A Barrier for the Enemy
“Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” John 10:7
My church started doing 21 Days of listening to the Word and walking. Although I have not done the walking, I have definitely done the listening to “The Word.” I’ve been trying to mute everything around me and really listen to God’s voice and what he is trying to say to me.
In doing so, I came across the Seven “I AM” statements that Jesus made in the Gospel of John. If you have not read these statements yet, I encourage you to do so. They are,
“I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 6:41, 6:48, 6:51)
“I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
“I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7, 10:9)
“I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25)
“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 10:14)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
“I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 15:5)
Although all these statements sound powerful and really represent who Jesus is, there is one statement that really stood out to me. The statement, “I am the door of the sheep” was a statement I found interesting because in all the other “I AM” statements, Jesus is represented with some powerful descriptions like “bread of life,” “light of the world,” “resurrection and the life.” However, in this one statement, he is represented as the “door of the sheep.”
I found this statement odd because on the surface, being the “door of the sheep” does not represent such a powerful description of who Jesus is. However, when I researched it, I found some amazing things about it.
In the Enduring Word Commentary online, it states that “…pens were made with only one entrance. The door for those sheep pens was the shepherd himself. He laid his body across the entrance, to keep the sheep in and to keep out the wolves. The shepherd was in fact the door.”
There is a memory I have growing up that reminds me of this analogy. My dad had two huge speakers that looked like five-foot long, concert speakers. He used to play music in the living room stereo on these speakers while he had friends over to drink with him. He would do this every day for hours at a time while I was trying to watch tv or do homework. Many times, his friends would go to the restroom, which was located diagonal to my bedroom. As they stepped out, they would make eye contact with me and would stare at me with their drunken eyes. I was always too afraid to close the door because I imagined if something ever happened to me in my bedroom with one of his friends, no one would ever be able to hear me with the loudness of the music, but I was also too afraid not to look straight at that bathroom door. I wanted to make sure that I saw whoever went in, come back out.
As I think back to these moments, I imagine myself being a sheep in my little pen and Jesus being the door I needed to protect me from the enemy coming in and to keep me from going out into that world that my dad was so used to.
In this verse, Jesus paints a picture for us using a shepherd to represent himself and the sheep to represent us. With this passage in John chapter 10, we can see the extent to which a shepherd goes to protect his flock. The fact that the shepherd is the door for the sheep’s pen demonstrates that Jesus is the door or the way through to God. When he says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” this is what Jesus is referring to when he states that HE IS the door of the sheep.
As the door to the sheep’s pen, not only is he serving as a barrier to protect us from evil but he is also providing us a way to the Father. The door to the sheep’s pen serves to keep the sheep in, serves to keep the predators out and serves as the direct way to the Father. What a blessing to know that he is our direct path to God and also a barrier for the enemy🧡.
With Faith and Love🧡,
Mariuxi🧡