Scripture Reading: John 10:1-39
The record in the Gospel of John is deep and profound. In writing this Gospel, John used certain cases from the Lord’s ministry, cases that are regarded as signs. In 20:30 and 31 he says, “Many other signs also Jesus did before His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” These verses indicate that the Gospel of John is a book of signs. The various cases recorded in this Gospel, therefore, are signs.
In chapter 3 of John’s Gospel we have the case of Nicodemus. The more we consider this case, the more we will be enlightened to know the natural life.
In chapter 4 we have the case of the Samaritan woman. Although this woman was immoral, she pretended to be religious and to worship God. As we consider this case, we see that only Jesus Christ is the fountain of living water that can quench the thirst in our human life. The water from Jacob’s well cannot quench our thirst. Furthermore, Christ is the reality by which and through which we can genuinely worship God. The Samaritans did not worship God in a genuine way. Only Christ can satisfy the thirst in our human life, and only He is the reality that can afford us the genuine worship of God.
In chapter 5 we have the case of an impotent man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. The background of this case was “a feast of the Jews” (v. 1), which was the Feast of Purim recorded in the book of Esther. According to the book of Esther, Haman’s intention was to terminate the Jews. Hence, the Jews’ destiny was to be slaughtered. But God came in to change the day of termination into a day of liberation. That day was a day of the Jews’ passing out of death into life. Because the Jewish people had been released, they passed out of death into life. This is the background of the Lord’s word in John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.” The Lord Jesus is the real Mordecai, the One who rescues the Jews and brings them out of death into life. In chapter 5 of John we see how the Lord rescued the impotent man and caused him to pass out of death into life.
Chapters 9 and 10 of the Gospel of John are actually concerned with one case — the case of a man who was blind from birth. In this case also one of the Jewish feasts was the background. The background in this case was the Feast of the Dedication. John 10:22 says, “At that time the Feast of the Dedication occurred in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”
The biblical record is economical, and no words are wasted. Why, then, in a chapter concerned with Christ as life is there a verse telling us about the Feast of the Dedication? Apparently, verse 22 has nothing to do with life. Actually, it is very meaningful that this verse is included.
The Feast of the Dedication was a commemoration of the restoration of the polluted temple. The temple had been polluted by a cruel Syrian king named Antiochus Epiphanes. The coming of this king was prophesied in chapters 8 and 11 of the book of Daniel. Antiochus Epiphanes was the little horn that sprang out of one of the four horns. According to the prophecy in Daniel, this king blasphemed God. He occupied the temple and polluted it by offering swine on the altar. Daniel also prophesied that the wise among God’s people would be bold to do valiant things against this evil one. One of these wise ones was Judas Maccabaeus, who took the lead to fight against Antiochus Epiphanes. In a war that lasted approximately three years, Judas Maccabaeus was victorious, and the temple was restored and cleansed. The Feast of the Dedication commemorates the restoration and purification of the temple.
A story has been told among the Jews that when Antiochus Epiphanes was about to seize the temple, the high priest concealed the flagon of oil used for lighting the lamps on the lampstand. When the temple was restored by Judas Maccabaeus, there was not an adequate supply of oil to use in lighting the lamps. Eventually, they found the flagon of oil, which had been sealed by the signet of the high priest. However, that supply of oil was not sufficient to keep the lamps lighted for very long. Nevertheless, in a miraculous way that small supply of oil lasted for eight days. According to the story, the more the oil was used, the more its supply increased. In the Feast of the Dedication the Jewish people remembered that miracle by lighting lamps both in the temple and in their homes. Hence, the Feast of the Dedication, which lasted for eight days, was a feast of lights. It was during this feast that the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem and gave sight to a blind man.
Although the Feast of the Dedication was a time of light, the blind man was in darkness. In 9:5 the Lord Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The lights from the lamps in the Feast of the Dedication were of no help to the blind man. Therefore, in 9:5 the Lord Jesus seemed to be saying, “I am the real light. Physical light cannot help you. You need Me as the light of the world.”
Josephus, a Jewish historian, calls the Feast of the Dedication a feast of lights. As we have pointed out, during this feast the Jews lighted lamps in the temple and in their homes. With this feast as the background, the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem to indicate to the Jewish people that He is the real light.
For the blind man to receive his sight was for him to receive light. As a result of receiving light, he came out of darkness. But although the blind man had received his sight, the Pharisees were still blind and in darkness (vv. 9-41).
Chapter 10 of the Gospel of John is the direct continuation of chapter 9. If we do not realize that chapters 9 and 10 are linked, we will not understand why chapter 10 opens the way it does. Chapter 9 concludes with the words, “Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, We are not blind also, are we? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would not have sin; but now that you say, We see; your sin remains” (vv. 40-41). Then in 10:1 the Lord continued, “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up from somewhere else, he is a thief and a robber.” If we realize that this is a direct continuation of chapter 9, we will understand that the Lord was saying that it was the Pharisees who were thieves and robbers, for they did not enter the sheepfold through Christ as the door. In chapter 10 the Lord seemed to be saying, “You Pharisees are thieves and robbers. You did not enter this sheepfold through Me. Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all entered the fold through Me. But you Pharisees entered the fold by climbing up elsewhere. Because you have stolen into the sheepfold, you are thieves and robbers.”
In John 10 the sheep are God’s chosen people (vv. 3, 5, 27). The sheepfold is the law or Judaism as the religion of the law, in which God’s chosen people were kept and guarded in custody and ward until Christ came (vv. 1a, 16). The thieves and robbers are those like the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders who came into the sheepfold but not through Christ (vv. 1b, 8). Now we need to go on to consider Christ as the door of the sheep.
The door of the sheep is Christ, the Son of God, for God’s chosen people to go in and go out of the sheepfold. In verse 7 the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you that I am the door of the sheep.” In verse 9 the Lord went on to say, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.”
Some misinterpret the Lord’s word concerning Himself as the door and think that He is the door for us to go to heaven. According to their understanding, they would say that if we do not have the Lord Jesus, we do not have the entrance to heaven. This interpretation is mistaken. In verse 9 the Lord Jesus speaks about going in and going out. If the door here is the door to heaven, this would indicate that it is possible to go in and out of heaven. This would mean that the Lord Jesus is not only the door for us to go into heaven but also the door for us to go out of heaven. Surely this interpretation of Christ as the door is not correct.
If we read the context, we will see that Christ is the door of the Old Testament sheepfold. When pasture is not available in the wintertime or in the night, sheep must be kept in a fold. Before the Lord Jesus came, God’s people were in the night. Therefore, God used the law to keep His chosen people and guard them in custody and ward until Christ came. Old Testament saints such as Moses, David, and Daniel were kept in custody in the fold. Hence, the Old Testament with the law as the center was the sheepfold in which God’s chosen people were kept as they waited for the time when they could come out of the fold and come into the pasture. While it was night, they needed the fold to shelter them.
All the Old Testament saints entered the sheepfold through Christ. This means that Christ was the door of the Old Testament sheepfold so that God’s chosen people could enter the fold and be preserved there. But now Christ is the door for the sheep to come out of the fold. This is the reason verse 9 speaks of going in and going out. First, God’s people in the Old Testament went into the fold. But when the Lord Jesus came, it was time for them to go out of the fold.
The blind man in chapter 9 was among the chosen ones in the sheepfold. He may not have been willing to go out of the fold, but the Pharisees, the thieves and robbers, cast him out. We may say that they ushered him out of the sheepfold. But although the Pharisees cast him out of the fold, he actually came out through Jesus Christ as the door.
Throughout the centuries of the New Testament age, many “folds” have been established. Actually, every denomination and nearly every Christian group has become a fold. In the fold there is a shortage of light. Some of God’s chosen people are still in the darkness, even though the New Testament age is in the daytime, not in the nighttime.
Have you ever heard that for us who are enjoying Christ as the pasture this is the daytime? As one who is in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, I do not have the sense that I am in the night. However, I did not have this feeling when I was in a denomination. But after I was brought by the Lord into the enjoyment of Christ, my night was turned to day. Has this not been your experience as well? Many of us can testify that in the church life we are in a spiritual day. Praise the Lord that we are in bright daylight! Inwardly we are filled with light, and outwardly we are surrounded with light.
However, in our daily experience sometimes we are still in the night. When we are strong in the spirit, we are in the day. But when we are in the flesh, we are in the night. In our spiritual experience the spirit is a day to us, and the flesh is a night.
There is a hymn that speaks of Jesus as the wonderful Shepherd who brought us out of the fold into the pasture that is so good to our spirit:
A flock is in the pasture during the daytime. In a similar way, if in our Christian experience we are in the pasture, we will also be in the daylight. The brightest time for us is when we are in the spirit enjoying the pasture. But our darkest time is when we are in the flesh. When we are in the flesh, we are full of lust, self, and the old man. What darkness that is! Praise the Lord that when we are in the spirit, we are full of light!
Jesus Christ the Lord is life to us. According to John 1:4, this life is the light of men. Therefore, when we have life, we have light. Moreover, when we have light, we are in the day. We thank the Lord that sovereignly He has brought us out of the folds into the pasture and out of night into day.
Some may think that because a sheepfold is something prepared by God, we should remain there. They may point to chapter 10 of the Gospel of John and ask, “Wasn’t the Old Testament sheepfold established by God? Certainly God established this fold. Why, then, didn’t the Lord Jesus leave His sheep in the fold?” The reason the Lord Jesus did not leave the sheep in the sheepfold was that the age, the dispensation, had been changed. During the time of the Old Testament, it was right for the sheep to remain in the fold. But the sheep should no longer stay there.
There are many religious things in the sheepfold. In the fold people may have the Scriptures, and in name they may also have God. But when the Son of God came, those in the Old Testament sheepfold did not recognize Him or receive Him but rather rejected Him. The principle is the same with the sheepfolds that have been established after the Lord Jesus came. Those in today’s sheepfolds may talk about serving Christ, but some of them might not recognize Him if He appeared in their midst.
The religious leaders in the Old Testament sheepfold had strong religious teachings concerning Christ, the Messiah. But when Christ actually came, those religionists, who supposedly were for the Messiah, did not recognize Him. Instead of receiving Him, they rejected Him. This made it necessary for the Lord to be the door for His sheep to go out of the sheepfold. Through Him the sheep came out of the fold, not to enter another fold but to be His flock. In 10:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.”
A fold is a religious organization, and the one flock is the church. Because some Christians have not been clear concerning this distinction, they use the word fold when they should use the word flock. For example, a certain gospel song speaks of the “wondrous grace that brought me to the fold.” Actually, the Lord’s grace does not bring us into a fold. On the contrary, by grace the Lord brings us out of the fold into the flock. To be brought into a fold is to be brought into darkness. Grace does not bring us into darkness — grace always brings us into light. The church life is in the light, not in darkness. In the church life we are in the pasture under Christ as our sunshine. Now in the pasture and in the daylight, we enjoy Christ as life in every way.
The door in John 10 also signifies freedom. In Christ we have the freedom to go in and out. This means that we do not have any legality. The freedom we enjoy is Christ as our Life-giver. Because Christ is our freedom, our door, nothing can bind us. We are not bound by any legality. This does not mean, of course, that we are free to indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13). The point here is that in the church life we are in a condition where we are not in bondage to legality. Because Christ is our door, we have true freedom, and we are not bound by anything legal.
