Chapter 10

 

            There are two doors on this chapter. One is the door of ingress and one is the door of egress. At the time that this was written there were a lot of customs concerning sheepfolds and these have to be understood to understand the passage.

 

Outline: two messages given by Jesus Christ.

1.       Verses 1-21, a message given in Jerusalem at the sheepfold by the Sheep Gate.

2.       Verse 22-42, a message given at the feast of the dedication.

 

The occasion for the first message. It was given at the sheep gate and every morning sheep went out of it, and every night sheep came back into it. The sheep

gate is always a sort of back door to a city and it has to be near the pens. Every night before sundown a shepherd would lead a flock in the sheep gate. Each sheepfold to which they were led had walls 12 feet high and one gate/door. Early the next morning the shepherd came down to the sheepfold where there are, say, five different flocks. How is he going to get his sheep separated from all the others? He has a call which he has used for years, and all the sheep in his flock hear that call and get right in behind him. He goes through the gate still making the call and his sheep follow him to some pasture located outside of the walls of the city. The point is that all the shepherds in Palestine led their sheep by being out in front and having a call. The sheep followed that call. On the way out in the morning there are always thieves hanging out in the dark alleys trying to get some of the sheep.

            The next day after the blind man expressed faith in Christ Jesus went down to the sheepfold. He has to explain to this once-blind man and other people like him. He has to explain why this man could put down religion and why religion rejected him, and what is wrong with religion in the first place. The only possible way to explain them is to get some sheep into the act, and that is what happened. Jesus is now standing at the sheepfold and a great crowd came with Him. The crowd includes the once-blind man whose conversion will be explained by, “I am the door, I am the shepherd.” There will also be religious people their and there will be disciples there. Jesus is going to stand there and explain it all. In verse 1-6 He sets up this parable/allegory on the door of egress, the door of ingress, and the two shepherds. So we call this passage the shepherd discourses.

            Verse 1—the false shepherds of Israel. “Verily, verily” means point of doctrine. Jesus is going to make a point of doctrine through a parable.

            “I say” – He is about to communicate, and He is going to keep on communicating in principle; “unto you” – dative of advantage. The plural indicates a big crowd standing by the sheepfold.

            “He that entereth not by the door” – this refers to the religious leaders who castigated the once-blind man and threw him out. The verb is e)iserxomai [eij = into; erxomai = to enter]. Inside the fold are sheep. The only person who is allowed to enter than pen is a bona fide shepherd. Some people try to get in there and steal sheep who are not shepherds. This refers to the religious leadership at the time that Jesus Christ was on the earth, the Pharisees and the scribes – the Sanhedrin who put on trial the once-blind man. The words “by the door” is dia plus the genitive and it should be “through the door.” When the sheep are going out of the sheepfold the Bible says they are “entering in.” They are entering into a pasture by going out of the sheepfold. Entering into a pasture is phase two. And notice: the sheep who stayed in the sheepfold starved to death. They had to get out in the pasture. They had to have a shepherd.

            Note that the false shepherds are trying to enter the sheepfold, not leave it. The sheepfold is Israel in Jesus’ day. The door is the only legitimate entrance into the fold; it is the bona fide coming of Messiah to Israel. Jesus is the shepherd who walks through the door, i.e. He has those whom He can call. There will be people all over Israel who will respond and when He walks out the door they will walk with Him. Messiah is the true shepherd throughout this passage. The first door is the virgin birth. The virgin birth is the basis of the incarnation.

            In verse 7 Jesus says, “I am the door.” In verse 9, “I am the door.” Both times He says “I am the door” and they are different doors. But then in verse 11 He says, “I am the good shepherd.” He says, I am the door” twice, and “I am the good shepherd” twice.

            Virgin birth of Christ = first advent. That is the door. The incarnation of the God-Man will be the shepherd walking through the door. The door is verse 7 is the virgin birth but the door in verse 9 is the cross. One is the door of ingress; one is the door of egress. In other words, one is the door by which you enter and one is the door by which you leave.

            Because Jesus Christ is the bona fide son of David, in His humanity, He has the right to go in the door. He has the right to call the sheep; He has the right to walk out and to lead His sheep into green pastures. Those who are the false shepherds do not have that right. The false shepherds are the scribes, the Pharisees, the religious crowd. The religious crowd are the false shepherds; Jesus Christ is the true shepherd. How did the false shepherds treat the once-blind man? They abused him – the sheep. How does Jesus treat him? He leads him to Himself; He saves him.

            “He that entereth not through the door” – the entrance into the sheepfold: Israel in the time of Christ; “but climbeth up some other way” – the false shepherds. The word for “climb up” is a)nabainw [bainw = to climb; a)na = up, and also again and again]. They keep trying to climb again and again and again. And when do the false shepherds stop trying to climb over the wall? When the Romans came to the city (66-70 AD) they all ran like rabbits! The “wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep.” The wolf was the official standard of the Romans. “The “hireling” who runs away is the religious hierarchy. The word “but” is a conjunction of contrast, and it is the contrast between Jesus Christ the true shepherd and the religious crowd, the false shepherds.

            “but they keep on trying to climb up another way” – present active participle, they do it again and again and again. “Some other way” is an adverb, a)llaxoqen which means “elsewhere.” In other words, the religious crowd to do not have a right to go through the gate, and they will not go through the gate. They do not fulfil the requirements of being the son of David, they do not have Bible doctrine, they are not sent from God. This is an adverb which means they come into the picture another way, a false way. It means that they do not come from God, they are not a part of the plan of God, and they do not come on the basis of Bible doctrine. This is true of religion always.

            “the same” – the same ones, the religious hierarchy; “is a thief and a robber” – two different words: ‘thief’ is klepthj. It refers to a thief who robs by strategy. He doesn’t use violence, he uses his brains to rob. This describes one facet of the religious hierarchy at the time that Jesus was on the earth. It is the modus operandi of the Pharisees seeking to discredit the miracle of the previous chapter. The word “robber” is lhsthj which means a person who robs by violence. Thieves and robbers are outside the law. Religion is outside of doctrine, outside of the plan of God. Religion is never sent by God. The father of religion is the devil, and religion is his ace trump. Religion is how he organises the world. Cosmos diabolicus is any type of human good but religion is on the top bracket. There is no place in the plan of God for religion. The thief climbs up some other way; this is false doctrine—the doctrine of demons, the doctrine of religion. The “robber” is religion using violence.

            Verse 2 – the true shepherd of Israel. “He that entereth in” – e)iserxomai, present active participle. He has the right to enter in at any time, “through the door.”

            “is” – present linear aktionsart, absolute status quo verb, “he keeps on being the shepherd of the sheep.”

            In this verse are two things: He enters the door, and he enters the door as the shepherd. Before Jesus went to the cross He had to become a man. This was accomplished by the virgin birth. So Jesus Christ coming in the door = virgin birth; going out = the cross. When He comes in He comes in by Himself; when he leaves He leaves with sheep. The sheep who go with Him are those who believe in Jesus Christ. So the door of verse 7 is the virgin birth; the door of verse 9 is the cross.

            And we have two shepherds.

            Verse 3 – the true shepherd of Israel has the right to enter the door. He is the only One who does. In this verse the true shepherd goes in to gather His own flock only. That is why He never gathers the religious crowd. People on negative volition do not follow Him out the door when they hear His voice.

            “To him” – Jesus Christ, the true shepherd; “the porter” – and old English word for a gate/door guard, qurwroj. The door guard is God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not open to religion – ever. The word “openeth” is present linear aktionsart, and it is also a dramatic present. It was a dramatic moment when Christ came into the world.

            “and the sheep hear his voice” – this is the way He gathers them. The word “voice” here is a)kouw which means to hear and obey. This explains the once-blind man – “I believe” is positive volition expressing itself by faith in Jesus Christ. Who hear His voice? His sheep. And the once-blind man is one of His sheep. And who are His sheep? The sheep are in the pen/sheepfold. Until they go through that door they are not saved, but they hear His voice because of +V at the point of God-consciousness. The sheep “listen and obey His voice.” The voice is the gospel message.

            “he calleth” – present active indicative. Ordinarily the word for “call” is kalew, but the word used here is fonew which means to utter sounds of identification. The shepherd uttered sounds so that the sheep would know His voice and follow Him. But notice He could only call His own sheep – those who are on +V at the point of God-consciousness.

            “by name” – but it doesn’t say that. The word “by” is mistranslated, it is kata and that means “according to a norm or standard.” By what name? By His own name. It actually says, He calls them according to the standard of a name. The standard of the name is the person Himself. The standard of the name is the only saviour. Acts 4:12. It is the name of Jesus, the only one by which anyone can be saved.

            “he leadeth them out” – the verb is e)cagw which means to lead them out from, to lead them out of the pen into the pasture: doctrine, phase two. This is a present active indicative which means the process will continue until the angelic conflict is completed at the end of the Millennium. The pasture is Bible doctrine, and this refers to the principle that when the sheep are saved God does not leave them standing around. God provides for every believer. God has a plan for the believer but the believer must feed in His pasture – the Word of God.

            Verse 4 – “And when he putteth forth.” The verb is e)kbalw [cf. 9:34, “they cast him out”]. The Pharisees picked the once-blind man up and threw him down the steps of the temple. Jesus picks him up and throws him into a pasture so He can feed him. Aorist tense: it refers to the whole concept of phase two. Active voice: Jesus Christ provides Bible doctrine so that the believer can orient to His grace and to His plan. But it is in the subjunctive mood: potential. Whether you get with Bible doctrine or not is a matter of your personal volition. Religion is always vicious; God is always gracious.

            “his own” – i)dioj, His own private sheep, personal sheep. They are His forever.

            “and the sheep follow him” – the word follow is a)kolouqew which means to follow someone because you want to, because it is your own personal soul desire. In other words, when you respond to the Lord Jesus Christ you feed in His pasture. He goes before them, that is why they follow. This means He provides pasture.

            “for they know” – now they know Him better because when they feed in His pasture they get to know Him, and therefore they know His voice – o)ida, they know it and can never forget it. Once you get Bible doctrine you love the Lord and you’ll never forget Him. Nothing will ever take His place.

            “his voice” – this time the voice is the voice of doctrine.

            Verse 5 – the condemnation of the religious leaders. “And a stranger.” The word stranger is a)llotrioj, not a stranger but a person you could never love. Once you learn Bible doctrine you can never love religion and you can never love legalism. This is not a stranger but someone who will lead astray, someone you can never love when you know doctrine. It means literally, one whom you know belongs to another – the one who represents religion.

            “they will not follow” – a)kolouqew but with a negative. Once you have become spiritually self-sustaining you will always despise religion and therefore will never be sucked into a religious system.

            “but will flee” –  this word means to separate, to avoid, not so much to run; “from him” – i.e. from the stranger, a)po = ultimate source. This means to flee from the ultimate source of the stranger, which means to flee from his false doctrine. You flee from false doctrine because you have true doctrine; you have fed in the pasture.

            “they know not the voice of strangers” – o)ida [inherent knowledge] plus the negative. Once you are self-sustaining you will never fall for religion.

            Verse 6 – “This parable.” The word is paroimia [para = to put alongside; oimia = road]. It means to put two roads side by side. One road you know, so you put another road alongside it so you understand that road. In other words, He has taken this story of the shepherds at the sheepfold so that they will now know and understand what happened to the once-blind man when he was saved. You take a road you can understand and if you put another road alongside of it you can understand that. This is really an allegory in which a common occurrence symbolises a principle of doctrine.

            “unto them” – for their advantage; but they [the religious crowd] understood not” – no o)ida anymore! Now it is ginowskw. They understood what He was saying about the first road, but since they were not saved the second road was unknown. They didn’t understand. He was talking about the once-blind man and how he was converted, and the whole process. While they understood the shepherds and the sheep they didn’t understand what point He was making.

            “which he spake” – lalew means to communicate. They did not understand what He was trying to communicate.

            Verses 7-10 is the two-door discourse. Verse 7, the first door; verse 8, the Pharisees and the first door; verse 9, the second door; verse 10, the Pharisees and the second door. In each case we have the truth and then we have those who oppose the truth. The first door is the door of ingress – entering the door, verse 7.

            Verse 7 – “Verily, verily” is a point of doctrine. Jesus is going to now present a doctrinal discourse.

            “I am” is the present active indicative of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb: “the door” – He is not only the door but He keeps on being the door. The concept is that this goes on forever and ever and ever. The word for door is qura. A door has two sides. This door refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Inside the door are the 33 years that Jesus Christ was on earth as David’s greater son. The shepherd is bona fide, He has the lineage of David – Isaiah 11:1; He was virgin born – Isaiah 7:14; and He is now in hypostatic union – Isaiah 9:6.

            The healing of the blind man in the previous chapter confirms the right of Jesus Christ to enter that door. It is one of seven credit cards which Jesus Christ will offer, indicating that He has the right to enter. The first of these credit cards was the turning of water into wine. In chapter 11 we get the seventh credit card (sign) which is the resuscitation of Lazarus. The sixth credit card was the healing of the blind beggar in chapter 9, and this is the one that shows that Jesus Christ has the right to be in the sheepfold, He has the right to call the sheep, and at the end of chapter 9 He did call the sheep. One of those sheep was the blind beggar. One of the things that comes out of that chapter is the fact that in the fold of Israel and until the bona fide shepherd comes they will not respond; they reject false shepherds. The false shepherds are the Pharisees.

            Verse 8 – the attitude of the Pharisees is pictured. “All that ever came before” – reference to religion, to the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin.

            “are thieves and robbers” – the word thief is klepthj which means to rob by strategy. The concept here is the religion has doctrine, false doctrine, called in 1 Timothy 4:1 doctrine of demons. They use their false doctrine in order to captivate the minds of those who are on negative volition. The word for robbers is lhsthj which means to rob by violence, and this is the activity of religion throughout the centuries. When they fail to persuade with their false doctrine they turn against you with violence.

            The second door is found in verses 9 and 10.

            Verse 9 – the door of egress, the cross/salvation. Again, Jesus said, “I am the door,” present linear aktionsart of the absolute status quo verb, and it should be translated, “I keep on being the door.” This is the door of salvation; this is the door of the cross.

            Going back to the sheepfold, when Jesus Christ goes in the door opens to Him. That is the first advent, the incarnation. The shepherd goes around, gave His call, and then He goes out. The door of egress is the cross. Those who are His sheep go out with the shepherd. In other words, they go out the door.

            In the door of salvation we have a prepositional phrase, translated in verse 9, “by me.” This is dia plus the genitive and it should be translated “through me.” There is only one way of salvation and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ – John 14:6; Acts 4:12. This door is always open until physical death. Physical death closes the door and eternity – the great white throne – closes the door. The Second Advent closes the door – baptism of fire. The flood closed the door.

            “if” is a 3rd class condition, which means salvation is completed, nothing can be added to salvation, and therefore there is nothing left for man to do but to respond with his volition or react with his volition. And whether he responds or reacts it is a non-meritorious thing. The 3rd class decision indicates that it is now in the hands of man. Every individual must makes his own decision and it comes from his own free will.

            “any man” is literally, anyone, tij in the Greek. It means any member of the human race.

            “enter in” – e)iserxomai [e)rxomai = to go or enter; e)ij = in or into] means to enter into. Now the shepherd is going out – the cross. The sheep are in Israel here and they now go through the gate out. But when they go out they enter into the plan of God – e)iserxomai is entrance into the plan of God. This verse will not be understood unless the first six verses are understood. Enter is does not mean to enter into the sheepfold, it means to enter into the plan of God. It is an aorist active subjunctive. The aorist tense is the point of time when a person believes, divorced from time and perpetuated forever. You can’t lose your salvation. The subjunctive mood: the subjunctive goes with the 3rd class condition – maybe yes, maybe no; it is potential. In this case the potential depends upon volition. Either a person believes or he doesn’t believe.

            “he shall be saved” – future passive indicative. A future tense after an aorist means that in the point of time when a person believes this is what happens – salvation. The passive voice: you receive salvation.

            “and shall go in” – again we have e)iserxomai. This means into the plan of God. It is a future active indicative; “and out” – this phrase means out of Jerusalem to the pasture, and out refers to living on the Word.  

            “and find pasture” – the word find is a future tense, active voice, and an indicative mood. The word means to discover, and you discover through doctrine. The word pasture refers to Bible doctrine categorically presented so that it is stored in the human spirit.

            Verse 10 – the Pharisees and the second door. Here again is the condemnation of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. “The thief” – kelpthj. Here is Satan trying to steal the sheep by strategy – false doctrine.

            “cometh not” – the thief is not in the plan of God. Principle: The thief cometh not means religion is not in the plan of God.

            “but to steal” – the use of false doctrine. Religion tries to imitate Christianity. It comes in a point of time to try to steal and destroy. Whether they do it or not depends upon your attitude toward doctrine. The Pharisees were stealing sheep through false doctrine.

            “and to kill” – quw means to offer a sacrifice. In other words, when religion gets around to killing people they always have a good excuse for doing so. This refers to religion using violence.

            “and to destroy” – religion uses the state to destroy. The word here is a)pollumi which means to neutralise. It has the idea of state or social ostracism. It means to destroy human freedom by destroying volition.

            Jesus said by way of contrast:

            “I am come” – Jesus uses the word e)rxomai, and that is the door of ingress, virgin birth, incarnation. But when He is leading the sheep out, the door of egress, the word is e)iserxomai.

            “that they might have” – present linear aktionsart, keep on having. But it is a present active subjunctive. “Have is e)xw which means to possess, and as of the cross to possess it forever and ever. Subjunctive mood: eternal life is potential, whether you are a believer or not a believer – John 3:36.

            “life” – eternal life, God’s life. God’s plan calls for God’s life.

            “and that they might have [keep on having] it more abundantly” – the abundance of the eternal life that the believer has in phase two depends upon knowledge of doctrine.

            Verses 11-13, the first message of the shepherd.

            Verse 11 – the first word is a personal pronoun. There is a point of syntax in the Greek that the first word in the sentence is that which receives the emphasis. Therefore this particular pronoun – e)gw – is called a proleptical pronoun. A proleptical pronoun is one that has great emphasis, and here it should be translated, “I, even I am.” The verb “am” is e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. It is present active indicative which means, “I keep on being, there never will be a time when I am not.” So here is one of the declarations of Jesus Christ concerning Himself.

            This has followed the sixth credit card in John. Starting with the changing of the water into wine Jesus Christ has presented six credit cards to Israel. In chapter nine we have credit card number six to prove that He was Messiah. Then, after presenting this credit card #6, the healing of the man with congenital blindness, we have this dissertation. From this we have in chapter eleven the number seven credit card, the resuscitation of Lazarus, bringing him back from the dead. In between we have chapter 10 in which Jesus Christ is going to explain and make very clear just how He relates to Israel. He has already accomplished this with the dissertation on the two doors, and now we have the shepherd dissertations.

            “the good” – this is not what we would normally expect. There are two words for good – a)gaqoj, which is good of intrinsic value and used for divine good. This is not the word used here which is kaloj. Kaloj emphasises the beauty and the character of the humanity of Christ. There are three persons in the Trinity, only one of them is the revealed member of the Godhead – John 1:18. So whenever Jesus Christ is discussed in terms of being revealed this emphasises His person. The person of Christ is unique and the emphasis here is on the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This word kaloj has to be understood in terms of time as it relates to eternity. In eternity past was the divine decrees. It was the objective of the plan of God that man share the divine happiness. Whether man actually gets this happiness or not depends on whether he appropriates the plan of God or not. The plan of God was designed in eternity past. The Father is called the Father simply because He is the author of the plan. In time the believer can have this same piece of happiness that God has always had. God shares His happiness with man – the believer. As a result man can have the inner peace, inner happiness, inner blessing in time. This is called kaloj because it is related to the person of Christ. When Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross the sins of the world were poured out upon Him and judged. He became the only saviour. This is divine good. Every man in his volition faces the issue: to accept divine good, the work of Christ on the cross or, in rejecting that, to depend upon his human good. Appropriation of divine good is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

            Kaloj is going to be described in the rest of this passage. This word means beautiful, it means to have symmetry, to have perfect character, maximum attractiveness. This word is used in the New Testament to indicate the beauty, the uniqueness, the glory, the majesty, the fantastic things involved in the person of Jesus Christ. This one adjective plus its noun is going to be the subject really of this entire passage. The adjective is good, the noun is shepherd.

           Jesus says, “I keep on being the good shepherd.” The word kaloj means that He will always be beautiful, He will always be attractive, He will always be perfect. He will always be the easiest one in the whole universe to love. He is constantly giving, and this giving makes certain members of the human race beneficiaries. In order for Jesus Christ to fulfil kaloj to any individual He must be able to give them something and they must be sheep to be the recipients. Therefore we have the word shepherd. Jesus Christ gives to His sheep. He can only give to His own sheep. He can only provide food/pasture for His own sheep. He cannot provide this for religious sheep, for the devil’s sheep. Religion is antagonistic and hostile to the plan of God. Religion operates on the basis of legalism and human good; Christianity operates on the basis of grace. So there must be a relationship and shepherd-sheep is used to describe that relationship.

            “shepherd” – the word emphasises provision, preservation, and protection. Jesus Christ provides the happiness which the members of the Godhead have enjoyed in eternity past and He provides it by His work on the cross. Preservation: one a person believes in Jesus Christ then Jesus Christ provides 40 things which the believer will have forever. Protection is His provision for time.

            The word shepherd is used for the Lord Jesus Christ in three different ways. Christ is the good shepherd in this verse, and there will be an emphasis on salvation. In Hebrews 13:20 Christ is called the great shepherd and this is His provision for phase two. Then in 1 Peter 5:4 Jesus Christ is called the chief shepherd and this is His provision for phase three.

            “the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” That is not a correct translation. The word to give is not the word to give at all. The word for give in the Greek here is tiqhmi, and this word does not mean to give. It means to lay aside, to put down, or to lay down. It was used in the ancient world to put down a bet, to put something down on a table. Jesus Christ put something on the table – His own life. The next phrase is “his life” – thn yuxhn a)utou, “the soul of him.” So it is literally, “put down [on the table/cross] his soul.” When it says He laid down His own soul it is a reference to the work of Christ on the cross. 

            “for” – u(per, the preposition of substitution. He lays down His soul “on behalf of the sheep.” The sheep here refer to the members of the human race. This is the basic concept of entering into the plan of God.

            Verse 12 – “But he that is an hireling.” The Greek word is misqwtoj and it means someone who joins himself to the flock and comes around once a month for pay. It doesn’t mean someone who is hired by the shepherd, that is why the word is used. The religious leaders do not have the approbation of Jesus Christ or of God. These people have set up a religious hierarchy and there is the union of religion and state. The Pharisees are the state and therefore the people have no freedom. The people were completely hamstrung by religion. So misqwtoj here refers to the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes.

            “and not the shepherd” – the shepherd has nothing to do with the religious crowd.

            “whose own the sheep are not” – the misqwtoj does not own the sheep.

            “seeth the wolf” – this describes the condition of Palestine in Jesus’ day. The wolf refers to Rome. Wherever the Romans went they carried two kinds of standards. One was an eagle standard and one was a Roman standard. The standard bearer often had a wolf’s head for a helmet and the wolf became symbolic of Rome. The sheepfold is Israel. The word for seeing here is qeorew. It does not mean to see, it means to perceive, to see a political trend. The religious leaders already saw the political trend. They hated Rome because Rome was encroaching upon them – Roman law hurt them. But at the same time they were the state, and therefore they acquiesced to Rome on the one hand and fought Rome behind Rome’s back. These are the Pharisees and they perceive, they see a political trend, they see the wolf coming. The present active participle means the wolf is in the process of coming, it has not taken over as yet.

            “they leaveth” – present active indicative of a)fihmi means to desert. At this time the Pharisees, the religious crowd, rule Palestine, even though Rome is on the fringe administering. The religious crowd have a policy which is going to be disastrous for Israel and destroy it in 70 AD. When the religious crowd saw the wolf coming they deserted. When Titus arrived in 70 AD the Pharisees were gone. They had found ways to escape and to get out.

            “and fleeth” – present active indicative, they kept on fleeing. They see thew wolf in 30 AD at the time that Jesus is speaking. Fleeing from the wolf is 70 AD, forty years later.

            “and the wolf catcheth” – this is what happened to Israel as a result of having a religious leadership. The Greek word is a(rpazw which means to seize with violence, to destroy with violence. This was fulfilled in 70 AD when the worst siege in human record occurred.

            “and scattereth” – present active indicative of skorpizw. It means the people are taken out of their national definition and made slaves. At the siege of Jerusalem about 97,000 out of 2-million escaped death and they were sold into slavery. From then until the Second Advent the Jews are out under the fifth cycle of discipline and are a scattered people.

            Jesus Christ is warning what religion is going to do. He is explaining that God’s plan rejects religion.

            Verse 13 – why did the religious leaders flee?

            “because he is an hireling,” i.e. because he is a religious leader and he can no longer utilise the people.

            “he careth not for the sheep” – this is an idiom and it means that the religious leaders of Israel were indifferent to the fate they had brought upon the people. Their policies destroyed the nation. There is a key principle here. When religion becomes the state or when religion influences the state so that the policies of religion become administrative policies in the state the state destroys itself. So between 30 AD and 70 AD, a period of some 40 years, this is exactly what happened. The reason there is no concern is because eventually all religious organizations are ecumenical or international in their thinking, and internationalism destroys national definition. When you destroy national definition you destroy freedom and when you destroy freedom everything goes.

            Verse 14 – the second shepherd discourse. “I am” – present active of the verb e)imi, ‘I keep on being the good shepherd, I always will be the good shepherd, there never will be a time when I am not the good shepherd.’ The word good is kaloj, and here we have the principle of the hypostatic union. Jesus Christ was perfect in His humanity and, of course, He was perfect in His deity.

            “and know my sheep” – ginwskw is a verb ‘to know,’ but it means to know from the experience of observation, study, and also to know from the experience of falling in love with someone. You are around the person long enough to get to know them. This means to know by experience, to know by name, and to love while knowing. It is a present active indicative and means ‘I keep on knowing my sheep,’ and it means that Jesus Christ knew us from eternity past. And yet He loves us with an infinite love, knowing every mistake that we would ever make, knowing every failure. His love depends on who and what He is, not who and what we are.

            But this verse does not say “my sheep.” It is ta e)ma (lit. the mine). Later on He is going to say “my sheep” but He doesn’t say it here. He says, “I know the mine.” Sometimes ginwskw is study, sometimes it is love. How do we know which is which? You have to find out what the object is. From “the mine” we know we are not talking about learning something, studying. When you have doctrine as the object of ginwskw it is talking about learning doctrine, but here persons are the object and these persons are described in intimate terms – “the mine.” We know the “the mine” are sheep here because it says, “I keep on being the good shepherd.” It refers to us as His sheep, those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word sheep is not here, except by implication – “I keep on being the good shepherd.”

 

Characteristics of the word ‘sheep’

1. A sheep cannot guide himself. Our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, provides guidance for us. We have no clue as to what is the divine viewpoint or

            the divine will as we go through phase two, so He has provided us with Bible doctrine.

2. A sheep cannot cleanse himself. Our Shepherd provides for us rebound. He has provided cleansing from sin, the basis for getting back into fellowship.

3. A sheep is helpless when injured. A shepherd has to provide for every problem, for every pressure, for every disaster for the sheep. Our Shepherd provides

            for us, again through Bible doctrine, the basis whereby we can meet any disaster in    

            life.

            4. A sheep is defenceless, apart from the shepherd. Our Shepherd has provided a wall    

            of fire for us – Zechariah 2:5.

            5. A sheep cannot find water. Our Shepherd has provided for us water, the water of

             life; and He has provided for us food.

            6. A sheep is easily frightened. Our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, provides Bible

            doctrine for us in time of disaster.

            7. A sheep does not belong to a sheep. By this is meant that a sheep has wool. The

             sheep grows wool but is doesn’t belong to it. The sheep’s wool is analogous to divine

             good. Divine good doesn’t belong to us; it is the production of Bible doctrine and the

             filling of the Spirit. Our divine good, as it were, is sheared off, and that is the last that

             we see it until eternity. So our Shepherd provides the basis for our production of 

             divine good.

 

            “and am known of mine” – ‘am known’ is a 3rd person plural, present active indicative of ginwskw.  “Am” in front of “known” gives is a passive concept, but this is an active voice. The 3rd person plural is always translated by “they.” It is active voice, and therefore out goes the “am,” and it is “they know me.” Again, ginwskw means to know from experience and observation. It is possible for us to love God. Every believer does not love God. They are the recipients of His love but they don’t love Him. The only way that we can love God is to know Him, and you have to know Bible doctrine. Everything that is revealed about God is contained in Bible doctrine and there is nothing about God apart from Bible doctrine. In other words, if you don’t know Bible doctrine you don’t love God. He always loves us but whether we love God or not depends on Bible doctrine. Notice again, He knows them – “the mine, and they know me.” They refers to believers who know doctrine. There are believers who are +ginwskw [+ doctrine] and there are believers who are –ginwskw [–doctrine]. Believers who are minus doctrine are incapable of loving God; they do not have the capacity. Plus doctrine means to have the capacity; minus doctrine means to be minus the capacity to return that love.

            Verse 15 – “As the Father knoweth me,” ginwskw, present active indicative; “even so know I the Father” – present active indicative of ginwskw. So the we have the present active indicative four times: twice in verse 14 where we have the point of doctrine, and twice in verse 15 where we have the illustration. In the illustration we make an advance on the point of doctrine. In verse 14 the love is shared through a relationship. You must have a relationship; it is only shared through the cross. The emphasis is on the cross whereby we enter this relationship. We entered into a relationship in time and it is a relationship that will extend into eternity. In time we can have some of that happiness and in eternity we will have that happiness. But whether we have it now or not the emphasis is on the verb ginwskw – which must have an object. The object is Bible doctrine, the only way we get to know God. “I have always loved the Father and the Father has always loved me.” Eternity past: verse 15; time: verse 14. In eternity past the first person loved the second person with a perfect love. The first person is called the Father and the second person is called the Son because the first person is the author of the divine plan and the second person agreed to come into time and to execute the divine plan so that it would be possible for believers to become sons, and so that the Father could share with His enlarged family [believers] this happiness which has always existed. He provides through Bible doctrine His happiness. This is what is being said right up to the middle of verse 15.

            If God is going to share with people in time His happiness there must be a way He can share it through love. God cannot share His happiness without love. God wanted to invite us to His party but He had to have a way to set up an invitation. And it has to be a way that is compatible with His perfect love. This is why we have the rest of verse 15. Justice comes into the picture. The penalty of sin is death and God put the whole human race under spiritual death. So righteousness and justice made it impossible to in reality love mankind, though he could in principle. At the cross Jesus Christ was +R, and that satisfied the righteousness of the Father. He was judged for us and that satisfied the justice of the Father. Not only was the Father propitiated in His righteousness and justice but it liberated His love. Love has to be free to express itself. God’s love was freed through the cross, and only by way of the cross.

            “and I lay down my life for the sheep.” This is incorrectly translated. In the first place, He didn’t lay down His life. The word for lay down as translated in the KJV is the Greek word tiqhmi which does not mean to lay down. It really means to place something on the line; to put it on the line would be a better translation. It means to place or to put; “my life” – thn yuxhn mou is literally “the soul mine.” In other words, this is translated “my soul.” This eliminates physical death as the way of salvation! He didn’t put His physical body on the line for us; He put His soul on the line for us. It was spiritual death, not physical death, that provided salvation.

            “for” – u(per, the preposition of substitution, means “on behalf of” or “as a substitute for [the sheep].” God the Father judged the soul of Jesus Christ. He judged the soul of Jesus Christ because the sins of the world were poured out upon Him and in spiritual death the soul is judged.

 

            Ginwskw

1.       Since ginwskw means to know, to know from experience, and since it is used in

these two verses, it becomes obvious that ginwskw connotes a knowledge of a person – and in this case, knowledge of a person with whom there is a relationship. This point recognises that ginwskw is used for love in a relationship.

2.       In verse 14 Jesus Christ loves His sheep and it is possible for some of the sheep

who know doctrine to love Him.

3.       Verse 15. Ginwskw is used as an illustration, and it is a parallel illustration as

indicated by the fact that verse 15 begins with the word “as.” The love

between the Father and the Son is used to illustrate the love of the Shepherd for the sheep.

4.       Believers are sharers and a part of the love which has existed from eternity past.

God the Father and God the Son always had a love for each other, and it

is ginwskw love. In time believers share this love. We are the recipients of it and sometimes the responders to it.

            5.   The use of ginwskw in these two verses emphasises a second point of doctrine. Love and the capacity for love depends upon the human soul. The body is an instrument for the expression of love but the body is not the basis for love.

1.       A)gapaw + filew = ginwskw. 

2.       Ginwskw expresses the total love picture and our response to God’s love. We develop capacity from a relaxed mental attitude and that is based on

knowing God.

 

            Verse 16 – the prophecy concerning the Church. “And other sheep I have” – the word other here is not other. There are two different words for other and it is necessary to know which one is uttered. The first one is e(teroj, which means other of a different kind; and the second is a)lloj which means other of the same kind. The word found in this verse is a)lloj. In other words, these people that Jesus is mentioning in His prophecy are sheep, believers who have trusted in Christ as saviour, and it is a reference to Gentile believers in the Church Age. Jesus has been speaking to Jewish believers in the Jewish Age, the dispensation of Israel, in His shepherd discourses. Now He is going to bring Gentiles into the picture and introduce a new dispensation. He anticipates the Church Age which is just around the corner. In less than a year the Church Age will have arrived. “I have” is the present active indicative of the verb e)xw which means to keep on having and always having. It is the first indication of the principle of eternal security. When the shepherd says “Other sheep I have” it is present linear aktionsart – I keep on having them, there never will be a time when I won’t have them.

            “not of this fold” – this fold refers to the dispensation of Israel.

            “them also” – believers of the Church Age; “I must bring” is literally, “It is necessary for me to lead.” The Greek word dei should be translated, “it is necessary.”  “To lead” – to lead into green pastures. Just as Jesus Christ provided phase two information for believers in the Jewish Age He provides phase two information for believers in the Church Age. The words “to lead” is the aorist active infinitive of the verb a)gw, and it means that all throughout the Church Age, from the time the Church Age begins to the present time, when a person receives Christ as saviour he enters into phase two immediately. And God provides phase two information whereby he can function as a priest, as an ambassador, whereby every believer can become spiritually self-sustaining, and becoming self-sustaining he can represent the Lord in full time Christian service. (Every believer is in full time Christian service and there is no such thing as a layman)

            “Other sheep I have [keep on having], not of this fold: them also [believers of the Church Age] it is necessary for me to lead [lead to the green pastures]. In other words, just because there is a change of dispensation it doesn’t cancel out green pastures. The Lord provided doctrine for believers in the previous dispensation; He provides doctrine for believers in this dispensation.

            “they shall hear my voice” – the word hear sometimes means to listen and sometimes it means to hear and obey. Here the word means to hear and obey. The word is a)kouw, future middle indicative. Future tense: throughout the Church Age when any person goes on +V at the point of gospel hearing he will respond and enter into phase two. (Phase one: salvation; phase two: the Christian way of life; phase three: eternity) The future tense means that at any time in the future when a person hears the gospel and responds he is in the plan of God. Middle voice: emphasis on positive volition at the point of gospel hearing. They themselves shall hear and they shall be benefited by entering the plan of God. The indicative mood means the reality of the principle. Jesus is stating a principle for the future, a principle which is true for the Church Age.

            “there shall be one fold” – a reference to positional truth, the fact that at the moment a person believes in Christ God the Holy Spirit takes him and enters him into union with the Shepherd. The one fold refers to union with the Lord Jesus Christ/positional truth.

            “one shepherd” – Jesus Christ is the only saviour. He is the head of the Church and that never changes.

            Verse 17 – “Therefore” is literally, “Because of this,” dia plus the accusative. Because of the prophecy in verse 16, because there is a future dispensation in which there will be one fold and one shepherd, “my Father doth love,” present active indicative of a)gapaw. He keeps on loving, He never changes.

            “me” – in this case Jesus Christ is speaking from His humanity; “because” – here is why. Jesus Christ as a member of the human race is going to operate within the framework of a plan. God’s plan designed in eternity past. We as believers often operate outside of the plan of God and the reason we do is because we are minus doctrine. But Jesus Christ knew doctrine and He operates within the plan of the Father’s love could be poured out upon Him constantly. This is leading to the cross. God loves the Son; God gave what He loved the most. When this is combined with John 3:16 we have the whole picture of the Father’s love. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and yet He gave Him to the worst judgement that will ever exist. Worse than the last judgement even is the judgement of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The plan of the Father is given in the phrase, “because I lay down my life.” He operates within the framework of the divine plan, therefore He operates constantly under the love of God.

            “because I lay down” – tiqhmi means to put something on the line, to place, to put something on a table. The active voice says that Jesus Christ did this willingly within the framework of the divine plan. The indicative mood is the reality of the divine plan calling for the unique death of Jesus Christ.

            “my life” is literally, “my soul.”

 

            “My Soul”

1.       Literally, ‘my life’ is ‘my soul.’ The word for ‘life” would be zwh, but this is yuxh which is the word for soul.

2.       This is a reference to the spiritual death of Christ.

3.       In physical death Christ laid down His body – swma; in the spiritual death of Christ He put His soul on the line.

4.       It must be remembered that it is the soul of man which is saved at the cross, not the body.

5.       When it says ‘the wages of sin is death’ it is referring to spiritual death, not spiritual death.

6.       When Adam sinned he died spiritually immediately. His physical death came later as a result of having an old sin nature. Physical death is the result of

spiritual death but physical death is not the wages of sin.

7.       In salvation the soul is saved, not the body – Psalm 19:7; 34:22; Mark 8:36, 37; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:9.

 

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “I might take it” – lambanw doesn’t mean to take, it means to receive. It should be translated, “that I might receive it.”

Aorist tense: the point of time of the resurrection.

            Verse 18 – the volition of Christ in this matter. “No man” is literally, ‘no one’ – o)ueij. No one, man or angel; “taketh” – a)irw which means to lift up. It was used originally for murder. When a person’s head was lifted up and his throat cut that was murder. It means to murder, to take away, to raise up, and also to remove. Here it means to remove. “No one removes it [my soul] from me.” The word ‘from’ is the preposition a)po which is ultimate source – ‘from the ultimate source of me.’ No one removes the soul from His body, i.e. no one is going to kill Him.

            “but” – conjunction of contrast; “I lay it down” – present active indicative of tiqhmi; “from myself” – a)po.

 

            “From myself”

1.       “From” is the preposition of ultimate source, a)po.

2.       Only the volition of Jesus Christ is involved in going to the cross.

3.       Without the volition of Jesus Christ being involved He would not have died for our sins.

4.       The divine decision of Christ made the decision in eternity past.

5.       The human volition of Christ made the decision periodically during His incarnation. His humanity had to face the decision more than once. At the point of

the virgin birth He said yes: Hebrews 10:5, 7, 10. At the baptism – Matthew 3:16,17. At the sheepfold – John 10:18. At the Garden of Gethsemane – Matthew 26:39,42.

6.       Christ was not helpless victim. Without His free will agreeing not a hair of His head could have been touched.

 

“I have” – e)xw, present linear aktionsart, ‘I keep on having.’

“power” – e)cousia means authority. The authority of Jesus Christ is the plan of God. He also had free will, and authority is the free will of Jesus Christ

making a positive decision to go to the cross and die for the sins of the world.

            “I have power to receive it again” – ‘I have the volition to receive it again.’ Why does He? Because He is operating within the framework of a plan. This plan is described by the word “commandment.”

            “This commandment” – e)ntolh which means command, but it means an order, a directive, a commission, or an edict. It really connotes orders given within the framework of an organization, of a plan. The plan belongs to God the Father and this plan is called the commandment; it is a whole plan.

            “I have received” – aorist active indicative. Aorist tense: in eternity past. Active voice: I personally received it. Indicative mood: the reality of the fact that God has a plan that begins with me – Jesus Christ.

            “of” – para, preposition of immediate source; “of my Father.”

            After Jesus had finished His message there was a reaction and a response in the crowd.

            Verse 19 – the crowd is divided because of what Jesus has said. “There was” is literally, ‘there came to pass,’ aorist active indicative of the verb ginomai which means to come to pass, to come into existence, something that didn’t exist and now it does. In other words, the crowd listened to Him without heckling. Then, after the message was over, they stated their opinions. “There came to pass a division” – sxisma, the word from which we get the English word schism. Actually, there was a schism every time Jesus presented His credit card – up to now six times. Every time that Jesus Christ presented Himself as Messiah through a miracle immediately there was a response and reaction from the crowd. It was among the Jews because Jesus had a ministry to the Jews at this time. Specifically the religious leaders are involved here.

            “for these sayings” – dia plus the accusative and should be translated ‘because of.’ “These sayings” is a reference to the dissertation is a reference to the discourses at the sheepfold. The messages of the Lord Jesus Christ always divided people. Every time He spoke He spoke in terms of doctrine, in terms of principle. And when you talk in terms of doctrine and principle you cannot help but divide the human race. Some go positive and some go negative, and when you stand up before, say, a thousand people and talk and there is no division among the people it means you have said nothing! It means you haven’t brought any principles into the picture—therefore no issue. When Jesus started to enucleate principle people were divided. No one can speak principles or doctrine without becoming controversial.

            In verses 20 & 21 we get the two groups in the crowd. In verse 20, the reaction group; in verse 21, the response group. In every group there was a reaction and a response.

            Verse 20 – “And many of them.” This is the crowd who rejected; “said” – imperfect linear aktionsart of the verb legw. They kept on expressing their views. This means they are angry. So we not only have negative volition but we have mental attitude sins developing—hatred, vindictiveness, implacability, hostility, etc. And we now have a summary of some of the things they said.

            “He hath a devil and is mad” – the word devil is the Greek word for demon. It is a reference to a fallen angel. All madness, pscychotic conditions in the ancient world within the framework of Judaism were ascribed to demon possession. This is an expression of the unpardonable sin of Matthew chapter 12. The people who are rejecting here in John 10 are religious. The worst people in the world are religious people. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ; it is grace. Here they kept on saying Jesus had a demon, this is the present active indicative of the verb e)xw – ‘He keeps on having a demon, everything He does comes from demon possession.’ Therefore the conclusion: “and is mad” – mainomai, a true word for a psychotic condition. To say that Jesus has a demon is only given here to explain away His miracles. Also they must explain away His message because people are becoming interested in what He is saying.

            Verse 21 – the response group are on positive volition, so we have the word “Others.” This means others of the same kind, i.e. people in the same crowd who heard the same message.

            “said” – imperfect linear aktionsart, ‘kept on saying.’

            “These are not the words of him that hath a demon.” So they reject the religious explanation of the situation.

            “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” To them this is impossible, this is something that belongs to God and therefore they reject the religious explanation.

So we now have a reaction group and a response group, and that is where the whole thing is dropped. Technically a new chapter should start here.

            In verses 22-42 we have a message that occurs some two months later.

            Verse 22 – “And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of Dedication.” The word “it was” is literally again, “it came to pass” – ginomai; “at Jerusalem” – same city but we have the elapse of two months (October through December). The Feast of Dedication is Hanukah. On 25 December, 166 BC the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes was determined to make Greeks out of the Jews. So he made a gold statue which he called the statue of Zeus – Zeus was the head of all of the gods of the pantheon – and put it up in the temple. The Jews protested. So he said that on 25 December he would offer some animal sacrifices in the temple, and in due course he herded in 1000 pigs. To the Jew the pig was an unclean animal. Since the 11th century BC the Greeks had been sacrificing pigs – when they were not sacrificing people. This was how they were going to turn the Jews into Greeks! They had the Greek priests in the temple cutting the throats of pigs and spreading the blood all over everything and the people began to protest. Then they rounded up a thousand Jewish children and sacrificed them. By the time the 25th December was over there was the blood of pigs and people mixed all over the temple and it was one horrible mess. This led to the Maccabaean war. The Jews killed so many people that Antiochus gave up and they were able to win their freedom and independence for the moment. In the middle of December in 164 BC they began to clean up the temple and on the night of the 24th everything was cleaned up, so the next day they decided to have a celebration which they called the Feast of Lights. They lit up the city of Jerusalem with lights. They brought in a great golden candelabra and lit it up. The feast went on for seven days and it ended on 1 January. So for seven days they exchanged gifts and had this big celebration. This was called two things: the Feast of Lights and also the Feast of Dedication. Now 134 years later they were still celebrating this feast and it was a big time in Jerusalem. They celebrated their freedom in this way. It had no religious connotation and it was a time of happiness and gaiety, and so on. It was probably one of the more pleasant time nationally for the Jews. Whenever it came around people seemed to forget all of their differences and they all made a real effort to turn Jerusalem into a real party town.

            Jesus gave His last message one day after the feast of the tabernacles, a seven-day feast which went from 15 October through to 22 October. So the difference between 23 October when Jesus gave His message and 25 December is roughly two months and two days.

            Now we have a new message. The city of Jerusalem has had two months to calm down, but in that time they have not calmed down! This was one year when the fun time didn’t quite make it. It didn’t come off. The reason it didn’t was because the religious leaders would not mind their own business. They would not respect the privacy of someone else. That ‘someone else’ was Jesus Christ. They would not leave Him alone.

            Verse 23 – Jesus is minding His own business. He is taking a walk in the porch of the temple. “And Jesus kept walking in the temple” – imperfect linear aktionsart. “Solomon’s porch” is not a porch, it is a covered walkway.

            Verse 24 – religion comes along. “Then came the Jews round about him.” The verb is kuklow and it means to encircle, to surround or to march around. Legalism is constantly trying to persecute grace.

            “and said” – literally, ‘and kept on saying,’ imperfect linear aktionsart; “How long dost thou make us to doubt?” Literally, ‘Until when do you lift up our soul?’ This is an idiom which means, How long do you hold us in suspense? That is the question they kept asking Him. Right up to this moment He has presented six major credit cards to Israel. He has performed numerous acts of miracles and healings. He has been giving message after message after message which was lucid in its presentation. The issue has been clarified time after time. And yet they say, ‘How long do you hold us in suspense?’ He is not holding them in suspense. The question is totally unfair but it expresses maximum legalism, religion.

            “If” – 1st class condition of supposition; “thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” The 1st class condition has to be regarded two ways here. From the standpoint of the people speaking – these are religious people, unbelievers – they are saying, “If, and we must assume it from your works, from your message, tell us plainly.” He has been telling them plainly. This is an aorist active imperative, and imperative of demand. They demand that he speak plainly. This request/demand was made by religious people. They have observed the miracles, have heard all the messages given in the Gospel of John plus many more. They have heard the issue many times. Now they have started problems that are going to blow the lid off their favourite holiday.

            Verses 25-26, an explanation as to why the Pharisees and other religious Jews did this.

            Verse 25 – “Jesus answered them, I told you” – Notice: They said to Him in the previous verse, “Tell us plainly,” an aorist active imperative of the verb legw. Now Jesus said, “I told you,” aorist active indicative. The only change is Jesus changing it from the imperative to the indicative. They didn’t have to demand it, He has been telling them.

            “and ye believed not” – present active indicative plus the negative. The word for believe here is pisteuw, and it is now in linear aktionsart. ‘I have told you at this point, at this point, at this point,’ etc. This is a constative aorist – every time He spoke. They not only ejected Him every time He spoke but they rejected Him in between (the present tense). When He said, “and ye believed not” He changed the tense to present to show that not only did they reject Him at this point but all the time in between they rejected Him. Jesus gave His message at the feast of the tabernacles, plus one day afterwards when He finished up at the sheepfold. And for the next two months and two days these people are still on negative volition, they still do not believe. Now they have cornered Him on Solomon’s porch and now He is telling them, “I can keep on saying this as plainly as I have in the past and you will still not believe.” And He is surrounded by these people on negative volition. At that time these people were vicious. There is nothing more vicious than a self-righteous religious person. When they are motivated to kill they are the greatest murderers in the world. And were it not foe a wall of fire the Gospel of John would end right here. Jesus had a wall of fire around Him, He was totally surrounded by the most hostile people in the world. Every one of them would gladly have killed Him.

            Notice Jesus mentions the message first. “I told you” is a message. The Lord gives us what is important. Bible doctrine is important. It is the message that is important. He doesn’t mention the miracles first, He mentions the message first. It is the message by which people are saved; miracles merely focus attention on the message.

            Then He says, “the works” – a reference to His miracles – “that I do,” poiew, present active indicative. All the time He was performing these miracles they were negative, negative.

            “they bear witness of [concerning] me” – they prove that Jesus is what He claims to be. Peri never means of, it means concerning.

            Verse 26 – He lays it on the line to these hostile religious people.

            “But ye believe not” – you keep on believing not, present active indicative plus the negative. Every time they get a chance they express negative volition. That is the way it is with religion.

            “because ye are not of my sheep” – they are in the fold, Israel, but at the point of God-consciousness they went on negative volition. They did not want relationship with God, therefore a vacuum was created in the soul into which was drawn religion, legalism, emphasis on the details of life, mental attitude sins, etc. When they eventually hear the gospel they have all this background of religion. The gospel is now presented by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, with all the eloquence of the God-Man, and at the same time the one who has performed all of these miracles and presented these credit cards, and their minds are so filled with the corruption of legalism and religionism that at the point of gospel hearing they say no. They retain their religion. So He says, “ye are not my sheep.” His sheep are those on +V.

            “as I said unto you” is not found in the original.

 

            ‘Ye Are not my sheep’

1.       Only Jews with +V at the point of God-consciousness respond to the gospel.

2.       The blind beggar had +V at the point of God consciousness. He is in contrast to these religious Jews.

3.       He expressed his +V when he faced Jesus Christ, through faith in Jesus Christ – even though he had minimum gospel hearing.

4.       No matter how many times the Pharisees, the religious Jews, hear the gospel and see the miracles they will continue to reject Christ.

5.       Negative volition at the point of God-consciousness or at gospel hearing creates a vacuum in the mentality of the soul into which religion is drawn. Romans

      1:18-26. Religion is never an accident, it is where –V exists at the point of God-                 

      consciousness.  

6.       Religion blinds the unbeliever. 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.

7.       Being a sheep does not mean being saved. Being sheep refers in this passage to the human race and all the sheep in the fold do not belong to the flock of

                   our Lord.

           

            Verse 27 – who are the true sheep of Israel. There is one answer found in Romans 9:6-14. The answer we have is found in this passage—chapter 10—the dissertation on the two doors and the dissertation on the two shepherds.

            “My sheep” refers to those Jews who personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of His ministry to the southern kingdom—the regenerate of Israel.

            “hear” – present active indicative of the verb a)kouw and it is for positive volition at the point of gospel hearing. First they hear the gospel and then they respond by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They hear and respond.

            “my voice” –  today we cannot literally hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, we hear His voice through the Word. But in the day in which our Lord ministered He actually presented the gospel verbally Himself and this is the principle to which He refers at this point.

            “and I know them” – the verb for ‘knowing’ here is ginwskw and it refers to the omniscience of Jesus Christ in eternity past. He knew every Jew who would respond to the message, and so He made provision for them in eternity past to lead them out into the pastures. This is a dramatic present tense. Active voice: He personally knew from His deity who would accept Him and who would not. The indicative mood is the reality of this situation. Jesus knew His sheep in eternity past and this means knowing them He provided for them. When we as the sheep know Him it is because in time we have learned through doctrine, but in eternity past He knew us before we even existed. Omniscience is the thinking of Jesus Christ. We now have some of His thinking reduced to writing, for the Word of God, the Bible, is the mind of Christ—1 Corinthians 2:16. We as sheep learn to know Him through doctrine but He knew us in eternity past.

            “and they follow me” – this is the analogy of the sheep. Present active indicative of a)kolouqew, used for the second door. It is a synonym for personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of this verse is to demonstrate that when you believe in Jesus Christ you have a personal relationship with God.

            The sheep follow the shepherd. Following the analogy, when the shepherd leads out the sheep there is something they have to do. They follow him. He doesn’t lead them to the wolves. He leads them outside the gate and out into pasture. He provides for them. He protects them to the pasture and provides for them in the pasture. So there is the concept here of provision and protection and, along with one other word, this is the plan of God: a) Relationship – “my sheep”; b) Provision; c) Protection. God is perfect; His plan is perfect, and these three words describe His plan. The provision is doctrine but the protection is His person, His essence—the wall of fire which He has provided for us. In the plan of God there is relationship, provision and protection. This is going to exist forever.

            Verse 28 – the first thing a believer must have in orientation to the plan of God is security. Without security the relationship isn’t real to him. (In verses 28-30 we have the doctrine of eternal and temporal security)

“I give” is a present active indicative of the verb didomi which means to give. Jesus Christ is God; He is also humanity, and the God-Man does the giving. That is grace. Why is Jesus Christ mentioned here instead of the Father who is the author of the plan? But everything goes back to the words, “My sheep.” If you are a believer in Jesus Christ the first thing you need is security. Security you have, but realisation of that security which means orientation to the grace of God and the plan of God. Present tense. Linear aktionsart, “I keep on giving.”

“unto them” refers to “My sheep” and is dative of advantage. It is to your advantage to be a sheep, to be in the plan of God; “eternal life” – every believer receives eternal life at the moment of salvation. Eternal life means security forever and ever. It is a gift which is never withdrawn.

“they shall never perish” – this is an emphatic double negative with the aorist middle subjunctive. The Greek word is a)pollumi, the word which is used for the last judgment. It means to bring to nothing, to make void, to utterly destroy. A double negative in the English is a positive; a double negative in the Greek is a strong, emphatic negative. Literally, this is “they shall not no never perish.” The double negative says there is no sin you can commit and lose your salvation. The mood here is the subjunctive of prohibition. It means that God will not permit the believer to perish on the basis of His character. It means that it is totally impossible for the believer to lose his salvation. In no circumstance will God permit the believer to perish. When you put a double negative and the subjunctive mood in the suffix of the verb it means it all depends on God; that you will not lose your salvation, that you cannot lose your salvation, and that there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation. The middle voice means that the subject is benefited by the action of the verb, and we are benefited by ‘no, not ever perishing.’ A)pollumi is a verb of the last judgment, a verb associated with the lake of fire, and there is no way that a believer can ever get close to the lake of fire.

            “neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand” – the word neither refers to either angelic or human beings. It also means neither can God do it. The word for “pluck” is a)rpazw which means to seize by violence; it doesn’t means to pluck. A(rpazw is used here because there is a lot of violence in the world. This is the devil’s world and every person who lives in this world has an old sin nature and is therefore potentially violent. All of the violence in the world could not take one believer out of the plan of God. All of the power combinations that have existed since the beginning of history together could not blast one believer out of the plan of God.      

            Verse 29 – “My Father.” Whenever Jesus used the words “Father” or “My Father” He was speaking from His humanity.

            “gave” is a perfect active indicative of didomi. The perfect tense means that this was given in eternity past; “me” – everything that is important, that is security, everything that is inner happiness, peace and blessing is tied up in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not tied up in the things of this life. Jesus is saying, “My heavenly Father gave me those who are believers.” Believers are in union with Christ. The Father gave us to the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity past, we are now His in reality after salvation (historically), therefore even though the devil is the ruler of this world we are still a gift from God the Father to God the Son. And God the Son does not treat such a gift lightly, and He has made thorough and total provision for each one of us.

            “is greater than all” – present active indicative of e)imi, ‘keeps on being.’ The word greater is meizon, a comparative adverb which means greater in degree. It is a reference to God the Father, the author of the divine plan. It indicates that our security in no way depends upon anything in this life, it depends entirely upon the Father, the Son and the Spirit—members of the Godhead. Out security depends upon God the Father and therefore it says “no man” or literally, “no one is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” No one refers to the creatures of this earth: fallen angels, unbelievers. Because the Father is greater than any power in this world we have one perfect security.

            “able” – present active indicative from dunamai which means to have the ability. No one, angel or human, has the ability or the power; “to pluck” – present active indicative of a(rpazw which means to seize by violence, to do violence to. No one has the ability to do violence to the believer, apart from His permission. Whenever He permits it there has to be a very unusual reason for it, and it becomes an individual matter where it occurs. The believer is under His security and His protection all the way.

            “my Father’s hand” is an anthropomorphism to indicate the protection used in the previous verse. [Anthropomorphism = ascribing to God some human characteristic].

 

            “Out of my Father’s hand”

1.       This is an anthropomorphism of eternal security.

2.       God is perfect; His plan is perfect.

3.       Therefore everything in the plan of God depends on His perfection, His resources, His love – His character.

4.       God’s plan is greater than our failures.

5.       God’s plan is greater than our sins.

6.       God’s plan is greater than our disasters.

You as a believer are anchored in union with Christ and nothing can shake it, nothing can destroy it. You are in something that is perfect and permanent.

 

            Verse 30 – now Jesus speaks from His deity. “I and my Father” – spoken from His humanity; but then He says something else: “we are one” – are is present linear aktionsart, absolute status quo, and it means “keep on being”; one has to do with essence. They are no one person, they have identical essence. Every religious Jew understood this and they started picking up rocks to stone Him to death. When He said, “I and my Father are one” they understood that He was saying that He was just as much God as the Father is. And that is true; He is. He and the Father are one. They are two different persons but they have identical essence.

            Verses 31-33, the rejection of the true shepherd.

            Verse 31 – “the Jews took up stones again to stone him.” The first time they did it was in John 8:59 in the temple. These are the religious Jews. Every stone in the hands of a Jew was a negative ballot in the grace of God and the plan of God. Notice that they are on Solomon’s porch and there are no stones on Solomon’s porch to lift up. We are given to understand that they had to go outside the porch where there was rough ground and they could pick up these stones and bring them back. Apparently, all the time that Jesus was speaking people were filing out to get stones and bringing them back.

            Note: verse 23 – “Tells us plainly”; verse 30 – He told them plainly. And they understood His statement.

            Verse 32 –“Jesus had an answer [Literally], Many good works have I shewed you.” The word for good here is not the usual word, it is kaloj rather than a)gaqoj [inherent or divine good]. He uses kaloj because it is something you can see that is good. The point is that they could see the miracles. This is the symmetry, the beauty of God’s plan. Although they could not see the beauty of God’s plan in eternity [a)gaqoj] past they now saw the manifestation of it in the miracles [kaloj]. The words “I have shewed” means to exhibit, not to show. The Greek word is deiknumi means to exhibit. The purpose of miracles was always to focus upon Christ so that the individual might see the issue of the cross and might believe in Jesus Christ, resulting in eternal life.

            “from the Father” – from is the source. The source of these is the Father. The Father designed the humanity of Christ to be filled with the Spirit so that these miracles could be performed in the power of the Spirit.

            “for which” is literally, ‘because of what kind’; “of those works do you stone me?” There are seven major miracles, seven credit cards to Messiah. And He says, ‘What kind, which one was it that brought out the stoning? Why are you ready to kill me now?’ They have seen six of them; the seventh will be in the next chapter – the resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead.

            Verse 33 – He gets an answer. “For a good work we do not stone you.” That is a lie. The Pharisees deny that their attempt at violence is not connected with the healing of the blind man on the Sabbath, yet that is exactly what it is. This violated their pet taboo of legalism; this aroused their antagonism. There is nothing worse than a legalistic religious person when you cross him.

            “but for blasphemy” – the penalty for blasphemy under the law was death by stoning, Leviticus 24:16. The Pharisees, because of their implacability, wanted Him eliminated and they are trying to use this as an excuse. These people were not seeking information, they wanted Him to condemn Himself. When He said, “I and the Father are one” He was saying “I am God,” and they call that blasphemy. That is their excuse to stone Him. They were only asking questions so they could kill! They wanted Jesus to condemn Himself and this was a violation of Jewish law (for a person to condemn himself from his own lips).

            “and because thou, being a man (and always being a man), make yourself God.” The word “makest” is a present active participle from poiew, which means to do or to make. And they are claiming that Jesus by speaking made Himself God.

1.       By Jewish law Jesus cannot be convicted by His own testimony.

2.       Under Jewish law they must prove that what Jesus said is not true. They cannot kill Him unless they prove that what He has said is not true.

3.       They can’t do it because the first six credit cards proved that He was God. So they can’t prove it by law.

4.       The prosecution in the Sanhedrin must prove that Jesus is not God. (This was on Solomon’s porch which was no court).

5.       They cannot prove Jesus was guilty of blasphemy until they establish the fact that He is not God. And they won’t do it because of they bring in the evidence, the more they bring in then the more it is demonstrated that He is God. So they won’t take Him to court. By the way, religious Christians will do this too – judge you without the facts, malign you, gossip about you, assume the worst about you, and dislike you without a cause. If you are a grace believer and you bump into legalism at any point, or religionism—whether it is a Christian or a non-Christian—, they are going to judge you; they are going to condemn you without the facts.

6.       They cannot establish this fact because Jesus has demonstrated that He is God.

7.       The religious crowd deny the Father’s evidence.

Hence, the court is out of order by rejecting evidence by the primary Witness who is the Father.

 

            Verse 34 – “Jesus answered them” is literally, ‘Jesus had an answer for them.”

            “Is it not written” – perfect tense of the verb grafw which is used for the permanence of the scripture. The scripture cannot be changed; it is here to stay. It was written in the past with the result that it stands written forever.

            “in your law” – Psalm 82:6. We have a quotation. “In your law” refers to the Old Testament scripture.”

            “I said, Ye are gods?” The word for “god” here is Elohim in the Hebrew. In Psalm 82:6 this is addressed to those who were the judges of Israel. We know this from Psalm 82:2. Now the question is: Why were they called ‘gods’? What is behind all this and why does Jesus use this particular quotation? It represented the function of God—judging. The judges who are addressed in Psalm 82:2 actually represented one of the divine functions which is delegated to human beings under divine institution #4. So since they represented one of the functions of God, which is judging, Jesus is much more a representative of God the Father than the judges of the Old Testament. The principle of logic is a very simple one. If men representing God could be called gods, how much more the true Son of God could be called “God.” All Jesus is doing is showing them that logically they have no right to try to execute Him without a trial because in Psalm 82:6 men were actually called gods, the reason being that they had one of the functions which belongs to God but was delegated—judging. Psalm 82:6 does not mean ‘You are gods,’ but ‘You represent a function of God [in judging the people of the land].’

            This was addressed to men, and if the scripture which cannot fail and cannot lie called certain people God, and Jesus calls Himself God, even if they simply think that he is a man Jesus is simply pointing out that they are out of line to jump Him for blasphemy. Because even more so He represents a function of God as illustrated by the six miracles He has already performed as credit cards for Messiahship. He has actually performed more than six miracles but these are specific as far as that function is concerned.

            Verse 35 – “If” is a 1st class condition; “he called them gods.” Jesus documents from scripture that human beings have been called gods. This is His defence. Specifically they represent one of God’s functions which is judging. Jesus is using logic at this point to refute the charge of blasphemy. There are two ways He could do this: a) Use the scripture directly. In other words, the scriptures pertaining to Himself. In that way the emphasis would be on the hypostatic union, the fact that He is the God-Man. He has already used that approach and they have not accepted it. b) He can use logic, and He can take one scripture where this logical approach is actually utilised. Jesus is greater than the judges; it is that simple. Since He has already demonstrated that he is greater than the judges, and since that the scripture has already called lesser types ‘gods.’ Logically Jesus cannot be punished by stoning for blasphemy.

 

1.       Jesus documents from scripture that human beings have been called gods – Psalm 82:6.

2.       Specifically they represented God in one of His functions – judging, Psalm 82:2.

3.       Jesus uses the logical approach to refute the charge of blasphemy.

4.       In quoting the Psalm passage Jesus assumes for the sake of argument that He is only a man (though He is not). This is the blasphemous assumption of the religious leaders. All Jesus is doing is showing them that they are outside the law if they try to kill Him.

5.       While the assumption is not true, because Jesus is eternal God, it is made for the sake of protecting unbelievers from an act whereby they would destroy their own freedom. Jesus is talking to unbelievers – religious types – therefore they are filled with violence. They want to take law into their own hands; they are violent for no reason. When you go outside of the structure of divine institution #4 – law and order – to gain power you lose the very basis of your power which is human freedom.

6.       Even if Jesus were only a man He does not deserve stoning to death, and if they stone Him they have gone outside of the law and destroyed the protector of their freedom. Unbelievers have two protections to their freedom: a) Divine institution #4; b) Bible doctrine on the part of believers in a nation. For these people in Israel at this time their protection is divine institution #4; they have law and order. And they are about to bypass their law and stone Jesus because He simply answered their question.

7.       Jesus takes the Pharisees’ position and refutes the charges from their assumption.

 

“unto whom” – the judges is Psalm 82:2; “the word of God” is a reference to the Old Testament scriptures; “came” – aorist tense, in a point of time.

            “and the scripture cannot be broken” – in this case it is a reference to the Old Testament scripture. The word broken here is an aorist passive infinitive of luw – in no point of time can the scripture be broken. Passive voice: it receives this protection. The infinitive indicates that this is God’s purpose and Jesus is arguing from an irrefutable source, a source which they recognise. Jesus makes an issue out of their own law.

            Some people are way out of it and think they shouldn’t vote in an election. They think it is sort of non-spiritual to become involved in the devil’s world. It is the devil’s world but God has put structure into the devil’s world to protect the volition of mankind so that the angelic conflict can be extended into mankind, and so that man can be evangelised, and so that the human race can survive. Therefore the believer has certain responsibilities under these divine institutions.

            Verse 36 – “Say ye of him [the Lord Jesus] whom the Father hath sanctified” – He has just taken up the subject of their freedom and now He goes back to the object of freedom when it comes to the issue of salvation. The Father is the author of the divine plan, and “has sanctified” is an aorist active indicative. The aorist tense is not a point of time, it is an occurrence in eternity. In eternity past the Father sanctified or set apart the Son. The Greek word for sanctified is a(giazw which means to set apart.

            “and sent” – this refers to time. There are two different words used in this verse: sanctified and sent. Sent is a)postellw, to be sent from the ultimate source, and this refers to time. He was set apart [sanctified] in eternity past; He was sent in time from the ultimate source of God the Father, an historical reference to the incarnation.

“Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God” – “Son of God is a technical title for deity. If God can address human beings as ‘gods’ – Psalm 82:6 – it is absurd to charge Jesus Christ who is both God and man as blaspheming when He uses the title the Son of God. All He did when He said, ‘I am the Son of God’ is merely repeat His answer to them.

            Verses 37-38, the credit card of the Shepherd.

            Verse 37 – “If” is a 1st class condition. In other words, “If I do not provide bona fide credit cards from scripture.” He is going back to general scripture in which it was prophesied that Jesus would perform certain types of miracles. He has already performed six and in the next chapter we will get the seventh credit card. These are credit cards of Messiahship. So He is saying that if He does not present these credit cards then they shouldn’t believe Him. So He is making a principle: the scripture summarizes the credit card system to that any member of Israel would know.

            “believe me not” – present active imperative. He commands them: pisteuw plus the negative. Present tense: keep on; active voice: that’s your free will. Why does He want them to keep on having free will? Why does He want to keep them from destroying their free will? Because He knows that the Jews still have forty years as a nation, and during that time it is important to have their volition. Therefore the imperative mood, He commands them: “Do not believe in me if I do not have the bona fide credit cards.” He has presented them. Confronted with the truth that Jesus Christ is Messiah they Pharisees have rejected His message. They have been trying to rationalise the miracles. The miracles plus the message are irrefutable, Jesus Christ is God, He is the God-Man, the only saviour, the hope of Israel. The Pharisees are not only in danger of losing the opportunity for salvation but also of losing their freedom. He is the hope of Israel as individual Jews believe in Him and have eternal life; He is the hope of Israel and a nation; and because Israel has rejected Jesus Christ as saviour within forty years they will no longer be a nation. He came with those credit cards which were Bible doctrine, and when a nation rejects Bible doctrine it goes down.

            Verse 38 – the positive side. “But if I do” – in other words, ‘If I do present the credit cards.’ This is present linear aktionsart, which means He has presented a number of them. It is also a dramatic present: these credit cards are dramatic.

            “though” is a 3rd class condition. He says, ‘Even though you do not believe what I am saying you have a choice of two things by which you can come to the truth’: a) the message; b) the miracles. He says, ‘If you don’t believe me, believe what I do.’ One way or another if they listen to what Jesus says they are hearing the message from God Himself. But of they do not listen to what Jesus says and believe the miracles they are accepting the testimony of the Old Testament scriptures. So there is a written testimony and the spoken testimony and they both cover the same ground. The miracles also witnessed to who and what Christ was, i.e. to Israel.

            “believe the works” – believe the miracles, the credit cards. Why?

            “that” introduces a purpose clause; “may know” – aorist active subjunctive. The word ginwskw is used twice here. It means to know from the experience of learning. The first time it is used it is an aorist active subjunctive and correctly translated, “that ye may know.” This is phase one knowledge/information.

            “and believe” – again, ginwskw. This time it is a present active subjunctive. It isn’t believe, it is ‘that you may know and keep on knowing.’ This is phase two! Here is the issue. ‘If you don’t believe what I say when I say that I am the Son of God, when I say that I am the only hope, when I say that I am the only saviour, then believe my credit cards. If you believe my works then you are going to know that I am the saviour’ – aorist active subjunctive of ginwskw. The words “and believe” in the KJV is literally, “and keep on knowing.”

                        “that ye may know” – phase one knowing; “and keep on knowing” – learning of doctrine.

            “that the Father in me and I in him” – no verb here. This is relationship. There is a relationship between the first and the second persons of the Trinity, and the person who believes in Christ enters into that relationship. The first person becomes our Father and the second person becomes with us the joint heir – we are in union with Him; He is the heir of the Father; we are joint heirs with Him.

            Verse 39 – the reaction of religion.

            “Therefore they kept on seeking again to seize him” – they did not try to stone Him, they want to seize Him now. The word take in the KJV is piazw. It means to arrest Him. They now want to take Him to court. It indicates that they saw the issue and they are not going to stone Him because they destroy their own freedom by doing so. Now they grab Him to take Him into court but now He is gone. Why? Because there is no issue in the court. There would be a malfunction of justice in the court and that would destroy their freedom. As a matter of fact Jesus is tried six times before the crucifixion. Three of them are in a Jewish court and in all three there is malfunction. Then three times in a Roman court, and the Romans were honest in their law procedure. For example, Pilate says, “I find no fault in Him.” According to Roman law He was absolutely innocent. But because of political expediency Pilate condemned Him anyway, and in so doing Pilate wound up a suicide personally but Rome went on because under Roman law Pilate was honest, and where Roman law was concerned he was honest and objective and he declared the truth of Roman law. Roman law to this day says Jesus Christ was innocent. Therefore Rome went on for hundreds of years because Roman law pronounced innocence.

            “but he escaped out of their hand” – because the issue before the Jewish law, the Sanhedrin, must wait six days. He postponed the issue before the Sanhedrin. Jesus knows that He is going before the Sanhedrin which is the supreme court of the Jews but He must postpone for six days. This is because there is going to be malfunction of justice, and this will destroy the nation in forty years – fifth cycle of discipline. The reason for the fifth cycle was because of malfunction under their own law. Here we have the wall of fire protecting Jesus, not that He fears the court but it isn’t the right time. He postpones for six days the meeting with the Sanhedrin.

            Verse 40 – Jesus separates Himself from religion. Separation comes in the words, “he went away” – aorist active indicative of a)perxomai. The aorist tense is a decisive action. He knew exactly what He was doing and He separated from religion [a)po = ultimate source; erxomai = to go]. He went from the ultimate source of His own thinking. He made His own decision and He got way out of it.

[Note: Doctrine of separation.]

            As a result of the separation, notice what happens.

            Verse 41 & 42 – “many believed”, aorist tense, point of time. They believe and were saved, and that was it.

 

            The seven credit cards of Messiah

            In the first twelve chapters of John the whole emphasis is Jesus presenting the credit cards [works, divine good]. In chapters 13-21 He presents His message and completes His work [the cross].

1.       The turning water into wine – John 2:1-11.

2.       The healing of the nobleman’s son – John 4:46-54.

3.       The healing of the impotent man – John chapter 5.

4.       The feeding of the five thousand – John 6:1-14.

5.       Walking on the sea – John 6:16-21.

6.       The healing of congenital blindness – John 9:1-14.

The resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead -- John chapter 11.