One final little note to John 9! I noticed this morning as that chapter popped up when I logged in, that the first thing mentioned is that the man was blind from birth. Everyone knew that! He was a familiar figure. Jesus and His disciples had passed him many times, along with the throngs of other people that passed by. Jesus could have stopped and healed him any one of those days...but He chose this specific day. It was all in His timing!
Submitting to His timing is hard sometimes - but it is best....
And with that we begin John 10. I love these verses. Jesus uses a tender metaphor equating His followers to sheep who are safe in the sheepfold, and specifically states that if anyone tries to enter the fold except through the proper entry - the door or gate - they are a thief and a robber.
Then He goes on to explain. There were many who came before Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah, the chosen One. He calls them thieves and robbers. He states "I am the door of the sheep" (7); then reiterates, "I am the door" (9). Verse 9ff continues, "If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...."
Joy, joy, joy!!!!! What a wonderful Savior! I am statements abound in this passage - statements affirming He is the One who Is and Was and Is To Come! He is counting down the time to when He, by choice, will lay down His life to bear the penalty of Sin He didn't commit, and then take His life up again to give us eternal life.
Many came before Jesus claiming to be the Messiah. Many have come after Him claiming to be the Messiah - or watering down the clarity of the Bible by saying there are many ways to God. There are many different journeys that get us to the place of being introduced to Jesus - but there is only one Way, one Door, one Hope - and that is through Jesus Christ.
There is no other name under heaven by which men can be, must be or will be saved. His name is different in different languages....Yeshua, Ioseos, Yesu, Isa, Jesus.... But the Bible is clear that the only way to God is through the blood of Jesus shed for us as the sacrificial Lamb.
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