WHO JESUS IS AND IS NOT
John 10:7-14 NKJV
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 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.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
I realize this is a rather substantial number of scriptures, but there are some important truths here. In these eight verses, Jesus makes it clear who He is. He also clarifies not just who He is but what He does in comparison with Satan and those who do not care.
Looking at some of the ways Jesus identified Himself, He starts with being the door of the sheep. We know Jesus claimed to be the light of the world. He said He was the bread of life. Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the only way to God. Now He is calling Himself the door. Jesus is the entryway into the Kingdom of Heaven. We can enter by Him and be saved. We know this. We know that receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is our sure way to salvation. There is no other door, Jesus is it.
Jesus is not the thief. The thief, whom we have tagged as Satan, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Notice Jesus never claimed to be the one killing, stealing, and destroying. Jesus contrasts Himself with the thief. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. This should help us in clarifying our theology. God is not the One causing heartache and destruction in our lives. That would be the role of Satan the thief. God has revealed Himself in many ways, our Healer, our Peace, and our Righteousness, but never as a thief.
Jesus continues with the declaration that He is the good shepherd. The good shepherd is the one who gives his life for the sheep. The people of that day understood what a good shepherd would do. A good shepherd would sacrifice his life, not take the life of one of His sheep. Jesus then contrasts being a good shepherd with the hireling. A hireling, or hired person, does not have an ownership stake in the sheep. And because of having no ownership, the hireling runs when he sees the wolf coming. The hireling does not care about the sheep and abandons them when trouble shows up. Jesus is not like the hireling. He does not identify with the hireling but rather as the shepherd who owns the sheep, cares for the sheep, knows the sheep, and is known by them.
APPLICATION
I am saddened when I hear someone blaming God for the trauma and destruction that they have experienced in life. This passage from the lips of Jesus tells a different story. He is the door to life, not the thief who takes life. Jesus gives His life for His sheep because they are His. He does not disappear when problems come. Jesus, the good shepherd, is the One who can be trusted. He is the One who we run to with our troubles, not the author of problems that we run from. Jesus is good all the time.