The sheep hear His voice, and he calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.

John 10:3

What if you knew? Ten days to live, and you knew it. How would you plan your days? Would you spend time with your family? Your mom? Your brothers and sisters?

The walls were beginning to close in on Jesus and the church leaders of that day, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes were all seeking to not only limit Jesus’ ministry but to ultimately end it. And to end it meant Jesus had to die. From a human standpoint, I would personally have gone to my family and spent my last days with them. But Jesus? No. He spent His last days on the earth with those who were closest to Him. He spent His last days teaching and helping them to understand His purpose and how he was fulfilling it.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd of His Sheep

Jesus begins this section of Scripture by speaking of Himself and His sheep. As much as we might not like the way Jesus describes those who follow Him, He does call them sheep. Sheep are not very smart, fragile, and also need protection. They are not the fierce fighters and generally fall prey to other preditors.
If you follow Jesus, you have the characteristics of sheep. And every sheep needs a shepherd. In this chapter, Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd. So what does that mean? It means He cares deeply for us. We’ll dive a little deeper and look at the first thing this means to us.

Jesus is the Protector of His Sheep

Jesus says there is one way into the sheepfold. The sheepfold is the place of protection. The pen. Jesus’ protection of His sheep comes from His intense love for them. The first thing that we see is that the sheep hear His voice, and He calls them by name. When is the last time you listened to the words of Jesus? Jesus doesn’t speak to us audibly as He did to His disciples, but He speaks through His word. So the question changes. When is the last time you read the Bible and gained some critical insight into your life and decisions you should make? So what happens is this…because we belong to Jesus, we are given some discernment to hear His voice when we listen for it. Remember, it is through Scripture that He speaks to us.
Jesus not only calls us by name, but he also protects us. The shepherd would often either sit or lie across the opening or gate area to protect His sheep. So when an animal came to the gate to injury or wipe out a flock of sheep, the shepherd would put an end to it by protecting the sheep at all cost. I have to be honest. There is no one I would rather have protecting me than Jesus.

Jesus is the Leader of His Sheep

We also see where Jesus leads His sheep. He calls them by name. An interesting thing about sheep is that they actually can discern the voice of the shepherd. Two or three flocks can be in the sheepfold for the night. But when the morning comes, each shepherd calls for his sheep, and they go out of the gate to follow him. They followed because they recognized the voice of their shepherd. This is what Jesus is trying to say at the beginning of John 10. He says that the sheep hear and can discern His voice, and He leads them out and goes before them.
Jesus is the leader of His sheep. There is no doubt that the sheep trust Him because He protects them and leads them to water and food and beautiful green grass. The Lord is our Shepherd.
So what does this mean? It means that Jesus is the Protector and Leader of His sheep, and His sheep are those who have placed their faith in what He did on the cross for them.

Jesus was clearly focused on His mission

Jesus had one thing in His mind. His time on earth was short, and He needed to teach His disciples the most important things about what was about to happen. In John 10:6, we see that the disciples didn’t even understand what He was saying. The saying didn’t fall on deaf ears, but rather on ears that did not understand. This teaching was so important that Jesus spent additional time to try and explain this to His disciples. We’ll look at that further explanation tomorrow.

A Prayer…

Lord, thank you for being my Shepherd. I realize how much you love me and protect me from things that worry and concern me. I want to thank you for knowing me by name, calling me by name, assuring me by name, and protecting me personally because of your love for me. In these very trying times, I ask you to help me be less anxious and more trusting of You because Your mission is all about saving me.