EXTRACTS

I will take up two or three thoughts in John 10: 4, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice”. Verse 9: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”.

Verses 14–18—“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep”, etc.

Now, so far as I understand these things, the purpose of Christ in coming here was to lead the sheep out of the fold. He was not going to leave the sheep in an enclosure. There are plenty of enclosures here at the present time. Christendom is a system of enclosures, and that is where the sheep of Christ are kept. I look upon the state church as an enclosure, and dissenting systems as enclosures too. The sheep are all mixed up with a mass of profession, and they are all provided for in enclosures; but that is not at all according to God. The Wesleyan has got his system of doctrine, to keep the sheep right and straight in that system. It is all with the idea of keeping the sheep from the wolves, keeping people sound in doctrine. All these enclosures are where the sheep are supposed to be kept secure. It was the same when Christ came, though then it was a divinely constituted fold; but Christ came into the enclosure to lead the sheep out of it. He must pass out of it Himself. He came into the fold, but He could not abide in it, because He must needs die. You do not find all through this chapter that the Lord speaks of dying at the hand of man. It was an absolute necessity that Christ, having become Man, should die, and for the simple reason that He became Man to die. All were dead under the eye of God, and Christ became Man to die. If He dies, He leaves the enclosure; and if He leaves the enclosure, there must be an end of it. He does not come back again to establish the enclosure. He leaves the fold, and the result is that the sheep are led out of the fold. What value could there be in the fold if Christ led out of it? People in the present day have the thought that Christ is in the systems; but if Christ is out of the systems, what value can they have to man? If Christ is not in system, I would much rather be out of system. He leads the sheep out. That is not at all evangelical; there is no gospel in that.

He leads the sheep out of the fold. Now He becomes the door of the sheep. That is evangelical. He found the sheep in the fold, and He led them out. There was no question of gospel preaching, but He led them out. Now He becomes the door of the sheep. “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. Where do they enter in? Not into the fold, because the Lord abolished the idea of the fold. I take it that they go in to God. What Christ came for was that by Him they might enter into the knowledge of God. The practical result of that is, “by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”.

F. E. Raven (Vol. 15, pp.281, 282)

A glorious Jesus—a Jesus who loved him, a Jesus who put the seal of His approbation and love upon his service, a Jesus who would take him to Himself in glory, and with whom he was one (and that known according to the abundant power of the Holy Ghost, according to divine righteousness), a Jesus who revealed the Father, and through whom he had the place of adoption—was the infinite source of joy to Paul, the glorious object of his heart and of his faith; and, being known in love, filled his heart with that love overflowing towards all men.

What could he wish them better than to be as he was except his bonds? How, filled with this love, could he not wish it, or not be full of this large affection? Jesus was its measure. His innocence fully established and acknowledged by his judges, the purposes of God must still be accomplished. His appeal to Caesar must carry him to Rome, that he may bear testimony there also. In his position here he again resembles Jesus. But at the same time, if we compare them, the servant, blessed as he is, grows dim, and is eclipsed before Christ, so that we could no longer think of him. Jesus offered Himself up in grace; He appealed to God only; He answered but to bear testimony to the truth—that truth was the glory of His Person, His own rights, humbled as He was. His Person shines out through all the dark clouds of human violence, which could have had no power over Him had it not been the moment for thus fulfilling the will of God. For that purpose He yields to power given them from above. Paul appeals to Caesar. He is a Roman—a human dignity conferred by man, and available before men; he uses it for himself, God thus accomplishing His purposes. The one is blessed, and his services; the other is perfect, the perfect subject of the testimony itself.

J. N. Darby (Synopsis Vol. 4, pp.72, 73)

It is always true that the gospel should go out in relation to the assembly. Many have disassociated it from the assembly, making it a matter of persons receiving the light of the gospel without any subsequent formation, and also without any idea of God’s house. Peter called attention to this in his first address in Acts; that is, the Spirit as in the assembly. The first great gospel address contemplated the assembly and the Spirit in it.

J. Taylor (Vol. 75, p.434)

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