  The Shepherd and His Flock 1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. " 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. [1] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Before I started writing for Word Power, I didn't really think about what Jesus really meant. It was easier to just breeze through passages like this one, and miss out on the deeper meanings. Take this one, for example. Once I really started thinking about it, it was really hard to get the meaning behind each 'figure of speech'.
Here's what I came up with: 1.The thief/robber "...the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. " (v1) I thought long and hard about this one. I'm thinking that the thief could be men who come and preach a different 'gospel', one that has no Jesus in it. Because, you see, the thief does not enter throught the gate (Jesus). Men like these come to steal the flock from the shepard (Jesus), and they do it by telling people they don't need Him to be saved.
2.The sheep "...He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out" This was another poser for me too, because I originally thought that the sheep here referred to everyone. Then,as I read on, I was confused, because it said that the sheep "follow him because they know his voice". 'But not everyone listens to Him, some listen to the thieves too,' i thought. I came to the conclusion that there are two groups of sheep in the pen, black sheep and white sheep. When the shephard calls, he calls his own sheep, the white, and they follow Him because they know His voice.
Here it shows how important it is to know Jesus, and not just believe in Him, because if we don't know Him and His Word, some stranger could call us and we would follow. The black sheep get stolen by the thieves and the robbers, and you know what happens to them. They become food. 3. The gate. "...Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep"(v7) I am really thankful that John recorded this part of the story.
If he didn't, i would never have connected the gate with Jesus. And so... I saved the best for last.
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jesus came not only so we could live, but so that we can live life to the fullest. And when you stop to think about it, it has become (or can become) real to us.
We have the power over bondages, peace that transcends all understanding (Phil 4:6-9), a Father's love (John 3:16), everything! And the promise of eternal life. When you stop to think, you will realise that we are free from so many things, and blessed way beyond what we deserve. Don't listen to people who tell you that Jesus isn't the Way, the Truth and the Life. Listen to the Shephard, and He will make your paths straight. Signing off, Jenna 
