use their free will to disbelieve in Jesus.