DAY 147

THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP

2 Chronicles 1, 2 & 3 and John 10:1-23

We begin the next book, 2 Chronicles. You have read about these events just as you had in 1 Chronicles. And just as in 1 Chronicles, you get more of a picture of these events. It is easy to want to gloss over these reading, but let me encourage you to take the time and read through them.

In the New Testament we come across Jesus saying he is the Good Shepherd. It is a famous story and I dare say we have romanticized it. Many stained glass windows of Jesus carrying sheep in his arms pepper the globe. Yet if you know about sheep you might get a different picture. The smell, they are skittish, and some folks say they are not overly bright…by the way we are the sheep in this story!

The image of shepherd is one that the people of Jesus’ day would immediately see as Messiah. The prophet Ezekiel especially uses this imagery. Jesus is both shepherd and door. The shepherd part we get; the door part maybe not. In Jesus’ day the sheep pen doorways were where the shepherd slept! The shepherd literally was the door. Further, at times a variety of sheep, from different flocks would intermingle. The shepherds would take turn guarding them while the others slept. In the morning, when it was time to graze, all the shepherds came and called their sheep. The sheep would divide into their respective groups because the sheep know the shepherds voice.

This passage presents two sides of our relationship with God. First have we spent enough time with God to know the His voice? Second, do we understand that He, and He alone, is the Good Shepherd – for He lays down His life for us.