For the believers Christ is also the door to leave the fold (John 10:9). The fold in John 10 signifies the law and also Judaism, the religion of the law. Before Christ came, God put His chosen people under the custody of the law. The law was the fold where God’s people as the sheep were kept and protected temporarily until the pasture, the permanent place for the sheep, was ready. Christ is the pasture, the permanent place for God’s people to stay. Before Christ came, God prepared the law as the sheepfold to keep and confine His chosen people temporarily. However, the Jewish religion utilized the law to form Judaism, which then became the sheepfold.
John 10 reveals that Christ is the door through which God’s people leave the fold and come to the pasture. God no longer intends to keep His chosen people in the fold of the law. He wants them to come out of the law into Christ. Now, during the New Testament age, God intends to bring His people out of the law through Christ as the door. Christ has come, and the pasture is ready. There is no need for the sheep to be confined any longer in the custody of the Judaic law. They must be released from the fold of the law to enjoy the riches of the pasture. Christ is the door through which His believers may come out of any kind of fold and come into Him as the pasture.
Today, in the sight of God, the various denominations, sects, and independent groups are folds. Furthermore, a fold is anything formed into a legality. Anything that is first used by God and then becomes a legality is a fold. For example, baptism by immersion is correct, but if we make this a legality, we shall form another fold. To be kept from legality concerning anything used by God, we should care only for Christ and focus on Him.
As the door to leave the fold, Christ is our freedom from legality. In Christ we have the freedom to go in and go out. This means that we do not have any legality. The freedom we enjoy is Christ Himself. Because Christ is our freedom, our door, we are not bound by any legality. This does not mean, of course, that we are free to indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13). In Christ we are not in bondage to legality. Because Christ is our door, we have true freedom.
John 10:9 says, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.” Outside the fold is the green pasture, which signifies Christ as the feeding place for the sheep. When the pasture is not available, the sheep must be kept in the fold temporarily. When the pasture is ready, the sheep should come out of the fold and remain in the pasture permanently. As believers in Christ, we should now enjoy Him as our pasture.
The Lord Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). This means that, because He is their pasture, Christ came to impart Himself as life to His sheep. As long as the sheep stay in the pasture, they will have the supply of life abundantly. By feeding on the pasture the sheep will enjoy the pasture as their abundant life supply, for the Lord Jesus is their abundant life. They will enjoy Him and experience Him as their life.
In order to be the pasture of life to the sheep Christ had to die for them. All the living grass eaten by the sheep must pass through the process of death. Hence, the Lord laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:11, 15). Christ had to die for the sheep in order to minister Himself as life to them and thereby be the pasture to them.
There is a hymn that speaks of the Lord Jesus as the One who brought us out of the fold and into Himself as the pasture:
Jesus, our wonderful Shepherd,
Brought us right out of the fold
Into His pasture so plenteous,
Into His riches untold.
Glorious church life,
Feasting from such a rich store!
Here where we’re dwelling in oneness
God commands life evermore.
In the divisions He sought us,
Weary and famished for food;
Into the good land He brought us,
Oh, to our spirit how good!
Jesus Himself is our pasture,
He is the food that we eat;
We as His sheep are fed richly
Each time, whenever we meet.
Hymns, #1221
The pasture is a place of tender grass; that is, a pasture is a place full of the supply of life. When sheep are in the pasture, they do not lack food. Today our pasture is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In our daily Christian life we should have the definite realization that we are in the pasture enjoying Christ as the rich supply of life.
Home | First | Prev | Next