I AM - III
SYMBOLS JESUS USED TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF
DR. M. M. Ninan
5708 Rudy Dr., San Jose, CA 95124
CHAPTER FIVE
I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP
JOHN 10:7-
Jesus used a lot of
symbols from the nomadic traditions of the Jews. These traditions were
ingrained in the Jews through the Bible.
5.1 Door as a symbol of entry to safety
Home in all
cultures symbolizes a place of safety. Going in and closing the door behind
gives the members of the household
security. The outside world with its hate and competition rages with violence
and cruelty. At the end of this mad race one get back home and closes the door.
You are surrounded by love and protection and care.
Traditional Arab
rule is that one is beyond the law beyond the door. You can do anything inside
your house. The law can wait for you outside the door. This is depicted
beautifully some of the Old Testament symbolisms
5.2 Door in Passover
When Jesus spoke to
the Jews about the door, the first picture that came to their mind was probably
the door of the Passover night.
Exo 12:22 Take a
bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood
on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the
door of his house until morning.
Exo 12:23 When the
LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood
on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he
will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
A door that is
marked with blood, providing a blood covering.
If you are familiar
with the Passover traditions and the traditions of the middle eastern nations
one can see the similarity very easily. There are two doors to the eastern
homes. One door is the door leading to the inner rooms of the house and the
other door is the door that leads into the compound. The lamb is sacrificed
(killed) just outside of the gate and is hung on the wooden beam of the outer
gate. In the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, they were instructed to dip a
bunch of hyssop and put blood on top and on either side of the post. The
bleeding of the lamp will mark the bottom of the door forming a cross. The lamb
as it is being killed is the exact picture of Jesus on the cross. It is this
blood that covers the sinners. All first born of the Egypt were to die. But the
blood covering protects those who are within the gate with blood mark. The
destroyer will not enter the gate and strike you down.
5.3 The City Gate
Another meaning of
the door that was brought to the memory of the hearer was that of the door of
the city gates. All ancient cities were walled all round to protect it from
invaders. These were huge towering walls several feet high so that no man can
climb on it. The city gates were large massive wooden structures. These were
the protection of the dwellers inside the city. Jesus is simply implying that I
am the door that keeps enemies outside and keeps you alive. The most vulnerable
point of the city is the gate. If that is safe, it is easy to guard the city.
5.4 The City of Refuge
This concept is
further strengthened by the establishment of the cities of refuge.
Num 35:11 select
some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed
someone accidentally may flee.
Num 35:12 They will
be places of refuge from the avenger, so that a person accused of murder may
not die before he stands trial before the assembly.
Num 35:15 These six
towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites, aliens and any other people
living among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee
there.
Num 35:26
"'But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to
which he has fled
Num 35:27 and the
avenger of blood finds him outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the
accused without being guilty of murder.
Num 35:28 The
accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest;
only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property.
The door of the
city of refuge keeps the avenger away. Jesus is that door. He is also the High
Priest who will never die. As long as we are within the city ruled by Jesus we
are safe.
5.5 Door of the Sheepfold
The imagery in the
door of the sheep is directly taken from the nomadic life style. Nomads tend
their sheep and move from place to place seeking supplies of water and grass.
These sheep do not have a sheepfold that is permanent. They move into areas
infested by wild animals that prey on the sheep. In the night the shepherds
make a fold with thorn bush in circle over a yard wide, thorny and impenetrable
even by the wildest and agile of all animals. There will be a small opening
through which the sheep is herded into the Kraal. This then is the only door
through which the sheep may enter into the sheepfold and into safety. Then the
shepherd lights a pyre of thorn and wood in front of this opening and he will
himself lie down as the door. Jesus was simply describing that there is only
one way to heaven and that lies through his body. Those who enter through him
will find peace
The same picture
can be seen in the wilderness sanctuary. The sanctuary was fully cordoned off
with curtains with only one entrance. At the entrance is the altar of
sacrifice. a person may enter into the house of the Lord only after sacrifice.
This door is Jesus.
Heb 10:19
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by
the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by a new
and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
As the sheep come
in to the fold the shepherd will count them with his rod and in the morning he
will count them as they go out. None should be found missing. No wild animal
can enter inside unless the shepherd himself is killed first.
Jesus said
John 14:6 "I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.
Those who enter in
through Jesus the gate are safe.
Rom 8:1 Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Rom 8:2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of
sin and death.
But outside this
door there is danger.
Gen 4:6 Then the
LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
Gen 4:7 If you do
what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right,
sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master
it."
Safety lies inside
this door.
5.6 Door where a slave becomes a member of the family.
To the settled
Israel however the door meant something more than that.
Exo 21:5 "But
if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not
want to go free,'
Exo 21:6 then his
master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the
doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
This is connected
with the seventh year, the year of jubilee when every debtor r or person who
sold himself to slavery because of his debt will go back to his own. However,
if during the period, he has endeared himself to the family and becomes part of
the family, he can become a member of the family. This ceremony involved
piercing the ears with an awl to the doorpost. He becomes a slave in the family
forever.
The imagery of
Jesus as the door is that you are outside the family of God where there is pain
and suffering and death that sway all the time. David once said
Psa 84:10 Better is
one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
It is better to be
a servant of the Lord all our lives than is a free person into this decaying
world. But then the door is the way in to become part of this Kingdom of God.
5.7 Earthians as quarantined
Earthians are
quarantined because of deadly sin.
There is another
world outside of this world -- the Kingdom of Heaven where there is no sin,
where there is no decay, pain, suffering or death. There the laws of Physics
are different. There everything grows from order to greater order, glory to
glory. We cannot get into the city of heaven because we are bound to this
material dimension. We have been trying to get out of this world all the time.
In the earlier days great many sailors tried to find the end of the earth. They
expected a cliff from where they could jump into another world. But there were
no edge for the earth. Earth's surface has no edge, because it is closed in the
third dimension. A sphere does not have any edge. We have heard the great story
of the Russian astronauts last centaury that tried to find God in the space.
They were trying to get out of this world. They went into the third dimension.
There are not doors. The only door beyond this world is the door that is Jesus.
John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
John 10:8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
John 14:6 No one comes to the Father except through me.
CHAPTER SIX
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
JOHN 10.11-18
This is in fact a
continuation of the pastoral symbolism of the door of the sheep. The door of
the sheep is the shepherd. It is the shepherd who lies down in front of the
only one door. In so doing he is laying down his life for the sheep. No wild
animal can enter or even come near the camp unless the shepherd is first
killed. This was a common experience of every shepherd of the time.
It was natural for
the nomads to think of God as their shepherd - the Great Shepherd
So Jacob when he
blessed Joseph looks upto God as his shepherd.
Gen 48:15 Then he
blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and
Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
So in the Psalm of
Asaph the Choirmaster, he addresses God as the Great Shepherd who sits
enthroned .
Psa 80:1 Hear us, O
Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned
between the cherubim, shine forth
Psa 80:2 before
Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.
Psa 80:3 Restore
us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
When the shepherds
go from place to place, the head of the household, the Father Patriarch usually
stays at one central place where there is water all the time and tracks the journey
of the children , guide them, sent provisions and help as needed. This is the
picture we have in Jacob’s family. It was easy for the Jews to visualize God as
the Father Shepherd who sits enthroned among the cherubim. This is reflected in
the Hebrew author’s picture:
May the God of
peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything
good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Heb. 13:20-21
God is the one who
supplies all our needs while we who are laboring in the field requires.
When Jesus ascribed
himself as the Shepherd he was claiming also the root of David’s ancestry.
Psa 78:70 He chose
David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;
Psa 78:71 from
tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of
Israel his inheritance.
Psa 78:72 And David
shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Much more than that
there is a direct reference to the ordination of Joshua.
Num 27:15 Moses
said to the LORD,
Num 27:16 "May
the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this
community
Num 27:17 to go out
and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the
Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."
Num 27:18 So the
LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit,
and lay your hand on him.
The Hebrew name of
Jesus was same as Joshua - Yeshua. As Joshua was ordained to lead the people
from the wilderness into Canaan, so God has ordained Jesus to lead mankind from
the wilderness of this life to the Kingdom of Heaven.
These are some of
the subtle tones that reverberated in the minds and spirits of those who heard
Jesus’ claim "I am the Good Shepherd".
6.1 Good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep
But then Jesus
explained that he is not just the Great Shepherd Patriarch who sits in comfort
at home with all the servants and pomp and splendor, but also one who came down
to the earth, in the field to search, to care and tend the young and the old.
David was a
shepherd and he knew exactly what it meant to be a good shepherd. Read what he
says about himself.
1 Sam 17:34 But
David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.
When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
1 Sam 17:35 I went
after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me,
I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
1 Sam 17:34 But
David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.
When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
1 Sam 17:35 I went
after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me,
I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
So Jesus explains
himself:
John 10:11 "I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:12 The
hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf
coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock
and scatters it.
John 10:13 The man
runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
Isa 40:11 He tends
his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them
close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
In contrast we have
the characteristics of a bad shepherd who is a hireling is described for us
in Ezekiel:
Ezek 34:2 "Son
of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them:
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only
take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?
Ezek 34:3 You eat
the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals,
but you do not take care of the flock.
Ezek 34:4 You have
not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have
not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them
harshly and brutally.
This is repeated
again in Zechariah:
Zec 11:16 For I am
going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or
seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat
of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
Notice the
characteristics
He will not care
for the strayed or search for the lost
He will not seek
the young
He will not
strengthen the weak or heal the sick or injured
He will not feed
the healthy
instead
He eats the meat of
the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
One characteristic
of all shepherd tribes (this applies also to cowherd tribes also) is that they
will not eat the meat of the sheep. This may sound queer. It is a taboo among
all shepherding tribes to kill a sheep for meat, even when they are dying of
hunger. Only an unethical shepherd kill to eat. The only time they normally have
meat for food is when there is a sacrifice. Then the meat is to be shared among
all the members of the tribe. They may eat the meat of a sheep who is dying or
who cannot walk and therefore follow the pasture as the group move from place
to place. If an animal falls down while in transit and it is not a lamb, the
shepherds may eat its flesh instead of leaving the animal behind and wild
animals preying on it. That is why the bad shepherd tears off the hoof of the
sheep - so that the sheep may fall down and it may become an excuse .
So when Jesus said
I am the good shepherd he meant all these:
He will care for
the strayed or search for the lost
He will seek the
young
He will strengthen
the weak or heal the sick or injured
He will feed the
healthy
6.2 To seek and to find
Our Lord in the
story of the lost sheep beautifully paints the picture of the good shepherd. H
cares for the lost. It does not matter whether the loosing was the mistake of
the sheep or of any body else. The good shepherd goes after it. One of the
major differences between other religions and Christianity is that god of all
other religions wants men to seek after God. Jesus gives us a totally different
picture of God. Man cannot really seek God nor can he find God of his own. This
is simply because he is dead spiritually and cannot spiritually discern. Man
does not even know that he is lost and caught up in a bush. Man is dead
spiritually and dead cannot get up and run after the shepherd. So we have the
picture of a God who comes down in search of man.
Man cannot of his
own understand God. How can a finite being comprehend the infinite? The only
way man is able to know God is when God reveals himself to Man. God being
infinite is able to reveal himself to man. This he did through Jesus.
Mat 18:12
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders
away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one
that wandered off?
Mat 18:13 And if he
finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about
the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
Mat 18:14 In the
same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones
should be lost.
6.3 Shepherd knows
his own and sheep knows his voice
John 10:2 The man
who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.
John 10:3 The
watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:4 When he
has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him
because they know his voice.
John 10:5 But they
will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they
do not recognize a stranger's voice."
In actual practice
this indeed is the case. The shepherd knows each one of his sheep in person. He
can call them by name. As he leads the group they follow the call of the
shepherd. They distinguish the call of the shepherd from other.
Do you know your
shepherd?
John 10:8 All who
ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to
them.
There have been messiahs
before Jesus. there have been messiahs after Jesus. Even today there are many
who came to be God. This is what Jesus emphasizes. Jesus is the Shepherd. Those
who came before him and there who claimed after him and still claiming godhead
are thieves and robbers. The proof is the ultimate sacrifice. They have not
laid down their lives for the sheep. Indeed they cannot. they simply feed on
the meat of the choice sheep.
John 10:10 The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full.
6.4 I have other
sheep
In his high
priestly prayer just before he was laying down his life for many he declared
the universality of his sheepfold. Until then messiah was the King of the Jews
only. Now Jesus declares that his mesiaship is far beyond the narrow
nationalistic boundaries that were set by the Jews. The call of the Jews was
for the redemption of mankind. So he declares to the puzzled disciples:
John 10:16 I have
other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too
will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Eph 2:15 His
purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
Eph 2:16 and in
this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he
put to death their hostility.
Eph 2:17 He came
and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Eph 2:18 For
through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
But this was
realized painfully through the calling of a new Apostle - Saul turned Paul.
Eph 3:2 Surely you
have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for
you,
Eph 3:3 that is,
the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
Eph 3:4 In reading
this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of
Christ,
Eph 3:5 which was
not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the
Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.
Eph 3:6 This
mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ
Jesus.
Eph 3:7 I became a
servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working
of his power.
6.5 Song of the
Sheep Ps. 23
Psa 23:1 The LORD
is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
Psa 23:2 He makes
me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
Psa 23:3 he
restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psa 23:4 Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
To the elders among
you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who
also will share in the glory to be revealed:
Be shepherds of
God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you
must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for
money, but eager to serve;
not lording it over
those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade
away.
1 Pet. 5:1-4
