[This year, I am blessed to welcome a group of friends to gather around my table once a month to study “WHO JESUS IS” (NavPress, 2022), an in-depth look at the “I AM” statements of the LORD JESUS recorded in John’s gospel.

I pray this new series of monthly reflections from our discussions will be a blessing and encouragement that reaches far beyond our kitchen table.]

𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (𝘯𝘰. 𝟹): ⁣⁣⁣
𝘞𝘏𝘖 𝘑𝘌𝘚𝘜𝘚 𝘐𝘚 – 𝘐 𝘈𝘔 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘱

 As we have done each month through this study, it is good to consider what we know about “gates” that might help us to fully appreciate what JESUS was saying about Himself when He declared “I AM the Gate for the sheep.”

A dictionary search highlights several interesting thoughts:

• A gate is a hinged barrier to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge; an entryway.
• The purpose of a gate is security, a physical barrier to prevent unauthorized access and to deter potential intruders.
• A gate also provides privacy.  

Additional thoughts arise from a few references to “gates” in the Bible:  

• Open up, you ancient gates, and the King of glory will come in. (Psalm 24:7)
• Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it.  Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
• I am the gate.  If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. (John 10:9)
• [The city] had a great and high wall with twelve gates… its gates shall never be closed, for there shall be no night there. (Revelation 21:12, 25)  

Before looking deeper into our passage in John 10, it is wonderful to linger over the thought of an open gate:  weathered wood or wrought iron in delicate curves, picturesque in a natural setting, beckoning one to step inside the walls of stone or fence or natural hedge, into the private, protected, unseen place where a sacred hush seems to hover, where the enterer looks up and around with wide-eyed wonder, feeling honored by the special privilege of enjoying tucked-away joys, prepared and kept safe, now extended in warm hospitality.

Our Navigators study also shared these details: “In first century Israel, sheep pens were made of stone, large rocks piled on top of each other to a height of about three feet.  There was only one gate into the sheep pen, and a watchman, who was a hired hand, only allowed certain shepherds and sheep to enter that gate.  In smaller sheep pens, the shepherd himself would sometimes lie down at the entrance to the pen, becoming a human gate that protected the sheep from all intruders.”

. . .

How did these thoughts and images frame our study of JESUS as the Gate for the sheep in John 10:1-10?  Our little discussion group shared several touching insights about this passage:

HEARING and ENTERING

Amid striking descriptors of watchmen guarding the entrance to a sheepfold, the voice of the Shepherd really stood out to several of us.  The Shepherd calls His sheep.  They know His voice and they follow Him.  

John expands this picture of the intimate relationship between the sheep and their true Shepherd, who calls them by name.  Even humble sheep can know and experience the love of their Shepherd.  His care for them compels them to stay close to His side, where they can hear and obey His voice, trusting Him with their very life.

A mother in the group related her own experience of hearing a newborn baby crying in the hospital nursery and knowing with certainty that it was her baby’s cry.  She knew her daughter’s voice.  In an even greater sense, we know our Shepherd’s voice – and He knows us!

We make the initial choice to heed the Shepherd’s call.  We are welcomed in and enter through the gate.  From that point on, we never go in or out on our own.  The Shepherd leads us at every turn.  Whether inside the sheepfold or out on the hills, He goes ahead of us.  He protects and provides for us.  He will never lead us where He doesn’t go Himself.  He is always with us.  This has always been His promise:

The LORD your GOD will personally go ahead of you.  He will neither fail you nor abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8)

. . .

WARNINGS about FALSE SHEPHERDS

In this passage, the LORD JESUS also warns about thieves and robbers, who do not come in by the gate, but find other ways to intrude.  Unlike the true Shepherd who gives life, their intent is to steal and to kill.  Their voices are strange to the sheep, therefore the sheep do not trust them and run away.

The LORD speaks even more vividly about the damage done by false shepherds in Ezekiel 34:1-6: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves, who do not take care of the flock, who have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the wounded.  They have not brought back the strays or sought for the lost.  They have ruled harshly and brutally.  The sheep were scattered with no shepherd and became food for wild animals.”  

These “shepherds” were not nurturing or caring.  Instead, they were concerned only about themselves, with no personal investment in the sheep, leaving the sheep vulnerable to vicious dangers.  In their negligence, they robbed the sheep of the secure life and intimate care GOD longed for them to experience.

Our study asked: “what kinds of false shepherds try to plunder JESUS’ followers today, and how can we guard ourselves against them?”  We shared a few ideas around the table, including a variety of political and religious leaders, teachers, writers, and social influencers.  Truly, anyone or anything that seeks to preach their “own gospel,” that does not lead us to Christ alone, puts us in grave danger of tangling lies alongside truth.  

We may also need to examine seemingly harmless interests like health, fitness, education, home décor, or entertainment (games, arts, literature, TV/movies, or music).  Many “schools of thought” include underlying messages that have the same potential to distort GOD’s truth, mislead our hearts, steal our confidence in the LORD alone, and rob us of bold faith and joy.

How do we guard against these pitfalls?  It has been said that the best counterfeit training does not focus on potential falsities, but intensely studies the original.  Intimately knowing every minute detail of an original will position the evaluator to notice any discrepancy quickly and confidently declare it to be a fraud.  How can we intimately study and know the One and only source of truth?  Despite sounding simple, these practices serve as timeless standards: 

(1) Hunger to know GOD through His Word and through regular dialogue with Him in prayer.  

(2) Know the true message of the gospel – salvation through faith alone in Christ alone! – through which we enter the narrow gate, into His fold, where we can rest, assured we are kept and led in safe places.

Why didn’t the Jewish leaders understand what JESUS was trying to tell them?  Sadly, they were not His sheep, they didn’t recognize or value His voice.  They were puffed up by their own knowledge, quickly dismissing anything that disagreed with their thinking.  

We saw in our last lesson how pride blinded the religious leaders to the truth standing right in front of them – in the living, breathing miracle of a blind man who could now see!  In this passage we learn that pride not only blinds us, it makes us deaf.  Stubborn reliance on ourselves and our own thinking makes us unable to hear, recognize, or listen to the voice of the true Shepherd. 

Not only did the religious leaders reject the truth and refuse to enter the fold of the true Shepherd, they worked to suppress the truth of the gospel (Romans 1:18), to block the Gate, preventing others from entering as well (Matthew 23:13-14).  How sobering.

 . . .

JESUS – the ONLY WAY

JESUS said, “I am the gate.  If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9).  Later in the John’s gospel, he records further clarification from the LORD JESUS: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

JESUS is not only the gate through which we come in and go out and enjoy a protected life.  He is the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, the ONLY path to life at all, let alone the power of His endless life!  He is the way of salvation provided by the Father, the Gate through which we can be reconciled to the Father.  “There is salvation in no one else!  GOD has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

 . . .

ABUNDANT LIFE INSIDE THE FOLD

John 10:10 broadens our vision of the life our Shepherd longs to provide for us – an abundant one!  Our little group shared a few thoughts about what that means to them, personally:

• a life that is rich and satisfying
• the security of knowing I am taken care of, that I don’t need to rely on anything outside of the fold because everything I need is inside the fold (there are no skinny sheep there!)
• As I stay close to the Shepherd and grow in my knowledge of Him, I feel secure.  Deeper than “happiness” that can be fleeting, I can know JOY in the Person of my Shepherd.
• Knowing I have eternal life is only the beginning.  As I follow JESUS, I can experience increasing levels of enjoyment – the joy that comes from obeying Him, a joy that grows as I abide in (stay close to) Him.  “When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love … I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy” (John 15:10-11, NLT).
• When He meets my needs in ways that are undeniably His doing (no other explanation), I feel seen, known, and loved.  My college roommate calls those provisions “extravagant gifts from the Father”.  Experiencing His care for me in such intimate ways touches me deeply and fills me with indescribable joy.
• Outside the fold, stress and fear can overwhelm me.  Inside the fold, I can know the reality of contented rest. 
• I feel protected.  Even if I am the only one who is lost, I know He will search until He finds me and He will bring me home!

JESUS is the Gate, the way we come in and go out, and find pasture.  He leads us to discover the right paths, to recognize and hunger for the nourishment we need, to stay close to Him, where our safety is secure.  In His care, we can thrive.  Our experience there is not complicated by struggles and tangles He never intended.  It is in our best interest not to see His boundaries as restrictive, but to realize it is within those parameters that we are safe and free to grow and explore and discover and fully live.  The possibilities and joys are not confined or jeopardized, but positioned for even greater abundance!

. . .

So far in our study of WHO JESUS IS, we have learned that JESUS is the Bread of Life, the One who satisfies our souls’ deepest hunger.  JESUS is also the Light of the World, the One who meets us in our darkness to touch us, illuminate our path, compel us to worship Him, and ignite His own fire within us to tell His story with confidence and joy!  

This month, we came to appreciate JESUS as the Gate for the sheep, the One who calls us by name to welcome us into His fold, where we are eternally secure, where He leads us to abundant life and joy that overflows.  Stepping inside the Gate with wide-eyed wonder, we feel honored by the special privilege of enjoying tucked-away joys, prepared and kept safe, now extended to us by our true Shepherd in warm hospitality.

“Each morning I will sing with joy about Your unfailing love.  For You have been my refuge, [my] place of safety.” (Psalm 59:16) ~ Let me live forever in Your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of Your wings. (Psalm 61:4)

a few related resources:

I highly recommend Sara Hagerty’s new book, “The Gift of Limitations: Finding Beauty in Your Boundaires”, published by Zondervan, 2024.

… and this earlier look at boundaries in a November 2023 post.