John 10:1-11, 27-29

The Lord is our shepherd

Jesus wants us to know with certainty that He is our caregiver, and not just any caregiver, but one whose help is divinely eternal, powerful, and good. He begins our passage with an emphatic “truly, truly” that calls us to rest in the blessings that belong to the sheep of this Shepherd.

We who are His sheep have eternal, abundant life because He is the true shepherd.

Early in this extended metaphor, Jesus says that He is the door to the sheepfold and not a robber that comes in over the wall. He is warning against false teachers that would prey upon us for their own selfish ends, but assuring us of His own beneficent intentions. And of His uniqueness as the way to life. As Acts 4:12 reports, the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved. Jesus asserted in the upper room that He is the way, the truth, and the life; and that He is the only way to the Father.

Consider verses 9 and 10 in our passage. Jesus is the solitary door to the sheepfold. If we sheep will go in and out through Him, then we will find pasture. All others intend our harm and lead to death instead of life. Jesus came to give us life, and abundant life at that.

We who are His sheep are safe and secure because He is a personal shepherd.

From the prayer of Jesus in John 17 and v.29 here, we learn that the Father gave the sheep to the Son. There is a personal connection that He has with us, a personal interest to protect and provide.

Notice that Jesus calls His sheep by name, and that we who are His sheep know His voice. We follow Him and not another. At no point in all of eternity is He going to lose us in all of the paperwork.

We are safe in the hand of Jesus and the hand of the Father (vv.27-29) No enemy can snatch us from Jesus. He has a firm grip upon us. The Father is greater than all. He has a firm grip upon us; we are safe in the Father’s hand.

We who are His sheep are satisfied because He is the good shepherd.

Consider the favorite 23rd psalm: because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. Nothing is lacking. God's goodness rains down upon us continually. Day by day, His provision supplies our need.

Verses 9-11 highlight the benefits here. We go in and out and find pasture, and we enter into eternal and abundant life because the Savior has laid down His life to acquire our pardon and cleansing. He has stood in the way of our enemies of sin and guilt and death. And He did not fail but accomplished a stunning rescue.

This same Lord, eternal, almighty, good inserts Himself into the life of believers as their caregiver — in the words of the psalm and this passage: The Lord is my shepherd and we are greatly blessed.

Do you know Him? You can if you will repent and believe.

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
(Isaiah 53:6)

And if you do know Him, do you know Him well?

Pursuit of wisdom for today from the Ancient of Days

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