The Door Of The Sheep

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
[John 10:7-11 NKJV)

Chapter 10 is full of sheep and the Shepherd. Verses 7 to 11 clarify and expand upon what Jesus says in verses 1 to 5. In between in verse 6, it says '...they did not understand the things which He [Jesus] spoke to them.' They could not understand, perhaps because they were thinking in a literal sense, without the understanding conferred by the Holy Spirit.

It reminds me of my own experience when I first started reading the Bible, when gifted a small Gideon New Testament at age 12. In the two years that followed I diligently followed the reading programme, underlining passages that spoke to me. Most of it 'went over my head', try though I might to find a meaning. It was not that I was totally unfamiliar with scripture - I'd had a Bible and Hymnary for Primary School, and my mother in particular was well versed and could quote a lot from it. It would be another 40 years (wandering in the wilderness?) before I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The effect was not immediate for me, but I almost stumbled over the realisation that, gradually, day by day, I was able to pick up my Bible and find that I had a deepening understanding of the enormous wealth of wisdom and life it contained.

The idea that Jesus could call Himself 'the door of the sheep' no longer sounded daft, but had an amazing deep resonance. I daresay such experience is common to many, but what we can see from this Gospel truth, is that Jesus was always aware that most were not going to 'get' His message straight away, and that He will wait patiently until the moment is right for each of us to turn to Him.

'I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.'
Jesus likened Himself to the door, because a door or a gate is a two-way thing - and we 'will go in and out' until the moment when we are ready to go out no more.

'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.'
[Revelation 3:12]

That is why He is The Good Shepherd; He knows how to tend to His flock and knows how they (we) will behave. He understands us, even if we often fail to understand Him.

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of Redemption wrought in me by the Holy Ghost Who shed abroad the love of God in my heart, and that love works efficaciously through me in contact with everyone I meet.