ONE FLOCK, ONE SHEPHERD AND ETERNAL LIFE
[p. 367] ONE FLOCK, ONE SHEPHERD AND ETERNAL LIFE
In chapters 8, 9 and 10 of John’s gospel we have shewn to us God coming down in divine love, in the Person of His Son, to dispossess death and undo the works of the devil. It also brings into view the bread and water of life as available to man. It goes back to the serpent of brass, in chapter 3 without which all promises are unavailable. From chapters 1 to 7 light is brought to the Jew. In chapters 8 and 9 the light is rejected. Chapter 10 shows that in spite of the Jewish refusal, God secures a flock and the privilege of it is, “I give unto them eternal life”. This promise was not made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In chapter 9 the Lord gave the blind man his sight in order that he might be a witness to the Jew that He (the Lord Jesus) was the only begotten Son of God — the One who was with God before the world was. The first six chapters of John are extremely evangelical, both in character and spirit; “whosoever” and “any man” are continually brought in. It is not now confined to the Jew, but “whosoever will” can take of the water of life freely.
Ques Does the fold, spoken of in chapter 10, represent Israel?
FER Not exactly; it was an enclosure in which the sheep of God were kept for protection from the wolf (verse 16). “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold” — Christ came to lead them out. It is a new system of things, Christ is the door. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. This is going on now.
Christendom is made up of folds, or enclosures, going back to an old state of things. For instance, Roman Catholics affirm that salvation is to be had in their church,
[p. 368] and not outside. All other bodies, or sects, that tie the flesh come under the same name. It is fancied security, or judaising. “I have come that they might have life”. He came to annul the power of death; so, now, man passes out of death into life. Eternal life is the purpose of God’s love in the gift of His only Son. The Son is the point of contact between God and man.
In chapters 8 and 9 the world is tested by the light. He leads a flock outside the world’s order. Fold is the character of this world, and must be avoided. Christ is the door of the sheep, not only to lead them out, but, by Me if any man enter in (to God by Christ) he shall go in and out and find pasture. As in the case of the blind man, when he told them he was saved they put him out of the synagogue — or fold. Christ takes him up there. Sheep have liberty to go in and out and find pasture. They have no fear of the wolf. The power to save us from the wolf is the Spirit, and it is inside instead of the walls outside.
The pasture spoken of is the word of God: all the goodness of God at our disposal, a clear knowledge of God by Jesus Christ which is an altogether new thing. “They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness”. (Psalm 145: 7.) Perish, in verse 28, is the contrast to pasture. Acts 2: 21 refers to the same. Could I crack my finger at the devil now? Not exactly, as he does not always come as a wolf, he is transformed to an angel of light and we need to have on the whole armour of God to be able to stand.
Dissenters, etc., are all too narrow. They, perhaps, have a certain amount of truth, but being narrow there is no liberty. We want to be outside of all that. Where the Spirit is there is liberty. Outside the fold, but near the Shepherd; that is, well within the bounds of the Spirit. I am dead against brethrenism. When conceit or self-satisfaction comes in, or a fancied possession of the real truth, it is a bad time; or if they seek to be aught but the broken people of God — there is one flock and
[p. 369] one Shepherd. In this there is no outward glamour or worldly show. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness, all the world knew of it. It is not so now. Blessing at the present time is the consciousness of God knowing us and our knowing Him: “I know my sheep and am known of mine”. Christ is the good Shepherd, He gave His life for the sheep. He came that every thought of scripture might be gathered in Him as Son of Abraham, Son of David, but that is not of much importance. The great thing is ‘He knows His sheep and is known of them’. It is a wonderful thing to know Christ. Christ is my intimate Friend. He knows all about me. I have often said I have not a friend on earth. Certainly there are some saints that I am more acquainted with than others, but I know Him without any kind of reserve, a real impression of liberty. The good Shepherd knows and loves me perfectly. He knows me in reference to that which God has wrought in me, and promotes me to it. An earthly minister, or hireling, is one who serves for pay, he makes a living out of it. He has no love or affection for the sheep, it is officialism. He is not constrained by the love of Christ; the good Shepherd, and the one Shepherd. All true knowledge has its seat in love; so with sheep in Christ. We expand by the knowledge of God. It is impossible to know God without loving Him. God is love. The good Shepherd prepares the way for the one Shepherd. One flock, one Shepherd because it is all of God, not of man. It not only breaks the power of death, but brings us into that place where death cannot reach us — resurrection ground.