To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
The verse pictures the true shepherd entering God's fold by the rightful way, welcomed at the entrance while his flock listens for him, and then personally calling out his own and guiding them forth. He is both the entrance itself and the shepherd who laid down his life for the flock, in contrast to intruders, hirelings and false leaders who force, scatter or starve the sheep. He knows every believer individually by name, with tender care for the weak, sick, wandering and young, watching each life from heaven as if there were no other. He leads by going before and drawing with love rather than driving with fear or force, so those who behold that love follow willingly because they recognize his voice. Hearing that voice means discerning his leading from strangers and fanatical impressions, receiving the truth he sends, and following in obedience, unity and service, even to the final gathering out and reckoning.
Sheepfold Picture and Method
Jesus spoke with solemn certainty in the parable of the sheepfold, where the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, the porter opens to him, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. The sheepfold shows Christ as the true way into God's fold, so that all who belong to God enter through Christ, ceremonies or systems offered as a substitute for Him are a false way in, and through Him people find salvation and grace and receive abundant life. Christ is both the door and the shepherd, entering in by Himself and becoming the shepherd of the sheep through His own sacrifice, with the porter opening to Him, the sheep hearing His voice, His calling His own sheep by name and leading them out, and His going before them while they follow Him because they know His voice.
The picture presents Christ's relationship with believers as a shepherd with a helpless, dependent flock, so that the faithful shepherd reminds of Christ and the flock reminds of His followers. The verse uses the familiar everyday facts of shepherd and sheep to teach eternal, immortal truth, drawing spiritual lessons from daily surroundings and nature so that divine truth becomes memorable. The shepherd knows his own sheep, calls each by name, and leads them, while the sheep recognize and follow his voice, revealing personal care for His people through ordinary things. The illustration is drawn from the facts of life and familiar daily experience with openness to the influences of nature and delight in gathering spiritual teaching from everyday surroundings, containing something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart, so the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen. In this familiar picture the shepherd calls his own sheep by name, and they hear his voice and follow his leading.
Christ the True Shepherd
The verse belongs to the picture of Christ as the true Shepherd and Messiah who gathers His flock, cares for it, seeks the lost, and draws people to Himself, in contrast to Israel's leaders who drove a man from the fold for bearing witness to Him. The good shepherd is recognized and welcomed, knows his sheep personally, calls each of his own by name, and leads them out, and this personal knowledge and care distinguish him from thieves and false shepherds who try to control or scatter the flock. The same contrast condemns religious leaders who wield authority yet leave the flock unfed, for Christ sees the people's need for a shepherd while the scribes and Pharisees fail to care for them, and as professed leaders the Pharisees stand condemned by the parable without recognizing it.
The shepherd's rightful care stands opposed to one who enters the fold covertly like a lamb and then takes away trained workers by offering higher wages, as a thief, which was applied to Dr. Maxson's conduct. The verse shows the relation in which Christ stands to the human family as the good Shepherd who came to heal, a missionary in every sense, to whom the porter opens and whose voice the sheep hear. He is the Shepherd who knows His sheep individually, calls them by name, and leads them, and He came to live among humanity to teach His followers the way of life.
In His humanity He identified His interests with fallen people, needed prayer, sought fresh grace from the Father, and was strengthened to give assurance and hope. Though subject to human weakness and tempted in every way, He was without sin, and He prayed for His disciples who were often unaware of their danger and led by Satan into wrongdoing.
Known by Name Personally
The Chief Shepherd knows each believer personally, calls each one by name, and leads the sheep, treating no one with indifference. This personal knowledge and leading belongs especially to children and youth, who are to be led to believe in Him as their personal Saviour and to follow Him as sheep hear His voice and follow. The same care guides teachers and ministers to bring straying children and youth back to the fold.
The heavenly Shepherd knows each of His sheep by name and cares for each one as if no one else existed. Though His flock is scattered throughout the world, He knows where each person lives and the name of every person in each household.
He knows every person in His flock individually, with special tenderness toward the weak, the sickly, and the wandering. The distress of every sheep touches His heart, and its cry for help reaches His ear. As a shepherd carries lambs in his arms, so He carries and cares for each one individually.
The Shepherd loves every sheep and lamb in His flock, calls each one by name, and watches over them with tender care. That personal love is reason to trust Him. When He comes, He knows every soul who has come to Him in faith.
From the heavenly sanctuary the Chief Shepherd watches over His sheep, deals personally with each one who belongs to Him, and treats no case with indifference. Even a sheep that strays is sought with compassion and invited to return. Those who care for His flock are to follow Him by attracting rather than repelling, by guarding and caring for them, and by going after those who stray with kindness rather than harshness so they may be brought back to the fold and saved.
Led Without Force or Fear
Jesus leads His people as an Eastern shepherd leads his flock, going before them and calling them by name rather than driving them by force or fear. He draws with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, and compels none to follow Him. His disciples follow not from fear of punishment nor from hope of everlasting reward, but because beholding His matchless love from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary attracts and softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so that they hear His voice and obey and follow.
The true Shepherd goes ahead of the sheep and leads them out of the fold to pasture, and they follow because they know His voice above all others. He works wholly by invitation, leading His flock instead of driving them, without whip or force. When a sheep strays, even a peculiar sound from His mouth is enough for every sheep to understand and to press close together following Him. Those who are sons and daughters of God appreciate His words and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error, and that truth refreshes the soul and fills it with gladness. Received into the heart it transforms the character, for Christ is the Truth and the Life, and all who follow Him practice the truth and obey the Word.
The shepherd welcomes and leads His sheep into the fold, which means opening the door to one seeking return who has confessed and pleaded for another chance, despite past hurt and without yet seeing marked change, rather than closing the door of hope. Following Him through self-denial and sacrifice is like a lost sheep returning to the fold. The way into heavenly Canaan is through Christ the door, not by another way.
Hearing and Knowing His Voice
The sheep learn the shepherd's distinctive call, recognize His voice, and respond by following Him. To hear His voice is to recognize His leading and to respond to the truth and light He sends. Christ's own sheep recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, while those who follow fanaticism and are driven by feelings and impressions have not learned that voice. Those who seek God's glory and strive to do His will can distinguish His voice from voices that would lead them away from the truth.
The sheep must discern the true voice of the Shepherd from that of a stranger, and in a church composed of strange elements this discernment is necessary. It calls for a sound, solid experience grounded in the pillars of faith, for more perfect study and understanding of the Bible, for growth in the graces of Christian character, and for a healthful, sound mind with a foundation that storm and tempest cannot move. God's people know and can distinguish the voice of the True Shepherd. When truth is poured forth from the lips of a servant of God with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with lips touched with a live coal from off the altar, the sheep hear the Shepherd's voice in that preaching, their hearts are stirred, and they gather eagerly and listen with spellbound attention, while even unbelievers feel its power and confess divine inspiration.
Receiving the light requires distinguishing that voice and opening the heart to it. Those who had recognized the Shepherd's voice and received the light would not have acted in ways that created division and opposition, nor have made speeches that stirred sympathy and fostered division. The great Shepherd calls His sheep by name and invites them to follow Him. He seeks those who wander, warns them of danger through His word, and calls them back through warnings, reproofs, and invitations from heaven, and by His presence He helps those who err and lifts those who fall. Those who refuse to hear His voice follow a false guide and move farther from light, peace, happiness, and rest. Yet His voice reaches even wanderers to guide them in the right way, and God's providence is a continual school in which people of every age learn from the divine Teacher by cherishing and practically using the light they already have so they can take further steps in understanding His will.
Following in Obedience and Mission
Christ's true sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and gather to Him, and when persecution comes they remain united with Him rather than breaking into human factions. The true Shepherd knows His sheep by name and calls them to follow Him, and His sheep are to heed His voice and walk after Him along the pathway of truth.
Following Him means putting on the gospel shoes and walking in the pathway of truth. To follow, a person must not try to reason about the errors the enemy presents, but must receive the testimony of the Lord, read His word with a teachable heart, and believe the message given. He must refuse to put Scripture on the side of error to maintain falsehood, must see his personal danger, and must not allow the author of error to come between the mind and the Word, lest the mind bear his impress. The flock must depend on God rather than on human leaders who may lead it into strange pastures. Church members are to look to God for wisdom and counsel rather than treating human voices and judgments as the voice and judgment of God's people.
The great Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep and calls them all by name, which means every person is personally known and summoned to give an account of entrusted talents, time, opportunities, and goods. They are to be put to willing use in service and cooperation with God in saving souls for whom Christ died, with increase required according to the capital entrusted. The great Shepherd knows His own individually and leads them out one by one by name, so that even those whom others judge unqualified or insignificant may be personally chosen as heirs of the kingdom and for special work. Those in responsible positions must therefore live in daily communion with Christ, place upon people the same estimate God does, and show charity toward all instead of showing personal preference for a few or judging others as unfit.
His calling each sheep by name and leading them out takes place when probationary time ends, the Master reckons with His servants, and every soul's eternal destiny is decided. That same calling and leading is fulfilled as companies embrace the truth and leave the churches. The sheep and lambs thus led out must be called into the fold by preparing a humble place for them to assemble and worship God, so simple and neat meetinghouses must be built to receive them and give character to the truths advocated.
The verse pictures the true shepherd entering God's fold by the rightful way, welcomed at the entrance while his flock listens for him, and then personally calling out his own and guiding them forth. He is both the entrance itself and the shepherd who laid down his life for the flock, in contrast to intruders, hirelings and false leaders who force, scatter or starve the sheep. He knows every believer individually by name, with tender care for the weak, sick, wandering and young, watching each life from heaven as if there were no other. He leads by going before and drawing with love rather than driving with fear or force, so those who behold that love follow willingly because they recognize his voice. Hearing that voice means discerning his leading from strangers and fanatical impressions, receiving the truth he sends, and following in obedience, unity and service, even to the final gathering out and reckoning.
Sheepfold Picture and Method
Jesus spoke with solemn certainty in the parable of the sheepfold, where the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, the porter opens to him, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. The sheepfold shows Christ as the true way into God's fold, so that all who belong to God enter through Christ, ceremonies or systems offered as a substitute for Him are a false way in, and through Him people find salvation and grace and receive abundant life. Christ is both the door and the shepherd, entering in by Himself and becoming the shepherd of the sheep through His own sacrifice, with the porter opening to Him, the sheep hearing His voice, His calling His own sheep by name and leading them out, and His going before them while they follow Him because they know His voice.
The picture presents Christ's relationship with believers as a shepherd with a helpless, dependent flock, so that the faithful shepherd reminds of Christ and the flock reminds of His followers. The verse uses the familiar everyday facts of shepherd and sheep to teach eternal, immortal truth, drawing spiritual lessons from daily surroundings and nature so that divine truth becomes memorable. The shepherd knows his own sheep, calls each by name, and leads them, while the sheep recognize and follow his voice, revealing personal care for His people through ordinary things. The illustration is drawn from the facts of life and familiar daily experience with openness to the influences of nature and delight in gathering spiritual teaching from everyday surroundings, containing something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart, so the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen. In this familiar picture the shepherd calls his own sheep by name, and they hear his voice and follow his leading.
Christ the True Shepherd
The verse belongs to the picture of Christ as the true Shepherd and Messiah who gathers His flock, cares for it, seeks the lost, and draws people to Himself, in contrast to Israel's leaders who drove a man from the fold for bearing witness to Him. The good shepherd is recognized and welcomed, knows his sheep personally, calls each of his own by name, and leads them out, and this personal knowledge and care distinguish him from thieves and false shepherds who try to control or scatter the flock. The same contrast condemns religious leaders who wield authority yet leave the flock unfed, for Christ sees the people's need for a shepherd while the scribes and Pharisees fail to care for them, and as professed leaders the Pharisees stand condemned by the parable without recognizing it.
The shepherd's rightful care stands opposed to one who enters the fold covertly like a lamb and then takes away trained workers by offering higher wages, as a thief, which was applied to Dr. Maxson's conduct. The verse shows the relation in which Christ stands to the human family as the good Shepherd who came to heal, a missionary in every sense, to whom the porter opens and whose voice the sheep hear. He is the Shepherd who knows His sheep individually, calls them by name, and leads them, and He came to live among humanity to teach His followers the way of life.
In His humanity He identified His interests with fallen people, needed prayer, sought fresh grace from the Father, and was strengthened to give assurance and hope. Though subject to human weakness and tempted in every way, He was without sin, and He prayed for His disciples who were often unaware of their danger and led by Satan into wrongdoing.
Known by Name Personally
The Chief Shepherd knows each believer personally, calls each one by name, and leads the sheep, treating no one with indifference. This personal knowledge and leading belongs especially to children and youth, who are to be led to believe in Him as their personal Saviour and to follow Him as sheep hear His voice and follow. The same care guides teachers and ministers to bring straying children and youth back to the fold.
The heavenly Shepherd knows each of His sheep by name and cares for each one as if no one else existed. Though His flock is scattered throughout the world, He knows where each person lives and the name of every person in each household.
He knows every person in His flock individually, with special tenderness toward the weak, the sickly, and the wandering. The distress of every sheep touches His heart, and its cry for help reaches His ear. As a shepherd carries lambs in his arms, so He carries and cares for each one individually.
The Shepherd loves every sheep and lamb in His flock, calls each one by name, and watches over them with tender care. That personal love is reason to trust Him. When He comes, He knows every soul who has come to Him in faith.
From the heavenly sanctuary the Chief Shepherd watches over His sheep, deals personally with each one who belongs to Him, and treats no case with indifference. Even a sheep that strays is sought with compassion and invited to return. Those who care for His flock are to follow Him by attracting rather than repelling, by guarding and caring for them, and by going after those who stray with kindness rather than harshness so they may be brought back to the fold and saved.
Led Without Force or Fear
Jesus leads His people as an Eastern shepherd leads his flock, going before them and calling them by name rather than driving them by force or fear. He draws with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, and compels none to follow Him. His disciples follow not from fear of punishment nor from hope of everlasting reward, but because beholding His matchless love from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary attracts and softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so that they hear His voice and obey and follow.
The true Shepherd goes ahead of the sheep and leads them out of the fold to pasture, and they follow because they know His voice above all others. He works wholly by invitation, leading His flock instead of driving them, without whip or force. When a sheep strays, even a peculiar sound from His mouth is enough for every sheep to understand and to press close together following Him. Those who are sons and daughters of God appreciate His words and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error, and that truth refreshes the soul and fills it with gladness. Received into the heart it transforms the character, for Christ is the Truth and the Life, and all who follow Him practice the truth and obey the Word.
The shepherd welcomes and leads His sheep into the fold, which means opening the door to one seeking return who has confessed and pleaded for another chance, despite past hurt and without yet seeing marked change, rather than closing the door of hope. Following Him through self-denial and sacrifice is like a lost sheep returning to the fold. The way into heavenly Canaan is through Christ the door, not by another way.
Hearing and Knowing His Voice
The sheep learn the shepherd's distinctive call, recognize His voice, and respond by following Him. To hear His voice is to recognize His leading and to respond to the truth and light He sends. Christ's own sheep recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, while those who follow fanaticism and are driven by feelings and impressions have not learned that voice. Those who seek God's glory and strive to do His will can distinguish His voice from voices that would lead them away from the truth.
The sheep must discern the true voice of the Shepherd from that of a stranger, and in a church composed of strange elements this discernment is necessary. It calls for a sound, solid experience grounded in the pillars of faith, for more perfect study and understanding of the Bible, for growth in the graces of Christian character, and for a healthful, sound mind with a foundation that storm and tempest cannot move. God's people know and can distinguish the voice of the True Shepherd. When truth is poured forth from the lips of a servant of God with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with lips touched with a live coal from off the altar, the sheep hear the Shepherd's voice in that preaching, their hearts are stirred, and they gather eagerly and listen with spellbound attention, while even unbelievers feel its power and confess divine inspiration.
Receiving the light requires distinguishing that voice and opening the heart to it. Those who had recognized the Shepherd's voice and received the light would not have acted in ways that created division and opposition, nor have made speeches that stirred sympathy and fostered division. The great Shepherd calls His sheep by name and invites them to follow Him. He seeks those who wander, warns them of danger through His word, and calls them back through warnings, reproofs, and invitations from heaven, and by His presence He helps those who err and lifts those who fall. Those who refuse to hear His voice follow a false guide and move farther from light, peace, happiness, and rest. Yet His voice reaches even wanderers to guide them in the right way, and God's providence is a continual school in which people of every age learn from the divine Teacher by cherishing and practically using the light they already have so they can take further steps in understanding His will.
Following in Obedience and Mission
Christ's true sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and gather to Him, and when persecution comes they remain united with Him rather than breaking into human factions. The true Shepherd knows His sheep by name and calls them to follow Him, and His sheep are to heed His voice and walk after Him along the pathway of truth.
Following Him means putting on the gospel shoes and walking in the pathway of truth. To follow, a person must not try to reason about the errors the enemy presents, but must receive the testimony of the Lord, read His word with a teachable heart, and believe the message given. He must refuse to put Scripture on the side of error to maintain falsehood, must see his personal danger, and must not allow the author of error to come between the mind and the Word, lest the mind bear his impress. The flock must depend on God rather than on human leaders who may lead it into strange pastures. Church members are to look to God for wisdom and counsel rather than treating human voices and judgments as the voice and judgment of God's people.
The great Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep and calls them all by name, which means every person is personally known and summoned to give an account of entrusted talents, time, opportunities, and goods. They are to be put to willing use in service and cooperation with God in saving souls for whom Christ died, with increase required according to the capital entrusted. The great Shepherd knows His own individually and leads them out one by one by name, so that even those whom others judge unqualified or insignificant may be personally chosen as heirs of the kingdom and for special work. Those in responsible positions must therefore live in daily communion with Christ, place upon people the same estimate God does, and show charity toward all instead of showing personal preference for a few or judging others as unfit.
His calling each sheep by name and leading them out takes place when probationary time ends, the Master reckons with His servants, and every soul's eternal destiny is decided. That same calling and leading is fulfilled as companies embrace the truth and leave the churches. The sheep and lambs thus led out must be called into the fold by preparing a humble place for them to assemble and worship God, so simple and neat meetinghouses must be built to receive them and give character to the truths advocated.