If you know anything about herding sheep, you’ll know it isn’t as easy as it looks! The shepherd must work hard at keeping the sheep together and when it is time to lie down they must make sure that the conditions are just right regarding proper food and water. Apparently sheep also have a tendency to wander away and get lost, leading to a vulnerability for predator’s such as coyotes or wolves.
Now this author is not a sheepherder but he knows the Shepherd. After watching a lesson from a sheepherder via “youtube” an experienced herder simply leads the sheep and beckons them gently to follow him. They follow him because they know his voice and if anyone else would call out to them they would not follow.
In first century Israel, there were shallow caves called sheepfolds where the shepherds would house the sheep at night. The sheep were protected on all sides except for the entrance. Most entrances did not actually have doors or gates but the sheepherder would lie down at the gate and sleep.
Within that sheepfold, the sheep feel the safety and security of having the shepherd at the door.
In the gospel of John, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd in 10:14. The first 21 verses are comforting music to one’s ears and soul. Jesus begins the story about Himself by saying if anyone comes into the holding area of sheep other than the door, they are thieves and robbers. The one who enters by the gate or door is the shepherd.
The entire chapter 10 of the gospel of John is deep and meaningful but in the first 21 verses we see two major points. The first is that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He knows whose are His and the sheep know who He is.
Jesus says something in verse 16 that has been misunderstood for years but needn’t be. He said; “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (ESV).
Jesus is simply saying that not only will Jews believe in Him for salvation and be welcomed into eternal life but so will Gentiles. He is not referring to Mormons or saying there is more than one way to heaven but that the Old Testament would be fulfilled hearing about Jesus and believing in Him for eternal salvation.
Jesus did not come only for the Jewish nation but the whole of creation. Isaiah the prophet mentions that the Savior of the Jews would be a “light to the nations.” This goes beyond the idea that Jesus is only a Jewish Savior, but actually the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in the book of Genesis. The idea of the Gentiles being included along with Israel, came long before Israel was settled.
And with Jesus being the door or gate to the sheepfold, He is saying that He is the only way into the “green pastures.” There is no other way to the Father except through Jesus and this is clear here and later in John 14:6 where Jesus tells His listeners that He is “the Way and the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Peter tells the Jewish leaders as he stood before them: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul the apostle writes that the wall that existing between Jews and Gentiles is now broken down. There is one way for all to be saved and that is through what Jesus accomplished upon the cross.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He beckons all to come to Him, however, only those who hear and respond to His voice will be saved. How does one know the voice of Jesus? If you are thinking about Jesus right now as you read this, it is a very good indication that He is calling to you.
Four major religions claim to be the one true religion: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. And of those, only one has God coming to man and not man going or trying to get to God. Only Christianity offers grace and simply what that means is there is a great chasm between men and God that man cannot bridge. God bridged it Himself by sending His Only Son so that whoever would believe in Him would have eternal life.
If you are working your way to God, do you know how many good works you have to do to be accepted? If you want your good deeds to exceed your bad deeds to enter heaven or paradise; how do you know if the good has exceeded the bad? What is the scale that is used to determine the good works or deeds verses the bad?
Honesty would confess that you do not know if you have done enough to gain God’s approval. God knows this and this is why He came to earth so that “all” men would have opportunity to enter heaven or paradise.
The Good Shepherd is calling out to you, do you hear His voice? If you do, will you follow? God has made it simple – he who believes in Jesus has life. Those who come to Him will never be cast out but drawn into His everlasting arms.