I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. John 10:9
In 1999, after my wife and I visited Israel, we stopped in London for a few days on our way back. On one of those days, as we finished a tour at British Parliament, an English gentlemen asked if we’d like to see 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s residence. As we approached the gate, manned by law enforcement, our guide asked if we could see the Prime Minister. For a few moments, I held out hope that our guide could get us through the gate. Sadly, he couldn’t. I could have tried to access the Prime Minister’s residence other ways but all of them would have landed me in a British jail. The only access was through that gate. Jesus uses a similar metaphor regarding the Kingdom of God. John 10:7-8 says, “Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.’”
In the ancient east during the warmer months, shepherds would take their sheep to pastures to graze and, at night, bring them into the sheepfold for safety and security. The gate of the sheepfold would be guarded by shepherds who would lie down at the entrance. The only way in or out was through the shepherd. Like how access to 10 Downing St was only granted to by the gatekeeper, the only access to the Kingdom of God is through Jesus Christ. We are given three things once we access the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.
1) Safety and security. Just as the sheep felt secure in the sheepfold, we have safety and security in the Kingdom of God.
· I can have security knowing that I have peace with God
· I can have security knowing that I am justified.
· I can have security knowing that I am forgiven of my failure and sins.
· I can have security knowing that am accepted into God’s family.
· I can have security knowing that I am a new creation.
· I can have security knowing that I have been given eternal life.
2) Nourishment. Beyond the physical safety of the sheep, the most important thing a shepherd could do was provide nourishment. Shepherds didn’t let their sheep forage to find nourishment on their own. They would lead their flock to where food could be found. David, in Psalms 23, alludes to this nourishment when he says of the shepherd, “He makes me to lie down in green pasture, he leads me beside still waters.” Every day, Jesus invites us to come to Him for the promise of the nourishment that we need to live. He offers not grass and water, but rather His time as He leads us to nourishment for our spiritual lives.
3) An Abundant Life. A shepherd recognizes that his primary objective is for the flock to flourish. Instead of only looking at life from a temporal or earthly perspective, we are able to see that the suffering or problems we experience aren’t going to last forever. This is a perspective that God is in control and He wants to see His flock flourish for eternity; a perspective that understands we may not comprehend everything here on earth, but that we serve a God who does. All of this is given not because of what we know, but because of who we know, our gatekeeper Jesus Christ.