"I Am The Door Of The Sheep - I Am The Door” - Presentation In The "I Am Series Of John’s Gospel” Part 1 Series

“I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP - I AM THE DOOR” - PRESENTATION IN THE “I AM SERIES OF JOHN’S GOSPEL” PART 1

[A]. THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP

In this particular study of the I AM series, we come to chapter 10 of John where we find two of these great I AMs. One will be the Door and the other is the Good Shepherd. They are placed together because they are strongly connected, and actually form one great discourse. I am separating them because I want to hone in on two different aspects of the Lord’s ministry. This topic of course is “I am the Door,” found in verse 9 by itself, and in verse 7 with its connection to the sheep. We shall consider this passage in context.

{{John 10:1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber, John 10:2 but he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. John 10:3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. John 10:5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. John 10:7 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP. John 10:8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. John 10:9 I AM THE DOOR. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”}}

The passage speaks about the shepherding methods and the true and false shepherds, and Jesus makes two claims. Because I will come back to this passage in the talk on the Good Shepherd, I will concentrate on verses 2, 7, 8 and 9. Verse 2 ? The door is the legitimate entry to the sheepfold. It was not usually a door, as we know a door, but an entry like a threshold, like an open doorway, you’d pass through. Sometimes the shepherd would sleep across the entry way. The legitimate shepherd would use the doorway but the thieves and robbers would use some other means of gaining entry to the sheepfold.

When the weather is fine such as in summer, the shepherd may rest at night with his flock on the hills or in a rough shelter. That’s how it was in the fields with the shepherds at the birth of Christ. When more permanent sheepfolds are required, such shelters are usually built by the shepherd in a valley, or else on the sunny side of a hill where there is protection from cold winds. This fold is a low building with arches in front of it, and a wall forming an outdoor enclosure, joining the building. When the weather is mild, the sheep and goats are allowed to be in the enclosure during the night, but if the weather is stormy, or the evenings are cold, then the flock is shut up in the interior part of the fold, with its protection of roof and walls.

The walls of the enclosure are about three feet wide at the bottom, and become narrower at the top. They are from four to six feet high. Large stones are used in constructing the outsides of the wall, and they are also placed on the top, and then the centre is filled with smaller pieces of stone, of which there is much in the land. Sharp, thorn bushes are put on the top of this wall to protect the sheep from wild animals or robbers. There is a gate guarded by a watchman sometimes. As spring advances, they will move higher up to other fields and greener ranges; and in the hot months of summer they sleep with their flocks on the cool heights of the mountains, with no other protection than a stout palisade of tangled thorn-bushes.

Determined thieves could devise ways of scaling the sides and creeping into the sheepfold. The thief and the robber are vile. There is a difference in these two words. The thief is kléptes, and he steals by stealth/cunning (or in secret), rather than in the open with violence, but the robber - lest?s – steals out in the open (typically with violence). He is a bandit, who also plunders and pillages – an unscrupulous marauder (malefactor), exploiting the vulnerable without hesitating to use violence. So, you see, in scripture, the thief is a bit more honourable than the robber, but both are unacceptable to God.