Jesus explains how He is the Good Shepherd. His sheep hear and know His voice. Although evil people may come and try to steal them, His sheep can discern what is wrong and right. The Jewish, religious leaders surrounded Him at the Temple and asked for a sign that He is the Messiah. He explained that He had done miracles and to believe in them, because He is God. At this point, they grabbed stones to throw at Jesus, but He walked away.
At night, sheep were often gathered into a sheepfold to protect them from thieves, weather, or wild animals. The sheepfold were caves, sheds, or open areas surrounded by walls made of stones or branches. The shepherd often slept in the fold to protect the sheep. Just as a shepherd care for his sheep, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, cares for His flock (those who follow Him). The prophet Ezekiel, in predicting the coming of the Messiah, called Him a Shepherd.
Ezekiel 34:23 "And I will set one Shepherd over all my people, even my Servant, David. He shall feed them and be a Shepherd to them."
Verses 1-5. Here is a parable or analogy, taken from the customs of the East, in the management of sheep. Men, as creatures depending on their Creator, are called the sheep of His pasture. The church of God in the world is as a sheep-fold, exposed to deceivers and persecutors. The great Shepherd of the sheep knows all that are His, guards them by His providence, guides them by His Spirit and Word, and goes before them, as the Eastern shepherds went before their sheep, to show them where to walk. Ministers must serve the sheep in their spiritual concerns. The Spirit of Christ will set before them an open door. The sheep of Christ will observe their Shepherd, and be cautious and shy of strangers, who would draw them from faith in Him to fancies about Him.
If anyone contradicts the Bible in their teaching, their words are not from God.
Verses 6-9. Many who hear the word of Christ, do not understand it, because they will not. But we will find one scripture clarifying another, and the blessed Spirit making known the blessed Jesus. Christ is the Door. And what greater security has the church of God than that the Lord Jesus is between it and all its enemies? He is a door open for passage and communication. Here are plain directions; we must come in by Jesus Christ as the Door. By faith in Him as the great Mediator between God and man. Also, we have precious promises to those that observe this direction. Christ has all that care of His church, and every believer, which a good shepherd has of his flock; and He expects the church, and every believer, to wait on Him, and to keep in His pasture.
There is a father who has children. He lives in a house next to a busy street. One day he builds a fence around the yard, so the children won't get hit by a car in the street. This is what Jesus does for us. Jesus gives us His Words as protection. But His words only protect us when we listen and obey them.
Verses 10-18. Christ is a good Shepherd; many who were not thieves, yet were careless in their duty, and by their neglect the flock was much hurt. Bad principles are the root of bad practices. The Lord Jesus knows whom He has chosen, and is sure of them; they also know whom they have trusted, and are sure of Him. See here the grace of Christ; since none could demand His life of Him, He laid it down for our redemption. He offered Himself to be the Savior. He offered Himself as the Sacrifice. He was both the offerer and the offering, so that His laying down His life was His offering up himself. From here it is plain, that Jesus died in the place of men; to obtain their being set free from the punishment of sin, to obtain the pardon of their sin; and that His death should obtain that pardon. Our Lord didn't lay His life down for His doctrine, but for His sheep.
John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Jesus is the greatest love. And He is love (I John 4:8).
Verses 11, 12. A hired man tends the sheep for money, while the shepherd does it for love. The shepherd is committed to his sheep. Jesus is not merely doing a job; He is committed to love us and even lay down His life for us. False teachers and false prophets do not have this commitment.
False teachers draw attention to themselves. Godly teachers draw attention to God.
Verses 19, 20. If Jesus had been merely a man, He would have been a madman because of His claims to be God. But His miracles proved His words true--He really is God. The Jewish leaders could not see beyond their own prejudices, and they tried to put Jesus in a human "box." But Jesus was not limited by their limited vision.
Whenever we expect God to work only in certain ways, we have limited God. What we see God doing is partly determined by what we think He can do. A small god can only do small things. But a great God can do awesome things. Don't put God in a box.
Verses 19-21. Satan ruins many, by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances. Men would not be laughed out of their necessary food, yet suffer themselves thus to be laughed out of what is far more necessary. If our zeal and earnestness in the cause of Christ, especially in the blessed work of bringing his sheep into his fold, bring upon us evil names, let us not heed it, but remember our Master was thus reproached before us.
Verses 22-30. All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find Him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood His meaning, but could not form His words into a full charge against Him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of His sheep; they heard and believed His Word, followed Him as His faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus He was able to defend His sheep against all their enemies, which proves that He claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father.
There are many reasons to be afraid here on earth, because this is Satan's domain. However, if you choose to follow Jesus, He will give you everlasting safety.
Verse 24. These leaders were waiting for the signs and answers they thought would convince them of Jesus' identity. So they couldn't hear the truth Jesus was giving them. Jesus tried to correct their mistaken ideas, but they clung to the wrong idea of what kind of Messiah God would send. Such blindness still keeps people away from Jesus. They want Him on their own terms; they do not want Him if it means changing their whole lives.
Before someone believes in Jesus Christ, they will not understand spiritual things.
Verses 30, 31. This is one of the clearest statements of Jesus' divinity--He and the Father are one. They are not the same person, but they are one in essence and nature. Jesus is not merely a good teacher--He is God. His claim to be God is unmistakable. The religious leaders wanted to kill Him for it, because their laws said that anyone claiming to be God should die. Nothing could persuade them that Jesus' claim was true.
Verses 31-38. Christ's works of power and mercy proclaim Him to be over all, God blessed for evermore, that all may know and believe He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. Whom the Father sends, He sanctifies. The Holy God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as He makes holy. The Father was in the Son, so that by Divine power He executed His miracles; the Son was so in the Father, that He knew the whole of His mind. This we cannot by searching find out to perfection, but we may know and believe these declarations of Christ.
Verses 39-42. No weapon formed against our Lord Jesus can prosper. He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because His hour was not come. And He who knew how to deliver Himself, knows how to deliver the godly out of their temptations, and to make a way for them to escape. Persecutors may drive Christ and His gospel our of their own city or country, but they cannot drive Him or it out of the world. When we know Christ by faith in our hearts, we find all that the Scripture mentions of Him is true.
1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."