"I Am..." How Jesus Reveals HimselfSample

Jesus compares people with sheep – as we read often in the Bible. Sheep are pretty helpless animals. They need protection from “thieves and robbers” (verse 8) and from wild animals, especially at night. The best place to spend the night is, therefore, in the safe sheepfold.

This is the imagery that Jesus uses here. He presents himself as the “door of the sheep”, as the single possible entrance towards safety. And because He is the door, He can make sure that only sheep enter the sheepfold. Anybody who would harm them is kept out.

Of course, Jesus did not speak about literal sheep, but about people. He offers us safety from the dangers in the world, from spiritual adversaries, sin and death. “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (verse 9). And Jesus is the only available door. The Bible is very clear about this, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Did you already enter Jesus’ sheepfold?