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I grew up on a farm with a lot of sheep. I loved the bottle lambs especially—they became my friends. So whenever I read Scripture that refers to sheep or shepherds, it always hits close to home. I can picture the sheep that wanders away and doesn’t know how to get back. I can imagine the care that the shepherd has for the sheep. I can see the shepherd protecting the sheep and going to find the one that was lost.
Jesus was familiar with sheep and shepherds, and the people he was speaking to were too. That’s why he used them as an illustration for salvation.
John 10:7-10: 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Notice verse 7:
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.”
What is the gate for the sheep, and what did Jesus mean by this statement? That’s what we will find out in this lesson.
1. What is the story surrounding Jesus’ I AM statement?
This story follows the story of the blind man that we talked about in the lesson on Jesus’ statement “I AM the Light of the World.” In that story, the Pharisees were angry that Jesus had healed a man born blind—not that he had healed him, necessarily, but that he healed him on the Sabbath, and that the man who was healed claimed that Jesus was from God. The Pharisees refused to believe in Jesus, and Jesus called them blind because of this.
In today’s passage, Jesus is again talking to the Pharisees. He’s trying to teach them a point about the difference between the thief and the true shepherd. We’ll talk more about the shepherd in the next lesson. In this lesson, we want to focus on what Jesus has to say about the gate.
2. What would this statement have meant to the original audience?
In Jesus’ time and in Jesus’ area, shepherds and sheep were common. Shepherds were often looked down on by society, but they were given a huge responsibility—they were the ones who would guard and protect the sheep and lead them to pastures with good grass and water.
At night, the shepherd would lead the sheep to the sheep pen. Sheep pens in Jesus’ day were typically made of stone walls with a single entrance. Sheep pens close to town were usually large enough for several shepherds to place their sheep in it for the night. This type of pen usually had a gatekeeper who knew the shepherds and would let the shepherds in and out of the sheep pen to care for or call out their sheep. This allowed the shepherds to go home at night while still having their flock protected.
However, if the shepherds and sheep were out in the countryside and were not close to town, shepherds would use smaller sheep pens. These pens were similar to the ones close to town, but they did not have a separate gatekeeper. Instead, the shepherd would lay down across the entrance to the pen at night. This served two purposes. The shepherd would be aware if any of the sheep tried to escape at night—and he would also be aware if a predator or thief tried to get in to steal away a sheep.
When Jesus talked about being the gate for the sheep, the people listening would have understood the role of the gate and the role of the shepherd in being the gate.
3. What do we learn about Jesus from this statement?
Jesus Is the Only Way to Salvation
Jesus himself clarifies what he meant by his statement, “I AM the gate for the sheep.” He says in John 10:9:
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
With this statement, Jesus is making the claim that he is the only way to salvation. Let’s look at a few other verses that support Jesus’ claim:
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
John 14:6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 16:30-31: 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Romans 10:9: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 Timothy 2:5-6: 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
1 John 5:11-12: 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
So many verses throughout the Bible support that Jesus is the one and only way to salvation. That’s what Jesus is claiming when he says, “I AM the gate for the sheep.” We are the sheep. We are the ones who are lost and in need of someone to save us. If we want to go from outside the fold (i.e., outside of God’s family) to inside the fold (i.e., inside of God’s family), the only way we can enter is through Jesus.
Others Are Not the True Shepherd
What else do we learn about Jesus from his claim to be the gate for the sheep? We learn that anyone else who claims to be the way to salvation is really a thief or a robber.
John 10:8: All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.
They do not have the truth, and they do not have the sheep’s best interests at heart. Those whom God has chosen as his sheep will not listen to the voice of the thief but will instead only listen to the shepherd.
Jesus Provides a Full Life
We also learn that Jesus is the one who provides a full life for those in his flock. He leads his sheep to pasture, representing provision and guidance. As humans, we don’t always know what is best for us, and we don’t always know the way to go. But if we trust our shepherd, he will tell us when to go in and go out of the sheep pen. He will tell us where to go to find pasture. And if we follow him and listen to his voice, we will be fulfilled. We will be satisfied. We will be safe. We will have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The only path to salvation, the only path to fullness of life, the only path to eternal life, is through Jesus. He is the only gate. With Jesus as our gate, we can be confident that Jesus will protect us from the enemy. We can rest knowing that we are safe in him and that he won’t let anything come in to steal our salvation.
4. How should we respond?
With his statement, “I AM the gate for the sheep,” Jesus lays down an ultimatum for the Pharisees, and for us. He says that in order to be saved, in order to have eternal life, in order to spend eternity in heaven with God, we must go through him. He is the only way to salvation.
The Pharisees and the Jews who heard Jesus’ statement were divided:
John 10:19-21: 19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
You are given the same choices: You can dismiss Jesus, or you can believe in him. You can be inside God’s family, with Jesus keeping watch over you, or you can be outside God’s family, on the side of the enemy. You can have abundant, eternal life, or you can be with the thief, who comes to kill and destroy you.
With Jesus as the only way to salvation and eternal life, we don’t have room for many of the common ways that society says you can reach heaven. You can’t get to heaven by being “good enough.” You can’t get to heaven by whatever religion you choose. You must choose Jesus. If you don’t, you are on the wrong side of the gate.
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