John 10:15,16 Sheep of Another Flock
Everyone who was not of the nation of Israel was a Gentile, so that’s us. Up to this time, the people of Israel believed that they had a monopoly on their God and His love. Jesus is making it plain to them that others will be brought into the fellowship of Father God. They will be members, as will His chosen people, Israel. The love of God has been for all mankind since eternity past, but He had called the nation of Israel to be His “chosen people.” They were chosen to be the people from whom the Messiah would come, and that has happened. I’m sure at that time that the two words, “Gentile” and “pagan” had similar meanings for the people of Israel, so it must have been somewhat of a surprise to those who heard Jesus speak the words of John 10:16.
In Romans 11:13, Paul states, “I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry” (NIV). And in Romans 15:15,16 he says, “Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God sanctioned by the Holy Spirit” (NIV). I find it interesting that God chose a most Jewish person to represent Him to the Gentiles. In Acts 22:3, Paul tells us, "...I am a Jew born in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today" (NIV). Paul had been persecuting the Jews who followed Jesus because he felt that they were dangerous to the “proper” worship of God. The Gentiles had no fear of Paul because He had not been persecuting them, but the Jews were hesitant. Other disciples also spoke to the Gentiles, but Paul was the one called by God to go to the Gentiles.
So Paul spoke to the Gentiles of the gospel spoken by Jesus and many believed, while the other apostles spoke mainly to the Jews. The ministry to both peoples, Jew and Gentile, continues today, and the church of believers in Jesus Christ is now one church, one flock, with one shepherd. Interestingly, during the Tribulation 144,00 Jewish evangelists will take the gospel to the world, and a great harvest will occur. In the end, literally the end of this age, those who call Jesus Christ “Lord” will gather with Him in heaven while all others will spend eternity apart from God, knowing that they had had the opportunity to accept Jesus as Lord and had not done so. There will be no Jews or Gentiles then, only saved and not saved.
John 10:2,3,14,15 Jesus Knows my Name Alice Public John Public |
“But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out….I am the good shepherd, I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (NLT).
Although it is not said specifically, we can infer from the above verses that Jesus knows each of us by name, and names are very important to us. I’m glad that my neighbor knows my name and I am not “just the guy who lives next door.” Jesus knows my name; He calls me Ed.
Names are of great importance throughout the Bible. God named Adam and Eve, and He assigned Adam the task of naming all the animals. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah to signify that they had been changed. Jacob became Israel. In Isaiah 43:1, the Word says, “ But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, ‘Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine’”(NLT). In the New Testament, Jesus changed Simon to Peter and Saul to Paul. In Psalm 147, we are told that God calls the stars by name. One author claims that God has one hundred names, and another claims that He has 50 names, and His names are indicative of who He is and what He does. Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Jireh are just a few of the well-known names of God.
God knows me by name, He calls me by name, and at the last trump, He will call me by name, and I shall rise to be with Him in the air. I am overwhelmed that the God of the universe decided that He wanted to know me by name. We are even told in Revelation 2:17 that God thinks enough of us that He gives each of us a secret name that only He and each individual knows—a name to be used only by the God of the universe. Now, that’s special! When I hear that name called in His voice, I will come running with excitement to be by His side.
John 10:11-13 The Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep“ (NLT).
“Shepherd” is defined as a person who herds, tends, and guards sheep. When we apply the word to a shepherd of people, we mean a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people. Jesus calls Himself the “good shepherd,” which I take to mean a shepherd who goes above and beyond what is necessary to protect his flock, and we are His flock, the sheep of His pasture. Jesus doesn’t just protect us, His flock, He provides an eternal home for us even as he protects, guides and watches over us while we are on the earth.
Jesus guards His flock when the “wolf” attacks--keeps them safe, and keeps them close to Him. Sheep are known to wander, and so do we. When Jesus sees us beginning to wander, He calls us back, but sometimes we are stubborn and keep going in the wrong direction. It is my belief that Jesus never stops calling us back even though we may be persistent about leaving the flock. He not only calls us back, but He also pursues us to draw us back to Him. In Matthew 18:12 we are told, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost” (NLT)? Jesus, as the good shepherd, will go look for the one that is lost, but He will not leave the ninety-nine because He, being God, is omnipresent. He maintains protection over the ninety-nine while He searches for the lost one. My guess is that, at some point in time, each of us has wandered, and we have experienced the joy of His calling us back and the thrill of walking back by His side.
There is a point where we can reject Jesus, deny Jesus, and not be drawn to Him. If we reject Him and deny Him until death, then we are eternally lost. Please don’t let that happen to you. When you hear the call of the Lord, reach out to Him. He will be overjoyed and rejoice in the day of your returning.
John 10:7-10 Jesus Is the Gate
“So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’” (NRSVUE).
The sheep fold was a safe place for us, the sheep, and the safety was guaranteed by the gate. If the gate was in any way ineffective, the sheep would be in danger. By calling Himself the gate, Jesus is saying that He guarantees safety for the sheep. He even provides protection and assurance of good food when the sheep leave the protection of the fold—while we live our lives here on earth. We can live in this world of sin and still be guaranteed eternal safety by being certain that we always return to the fold with the perfect gate, Jesus.
We are told to watch out for others claiming to be the gate, for they are there only to steal the sheep, to take us away from the safety of the sheepfold. There is one thief in particular, understood to be satan, who comes to the sheepfold only to steal the sheep, to kill the sheep, or destroy them in any way possible. What a joy and feeling of safety and security we have because we have Jesus who came not only to keep us safe, but also to give us abundant life. In life, we have to be sure to go out and in only through the perfect gate, the gate of safety and abundance, Jesus Christ.
Hosea 12:6 Wait Upon the Lord(Conclusion)
“What are you waiting for? Return to your God! Commit yourself in love, in justice! Wait for your God, and don’t give up on him—ever!” (MSG)
Waiting upon the Lord is a privilege. If I am waiting, then I am expecting Him to do something or tell me something. I am waiting for God Almighty, the creator of the universe, the omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present one to answer me. Yes, He will speak to me, but when I am waiting upon the Lord, it’s because He will take the time and make the effort to understand what I want or need, and He will answer according to what I ask. He listens to me, and He listens for me. He is eager to hear from me. Even when His answer is not what I expect or what I want, I know that it is the best answer, for He is omniscient and loving.
When we wait upon the Lord, we should do so in hope, the hope of God, not in hope as defined by men. To most men hope means, “I’d like to have that, and I wish I would get it, but I probably won’t.” Hope in God is much, much more than that. In his book, “One Word from God Can Change Your Life,” .page 272) Kenneth Copeland has this to say about hope: “The first thing we can learn about hope from that scripture (Hebrews 11:1) is that faith won’t do us any good without it. Hope serves as the blueprint for faith. Without it, faith has nothing to do. Hope is the plan that faith carries out. It’s the inner image-–the picture that the Holy Spirit paints on the inside of you, a picture that’s based on the Word of God.” When we wait with hope, we gain the confidence that God hears us, and faith that He will answer us.
We’ve learned that being quiet before the Lord, eliminating, as much as possible, the noise of the world and our own thoughts, opens our spirits to the voice of God. Waiting on God assumes that we have prayed and continue to pray. If we plan on hearing from God, we must make prayer a conversation and not a one-sided one. We must quiet our hearts, our minds, and our mouths, and we must purposely open them to Him to hear His still quiet voice. In other words, we must focus on God.
We’ve also learned that we must be patient, realizing that God does not work on our timetable, and adjust our timetable to His. This is one of the most difficult things for me. As an American in today’s society, I want and expect almost instant responses to my questions. Fast food is good when we are in a hurry, but it really doesn’t have the appeal to the pallet of the food that we patiently wait for at home or in better restaurants. Patiently waiting for God’s response makes it more sweet when we receive it.
David’s Psalms often begin in sorrow and end in joy, thankfulness, and trust in God. During the Psalm He goes back to his remembrance of past experiences when God had answered with love that worked through David’s life. Many are the scriptures that show us how to wait upon the Lord, and there are also many scriptures that show us the promises of our Lord that He uses to answer us.
I can think of three personal reasons to wait upon the Lord. First, we wait upon the Lord to learn what He wants us to do next. Second, we wait upon the Lord to give us the skills we need to accomplish the work we are assigned. Third, we wait upon the Lord for resolution of some personal need. I don’t claim that these are the only reasons to wait, but they are the primary personal ones. We also wait upon the Lord when we pray for our families, our churches, and our nation.
Wait Upon the Lord—it’s a great privilege!
In the waiting is the learning and the blessing!
