The Lord Jesus told this parable to the men of Jerusalem. He spoke with authority, as a declaration, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
“To him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know his voice, And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.”
In that land sheep were kept at night in a high walled yard, called “a fold’’. Large flocks had a watchman to guard them. In the morning when the shepherd came, he would be let in. The sheep were such pets that each one had its own name, and knew the shepherd’s voice; as he called each name, the sheep came to him and followed him to the pasture lands.
Shepherd, Sheep, and a Right Door
But in this parable we know Jesus did not mean to tell of a shepherd of real sheep. The people who believed God were called “sheep” and He, their “Shepherd”, as we too say, “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psa. 23).
“He that entereth” in by the door (the right or proper way) is the Shepherd of the sheep.
That right way was the way God had said, and was written by the prophets in the Scriptures long before. The One to come from God was to come a holy Child, to “grow up” as “a tender plant,” to be One to teach God’s ways, to care for the people, heal their sickness, and care for them in every way (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 53:214Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)).
Jesus had come just as God had said, and He had done for the people as had been written of Him, so He had come by the “door,” the right way and was the true Shepherd. The Holy Spirit had been as the “porter” to let Him in, where the “sheep” would hear Him and know His voice. All who believed God’s words “knew His voice”, that His words were from God, and they believed and followed Him.
Confusion of Unbelief
Though Jesus’ words about the true Shepherd seem so plain and easy to understand, the men He told them to did not understand. Because they had not believed God’s words about the Holy One to come, they were not thinking of Him or wanting Him to be their Shepherd.
If we would rewrite the words of Jesus’ parable with a capital letter for the word Shepherd, and think of all as His own words to us, perhaps it would be still clearer. We can ask ourselves if He is our Shepherd and if we know His voice.
Further Meditation:
1. What is the meaning of the door of the sheepfold?
2. Besides the scriptures mentioned in this chapter, what other ones showed that Jesus was the promised Messiah?
3. Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah gives a short but encouraging look at the accuracy of Scripture in declaring what would happen to Jesus centuries before the event.