Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free BonusesChapter 8
Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free Bonuses
In John 10:16 is the story of The Sheepfold. Let me explain some things about this verse and then I am going to look at this chapter beginning with verse 1. But it is imperative that we understand verse 16 first.
John 10:16
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (KJV)
Now I want you to look at the English word "fold", that is used twice in this verse. The first time it is used here, it is the Greek word for "fold", AULE, and it should have been translated "fold". Some of your Bibles may have that as a footnote. The second occurrence of the English word "fold" in this verse is a totally different Greek word from the first one that is translated "fold". This second occurrence, however, should NOT have been translated "fold", because it is the Greek word for "flock", POIMAN. There is a difference in a "sheepfold" and "a flock of sheep". These words are radically different in the Greek and should have been so translated. I don't know why they were translated like this. As a matter of fact a lot of theological errors have been brought about by this translation. What this verse actually says is this: "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold. That is what it says. "Them also I must bring and they shall hear My Voice and there shall be one flock composed of two different groups of sheep". Now having said that, we will go to chapter 10 and read the first six verses.
John 10:1-6
CHAPTER 10
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. (KJV)
The word "verily" is a translation of a Greek word from which comes our English word "amen" and it means "truly". When somebody says something in the preaching and some one of you says amen, what that actually says is "I agree with what you are saying because what you are saying is the truth". This translates the Greek word "amen" which means truly.
Now, the flock and sheepfold is the typical scenario of something with which everybody in that day would have been familiar. It was the scenario of the sheepfold. Now a sheepfold was a place usually in a valley which had been built and fenced so that the shepherds from the surrounding hills might bring their flocks in there at night for safe keeping. Now when they would go in there, all these sheep, belonging to various shepherds, were mixed together. Back then, they didn't have name tags, they didn't have branding irons, like we do today. They just mixed all the sheep up in this one huge coral, as it were, which was a sheepfold.
But there was something unique about the relationship of the sheep to their individual shepherds. The shepherd and the sheep got to know each other. They got to know each other to the point where the shepherd knew the sheep's names. And the sheep knew the shepherd to the point where they recognized his voice and they would only respond to their own shepherd. It didn't matter if there were 500 sheep in the sheepfold, the next morning when it was time for the shepherd to take the sheep out and go back to the pasture, he could get in there and begin to call his own sheep by name and one by one they would come out of the other 500 even though that particular shepherd might have only had 6 or 8 sheep. They recognized their own shepherd's voice. They responded to their own shepherd's voice. They came out and all the other sheep would stay there. They would only come out when their shepherd came and called them out of the rest of them.
This is the scenario here and this was not unusual, not one thing unusual about this passage. This is how it was in the Middle East at that time. This is a typical shepherd language, word picture scenario. All the sheep, belonging to the different shepherds having come down from the hills, would be placed into the sheepfold at night. The individual sheep, however, would only follow their own shepherd. This means I could go in there and I could call out your sheep and they would never respond. You could go down there and call out my sheep and my sheep would never respond to you. My sheep would only respond to the sound of my voice. This is Jesus' meaning in the following verse.
John 10:27
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (KJV)
Now, Jesus claims two things here for himself as He speaks this scenario to these people. He said, first of all I am the Door to this thing. And second, not only was He the Door, but Jesus said He is the Shepherd. Third, He says, "I have some sheep in there. I have a flock in there". But then He said, "I have some sheep of another flock that's not in there yet. I am going to bring those sheep and I am going to put them in that sheepfold and I am going to make one flock out of two". Now, when Jesus spoke, Christianity didn't exist yet. They were still operating under, what? Judaism which operated under what? The Abrahamic Covenant. Now, the Abrahamic Covenant included healing, prosperity, well being for their families in addition to the salvation of their soul. Jesus is saying "That is My flock that is in there, but I have a flock out there that hasn't been brought in there yet". What's He talking about when He says "another flock"? He is talking about bringing the Gentiles into the only "fold" God ever had which is the Abrahamic Sheepfold. Now then, what Jesus is setting the stage for is to bring the Gentiles into the Jewish flock, into the Father's fold, the fences of which are composed of the Abrahamic covenant. If we put all this together, this is how we come out. If we lift everything out of context, nothing makes sense and you can make it say anything that you want it to, but when you do you will absolutely lose your healing, your prosperity and your well being because these three things are contained only in the Abrahamic Covenant Sheepfold.
Now the sheep that He already had in that fold were Jewish sheep. Those people obviously were under that Abrahamic Covenant. But when He says "I have other sheep that are not part of this flock that I want to bring in and I am going to put them into this flock which is located within this fold, He's bringing us Gentiles into the same Abrahamic system.
You know what the great mystery about the church was? Dispensationalists say the mystery of the church is the fact that it was hidden in the Old Testament, that they didn't even know anything about a church back then. But that's not what the Bible says. The great mystery of the church in the Old Testament was the fact that Gentiles were going to be grafted into the same, Abrahamic, Jewish system on an identical, even basis and even footing with the Jews; so that we have everything going for us they had going for them because we are now in their Abrahamic system. See my book, The Unbroken Force of Abraham's Blessings for a complete, definitive explanation of this subject.
So Jesus said, "I have sheep which are not of this flock that I am going to put into that same flock inside that fold and like that bunch of Jewish sheep, the Gentile sheep are also going to respond only to my voice. Then there will only be one fold and one flock, one door, and one shepherd. At that point, Gentiles become a part of the Jewish fold who had healing and prosperity and well being for their families promised to them. And we Gentiles are going to be put into that same flock inside that same fold. That fold has never yet been changed by the Hand of God. That's where we Gentiles are.
Now, Jesus said He was the Door. He also said He was the Shepherd. Then He compares Himself to a thief and a hireling.
John 10:7-15
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
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.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. (KJV)
That same principle can be applied to the ministry. A lot of preachers today could care less about their people. They are in it purely because it is their career. That bunch is nothing but a bunch of hirelings. When the pressure comes on and the going gets rough, those people will jump ship and they will give their people over to the wolves. They could care less as long as they make their number one objective which is climbing the political ladder of their career.
I took a man's place in a church one time, and right after I got there the former pastor came to town and wanted to take me to lunch. So I went to lunch. All that I could hear was about this man's career. He was worried about his career, how his leaving the church in bad shape before I got there, how it was going to effect his career. It was his career this and his career that and his career something else. I was sitting there saying to myself, this guy is a hireling. This guy is a hireling. This guy is a hireling. Not one time did he ever say to me that he was concerned about the church, that he was concerned about the sheep, that he was concerned about the flock. He was worried about his career. The guys a hireling. Are you listening to me? Jesus said the hiring will dump the sheep because he doesn't care for the sheep. He is more concerned about what he is going to put into his pocket than he is about the concern for the sheep. Brother, Jesus has no confidence or no use for a religious hireling. They are professional clergymen, brother, they dot our landscape from coast to coast in this country and they are an abomination to God Almighty. There is no power in those ministries. There is no power in those churches. Because they are hirelings.
Jesus said I am the Good Shepherd and I will lay down My Life for the sheep. Brother, when you have somebody who is willing to lay it on the line, he will do that. Jesus said that all that ever came before Me was a thief or a hireling. They didn't care. All they wanted was what they could get. What they could put in their pocket. They were for sale. But He said, I came that My sheep might have a more abundant life. Notice what He said. I give My Life for the sheep that the sheep might have the abundant life, not Himself.
There is a radical difference between the hireling and the real McCoy. I mean that doesn't take a whole lot of brains to figure out. Can you figure that one out? That's like the two women who got into an argument over a child. They both said, "The child belongs to me". And they went to King Solomon to settle the problem. And one woman finally gave the baby up because Solomon was going to cut the baby in two and give half to one and half to the other. And the one that was the real mother said, "No, give it to the other woman". Why? Because she had a greater concern for the child than she did for herself. You see the hiring could care less. He wants what he can get. But the shepherd will lay his life down. And, you see, a genuine sheep can read this stuff, because a real sheep only follows the voice of the real shepherd. He does not respond to the voice of a thief. Jesus said not only am I the Shepherd but I am the Door and all this bunch that has come before Me were nothing but thieves. Then He said these so called shepherds that come around here are nothing but hirelings. They are in it for what they can get. They don't care about the welfare of the flock. But the shepherd gives his life for the flock.
Where am I going with all of this? It's amazing to me that everybody here can know that God loved us enough to give His Son, Jesus. Jesus loved us enough to give His Life. And then think that They don't love us enough to give us anything else we might need. When Romans 8:32 says, very simply, very quickly, and very plainly that:
Rom 8:32
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (KJV)
How can that be? In other words, anything that I might have any need for, I am entitled to look to God to have that need supplied because it only makes sense that God will give it to me since He cared enough to give me His Son. The Son, being the Shepherd of the Sheep, laid down His Life for us. It only makes sense to me that I can expect the rest of the things that I might need from God to be forthcoming since this has already been done in my behalf. Do you see the logic here that I am following? Let's look at the shepherd giving His life here for just a minute.
John 10:17-18
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (KJV)
You see Jesus did not have to do what He did. No power on this earth could have taken His Life. God promised Him that. But He laid down His Life because He had the power to do it and the power to pick it up again. But nothing else had power to take it any from Him. Now that is the love of a shepherd. Do you see where I am coming from? Now, if God cared enough to give up His Son and the Son cared enough to deliberately give up His Own Life, how could it ever be possible for God to not, along with Him, also freely give us all things. If there is ever a need in my life, a bill that I cannot pay, surely I could go to God and expect to get some help. If ever a sickness came along that I needed some help with that my body wouldn't throw off naturally; surely if all of this other stuff had been invested in me by God the Father, and God the Son, surely I could expect help from God. Are you seeing this?
This is a real shepherd. He gave His Life. If He gave that, surely He will give us the paltry things. A healing, an extra few bucks, to help us make it. Now that is the difference between the shepherd and the hireling. Jesus was not for sale. I mean you couldn't black-mail him and scare him. No body had power to take anything from Him. He had the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again and he deliberately chose to do what He did. And He did that because He loved us. That's the real thing. That's the distinction between a hireling and the real thing. Aren't you glad we serve the real thing? Aren't you glad that God still has some real things still out there in this world? We don't have to get suckered up with a hireling. I can't stand a person that is for sale. You know that old expression, "Every man has his price". Don't you bet on that. There's some that don't. I mean there are some out there that you can't buy with any amount of money. So don't say every man has his price. Every man does not have a price, because not every man is for sale. I mean sometimes you chose between climbing the political ladder for your so-called career and between doing what's right. Most of the time, these two things are radically different. The hireling will go the ladder climbing route but the real thing will stay on the bottom rung if it's necessary, because he is not for sale.
Are you a hireling? Or, are you the real stuff? There comes a time when you draw a line in the dirt, gentle reader, and do not step across it because you are going to serve God no matter what. Now if you haven't come to that place yet, sooner or later you will. When it does you best draw the line because you cannot walk down both sides of that fence at the same time. The hireling will. He doesn't care where he lands. He will go on the side that pays him best. But the real thing will stay on the bottom rung of that ladder until Jesus comes if that's what's necessary. Because he is not for sale.
Do you know that most churches would be a whole lot bigger if they would just cater to certain elements? If the pastors would run over to people's house and hold their hands and do this and do that; they would be a whole lot bigger. But it would be a great big nursery.
Father, bless this day. Bless this humble exposition of Your Word. Thank You my Father that through the Good Shepherd You brought us Gentiles into the flock of God, into that sheepfold where there with them now there is one flock, not Jew and Gentile, there's one. And we have been grafted into the Jewish structure which is the Abrahamic covenant. Therefore, healing and prosperity belong to us and we thank You. We ask you now to bless our people, Father, with healing and with prosperity in addition to the salvation of their soul. This is my prayer in Jesus Name. Amen.
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Date Last Updated:
February 27, 2008
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