“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
In the book of John, Jesus claims to be the door of the sheep (10:7) and later on, the good shepherd (10:11). Jesus uses the metaphor of the door of the sheepfold to convey that He is the only door by which we may enter into God’s sanctuary and be saved. Once we believe in Jesus Christ, we enter the door of salvation and embark on a journey of faith. For the rest of our lives, we live with the hope that when we come to the end, we shall enter heaven to be with God forever. Jesus is the one and only door. The “only” door means we can receive eternal life through Jesus Christ and Him alone.
In the countryside, a sheep pen usually has a small open space for sheep to enter with no gate to close. A shepherd would keep the sheep in and wild animals out by lying across the opening. The shepherd becomes the door for the sheep. As followers of Christ, Jesus is both our Shepherd and the Door to provide for all our needs. When we trust the Good Shepherd, hear His voice, and follow Him, He leads us in and out to find spiritual nourishment in green pastures. As His sheep, we feed and rest there. He also leads us beside still waters, signifying a quiet and stress free life. Hearing His voice means that we have a personal relationship with the Good Shepherd, obey His commandments, and follow His footsteps wherever He goes.
As a Christian, the greatest joy is not having a prosperous, untroubled life, but to have the confidence of God’s presence every step along our journey. We may not know what lies ahead of us, but we can be sure that the Good Shepherd will give us the strength to walk through it all. In our daily lives, the Good Shepherd teaches us to experience and to understand His words, for faith is not merely knowledge, but the way we live our lives. The Lord Jesus came to this world to give us the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). If we follow His steps, we know that we are walking on the path to return to our heavenly home.