God’s Covenant Promises

I will establish one shepherd over them He shall feed them and be their shepherd I, the LORD, will be their God I will make a covenant of peace with them, I will cause wild beasts to cease from the land

 

God’s Covenant Promises

They shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them They shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking

 

God’s Covenant Promises

You are My flock, the flock of My pasture You are men, and I am your God

Now let’s continue our look at Jesus’ allegory of the sheep/shepherd figure, as it appears in the Gospel of John 10.1-10

NKJ John 10:1-10

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.


3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

5 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

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.

 

Let’s identify the figurative elements of these verses.

NKJ John 10:1-10

1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door[way], but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Number of hypocatastasis figures: 3

the sheepfold

the doorway

the robbers

2 "But he who enters by the door[way] is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Number of hypocatastasis figures: 7

4 "And when brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Number of hypocatastasis figures: 7

5 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

Number of hypocatastasis figures: 9

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

from,a parable, figure of speech, proverbnear, likeness, having the quality of Literally - having the quality of a near likeness

Other examples using this word…

NKJ John 10:6

Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

NKJ John 16:29

His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!

NKJ John 16:25

" These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father."

NKJ 2 Peter 2:22

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and,"a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."

NKJ John 10:1-10

7 "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door[way] of the sheep.

Notice that in order to accommodate to His hearers’ lack of understanding, Jesus explains the meaning of the doorway (which is a hypocatastasis) by changing it to a metaphor; that is, He names Himself as the underlying identity who is represented by the figure
the doorway.

And here is where it gets tricky…

7 "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door[way] of the sheep.

Jesus continues to refer to Himself in terms corresponding to that of the shepherd of the sheep, as He compares and contrasts Himself to all predecessors, namely the theives and robbers who are essentially blocked from legitimate entrance to
the fold of His sheep by means of control of the door by the doorkeeper.

Again, the illustration…

NKV John 10:1-10

8 "All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the [My] sheep did not hear them.

By implication we see that the door not only blocks the way to the fold for the sheep’s protection, but that the idea of the door and the doorway are so closely related so as to be clearly understood as functioning as “one”.

8 "All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the [My] sheep did not hear them.

That is, the door keeper effects the will of the shepherd of the sheep by determining to whom and when to open the door to permit entrance through the doorway, and provides opportunity, motive, and the means for entrance to occur.

8 "All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the [My] sheep did not hear them.

With regard to allowing or denying entrance into the fold, the door and the doorway essentially act as one in accord.

It is easy for us to see this as a comparison consisting of the doorkeeper as God the Holy Spirit, and the door or the doorway as Christ the Shepherd Savior.

moving on…

9 "I am the door[way]. If anyone enters by [, through] Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Jesus explains the representation of the doorway as Himself in terms of its function and use applying to Him.

Let’s turn aside briefly to look at what He meant...

"I am the door[way]. If anyone enters by [, through] Me,

the doorway

Jesus

Diameter =

through the middle a measure Literally – a measure through the middle

The Doorway

Jesus

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.

Return to verses 2-4…

2 "But he who enters by the door[way] is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 "And when brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

5 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

This is from God’s perspective, as in contrast to man’s perspective… because the notion of being able to hear His voice is based on the precondition that the spiritual doorway has already been opened by the work of God the Holy Spirit.

This account is descriptive of the events leading to salvation. How it seems to the one that Christ is calling unto Himself is that he hears the voice of the Lord and responds appropriately to the opportunity which is presently before him. There is no conflict with other Scripture on this matter.

While the proposition is a conditional one for man, the references made by Christ in John 10 are not stated not in conditional terms. But we can see from God’s perspective, it is a matter of fact: it is a necessary precondition that the doorkeeper open the door, in order that the sheep might hear the voice of the Shepherd in the first place.

Compare this to the way this proposition is presented in Revelation 3.20.

NKJ Revelation 3:20

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him,
and he with Me.

GNT Revelation 3:20

Let’s look at a couple of idiomatic uses of the door/doorway metaphor in the Scriptures.

'soon’ an idiom, which literally means: ‘upon [at] the doors’ 'make possible'

an idiom, which literally means: ‘I open a doorway’; that is, ‘I make possible some opportunity’, as in ‘I open the doorway to make something possible’

'soon’ an idiom, which literally means: ‘upon [at] the doors’ 'make possible'

As a point of time subsequent to another point of time, the expression indicates imminence; that is, the subsequent event is regarded as almost begun- as in ‘soon, very soon’

Revelation 3:20 Keep in mind the metaphorical quality of this verse.

Comprehensive Translation:

Behold, I have taken My stand [perfect active] upon [at] the very door [gate] [idiom for soon or imminence] and I am knocking at the door; in the event someone should hear the voice having its source in Me [the more probable future condition] and someone should open the door [idiom for make the opportunity possible, act on the opportunity],

then, I will entrance Myself [middle] face to face with [pros] him [the closest ‘with’ relationship] and I will dine in company with [meta] him [fellowship] and he will dine in company with [meta] Me.

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, He is God Incarnate. In order to pay the debt of our sins,
He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf. Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. Only the power of God can open your heart to the willingness to have the void within it filled
with the presence of Christ by His Spirit.The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life.
Only the life of His Spirit’s quickening of your heart will allow the Gospel message of salvation to even make sense to you, to truly “hear” the message and give you the ability, as the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus, to recognize your need for forgiveness and restoration, and gain the desire of your heart to be favorably inclined to want to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,
AMEN

Copyright December, 2014
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserved

Bibliography

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