XVIII The Door of the Sheep
The Lord Jesus calls Himself by many wonderful and tender names in the New Testament. These are some of them.
He says, “I am the Bread of Life.”
He says, “I am the Light of the World.”
He says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
He says, “I am the Door of the Sheep.”
Perhaps this last name of Jesus is a little difficult for you to understand; but I am told that those who have visited Palestine have seen the shepherd acting as the real door of the sheep!
When night comes on, the Eastern shepherd gathers his sheep from the mountains where they have been feeding, and he leads them to a safe place, called the fold, where perhaps, shut in by rocks, or by walls, or by the sides of some steep hill with the broken rocks around as a protection, he brings them to a spot where they may rest without fear.
Then, having counted them in, and having found that all are there, he places himself across the doorway, and bids his dear flock lie down, because while he is there as their door, no harm can come to them.
This is a little picture of how it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, can call Himself the Door of the Sheep.
I think He wanted His people—His sheep and His lambs—to understand that if He is the Door, that is their safety.
If they have entered by Him; if they have come to Him to be saved, and washed and made His own sheep, then they have entered by the door into the sheepfold, and are safe within it!
Jesus says, no man shall pluck them out of His hands.
Satan may try to get in and snatch the sheep or the lambs, but if Jesus is their own Shepherd and Saviour, if they are truly His sheep and lambs, then they need fear no evil, for He says, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
HE LEADS THEM TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.
THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP
Jesus is our Shepherd,
Wiping every tear;
Folded in His bosom,
What have we to fear?
Only let us follow
Whither He doth lead,
To the thirsty desert,
Or the dewy mead.
Jesus is our Shepherd:
For the sheep He bled;
Every lamb is sprinkled
With the blood He shed;
Then on each He setteth
His own secret sign;
“They that have My Spirit,
These,” saith He, “are Mine.”
Jesus is our Shepherd:
Guarded by His arm,
Though the wolves may raven,
None can do us harm;
When we tread death’s valley,
Dark with fearful gloom,
We will fear no evil,
Victors o’er the tomb.