Sunday, August 23, 2020
John 10:1-21
“One Way, One Gate, One Shepherd”
Service Orientation: Jesus is the good shepherd. Those who belong to him discern and follow his voice. Whose voice are you hearing? Whose voice are you following?
Memory Verse for the Week: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
Background Information:
- The occasion of this word from Christ was the excommunication of the beggar by the Pharisees (John 9:34). The mention of “the sheepfold” at once views these Pharisees in a pastoral relationship. The reference to “thieves and robbers” climbing up some other way denounced the Pharisees as False shepherds, and rebuked them for their unlawful conduct. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 509)
- (v.4) A pen frequently held several flocks; and when the time came to go out to morning pasture, each shepherd separated his sheep from the others by his peculiar call. Instead of driving them, he led them so that they followed him as a unit. Wherever they went, the shepherd preceded them to provide guidance to the most advantageous pasturage and guardianship against possible danger. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 108)
- One of the chief designs of the ceremonial law was to hedge Israelites around with ordinances which kept them separate from all other nations. But this was made an end of by Christ, for through His death the “middle wall of partition” was broken down. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 522) . .
The question to be answered is…
What is Jesus trying to get through the thick heads of these Pharisees?
Answer…
That he alone is the hope of mankind. As both the gate AND the good shepherd, Jesus is the sole source of eternal salvation, protection, provision, and fullness of life.
The word for the day is… follow
What do these figures of speech reveal about Jesus as the Gate and Good Shepherd?
- Jesus saves; redeeming people from ruin.
(Mark 16:16; Luke 19:10; John 3:3; 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 6:23; 10:9)
Jesus was saying, “I am the living door. In order to go into the fold, you must go through me. Likewise, to go out to pasture, you must go through me. As the door I am the protector and I am the provider. When you come in the door, you are not only saved, but you are safe. When you go out through me, you go out to pasture. I am the provider. Nobody is coming through that door except the one who comes through me.” (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 244)
- Jesus protects; securing his flock from threat.
(Ps. 46:1; 91; Is. 41:10; Prov. 18:10; Nah. 1:7;Rom. 8:31; 1 Thes. 3:3; Heb. 13:6)
When Jesus says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy,” He is speaking to those who are standing before Him at this very moment. They have betrayed their calling to be spiritual leaders in the very way they have thrown out this one who has been healed, and in so doing have rejected the One who has healed him. Their motives to steal and destroy have been unmasked. (Roger L. Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary: John, 181)
- Jesus provides; offering people fullness of life.
(Ps. 23; Is. 58:11; Mat. 6:33; 7:7-11; John 6:35; 10:10; Rom. 15:13; Phil. 4:19)
Jesus is adequate for every need the sheep may have as they are in the pasture. Primarily, they need food (grass), water, rest, and a shepherd who knows where to lead them. When God’s people follow their Shepherd, they have all that they need and will not lack the necessities of life. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, 902)
- Jesus proves; distinguishing his flock by those who listen and follow.
(Rom. 12:12; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Phil. 1:9-10; 1 Thes. 5:21; 1 John 4:1; )
The salvation [Jesus] brings is personal but not merely individual: he knows each sheep by name, but salvation is membership in a community, the community that is called and guided and provided for by Christ. The flock of Christ is neither an aggregate of isolated, autonomous individuals nor a faceless corporation, but a community in which each member is taken up into the life of God to form with others a single whole as branches on a vine. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 260)
Conclusion… How should these figures of speech challenge our present reality? Just ask….
A. Am I pursuing God by His means or my own?
(Ps. 9:10; Prov. 3:5;16:20; John 20:31; Jer. 17:5; Acts 2:21; 4:12; Eph. 2:8-9; )
Those who enter through Jesus find life, which means we all begin on the outside and need to enter through him. We are all sheep in need of a shepherd, just as we all, like the man born blind, are in need of the light. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 259)
B. Am I trusting The Good Shepherd or someone else?
(Ps. 37:5; Prov. 3:5; Jer. 17:5; 27:9; John 8:12; Rom. 5:2; 2 Cor. 11:13-15)
Scripture portrays the great shepherd leading his sheep into green pastures beside still waters, pursuing the strays, keeping them away from the poisonous plants, taking them to the good water, making sure they have life and abundance, providing everything for their health. What is the qualification to obtain all this? Is it to be a brilliant sheep, a beautiful sheep, or an energetic sheep? No. It is just to be a sheep that follows the shepherd wherever he leads, knowing that the shepherd knows what is best for the sheep. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 244)
C. Whose voice am I hearing?
(Ps. 40:4; Is. 26:3; Jer. 17:5; Col. 2:8; 1 John 4:1; Heb. 5:14; James 1:5)
Even though sheep may be stupid, they know their master’s voice. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 242)
No plague is more destructive to the Church, than when wolves ravage under the garb of shepherds. (John Calvin, Commentary on John, Vol. 1, 321)
D. Whose voice am I following?
(Mat. 16:24; Mark 8:34; John 8:12; 12:26; 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 John 1:7)
Character is revealed by our conduct in the crises of life. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 533)
There is also a very personal identity for all who follow the Shepherd Good. He calls and they recognize His voice. They learn to know Him by His prohibitions as well as His provisions. The shepherd does make His demands and His sheep learn to trust His judgment. His followers are known one by one. His voice is distinguishable to them. His love is hard to simulate. (Samuel Young, Beacon Bible Expositions, 82-83)
Worship Point…
We worship what we love most. As Jesus takes center-stage in our hearts as Good Shepherd, worship happens.
When we are able to really see God as Jesus has revealed him we cannot help praising him if we have hearts that are open to God. Such a vision of God’s beauty is at the heart of all true worship. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 261-262)
Gospel Point…
As the one Good Shepherd, Jesus laid down his life to provide real life for those who would belong to him by faith.
Jesus lays down his life in order to take it up again. Jesus’ sacrificial death was not an end in itself, and his resurrection an afterthought. His death was with the resurrection in view. He died in order to rise, and by his rising to proceed toward his ultimate glorification (12:23; 17:5) and the pouring out of the Spirit (7:37-39) so that others, too, might live. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 388)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or life group.
- What voices regularly seek to influence my life?
- How am I working to distinguish the voice of Jesus from other voices seeking influence over my life?
- What tools are at my disposal to discern Jesus’ voice from others?
- How have I dropped the ball in following the Good Shepherd recently? How can I more-fully trust his lead in my life?
Quotes to note…
Nothing seems so offensive to Christ as a false teacher of religion, a false prophet, or a false shepherd. Nothing ought to be so much dreaded in the Church, and if needful, be so plainly rebuked, opposed, and exposed. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 519)
In the interweaving of these familiar pastoral symbols Jesus is making vividly clear the contrast between the shepherd and those who came to plunder the sheep, however innocent they might appear. (Roger L. Fredrikson, Mastering the New Testament: John, 179)
Wherever we find people who are eager for the Word of God, we know they are His sheep. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary Series, John, 166)
The beautiful Scriptural image of the Good Shepherd and his sheep is a picture of deepest intimacy. Out of that intimacy flows Christ’s protection and provision because he is the door or the gate for the sheep. Going in through him, sheep find safety and protection. Passing out through him, sheep find pasture and provision. This image tugs at our hearts because we want to be protected and we want to be provided for. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 247)
We’re not doing people any favors by pretending they are the center of the universe. Either people will be awed by the sacred or they will not. If the sacred is not enough, then it is clear that the Spirit has not done a work in their lives. If the sheep don’t hear His voice, let them walk away. Don’t call out with your own voice. (Francis Chan, Letters to the Church, 53)
A Christian is someone who believes in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and lives in light of the implications of that event. (Adrian Warnock, Raised With Christ, 20)
He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only. (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 10)
This is one of the many scriptures which clearly and definitely defines both the nature and extent of the Atonement. The Savior “gave his life” not as a martyr for the truth, not as a moral example of self-sacrifice, but for a people. He died that they might live. By nature His people are dead in trespasses and sins, and had not the Divinely-appointed and Divinely-provided Substitute died for them, there had been no spiritual and eternal life for them. Equally explicit is this verse concerning those for whom Christ laid down His life. It was not laid down for fallen angels, but for sinful men; and not for men in general, but for His own people in particular; for “the sheep,” and not for “the goats.” (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 530-531)
We must never suppose for a moment that our Lord had no power to prevent His sufferings, and that He was delivered up to His enemies and crucified because He could not help it. Nothing could be further from the truth than such an idea. The treachery of Judas, the armed band of priests’ servants, the enmity of Scribes and Pharisees, the injustice of Pontius Pilate, the crude hands of Roman soldiers, the scourge, the nails, and the spear–all these could not have harmed a hair of our Lord’s head, unless He had allowed them. (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John Vol.2, 139-140)
Jesus knows us in the most profound ways. He knows our past with its failures, its hurts. He knows our present, our unrealized longings. He knows us in the most intimate ways. He knows our idiosyncrasies. He calls us by our characteristics. I sometimes wonder if he calls us some of the things we would not want to be called. It is quite possible he affectionately calls us “Grumpy” or “Fearful” or “Faithless,” just as we might talk to our sheep if we were shepherds. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 243)
FURTHER QUOTES AND RESEARCH:
The Israelites had looked to God as their shepherd, One who would care for their needs of pasture, protection and guidance (see Psalm 23:1; 28:9; 80:1; Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 31:10). But God also had appointed leaders over His people Israel, shepherds to guide them according to His will: Joshua, the judges, and David (see Numbers 27:17; 2 Samuel 7:7; 2 Samuel 5:2). And the shepherding role extended down to lower-level rulers, princes, and elders of the Israelite community. But an even more telling background for Jesus’ teaching is found in the words of the prophets Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 10:21; 12:10) and Ezekiel (especially Ezekiel 34), who had condemned the corruption and spiritual blindness of Israel’s leaders—her “shepherds”—at all levels. This talk about shepherds by Jesus, then, already had built into it possibilities for establishing Jesus as God s royal leader of His people, and for denouncing the waywardness of Israel’s current leaders. (Joseph Dongell, John: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, 129)
It is important to note that Jesus not only modeled for other shepherds a self-sacrificing attitude toward the flock of God (see John 21:15-17 for the call to tend sheep), but identified himself as the Good Shepherd whose death would bring life to the world. His death would not only set an example to be followed, but would “take away the sin of the world” (1:29). By looking in faith to Jesus who died, believers are not only shown how to live, but are given life itself. (Joseph Dongell, John: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, 131)
In this last public discourse Jesus put this whole experience in the imagery of shepherd and sheep, familiar symbols deeply inbedded in Hebrew life and history (Ps. 23; Ps. 78:52-53; Ps. 74:1-2; Isa. 40:11; Jer. 23:1-4). This is not only a tender pastoral teaching, but a stinging indictment of those who profess to be shepherds but are actually thieves and robbers, strangers and hirelings. (Roger L. Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary: John, 179)
The church in every age has had to deal with those who try to crawl over the fence to take over the flock, claiming to be the door. In our day of anxiety and confusion, we confront everything from Eastern mysticism and “thought control” to the Unification Church and the Bahais; they are false prophets promising life, but in the end bringing death. (Roger L. Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary: John, 181)
The shepherd enters by the gate, which is the lawful method of entry. Jesus was contrasting himself with the false messiahs who by pretence or violence attempted to gain control of the people. He came as the legitimate heir of the chosen seed and claimed to be the fulfillment of the promises of the OT revelation. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 108)
7 The sudden shift of metaphor from shepherd to gate seems rather strange to us, but in reality it is not. When the sheep returned to the fold at night after a day of grazing, the shepherd stood in the doorway of the pen and inspected each one as it entered. If a sheep were scratched or wounded by thorns, the shepherd anointed it with oil to facilitate healing; if the sheep were thirsty, he gave them water. As Psalm 23:5-6 says, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows~” After all the sheep had been counted and brought into the pen, the shepherd lay down across the doorway so that no intruder -man or beast-could enter without his knowledge. The shepherd became the door. The emphatic singular pronoun “I” (ego) emphasizes that the shepherd is the sole determiner of who enters the fold and who is excluded. It parallels the later statement: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:16). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 108)
8 “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers” cannot refer to the prophets who preceded Jesus. It must refer to the false messiahs and supposed deliverers of the people who had appeared in the period following the restoration from the Exile and especially in the century before Jesus’ advent. After the death of Herod the Great in 4 B.C., there were many factions that contended for the leadership of the nation and attempted by violence to throw off the Roman yoke. Jesus’ purpose was not political, as the emphasis of the discourse shows. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 108)
The death of Jesus, though voluntary, was not merely assent to being killed, a sort of indirect suicide; it was part of a plan to submit to death and then emerge from it victoriously alive. Anyone can lay down his life, if that means simply the termination of physical existence; but only the Son of the Father could at will resume his existence. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 110)
All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers (v. 8). This is a sweeping generalization. If it were not for references to Moses, the prophets and John the Baptist as witnesses to Jesus (for example, 1:17, 19-36; 5:39), then they would seem to be included in the category of all who ever came before me. But the context of our passage is the condemnation of the Jewish rulers, some of whom have rejected Jesus and others who have faith in him. This sweeping statement shows that these leaders are members of a much larger group. Jesus, the one mediator of salvation, contrasts himself with all others who would claim to be “mediators of salvation” (Beasley-Murray 1987:170). The reason Moses, the law, the prophets and John the Baptist are not included in this condemnation is precisely because they bear witness to Jesus. All who do not bear witness to Jesus, who alone has seen the Father and makes him known (1:18), are not of the truth. They do not bring blessing but rather take it away, like a thief or a robber. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 258)
Those who enter through Jesus find life, which means we all begin on the outside and need to enter through him. We are all sheep in need of a shepherd, just as we all, like the man born blind, are in need of the light. Jesus is declaring that he “mediates membership of the Messianic community and reception of the promised blessings of salvation, that is, deliverance from judgment, . . . citizenship in the divine community of salvation . . . and eternal life” (Jeremias 1965:180). The salvation he brings is personal but not merely individual: he knows each sheep by name, but salvation is membership in a community, the community that is called and guided and provided for by Christ. The flock of Christ is neither an aggregate of isolated, autonomous individuals nor a faceless corporation, but a community in which each member is taken up into the life of God to form with others a single whole as branches on a vine (15:1). By referring to himself as the shepherd Jesus is claiming to be the leader of this new community. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 259-260)
A good shepherd, one who is worthy of admiration (kalos), would risk his life to protect the sheep. But Jesus does not merely risk his life; he consciously gives his life for the sake of his sheep. (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 260)
Another part of the conceptual background comes from the prophet Zechariah, who contrasts two shepherds. One is the messianic shepherd-king who is rejected by the people, which, in turn, results in their condemnation (Zech 11:4-14). The second is the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock (Zech 11:4-17). God’s messianic shepherd will be struck down, causing the sheep to be scattered and leading to the judgment and refining of God’s people (Zech 13:7-9). This rejection by the leaders of the people and their own condemnation is echoed in John, as is the striking of the shepherd, though with a different effect. It will indeed lead to the scattering of Jesus’ flock for a brief time, but it will also be central in the gathering of his own flock from among the nations: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (Jn 12:32). (Rodney A. Whitacre, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John, 261)
The Pharisees were the shepherds of Israel. In casting out of the synagogue this poor sheep, the man that was born blind, for doing what was right, and for refusing to do what was wrong, they had shown what manner of spirit they were of. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 526)
“The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep” (John 10:13). At first glance this saying of Christ’s seems very trite, yet a little reflection will show that it enunciates a profound principle—a man does what he does because he is what he is. There is ever a rigid consistency between character and conduct. The drunkard drinks because he is a drunkard. But he is a drunkard before he drinks to excess. The liar lies because he is a liar; but he is a liar before he tells a lie. The thief steals because he is a thief. When the testing time comes each man reveals what he is by what he does. Conduct conforms to character as the stream does to the fountain. “The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling”: this is a philosophical explanation of the fugitive’s deed. It was the flight which demonstrated the man. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 532)
This sermon grew out of our Lord’s confrontation with Jewish leaders, following the excommunication of the beggar (John 9). He had briefly spoken to them about light and darkness, but now He changed the image to that of the shepherd and the sheep. Why? Because to the Jewish mind, a “shepherd” was any kind of leader, spiritual or political. People looked on the king and prophets as shepherds. Israel was privileged to be “the flock of the Lord” (Ps. 100:3). For background, read Isaiah 56:9–12; Jeremiah 23:1–4; 25:32–38; Ezekiel 34; and Zechariah 11. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, 329)
The sheepfold was usually an enclosure made of rocks, with an opening for the door. The shepherd (or a porter) would guard the flock, or flocks, at night by lying across the opening. It was not unusual for several flocks to be sheltered together in the same fold. In the morning, the shepherds would come, call their sheep, and assemble their own flocks. Each sheep recognized his own master’s voice. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, 329)
The man who makes much of Christ is a pastor after God’s own heart, whom God delights to honor. The minister who makes little of Christ is one whom God regards as an impostor– as one who has climbed up to his holy office not by the door, but by “some other way.” (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John Vol.2, 128)
The ancient sheepfold of that day still exists in many towns in that a public sheepfold. In the evening all the shepherds who lived in that town would bring their sheep to the sheepfold and turn them in for the night. They would entrust them to the porter who kept the sheep; then they would go to their homes for the night. The next morning the shepherds would identify themselves to the porter, and he would let them in the door to get their sheep. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary Series, John, 163)
A sheepfold is an enclosure where shepherds put their sheep for the night. The porter has charge of it. Then the shepherd spends the night in his own bed. When he comes to the sheepfold in the morning, his sheep are all mixed up with somebody else’s sheep—there is no brand or marking on the sheep. How does he get the sheep that are his? He calls them by name. The sheep don’t have to be identified; they know their shepherd’s voice. When he starts out over the hill, his own sheep come out of the fold and follow him. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary Series, John, 165)
The entire passage calls to mind the imagery of Ezekiel 34, where the prophet castigated the false shepherds (Israel’s evil leaders) and predicted that the true Shepherd (the Messiah) would come and provide God’s people (the sheep) with genuine care and leadership. In comparison to the Pharisees, who were bad leaders of God’s people, Jesus was the true Shepherd of all God’s people. The healed man who believed in Jesus (in the previous chapter) represented all believers who would come out of Judaism to follow Jesus, as sheep follow their shepherd. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 203)
“All who ever came before me” This statement was not directed at Old Testament saints and prophets, but at those who had come on the scene pretending to be the Christ (see 5:43), or who had led the people away from God. By immediate context, we see that Jesus was also referring to those evil Jewish religious leaders who cared nothing about the spiritual welfare of the people, but only about their petty rules and their reputation (see Matthew 23:13; 24:5). (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 206)
- The usual enclosure for the sheep at nighttime could be near the shepherd’s home, or it could be an appointed place where four walls would mark their shelter for the night. One of the walls had an opening and that is where
the sheep entered in or departed from. There was no door as such, so it could not be barred or locked against marauders, either men or beasts. It was the shepherd himself who guarded the open place with his own stretched out
body, and their defense was his life. He slept at the open place and his very body became the door. (Samuel Young, Beacon Bible Expositions, 2)
It is also through the assistance of the shepherd that the sheep secure nourishment. He is their way of life. It is by him they go in and out and find pasture. He is the supreme authority for the access to their lives. He leads, he directs; he never drives. He has a sensitive awareness that they are following him. He can never divorce himself from this responsibility. No wolf can snatch them out of his care. He has the patience of strength and a peculiar discernment in his understanding. He waits for their fears to dispel. (Samuel Young, Beacon Bible Expositions, 82)
17- Jesus has just set out the relationship between the Father and the shepherd. But the relationship between the Father and the Son is more fundamental than that. The love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for the Father, are logically prior to the love of God for the world, and the basis that makes salvation possible. If Jesus has just mentioned the unique intimacy he enjoys with his Father, he is now at pains to elucidate why the Father loves him. It is not that the Father withholds his love until Jesus agrees to give up his life on the cross and rise again. Rather, the love of tine Father for the Son is eternally linked with the unqualified obedience of the Son to the Father, his utter dependence upon him, culminating in this greatest act of obedience now just before him: willingness to bear the shame and ignominy of Golgotha, the isolation and rejection of death, the sin and curse reserved for the Lamb of God. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 388)
The last clause of the verse should probably be read as a purpose clause: Jesus lays down his life in order to take it up again. Jesus’ sacrificial death was not an end in itself, and his resurrection an afterthought. His death was with the resurrection in view. He died in order to rise, and by his rising to proceed toward his ultimate glorification (12:23; 17:5) and the pouring out of the Spirit (7:37-39) so that others, too, might live. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 388)
Among the animal kingdom sheep seem to have come out on the short end. From all accounts they are of limited intelligence. When it comes to finding food, they are definitely uncreative. As creatures of habit, they will follow paths through desolate places even though not far away is excellent forage. Sheep are also given to listless wandering. There are even accounts of their walking into an open fire! Shepherds confirm that they are timid and stubborn. They can be frightened by the most ridiculous things, though at other times nothing can move them. They are absolutely defenseless. There is no way a sheep can defend itself. Furthermore, of all the animals subject to husbandry, they take the most work. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 240)
Sheep are not theoretically helpless—they are absolutely helpless (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 249)
On a hot day a sheep will die in just a couple of hours. In cool weather it may linger for a few days. But the point is, there is nothing the sheep can do for itself. Nothing! It is absolutely helpless. Even without enemies sheep need to have a shepherd attentively watching over them twenty-four hours a day. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 249)
Ps23: 3 (“he restores my soul”) pictures a cast sheep with all four feet in the air, an animal absolutely helpless and bleating mournfully. Then the shepherd comes and sets it on its feet. That image is so completely true to our experience because we often get fat and lazy and perhaps grow a little too much wool (or riches or prominence or success), and we find ourselves looking for a place where we can kind of nestle down and let life go by. But when we do this, we suddenly find ourselves cast, and the more we wiggle and squirm, the more difficult and dangerous is the position we are in. Then we begin to bleat, and along comes our Shepherd to set us on our feet again. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 250)
The intimacy of Psalm 23 is what draws us to it. Seventeen times it mentions “I,” “my,” or “me.” “The Lord is my shepherd.” “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” “He leads me in paths of righteousness.” “You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” What spiritual intimacy is ours! The Lord is my shepherd. Wonders upon wonders! Is he your shepherd? Can you say, “The Lord is my shepherd”? (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 250)
Having the witness in themselves that his words are the wisdom and the power of God. Reader, art thou a shepherd of souls? Then answer to God. Is it thus with thee and thy flock? (John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, 167)
- I have also other sheep – Which he foreknew; which are not of this fold – Not of the Jewish Church or nation, but Gentiles. (John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, 168)
- I lay down my life that I may take it again – I cheerfully die to expiate the sins of men, to the end I may rise again for their justification. (John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, 168)