THE PASTURE
In 10:9 the Lord says, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.” The pasture here signifies Christ as the feeding place for the sheep. When the pasture is not available in the wintertime or in the night, the sheep must be kept in the fold. When the pasture is ready, there is no further need for the sheep to remain in the fold. To be kept in the fold is transitory and temporary. To be in the pasture to enjoy its riches is final and permanent. Before Christ came, the law was a ward, and to be under the law was transitory. Now, since Christ has come, all God’s chosen people must come out of the law and come into Him to enjoy Him as their pasture (Gal. 3:23-25; 4:3-5). This should be final and permanent.
The pasture is a place full of tender grass; that is, a pasture is a place full of the supply of life. When the sheep are in the pasture, they do not lack food. Today our pasture is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In our daily Christian life we need to have the definite realization that we are in the pasture enjoying Christ as the rich supply of life.
Christ is our door, our Shepherd, and our pasture. As the door, He is our freedom, and as the Shepherd, He is leading, guiding, and directing us in life. Now we see that as the pasture Christ is our life supply. Day by day, we need to enjoy Christ as our pasture.
OTHER SHEEP
The Lord in this chapter also unveiled to us that besides the Jewish believers as His sheep kept under the ward of law He has other sheep which are not of the Jewish fold, which are God’s chosen people among the Gentiles and which He must bring in (v. 16a). At that time this word was a prophecy which was fulfilled in Acts when Peter went to preach the gospel to the household of Cornelius, who were Romans (Acts 10), and when Paul went to preach the gospel to the Gentile world (Acts 13). Through the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, many were saved unto the Lord out of different tongues, and they all became the Lord’s sheep.
ONE FLOCK
The Lord first called and brought His Jewish believers out of the fold of the Jewish religion, and after Pentecost He saved and brought many Gentile believers out of the Gentile world to make them all, both the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd (v. 16b). This one flock is the one, universal church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6). It no longer belongs to the Jewish fold nor to the Gentile world, but stands by itself as the church of Christ set apart from the Jews and the Gentiles (1 Cor. 10:32).
ETERNAL LIFE
The Lord went on to tell us that His sheep hear His voice, and He knows them, and they follow Him; and He gives to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever (vv. 27-28a). Eternal life is the uncreated life of God, which the Lord released through His death (John 12:24) and imparted into every one of His believers through His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). As this is the eternal life that lasts forever, so whoever possesses it shall by no means perish forever, that is, for eternity.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 28, by Witness Lee)
