John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. I am the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. During long ages Israel was God's flock; her system of life and worship, fenced round with laws and ordinances, was his fold; her prophets and righteous rulers were his shepherds. It was in many respects a strange and unique spectacle. "A people that dwelt alone, and was not reckoned among the nations." What was the key to this historic problem? One key to it at least was the hope of a Messiah. To see and in some measure grasp this hope was essential to every true Israelite. Whether such a one was a shepherd or a sheep of the flock, his faith in a present God embraced at the same time the promise of a Redeemer to come. Hence our Lord says (vers. 7, 8), "I am the Door of the sheep. All that ever came before me [irrespective of me] were thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." But now that the Messiah had come, his mission was not to destroy, but to fulfill; not to disappoint, but to expand, to exceed the hopes of God's ancient people. And so, lifting up his eyes, Jesus sees before him a wider horizon, a richer pasture, and room for a larger flock than any Israelite had thought of. He even drops the image of a fold for the moment, or rather widens it out indefinitely, and speaks of himself as the Door - the one way of entrance into the blessings of his own kingdom. "I am the Door," etc. Thus, by means of a simple image, Christ places himself between the whole human race and true blessedness. This is one of his world-wide, universal claims which at once distinguish him from all other prophets and teachers whom God has ever sent. They could point out to their fellows more or less clearly the path of life; Christ alone said, "I am the Way." In moments of rapture they could sing themselves, or teach others to sing," Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will enter into them." Christ said, "I am the Door: let every man enter in by me." He said this calmly at the first, amid the captious Pharisees who surrounded him; and wherever his gospel is preached or his Name made known, he says it still. To the happy and to the miserable, to the virtuous and to the vicious, to young and old, to the great ones of the earth and to men of low estate, to every class of character and to each isolated individual, he says, "If you would know what true life is, if you would escape from imminent peril into a land of peace, 'I am the Door.'" The text divides itself. In the first part of it - I. CHRIST CLAIMS TO BE THE PORTAL OF SAFETY, THE DOOR OF DELIVERANCE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." And he says this with perfect insight into our condition here. He knows what is in man; if some of us under a calm exterior are carrying about with us a bad conscience, or if, reckless and gay to outward appearance, we are afraid to be alone with ourselves or with God. He knows what is around man - the evil examples, the strong temptations that enslave so many wills, the false lights and the delusive hopes that blind so many understandings. And he knows what is before man; for the veil that hides the future from our view is perfectly transparent to his eyes; and he spoke more solemnly of human destiny than any of the ancient prophets or of his own apostles ever spoke. So that no man, however profoundly dissatisfied with himself, remorseful for the past, despondent or anxious about the future, can complain that this word of Christ is not for him. He knows you, brother, better than you know yourself - as thoroughly as if there was no other wanderer in this wide wilderness but you. He has followed you step by step; has witnessed your most secret sins, however little you thought of his piercing eye; has seen through every excuse you have made for yourself, and beneath every mask you have worn so bravely before the world; and now that you are weary in the greatness of your way, instead of despising you, or upbraiding you with your folly, he gives you a personal invitation, definite and distinct, to a blessedness that you have never known; and instead of tantalizing you with vague or impracticable counsels, such as bidding you first save yourselves and then look up for his blessing, first undo the bitter past and then consult him about the future, he bids you come to him just as you are, with your burden on your back. "I am the Door," etc. Ah! many a prodigal has trembled to enter the door of his old home; but surely when Christ, the sinner's Friend, condescends to call himself the Door of his Father's house, none need fear to approach through him. Yet to many Christ's claim to be the Portal of safety seems superfluous so far as they themselves are concerned. They admit that his glowing offers of life and salvation are well suited to outcasts and prodigals, or to poor despondent creatures who are afraid to repent; but only to such. In their own case they surely possess the germs at least of a good and worthy character, and while they are willing that these germs should be nourished and fostered by the teaching of Jesus Christ, they can ask from him nothing more, nothing at least that can be called salvation. But how did our Lord himself speak to men in such a state of mind as this? Early in his ministry one of them came to him by night, calling him a Teacher sent from God, and asking for instruction. To this man, this master in Israel, Jesus replied, "Ye must be born again." You need a change of mind and heart which I came down from heaven to give. Yes, and to all who are like Nicodemus he gives the same counsel still. He says, "You need more than some general helps to moral improvement, more than the quickening of your consciences, or the strengthening of your better motives and impulses. Supernatural help, even Divine forgiveness and Divine strength, are essential to you - nay, they are waiting for you; and in order to realize them and make them your own, there is one direction in all the wide horizon to which you must look, one definite step you must take. 'I am the Door.'" II. In the second part of the text CHRIST CLAIMS TO BE THE PORTAL OF PROMISE TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM. Each one of these, he says, "shall go in and out, and find pasture." For here, as we have said, the image of a fold widens out into that of a kingdom-,a land of promise better than that which Moses saw from the top of Pisgah; a goodly country where there is room for all the flock of God to dwell, and where its wants shall be satisfied. This good land is, in one word, the Christian calling. It is the life to which Christ admits his disciples. Realizing that life and making it their own, they shall lie down and rise up in the Divine favor, and "the Lord shall preserve their going out and their coming in, from henceforth even forever." But what is the pasture they shall find there? What is the nourishment provided for them? In answer to this we have only to think what are the great wants of our being, essential to us as creatures made in the image of God, for assuredly it is these that fall within the scope of Christ's promises. 1. First of all there is truth. I mean the assured knowledge of God and of his will - practical certainty with regard to our position here, and the great realities which surround us. Well has this been called the first necessity of man's moral nature. The understanding craves for it. The renewed heart would sicken and faint without it. But this priceless nourishment is Christ's to bestow. At the great crisis of his life, when he stood before Pilate's judgment-seat, he claimed to be both the Witness and the King of truth. "To this end," he said, "was I born, and for this cause came I into the world." And though his claims were set at naught by the world, they were gloriously vindicated by his rising from the dead, and by the mission of the Holy Ghost, by the outward and the inward seal of the Eternal. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his words concerning God and man, and the broad way and the narrow way, and the cross of true discipleship and the beatitudes of the kingdom, shall not pass away. Evermore they shall feed and strengthen the souls of his faithful followers. And as in a very deep sense it is the Spirit of Christ that breathes throughout the Scriptures from beginning to end both in those of the ancient prophets and of the holy men who came after, so the flock of the good Shepherd shall ever find green pastures and still waters as they meditate upon them. Even now, as in the beginning of the gospel, Christ opens their understanding that they may understand the Scriptures. 2. Another great need of our souls is sympathy, and we may surely say that abundant food has been provided for this craving in the new life of Christ's disciples, which is our gospel land of promise. There is such a thing as the communion of saints. Precious is the fellowship which they have with one another as they sing God's praises together, and as they bow before the same mercy-seat, and as in their assemblies the same thoughts of things which are unseen and eternal fill all their minds. It is well for them when they speak heart to heart of the things which concern their peace, and encourage one another in the good way. But the life and soul of this fellowship is the secret communion which each of them enjoys with God in Christ. To him they can lay open all their hearts. From him they receive help of which they cannot well speak to others. "He is touched with a feeling of their infirmities." Some sorrow may be too deep, some difficulty too delicate, for the ears of their fellow-men; but before him they need have no reserve, and assuredly his Divine sympathy is like nothing else in human experience. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." They "taste and see that God is good" when they enter into the secret of his presence through the open door of Christ's mediatorship, and thus our Lord's great promise is fulfilled, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Such are Christ's claims, such his offers in the words before us. He does not speak to his disciples of raptures and ecstasies, or promise to transport them to some dreamland where they shall enjoy a charmed or enchanted life. But he says they shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. Their earthly lot may not be such as they would choose for themselves. The outward aspect of Providence may sometimes be stern, circumstances trying and hostile; but he who presides over all the events of life, and sees the end from the beginning, has promised to keep them in the hollow of his hand. He is their Shepherd, and they shall not want. Throughout the years of their pilgrimage here he will feed them with the bread of life, and refresh them with the water of life, and with these experiences and with his own promises he will inspire their minds with nothing less than the hope of glory. "Blessed are the people that are in such a case" as this! - G.B. Parallel Verses KJV: I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. |
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