Today’s Assignment is to read John 10. For more information on the Focus Bible reading plan, please check it out here.
The idea of Jesus being a Good Shepherd is a pretty familiar one. It’s something we teach children and babies! And for good reason. It’s something anyone can understand and be moved by: a loving shepherd who tirelessly pursues a lost lamb and tenderly carries that lamb home on his shoulders. It’s an absolutely beautiful illustration of the gracious love of God.
When Jesus declares, “I am the good shepherd” in John 10, he is speaking to Pharisees, who are skeptical of his claims to be from God. Well, perhaps the word “skeptical” is too charitable. The reality is, the Pharisees have seen sign after sign that definitively proves that Jesus is sent from God, but they refuse to believe it.
In fact, the conversation in John 10 is a continuation of Jesus’s accusation that the Pharisees claim to see the truth and therefore are guilty for their spiritual blindness. Jesus goes on to draw a contrast between them and himself and as he does this, he lays out glorious truths about himself, his love for us, the relationship between him and his Father, and the Father’s love for us.
As I read the teaching in this chapter, I was struck by four sentiments that feel too wonderful to believe – and yet we see them plainly:
1. Not only does Jesus give us life, he gives us life to the full!
Here’s John 10:9-10:
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Here Jesus gives to degrees, or aspects, to his care for the sheep: 1.) the sheep that enter the gate will be saved and 2.) the sheep will come in and go out, and find pasture. Then, he contrasts this with the alternative: robbery, murder, destruction. Finally he clarifies: You will have life, and it will be to the full.
Wouldn’t it be enough for Jesus to “merely” save us from our sin and give us life? That gift of mercy alone would be miraculous and worth a lifetime of worship. And yet – that is not where our salvation ends. Not only do we have life in Christ….we have it to the full!
Full! Abundant! Rich! Green pastures and still waters! We lack nothing!
He must really love us.
2. Jesus knows me like He knows His Father, and His Father Knows Him!
Here’s John 10:14-15:
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Using the picture of a good shepherd, Jesus says that he knows his sheep, and that his sheep know him. In contrast, the sheep will not follow a stranger because they do not know him (verse 5), and a hired hand who doesn’t know the sheep will not lay down his life for them (verse 12). But when you are a sheep, you are his. You will follow him because you will know him.
Perhaps even more amazing — the good shepherd knows you. He knows you like He knows His Father.
This becomes even more glorious when you consider the all-encompassing, all-knowing, all-loving relationship between the persons of the Trinity. How well does Jesus know the Father? Well, later, in verse 30, Jesus says “I and the Father are one” and then in verse 38: “the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”
To summarize, Jesus knows you very, very well.The creator and sustainer of all things…The one who created the objects of astronomy as well as microbiology… The one who holds together all molecules and atoms… The one who sets up the kings and and destroys dynasties…He knows you.
And how well does he know you? Like he knows himself.
He must really love us.
3. The Father loves Jesus because of what Jesus did for me!
John 10:17:
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again.
I confess I don’t know how to completely understand this. How can the love between the Son and the Father have anything to do with me? Somehow, this great love within the Trinity is made manifest in Jesus’s work on the cross.
Such a thought is too wonderful to comprehend. It is more natural, perhaps, to think that Jesus’s humility in becoming human, his submission to his Father on the cross, the agony of his separation from the Father in death, and even the vindicating resurrection from the dead are all after-thoughts and contrary to the very nature of God himself.
But in fact, the opposite is true: The ministry of redemption is amazingly – gloriously! – central to the unity of the Trinity itself.
God is not, as we so often let ourselves believe, mostly holy and therefore a portion merciful and gracious. Instead – God is completely and totally holy and gracious and merciful. And his acts of mercy are just as at home in his identity as his acts of wrath.
Therefore, Christ’s work to save me from my sin are perfectly illustrative of God’s person. The reason the Father loves the Son is because the Son is who He is – and He is our Savior.
His saving love for me is who he is. It doesn’t come sparingly or against his will. Rather, it is an outpouring of God himself. He must really love us.
4. We are safe in our shepherd’s care!
John 10:28-30
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
Again – we see here the declaration of the unity between Jesus and His Father, and the centrality of this union to the work of the gospel.
We also see four reassuring reminders for the sheep of the good shepherd:
- No one can snatch us out from the hand of Jesus
- The Father himself has given us to Jesus
- The Father is greater than all.
- No one can snatch us out from the hand of the Father
In essence – we are as safe as we can possibly be. We are held securely and tenderly in the hand of the all-powerful God.
Whom or what, then, should we fear? Will any thief or robber separate us from our good shepherd? Will any height or depth separate us from the love of Christ? Will any enemy separate us from the care and refuge of God?
It is with confidence and peace that we rest in the care of our Good Shepherd. Nothing can snatch us from his hand.
He must really love us.
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are a good and loving Father. You are as gracious as you are holy, and that is so glorious, we can’t comprehend it.
We are like sheep who wandered away. We are helpless and ignorant. And yet – you gave us a good shepherd to take care of us; to give us life and life to the full! We need the care and voice of our good shepherd. Do not let us follow the voice of a stranger.
Thank you for loving us! Thank you, Jesus, for loving and submitting to your Father – even unto death! Thank you, Father, for loving and glorifying Jesus so that we could be called your children.
Help us to have the power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
In Jesus’s Name,
Amen
Growing in the Gospel 