THE DOOR, AND THE SHEPHERD
The door is the way out, and the way in. There is what you leave behind, and what you enter into. The blind man of the previous chapter had found in Christ a way of escape from Judaism, a system under judgment, where all were in darkness and under the power of death; and at the same time a way into the sphere of eternal life. In that way it was salvation to him. Christ has been rejected by the world, has died out of it and left it, and the judgment of God rests upon it, “Now is the judgment of this world”, John 12: 31. The Spirit here is the witness of sin and judgment as to the world. It is a great thing to be delivered from such a world, a world that hates God and Christ. We follow Christ out of it, to find eternal life in Him—on the resurrection side of death, to enter into a new sphere of life, in which Christ lives, where it is our privilege to abide with Him in the Father and in the Son, that is, in the love of the Father and the Son. It is impossible to have both worlds, it is impossible to be seeking enjoyment in the things of this world, and to have the enjoyment of eternal life. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”, 1 John 2: 15.
In this gospel we frequently get the thought of following Christ, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, John 10: 27. In this gospel He is seen as rejected from the outset, so that following Him involves following Him out of the world. This we see illustrated in the blind man whose eyes the Lord opened, Christ was outside and he found himself with Him,
“I am the door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”, v 9. What characterises the new sphere which the Lord has opened up to us is liberty, and satisfaction. This is what would be known in the enjoyment of eternal life, the life more abundantly.
There is not only the thought of following Christ out of the world, but on the other hand following Him into the sphere into which He has entered as the risen One, gone back to God, to the Father. It is there we find eternal life. It is in our spirits that we follow Him, in faith and affection.
This would bring us to the one flock, for it is the common position and privilege of all the Lord’s people we are on common ground, whether from among Jews or Gentiles, all the objects of the love and care of the one good Shepherd. He speaks of the sheep as His own, He has special interest in them, He has secured them at so great a cost, He laid down His life for the sheep, so that they are very precious to Him. He looks at them, too, as given to Him by the Father, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand”, v 29. How perfectly secure they are in the keeping of the Father and the Son, they can never perish. Then He says, “I ... know my sheep, and am known of mine”, v 14. With all the thousands of His sheep He knows each one individually, knows us by name; we are not lost in the multitude. Each one of us is the object of the Shepherd’s interest and care. He would lead us into the closest intimacy with Himself, into that same kind of intimacy which existed between Himself and the Father. “I ... know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father”. We are, too, equally the objects of the love and interest of the Father; He said, “I and my Father are one”. In laying down His life for the sheep, He did it according to the Father’s commandment: He could say, “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again”, v 18. All this love of Christ and of the Father is to be known here and now, it is what gives present liberty and satisfaction. We shall not be sheep in heaven. In chapter 20 He speaks of His disciples as “brethren”. That is a greater thought, an eternal relationship. While down here the sheep are exposed to dangers and enemies and need the care and protection of the Shepherd.
Our present happiness depends upon our personal appreciation of all that Christ is for us, and of the love and thoughts of the Father as revealed in Him. We can say with Paul, “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Gal 2: 20. We are too much disposed to speak in general terms, “we”, “us”, “you”. The personal appropriation of divine love will not make us forgetful of others, on the contrary we shall rejoice to know that this love embraces all the children of God; our love will go out to all. Love is never selfish, it is that which delivers us from selfishness. What comfort to have such a Shepherd, He desires that we should know Him intimately and that we should follow Him; He would lead us into green pastures, and beside still waters.
From Goodly Words vol 2 (1924)