Excerpts from the CNT:

In John 10 Christ is unveiled as the Shepherd of the sheep, the door of the sheep, and the pasture of the sheep. This chapter also reveals the matter of the Son and the Father being one.

a. The Shepherd of the Sheep

In verses 10 and 11 we see that Christ is the Shepherd of the sheep. [2891]

(1) The Good Shepherd

In verse 11a the Lord Jesus said of Himself, “I am the good Shepherd.” He calls His sheep by name and leads them out of the fold (v. 3). Then He goes before the sheep, and they follow Him (v. 4). As the Shepherd Christ takes the sheep out of the fold through Himself as the door and into Himself as the pasture.

(2) Laying Down His Soul-life for the Sheep

In verse 11b the Lord Jesus continued saying, “The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The Greek word for “life” here is psuche and refers to the soul-life. The good Shepherd, Christ, laid down His soul-life for the sheep that they might have the zoe life, the eternal and divine life. In verse 10b the Lord said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Here the Greek word for life is zoe, the word used in the New Testament for the eternal, divine life. As a man the Lord has the psuche life, the human life, and as God He has the zoe life, the divine life. He laid down His soul, His psuche life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep (vv. 15, 17-18) that they may share His zoe life, His divine life, the eternal life (v. 28), by which they can be formed into one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd. As the good Shepherd He feeds His sheep with the divine life in this way and for this purpose.

The real Shepherd is the living Christ. As our Shepherd the Lord not only gives life to us; He is life to us. The living of Christ within us is actually His living shepherding. Hence, the Lord Jesus shepherds us by being life to us and by living in us.

Today Christ shepherds us inwardly in the way of life, not in the way of outward activity. Inwardly we have Christ as our Shepherd, as a Shepherd of life and in life. Because Christ shepherds us by being life to us from within, the more we live by Him as our life, the more we experience and enjoy His shepherding. On the one hand, Christ lives in us. On the other hand, we live in Him, by Him, with Him, and through Him. When we live in the Lord in such a way, we are under His [2892] shepherding. As we are under Christ’s shepherding, there will be a life-consciousness within us and also an instruction, a guidance, in life. The life within us, which is actually Christ Himself, will indicate that the Lord intends to lead us in a certain way. This life-consciousness with its leading and instruction is an indication that we are under Christ’s shepherding.

b. The Door of the Sheep

Verses 1-4 and 9 show us that Christ is the door of the sheep.

(1) For the Old Testament Saints to Go into the Law as the Custody

Christ was the door of the sheep for the Old Testament saints to go into the law as the custody (v. 9a). 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. God did this through Christ as the door by which God’s elect entered into 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.

(2) For the Saints under the Law to Go out of the Custody

Christ is the door not only for God’s elect to enter into the custody of the law, as did Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah in the Old Testament time, before Christ came, but also for God’s chosen people, such as Peter, John, James, and Paul, to come out of the fold of the law now that Christ has come. Thus, the Lord Jesus indicated in verse 9 that He is the door not only through which God’s elect may go in but also through which God’s chosen people may go out.

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 [2893] 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.

As the door of the sheep to leave the fold, Christ is our freedom from legality. In Christ we have the freedom to go in and to 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, of course, does not mean 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.

c. The Pasture of the Sheep

Today we may experience and enjoy Christ not only as the Shepherd and the door but also as the pasture. For Christ to be the Shepherd of the sheep, He has to be the door for the release of many sheep of God’s flock in Judaism. Now after setting them free from the Judaistic fold as the door of the sheep, Christ feeds them with Himself as the rich pasture of the sheep. 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.” The pasture here 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, there is no further need for the sheep to remain in the fold. The sheep should come out of the fold and remain in the pasture permanently. To be kept in the fold is transitional and temporary. To be in the pasture enjoying its riches is final and permanent. Before Christ came, the law was a ward, and being under the law was transitional. Now that Christ has come, all God’s chosen people must come out of the law and come into Him to enjoy Him as their pasture (Gal. 3:23-25; 4:3-5). This should be final and permanent.

The Lord Jesus said that He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. This means that, because Christ is the pasture of the sheep, He came to impart Himself as life into the sheep. As long as the sheep stay in the pasture, they will have the supply of life abundantly. By feeding on the [2894] pasture, the sheep experience and enjoy the pasture as their abundant life supply.

In order to be the pasture of life to the sheep, Christ had to die for them. Hence, He laid down His life for His sheep, dying for the sheep in order to minister Himself as life to them and thereby be the pasture to them. Today our pasture is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In our daily life we should have the definite realization that we are in the pasture experiencing and enjoying Christ as the rich supply of life.

(1) For the Old Testament Saints

Christ is the pasture of the sheep for the Old Testament saints, who go out of the custody of the law, to feed on.

(2) For the New Testament Saints

Christ is the pasture for the New Testament saints, who become one flock with the Old Testament saints under one Shepherd, to feed on. In John 10:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6), brought forth by the Lord’s eternal, divine life, which He imparted into His members through His death and resurrection. The fold is Judaism, which is of letter and regulation, and the flock is the church, which is of life and spirit.

As the One who is the Shepherd, the door, and the pasture, the Lord Jesus forms His sheep into one flock, the one universal church, the one Body of Christ, consisting of all the believers in Christ. The Lord supplies the sheep with Himself as life so that there may be one flock and one Shepherd, one Body and one Head. This one flock is different in nature from a fold. A fold is a religious organization; the one flock is the church. Christ has brought us out of the fold into the flock, where we are in Him as the pasture experiencing and enjoying Him as our life and life supply.

For us to be fed with Christ as the rich pasture of life is for us to be flocked together with God’s other sheep to be [2895] His organic Body to arrive at the ultimate goal of God’s economy—the New Jerusalem. When we feast on Christ as the pasture, we like to be flocked together with others. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we like to fellowship with others. If we feed upon Christ as our pasture in the morning, enjoying Him as the feast, we will eagerly go to the meeting in the evening.

d. The Son and the Father Being One

In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one.” Here the Lord asserted His deity, that is, that He is God (v. 33; 5:18; 1:1; 20:28; 1 John 5:20; Phil. 2:6).

(1) The Father and the Son Being One

in Shepherding, Freeing, and Feeding God’s Chosen People

According to the context the Lord’s word in John 10:30 signifies that the Father and the Son are one in shepherding, freeing, and feeding God’s chosen people.

(2) The Believers, as God’s Flock,

Enjoying the Care of Both the Son and the Father

The believers, as God’s flock, enjoy the care of both the Son and the Father. In verses 28 and 29 the Lord Jesus said, “I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” These verses speak respectively of the Son’s hand and of the Father’s hand. The Father’s hand, by which He chooses in His love according to His purpose (17:23; 6:38-39), and the Son’s hand, by which He saves by His grace for the fulfillment of the Father’s purpose (1:14; 6:37), both of which have the keeping power, are for the believers’ protection. Eternal life, which is for the believers’ living, will never fail. Hence, the believers are eternally secure and will never perish.

Grace and love are not two separate matters but two aspects of one thing. Love is in the Father. When this love reaches us in the Son, it becomes grace. When through grace we return to the Father, we enjoy His love.  

Both the Son’s hand of grace and the Father’s hand of love are of the divine life. In the Father the divine life is the source, and in the Son this life is the course. In the Father the divine life is love, and in the Son the divine life is grace. Because we enjoy both the Son and the Father, we enjoy both grace and love. The result is that we are preserved, and nothing can snatch us out of these two hands—the Son’s hand of grace and the Father’s hand of love.