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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O H N.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. X.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. Christ's parabolical discourse concerning himself as the door of the
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sheepfold, and the shepherd of the sheep,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:1-18">ver. 1-18</A>.
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II. The various sentiments of people upon it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:19-21">ver. 19-21</A>.
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III. The dispute Christ had with the Jews in the temple at the feast
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of dedication,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:22-39">ver. 22-39</A>.
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IV. His departure into the country thereupon,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:40-42">ver. 40-42</A>.</P>
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<A NAME="Joh10_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Good Shepherd.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the
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door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same
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is a thief and a robber.
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2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the
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sheep.
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3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and
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he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
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4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before
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them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
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5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him:
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for they know not the voice of strangers.
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6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not
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what things they were which he spake unto them.
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7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto
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you, I am the door of the sheep.
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8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the
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sheep did not hear them.
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9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
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and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
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10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
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destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might
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have <I>it</I> more abundantly.
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11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life
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for the sheep.
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12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
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the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep,
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and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
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13 The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth
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not for the sheep.
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14 I am the good shepherd, and know my <I>sheep,</I> and am known of
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mine.
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15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I
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lay down my life for the sheep.
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16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them
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also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall
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be one fold, <I>and</I> one shepherd.
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17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
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life, that I might take it again.
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18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
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have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
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This commandment have I received of my Father.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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It is not certain whether this discourse was at the <I>feast of
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dedication</I> in the winter (spoken of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
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which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what
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goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his
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discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:26,27"><I>v.</I> 26, 27</A>,
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whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or
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whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in
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the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves
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in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the
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<I>pastors of the church,</I> and that Jesus, having no commission from
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them, was an intruder and an impostor, and therefore the people were
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bound in duty to stick to <I>then,</I> against <I>him.</I> In
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opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds,
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and who the true, leaving them to infer what they were.</P>
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<P>
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I. Here is the parable or similitude proposed
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:1-5"><I>v.</I> 1-5</A>);
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it is borrowed from the custom of that country, in the management of
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their sheep. Similitudes, used for the illustration of divine truths,
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should be taken from those things that are most familiar and common,
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that the things of God be not clouded by that which should clear them.
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The preface to this discourse is solemn: <I>Verily, verily, I say unto
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you,--Amen, amen.</I> This vehement asseveration intimates the
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certainty and weight of what he said; we find <I>amen</I> doubled in
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the church's praises and prayers,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+41:13,72:19,89:52">Ps. xli. 13; lxxii. 19; lxxxix. 52</A>.
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If we would have our <I>amens</I> accepted in heaven, let Christ's
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<I>amens</I> be prevailing on earth; his repeated <I>amens.</I></P>
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<P>
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1. In the parable we have,
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(1.) The evidence of a thief and robber, that comes to do mischief to
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the flock, and damage to the owner,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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<I>He enters not by the door,</I> as having no lawful cause of entry,
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but <I>climbs up some other way,</I> at a window, or some breach in the
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wall. How industrious are wicked people to do mischief! What plots will
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they lay, what pains will they take, what hazards will they run, in
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their wicked pursuits! This should shame us out of our slothfulness
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and cowardice in the service of God.
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(2.) The character that distinguishes the rightful owner, who has a
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property in the sheep, and a care for them: <I>He enters in by the
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door,</I> as one having authority
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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and he comes to do them some good office or other, to <I>bind up that
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which is broken,</I> and <I>strengthen that which is sick,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:16">Ezek. xxxiv. 16</A>.
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Sheep need man's care, and, in return for it, are serviceable to man
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+9:7">1 Cor. ix. 7</A>);
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they clothe and feed those by whom they are coted and fed.
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(3.) The ready entrance that the shepherd finds: <I>To him the porter
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openeth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Anciently they had their sheepfolds within the outer gates of their
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houses, for the greater safety of their flocks, so that none could come
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to them the right way, but such as the porter opened to or the master
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of the house gave the keys to.
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(4.) The care he takes and the provision he makes for his sheep. The
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<I>sheep hear his voice,</I> when he speaks familiarly to them, when
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they come into the fold, as men now do to their dogs and horses; and,
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which is more, he <I>calls his own sheep by name,</I> so exact is the
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notice he takes of them, the account he keeps of them; and he leads
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them our from the fold to the green pastures; and
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:4,5"><I>v.</I> 4, 5</A>)
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when he <I>turns them out</I> to graze he does not drive them, but
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(such was the custom in those times) he goes before them, to prevent
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any mischief or danger that might meet them, and they, being used to
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it, <I>follow him,</I> and are safe.
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(5.) The strange attendance of the sheep upon the shepherd: <I>They
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know his voice,</I> so as to discern his mind by it, and to distinguish
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it from that of a stranger (for <I>the ox knows his owner,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:3">Isa. i. 3</A>),
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and <I>a stranger will they not follow,</I> but, as suspecting some ill
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design, will flee from him, not <I>knowing his voice,</I> but that it
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is not the voice of their own shepherd. This is the parable; we have
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the key to it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:31">Ezek. xxxiv. 31</A>:
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<I>You my flock are men, and I am your God.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. Let us observe from this parable,
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(1.) That good men are fitly compared to sheep. Men, as creatures
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depending on their Creator, are called the <I>sheep of his pasture.</I>
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Good men, as new creatures, have the good qualities of sheep,
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<I>harmless</I> and inoffensive as sheep; <I>meek</I> and quiet,
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without noise; <I>patient</I> as sheep under the hand both of the
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shearer and of the butcher; <I>useful</I> and profitable, tame and
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tractable, to the shepherd, and <I>sociable</I> one with another, and
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much used in sacrifices.
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(2.) The church of God in the world is a <I>sheepfold,</I> into which
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the <I>children of God</I> that were scattered abroad are <I>gathered
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together</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:52"><I>ch.</I> xi. 52</A>),
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and in which they are united and incorporated; it is a good fold,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:14">Ezek. xxxiv. 14</A>.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+2:12">Mic. ii. 12</A>.
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This fold is well fortified, for God himself is as a <I>wall of fire
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about it,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+2:5">Zech. ii. 5</A>.
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(3.) This sheepfold lies much exposed to thieves and robbers; crafty
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seducers that debauch and deceive, and cruel persecutors that destroy
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and devour; <I>grievous wolves</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+20:29">Acts xx. 29</A>);
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thieves that would steal Christ's sheep from him, to sacrifice them to
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devils, or steal their food from them, that they might perish for lack
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of it; <I>wolves</I> in sheep's clothing,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+7:15">Matt. vii. 15</A>.
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(4.) The great Shepherd of the sheep takes wonderful care of the flock
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and of all that belong to it. God is the great Shepherd,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+23:1">Ps. xxiii. 1</A>.
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He knows those that are his calls them by name, marks them for himself,
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leads them out to fat pastures, makes them both feed and rest there,
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speaks comfortably to them, guards them by his providence, guides them
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by his Spirit and word, and goes before them, <I>to set them in the way
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of his steps.</I>
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(5.) The under-shepherds, who are entrusted to feed the flock of God,
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ought to be careful and faithful in the discharge of that trust;
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magistrates must defend them, and protect and advance all their secular
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interests; ministers must serve them in their spiritual interests, must
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<I>feed their souls</I> with the word of God faithfully opened and
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applied, and with gospel ordinances duly administered, <I>taking the
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oversight of them.</I> They must <I>enter by the door</I> of a regular
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ordination, and to such <I>the porter will open;</I> the Spirit of
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Christ will <I>set before them an open door,</I> give them authority in
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the church, and assurance in their own bosoms. They must know the
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members of their flocks by name, and watch over them; must lead them
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into the pastures of public ordinances, preside among them, be their
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mouth to God and God's to them; and in their conversation must be
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examples to the believers.
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(6.) Those who are truly the sheep of Christ will be very observant of
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their Shepherd, and very cautious and shy of strangers.
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[1.] <I>They follow their Shepherd,</I> for they <I>know his voice,</I>
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having both a discerning ear, and an obedient heart.
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[2.] <I>They flee from a stranger,</I> and dread following him, because
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they know not his voice. It is dangerous following those in whom we
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discern not the <I>voice of Christ,</I> and who would draw us from
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<I>faith in him</I> to <I>fancies concerning him.</I> And those who
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have experienced the power and efficacy of divine truths upon their
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souls, and have the savour and relish of them, have a wonderful
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sagacity to discover Satan's wiles, and to discern between good and
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evil.</P>
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<P>
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II. The Jew's ignorance of the drift and meaning of this discourse
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Jesus spoke this parable</I> to them, this figurative, but wise,
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elegant, and instructive discourse, <I>but they understood not what the
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things were which he spoke unto them,</I> were not aware whom he meant
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by the <I>thieves and robbers</I> and whom by the <I>good Shepherd.</I>
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It is the sin and shame of many who hear the word of Christ that they
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do not understand it, and they do not because they will not, and
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because they will <I>mis-understand it.</I> They have no acquaintance
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with, nor taste of, the things themselves, and therefore do not
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understand the parables and comparisons with which they are
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illustrated. The Pharisees had a great conceit of their own knowledge,
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and could not bear that it should be questioned, and yet they had not
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sense enough to <I>understand the things that Jesus spoke of;</I> they
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were above their capacity. Frequently the greatest pretenders to
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knowledge are most ignorant in the things of God.</P>
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<P>
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III. Christ's explication of this parable, opening the particulars of
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it fully. Whatever difficulties there may be in the sayings of the Lord
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Jesus, we shall find him ready to explain himself, if we be but willing
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to understand him. We shall find one scripture expounding another, and
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the <I>blessed Spirit</I> interpreter to the <I>blessed Jesus.</I>
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Christ, in the parable, had distinguished the shepherd from the robber
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by this, that he <I>enters in by the door.</I> Now, in the explication
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of the parable, he makes himself to be both <I>the door</I> by which
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the shepherd enters and the shepherd that enters in by the door. Though
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it may be a solecism in rhetoric to make the same person to be both the
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<I>door</I> and the <I>shepherd,</I> it is no solecism in divinity to
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make Christ to have his authority from himself, as he has life in
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himself; and <I>himself</I> to <I>enter by his own blood,</I> as the
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door, <I>into the holy place.</I></P>
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<P>
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1. Christ is <I>the door.</I> This he saith to those who pretended to
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<I>seek for righteousness,</I> but, like the Sodomites, <I>wearied
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themselves to find the door,</I> where it was not to be found. He saith
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it to the Jews, who would be thought God's only sheep, and to the
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Pharisees, who would be thought their only shepherds: <I>I am the
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door</I> of the sheepfold; the door of the church.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) In general,
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[1.] He is as a <I>door shut,</I> to keep out thieves and robbers, and
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such as are not fit to be admitted. The shutting of the door is the
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securing of the house; and what greater security has the church of God
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than the interposal of the Lord Jesus, and his wisdom, power, and
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goodness, betwixt it and all its enemies?
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[2.] He is as a <I>door open</I> for passage and communication.
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<I>First,</I> By Christ, as the door, we have our first admission into
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the flock of God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+14:6"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 6</A>.
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<I>Secondly,</I> We go in and out in a religious conversation, assisted
|
|
by him, accepted in him; walking up and down in his name,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+10:12">Zech. x. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> By him God comes to his church, visits it, and
|
|
communicates himself to it. <I>Fourthly,</I> By him, as the door, the
|
|
sheep are at last admitted into the heavenly kingdom,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+25:34">Matt. xxv. 34</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) More particularly,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] Christ is the door of <I>the shepherds,</I> so that none who come
|
|
not in by him are to be accounted <I>pastors,</I> but (according to the
|
|
rule laid down,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>thieves and robbers</I> (though they pretended to be
|
|
<I>shepherds</I>); but the <I>sheep did not hear them.</I> This refers
|
|
to all those that had the character of shepherds in <I>Israel,</I>
|
|
whether magistrates or ministers, that exercised their office without
|
|
any regard to the Messiah, or any other expectations of him than what
|
|
were suggested by their own carnal interest. Observe, <I>First,</I> The
|
|
character given of them: they are <I>thieves and robbers</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
all that <I>went before him,</I> not in time, many of them were
|
|
faithful shepherds, but all that <I>anticipated</I> his commission, and
|
|
went before he sent them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+23:21">Jer. xxiii. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
that assumed a precedency and superiority above him, as the antichrist
|
|
is said to <I>exalt himself,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+2:4">2 Thess. ii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
"The scribes, and Pharisees, and chief priests, <I>all, even as many as
|
|
have come before me,</I> that have endeavoured to forestal my interest,
|
|
and to prevent my gaining any room in the minds of people, by
|
|
prepossessing them with prejudices against me, they are <I>thieves and
|
|
robbers,</I> and steal those hearts which they have no title to,
|
|
defrauding the right owner of his property." They condemned our Saviour
|
|
as a thief and a robber, because he did not come in by them as the
|
|
door, nor take out a license from them; but he shows that they ought to
|
|
have received their commission from him, to have been admitted by him,
|
|
and to have come after him, and because they did not, but stepped
|
|
<I>before him,</I> they were <I>thieves and robbers.</I> They would not
|
|
come in as his disciples, and therefore were condemned as usurpers, and
|
|
their pretended commissions vacated and superseded. Note, Rivals with
|
|
Christ are robbers of his church, however they pretend to be
|
|
<I>shepherds,</I> nay, <I>shepherds of shepherds. Secondly,</I> The
|
|
care taken to preserve the sheep from them: <I>But the sheep did not
|
|
hear them.</I> Those that had a true savour of piety, that were
|
|
spiritual and heavenly, and sincerely devoted to God and godliness,
|
|
could by no means approve of the traditions of the elders, nor relish
|
|
their formalities. Christ's disciples, without any particular
|
|
instructions from their Master, made no conscience of eating with
|
|
unwashen hands, or plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day; for
|
|
nothing is more opposite to true Christianity than Pharisaism is, nor
|
|
any thing more disrelishing to a soul truly devout than their
|
|
hypocritical devotions.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Christ is the door of <I>the sheep</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>By me</I> (<B><I>di emou</I></B>--<I>through me</I> as the door)
|
|
<I>if any man enter into the sheepfold,</I> as one of the flock, he
|
|
<I>shall be saved;</I> shall not only by safe from thieves and robbers,
|
|
but he shall be happy, he <I>shall go in and out.</I> Here are,
|
|
<I>First,</I> Plain directions how to come into the fold: we must come
|
|
in <I>by Jesus Christ</I> as the door. By faith in him, as the great
|
|
Mediator between God and man, we come into covenant and communion with
|
|
God. There is no entering into God's church but by coming into Christ's
|
|
church; nor are any looked upon as members of the kingdom of God among
|
|
men but those that are willing to submit to the grace and government of
|
|
the Redeemer. We must now enter by the <I>door of faith</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+14:27">Acts xiv. 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
since the door of <I>innocency</I> is shut against us, and that
|
|
<I>pass</I> become unpassable,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:24">Gen. iii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> Precious promises to those who observe this direction.
|
|
|
|
1. They <I>shall be saved hereafter;</I> this is the privilege of
|
|
<I>their home.</I> These sheep shall be saved from being distrained and
|
|
impounded by divine justice for trespass done, satisfaction being made
|
|
for the damage by their great Shepherd, saved from being a prey to the
|
|
roaring lion; they shall be <I>for ever happy.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. In the mean time they shall <I>go in and out and find pasture;</I>
|
|
this is the privilege of <I>their way.</I> They shall have their
|
|
conversation in the world by the grace of Christ, shall be in his fold
|
|
as a man at his own house, where he has <I>free ingress, egress,</I>
|
|
and <I>regress.</I> True believers are <I>at home</I> in Christ; when
|
|
they go out, they are not <I>shut out</I> as strangers, but have
|
|
liberty to come in again; when they come in, they are not <I>shut
|
|
in</I> as trespassers, but have liberty to go out. They go out to the
|
|
field in the morning, they come into the fold at night; and in both the
|
|
Shepherd leads and keeps them, and they <I>find pasture</I> in both:
|
|
grass in the field, fodder in the fold. In public, in private, they
|
|
have the word of God to converse with, by which their spiritual life is
|
|
supported and nourished, and out of which their gracious desires are
|
|
satisfied; they are replenished with the goodness of God's house.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Christ is the <I>shepherd,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. He was prophesied of under the Old Testament as a <I>shepherd,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:11,Eze+34:23,37:24,Zec+13:7">Isa. xl. 11;
|
|
Ezek. xxxiv. 23; xxxvii. 24; Zech. xiii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
In the New Testament he is spoken of as the <I>great Shepherd</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:20">Heb. xiii. 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>chief Shepherd</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+5:4">1 Pet. v. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>Shepherd and bishop of our souls,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:25">1 Pet. ii. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
God, our great owner, the sheep of whose pasture we are by creation,
|
|
has constituted his Son Jesus to be our <I>shepherd;</I> and here again
|
|
and again he owns the relation. He has all that care of his church, and
|
|
every believer, that a good shepherd has of his flock; and expects all
|
|
that attendance and observance from the church, and every believer,
|
|
which the shepherds in those countries had from their flocks.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Christ is <I>a shepherd,</I> and not as the thief, not as those
|
|
that <I>came not in by the door.</I> Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The mischievous design of the thief
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The thief cometh not</I> with any good intent, but to <I>steal, and
|
|
to kill, and to destroy. First,</I> Those whom they <I>steal,</I> whose
|
|
hearts and affections they steal from Christ and his pastures, they
|
|
<I>kill and destroy</I> spiritually; for the <I>heresies</I> they
|
|
<I>privily bring in</I> are <I>damnable.</I> Deceivers of souls are
|
|
murderers of souls. Those that steal away the scripture by keeping it
|
|
in an unknown tongue, that steal away the sacraments by maiming them
|
|
and altering the property of them, that steal away Christ's ordinances
|
|
to put their own inventions in the room of them, they <I>kill and
|
|
destroy;</I> ignorance and idolatry are destructive things.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> Those whom they cannot <I>steal,</I> whom they can
|
|
neither lead, drive, nor carry away, from the flock of Christ, they aim
|
|
by persecutions and massacres to <I>kill and destroy</I> corporally. He
|
|
that will not suffer himself to be robbed is in danger of being
|
|
slain.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The gracious design of the shepherd; he is come,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> To <I>give life to the sheep.</I> In opposition to the
|
|
design of the thief, which is to <I>kill and destroy</I> (which was the
|
|
design of the <I>scribes</I> and <I>Pharisees</I>) Christ saith, <I>I
|
|
am come among men,</I>
|
|
|
|
1. That <I>they might have life.</I> He came to put life into the
|
|
flock, the church in general, which had seemed rather like a valley
|
|
full of dry bones than like a pasture covered over with flocks. Christ
|
|
came to vindicate divine truths, to purify divine ordinances, to
|
|
redress grievances, and to revive dying zeal, to <I>seek</I> those of
|
|
his flock that were <I>lost,</I> to <I>bind up that which was
|
|
broken</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:16">Ezek. xxxiv. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
and this to his church is <I>as life from the dead.</I> He came to
|
|
<I>give life</I> to particular believers. Life is inclusive of all
|
|
good, and stands in opposition to the death threatened
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:17">Gen. ii. 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
that <I>we might have life,</I> as a criminal has when he is pardoned,
|
|
as a sick man when he is cured, a dead man when he is raised; that we
|
|
might be justified, sanctified, and at last glorified.
|
|
|
|
2. That they might have it <I>more abundantly,</I> <B><I>kai perisson
|
|
echosin</I></B>. As we read it, it is <I>comparative,</I> that they
|
|
might have a life <I>more abundant</I> than that which was lost and
|
|
forfeited by sin, more abundant than that which was promised by the law
|
|
of Moses, length of days in Canaan, more abundant than could have been
|
|
expected or than we are <I>able to ask or think.</I> But it may be
|
|
construed without a note of comparison, <I>that they might have
|
|
abundance,</I> or might <I>have it abundantly.</I> Christ came to give
|
|
life and <B><I>perisson ti</I></B>--<I>something more,</I> something
|
|
<I>better,</I> life with advantage; that in Christ we might not only
|
|
live, but live comfortably, live plentifully, live and rejoice. Life in
|
|
abundance is <I>eternal life,</I> life without death or fear of death,
|
|
life and <I>much more.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> To <I>give his life for the sheep,</I> and this that
|
|
he might give life <I>to them</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.</I>
|
|
|
|
1. It is the property of every good shepherd to hazard and expose his
|
|
life for the sheep. Jacob did so, when he would go through such a
|
|
fatigue to attend them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+31:40">Gen. xxxi. 40</A>.
|
|
|
|
So did David, when he <I>slew the lion and the bear.</I> Such a
|
|
shepherd of souls was St. Paul, who would gladly <I>spend, and be
|
|
spent,</I> for their service, and <I>counted not his life dear to
|
|
him,</I> in comparison with their salvation. But,
|
|
|
|
2. It was the prerogative of the great Shepherd to give his life to
|
|
purchase his flock
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+20:28">Acts xx. 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
to satisfy for their trespass, and to shed his blood to wash and
|
|
cleanse them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Christ is <I>a good shepherd,</I> and not as a hireling. There
|
|
were many that were not thieves, aiming to kill and destroy the sheep,
|
|
but passed for shepherds, yet were very careless in the discharge of
|
|
their duty, and through their neglect the flock was greatly damaged;
|
|
<I>foolish shepherds, idle shepherds,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:15,17">Zech. xi. 15, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
In opposition to these,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] Christ here <I>calls himself the good shepherd</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and again
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>)
|
|
|
|
<B><I>ho poimen ho kalos</I></B>--<I>that shepherd, that good
|
|
Shepherd,</I> whom God had promised. Note, Jesus Christ is the best of
|
|
shepherds, the best in the world to take the over-sight of souls, none
|
|
so skilful, so faithful, so tender, as he, no such feeder and leader,
|
|
no such protector and healer of souls as he.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He <I>proves himself</I> so, in opposition to all hirelings,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:12-14"><I>v.</I> 12-14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Where observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> The carelessness of the unfaithful shepherd described
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
he that is a hireling, that is employed as a servant and is paid for
|
|
his pains, <I>whose own the sheep are not,</I> who has neither profit
|
|
nor loss by them, <I>sees the wolf coming,</I> or some other danger
|
|
threatening, and <I>leaves the sheep</I> to the wolf, for in truth he
|
|
<I>careth not for them.</I> Here is plain reference to that of the
|
|
idol-shepherd,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:17">Zech. xi. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Evil shepherds, magistrates and ministers, are here described both by
|
|
their bad principles and their bad practices.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>a.</I> Their <I>bad principles,</I> the root of their bad practices.
|
|
What makes those that have the charge of souls in trying times to
|
|
betray their trust, and in quiet times not to mind it? What makes them
|
|
false, and trifling, and self-seeking? It is because they are
|
|
<I>hirelings,</I> and <I>care not for the sheep.</I> That is,
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) The wealth of the world is the chief of their good; it is
|
|
because they are <I>hirelings.</I> They undertook the shepherds'
|
|
office, as a trade to live and grow rich by, not as an opportunity of
|
|
serving Christ and doing good. It is the love of money, and of their
|
|
own bellies, that carries them on in it. Not that those are hirelings
|
|
who, while they <I>serve at the altar, live,</I> and live comfortably,
|
|
<I>upon the altar.</I> The labourer is worthy of his meat; and a
|
|
scandalous maintenance will soon make a scandalous ministry. But those
|
|
are <I>hirelings</I> that love the wages more than the work, and <I>set
|
|
their hearts</I> upon that, as the hireling is said to do,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+24:15">Deut. xxiv. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:29,Isa+56:11,Mic+3:5,11">1 Sam. ii. 29;
|
|
Isa. lvi. 11; Mic. iii. 5, 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) The work of their place is the least of their care. They
|
|
<I>value not the sheep,</I> are unconcerned in the souls of others;
|
|
their business is to be their brothers' lords, not their brothers'
|
|
keepers or helpers; they <I>seek their own things,</I> and do not, like
|
|
Timothy, <I>naturally care for the state of souls.</I> What can be
|
|
expected but that they will flee when the <I>wolf comes.</I> He
|
|
<I>careth not for the sheep,</I> for he is one <I>whose own the sheep
|
|
are not.</I> In one respect we may say of the best of the
|
|
under-shepherds that the sheep are <I>not their own,</I> they have not
|
|
dominion over them not property in them (<I>feed my sheep</I> and <I>my
|
|
lambs,</I> saith Christ); but in respect of dearness and affection they
|
|
should be <I>their own.</I> Paul looked upon those as <I>his own</I>
|
|
whom he called his <I>dearly beloved and longed for.</I> Those who do
|
|
not cordially espouse the church's interests, and make them their own,
|
|
will not long be faithful to them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>b.</I> Their <I>bad practices,</I> the effect of these bad
|
|
principles,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
See here,
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) How basely the hireling deserts his post; when he sees
|
|
<I>the wolf coming,</I> though then there is most need of him, he
|
|
<I>leaves the sheep and flees.</I> Note, Those who mind their safety
|
|
more than their duty are an easy prey to Satan's temptations.
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) How fatal the consequences are! the hireling fancies the
|
|
sheep may look to themselves, but it does not prove so: <I>the wolf
|
|
catches them,</I> and <I>scatters the sheep,</I> and woeful havoc is
|
|
made of the flock, which will all be charged upon the treacherous
|
|
shepherd. The blood of perishing souls is required at the hand of the
|
|
careless watchmen.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> See here the grace and tenderness of the good Shepherd
|
|
set over against the former, as it was in the prophecy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:21,22">Ezek. xxxiv. 21, 22</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.): <I>I am the good Shepherd.</I> It is matter of comfort to the
|
|
church, and all her friends, that, however she may be damaged and
|
|
endangered by the treachery and mismanagement of her under-officers,
|
|
the Lord Jesus is, and will be, as he ever has been, <I>the good
|
|
Shepherd.</I> Here are two great instances of the shepherd's
|
|
goodness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>a.</I> His <I>acquainting</I> himself with his flock, with all that
|
|
belong or in any wise appertain to his flock, which are of two sorts,
|
|
both known to him:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) He is acquainted with all that <I>are now of his flock</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
as the good Shepherd
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I know my sheep and am known of mine.</I> Note, There is a mutual
|
|
acquaintance between Christ and true believers; they know one another
|
|
very well, and knowledge notes affection.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] Christ <I>knows his sheep.</I> He knows with a
|
|
<I>distinguishing</I> eye who are his sheep, and who are not; he knows
|
|
the sheep under their many infirmities, and the goats under their most
|
|
plausible disguises. He knows with a <I>favourable</I> eye those that
|
|
in truth are his own sheep; he takes cognizance of their state,
|
|
concerns himself for them, has a tender and affectionate regard to
|
|
them, and is continually mindful of them in the intercession he ever
|
|
lives to make within the veil; he visits them graciously by his Spirit,
|
|
and has communion with them; he <I>knows</I> them, that is, he approves
|
|
and accepts of them, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+1:6,37:18,Ex+33:17">Ps. i. 6; xxxvii. 18;
|
|
Exod. xxxiii. 17</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] He is <I>known of them.</I> He observes them with an eye of
|
|
favour, and they observe him with an eye of faith. Christ's knowing his
|
|
sheep is put before their knowing him, for he knew and loved us first
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:19">1 John iv. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it is not so much our knowing him as our being known of him that is
|
|
our happiness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:9">Gal. iv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet it is the character of Christ's sheep that <I>they know him;</I>
|
|
know him from all pretenders and intruders; they know his mind, know
|
|
his voice, know by experience the power of his death. Christ speaks
|
|
here as if he gloried in being known by his sheep, and thought their
|
|
respect an honour to him. Upon this occasion Christ mentions
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
the mutual acquaintance between his Father and himself: <I>As the
|
|
Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.</I> Now this may be
|
|
considered, either, <I>First,</I> As the <I>ground</I> of that intimate
|
|
acquaintance and relation which subsist between Christ and believers.
|
|
The covenant of grace, which is the bond of this relation, is founded
|
|
in the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, which, we
|
|
may be sure, stands firm; for the Father and the Son understood one
|
|
another perfectly well in that matter, and there could be no mistake,
|
|
which might leave the matter at any uncertainty, or bring it into any
|
|
hazard. The Lord Jesus <I>knows whom he hath chosen,</I> and is sure of
|
|
them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:18"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
and they also <I>know whom they have trusted,</I> and are sure of him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+1:12">2 Tim. i. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the ground of both is the perfect knowledge which the Father and
|
|
the Son had of one another's mind, when <I>the counsel of peace was
|
|
between them both.</I> Or, <I>Secondly,</I> As an apt similitude,
|
|
illustrating the intimacy that is between Christ and believers. It may
|
|
be connected with the foregoing words, thus: <I>I know my sheep, and am
|
|
known of mine, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father;</I>
|
|
compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+17:21"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. As the Father knew the Son, and loved him, and owned him in his
|
|
sufferings, when he was <I>led as a sheep to the slaughter,</I> so
|
|
Christ knows his sheep, and has a watchful tender eye upon them, will
|
|
be with them when they are <I>left alone,</I> as his Father was with
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
2. As the Son knew the Father, loved and obeyed him, and always did
|
|
those things that pleased him, confiding in him as his God even when he
|
|
seemed to forsake him, so believers know Christ with an obediential
|
|
fiducial regard.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) He is acquainted with those that are <I>hereafter to be of
|
|
this flock</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Other sheep I have,</I> have a right to and an interest in, <I>which
|
|
are not of this fold,</I> of the Jewish church; <I>them also I must
|
|
bring.</I> Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] The eye that Christ had to the poor Gentiles. He had
|
|
sometimes intimated his special concern for <I>the lost sheep of the
|
|
house of Israel;</I> to them indeed his personal ministry was confined;
|
|
but, saith he, <I>I have other sheep.</I> Those who in process of time
|
|
should believe in Christ, and be brought into obedience to him from
|
|
among the Gentiles, are here called <I>sheep,</I> and he is said to
|
|
have them, though as yet they were <I>uncalled,</I> and many of them
|
|
<I>unborn,</I> because they were chosen of God, and given to Christ in
|
|
the counsels of divine love from eternity. Christ has a right, by
|
|
virtue of the Father's donation and his own purchase, to many a soul of
|
|
which he has not yet the possession; thus he had <I>much people</I> in
|
|
Corinth, when as yet it lay in wickedness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+18:10">Acts xviii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Those other sheep <I>I have,</I>" saith Christ, "I have them on my
|
|
heart, have them in my eye, am as sure to have them as if I had them
|
|
already." Now Christ speaks of those <I>other sheep, First,</I> To take
|
|
off the contempt that was put upon him, as having <I>few followers,</I>
|
|
as having but a <I>little flock,</I> and therefore, if a <I>good</I>
|
|
shepherd, yet a <I>poor</I> shepherd: "But," saith he, "I have more
|
|
sheep than you see." <I>Secondly,</I> To take down the pride and
|
|
vain-glory of the Jews, who thought the Messiah must gather all his
|
|
sheep from among them. "No," saith Christ, "I have others whom I will
|
|
set with the lambs of my flock, though you disdain to set them with the
|
|
dogs of your flock."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] The purposes and resolves of his grace concerning them:
|
|
"<I>Them also I must bring,</I> bring home to God, bring into the
|
|
church, and, in order to this, bring off from their vain conversation,
|
|
bring them back from their wanderings, as that <I>lost sheep,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:5">Luke xv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
But why <I>must</I> he bring them? What was the necessity?
|
|
<I>First,</I> The <I>necessity of their case</I> required it: "I
|
|
<I>must</I> bring, or they must be left to wander endlessly, for, like
|
|
sheep, they will never come back of themselves, and no other can or
|
|
will bring them." <I>Secondly,</I> The <I>necessity of his own
|
|
engagements</I> required it; he must bring them, or he would not be
|
|
faithful to his trust, and true to his undertaking. "They are <I>my
|
|
own,</I> bought and paid for, and therefore I <I>must not</I> neglect
|
|
them nor leave them to perish." He <I>must</I> in honour <I>bring</I>
|
|
those with whom he was entrusted.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>c.</I>] The happy effect and consequence of this, in two
|
|
things:--<I>First,</I> "They shall hear my voice. Not only my voice
|
|
shall be heard <I>among them</I> (whereas they have not heard, and
|
|
therefore could not believe, now the <I>sound</I> of the gospel shall
|
|
<I>go to the ends of the earth</I>), but it shall be heard <I>by
|
|
them;</I> I will speak, and give to them to hear." Faith comes by
|
|
hearing, and our diligent observance of the voice of Christ is both a
|
|
means and an evidence of our being brought to Christ, and to God by
|
|
him. <I>Secondly, There shall be one fold and one shepherd.</I> As
|
|
there is one shepherd, so there shall be one fold. Both Jews and
|
|
Gentiles, upon their turning to the faith of Christ, shall be
|
|
incorporated in one church, be joint and equal sharers in the
|
|
privileges of it, without distinction. Being united to Christ, they
|
|
shall unite in him; two sticks shall become one in the hand of the
|
|
Lord. Note, One shepherd makes one fold; one Christ makes one church.
|
|
As the church is one in its constitution, subject to one head, animated
|
|
by one Spirit, and guided by one rule, so the members of it ought to be
|
|
one in love and affection,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:3-6">Eph. iv. 3-6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>b.</I> Christ's <I>offering up himself for his sheep</I> is another
|
|
proof of his being a <I>good shepherd,</I> and in this he yet more
|
|
<I>commended his love,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:15,17,18"><I>v.</I> 15, 17, 18</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) He declares his purpose of <I>dying for his flock</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I lay down my life for the sheep.</I> He not only ventured his life
|
|
for them (in such a case, the hope of <I>saving</I> it might balance
|
|
the fear of <I>losing it</I>), but he actually <I>deposited</I> it, and
|
|
submitted to a necessity of dying for our redemption;
|
|
<B><I>tithemi</I></B>--<I>I put it</I> as a pawn or pledge; as
|
|
purchase-money paid down. Sheep appointed for the slaughter, ready to
|
|
be sacrificed, were ransomed with the blood of the shepherd. He laid
|
|
down his life, <B><I>hyper ton probaton</I></B>, not only for the good
|
|
of the sheep, but <I>in their stead.</I> Thousands of sheep had been
|
|
offered in sacrifice for their shepherds, as sin-offerings, but here,
|
|
by a surprising reverse, the shepherd is sacrificed for the sheep. When
|
|
David, the shepherd of Israel, was himself guilty, and the destroying
|
|
angel drew his sword against the flock for his sake, with good reason
|
|
did he plead, <I>These sheep, what evil have they done? Let thy hand be
|
|
against me,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+24:17">2 Sam. xxiv. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
But the Son of David was sinless and spotless; and his sheep, what evil
|
|
have they not done? Yet he saith, <I>Let thine hand be against me.</I>
|
|
Christ here seems to refer to that prophecy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+13:17">Zech. xiii. 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Awake, O sword, against my shepherd;</I> and, though the smiting of
|
|
the shepherd be for the present the <I>scattering</I> of the flock, it
|
|
is in order to the gathering of them in.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) He takes off the offence of the cross, which to many is a
|
|
stone of stumbling, by four considerations:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] That his <I>laying down his life for the sheep</I> was the
|
|
condition, the performance of which entitled him to the honours and
|
|
powers of his exalted state
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.</I>
|
|
Upon these terms I am, as Mediator, to expect my Father's acceptance
|
|
and approbation, and the glory designed me--that I become a sacrifice
|
|
for the chosen remnant." Not but that, as the Son of God, he was
|
|
beloved of his Father from eternity, but as <I>God-man,</I> as
|
|
<I>Immanuel,</I> he was <I>therefore</I> beloved of the Father because
|
|
he undertook to <I>die for the sheep; therefore</I> God's soul
|
|
delighted in him as his elect because herein he was his <I>faithful
|
|
servant</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+42:1">Isa. xlii. 1</A>);
|
|
|
|
therefore he said, <I>This is my beloved Son.</I> What an instance is
|
|
this of God's love to man, that he loved his Son the more for loving
|
|
us! See what a value Christ puts upon his Father's love, that, to
|
|
recommend himself to that, he would lay down his life for the sheep.
|
|
Did he think God's love recompence sufficient for all his services and
|
|
sufferings, and shall we think it too little for ours, and court the
|
|
smiles of the world to make it up? <I>Therefore doth my Father love
|
|
me,</I> that is, me, and all that by faith become one with me; me, and
|
|
the mystical body, <I>because I lay down my life.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] That his laying down his life was in order to his resuming
|
|
it: <I>I lay down my life, that I may receive it again. First,</I> This
|
|
was the effect of his Father's love, and the first step of his
|
|
exaltation, the fruit of that love. Because he was God's <I>holy
|
|
one,</I> he must not <I>see corruption,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:10">Ps. xvi. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
God loved him too well to leave him in the grave. <I>Secondly,</I> This
|
|
he had in his eye, in laying down his life, that he might have an
|
|
opportunity of declaring himself to be the Son of God with power by his
|
|
resurrection,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:4">Rom. i. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
By a divine stratagem (like that before Ai,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+8:15">Josh. viii. 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
he yielded to death, as if he were smitten before it, that he might the
|
|
more gloriously conquer death, and triumph over the grave. He laid down
|
|
a <I>vilified</I> body, that he might assume a <I>glorified</I> one,
|
|
fit to ascend to the world of spirits; laid down a life adapted to this
|
|
world, but assumed one adapted to the other, like a corn of wheat,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+12:24"><I>ch.</I> xii. 24</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[<I>c.</I>] That he was perfectly voluntary in his sufferings and death
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
"No one doth or can force my life from me against my will, but I freely
|
|
<I>lay it down of myself,</I> I deliver it as my own act and deed, for
|
|
I <I>have</I> (which no man has) <I>power to lay it down, and to take
|
|
it again.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>1st,</I> See here the power of Christ, as the Lord of life,
|
|
particularly of his own life, which he had <I>in himself.</I>
|
|
|
|
1. He had power to <I>keep his life</I> against all the world, so that
|
|
it could not be wrested from him without his own consent. Though
|
|
Christ's life seemed to be taken by storm, yet really it was
|
|
surrendered, otherwise it had been impregnable, and never taken. The
|
|
Lord Jesus did not fall into the hands of his persecutors because he
|
|
could not avoid it, but threw himself into their hands because his hour
|
|
was come. <I>No man taketh my life from me.</I> This was such a
|
|
challenge as was never given by the most daring hero.
|
|
|
|
2. He had power to <I>lay down his life.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He had ability to do it. He could, when he pleased, slip the knot
|
|
of union between soul and body, and, without any act of violence done
|
|
to himself, could disengage them from each other: having voluntarily
|
|
<I>taken up</I> a body, he could voluntarily lay it down again, which
|
|
appeared when he cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He had authority to do it, <B><I>exousian</I></B>. Though we could
|
|
find instruments of cruelty, wherewith to make an end of our own lives,
|
|
yet <I>Id possumus quod jure possumus--we can do that, and that only,
|
|
which we can do lawfully.</I> We are not at liberty to do it; but
|
|
Christ had a sovereign authority to dispose of his own life as he
|
|
pleased. He was no debtor (as we are) either to life or death, but
|
|
perfectly <I>sui juris.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. He had power to <I>take it again;</I> we have not. Our life, once
|
|
laid down, is <I>as water spilt upon the ground;</I> but Christ, when
|
|
he laid down his life, still had it within reach, within call, and
|
|
could resume it. Parting with it by a voluntary conveyance, he might
|
|
limit the surrender at pleasure, and he did it with a power of
|
|
revocation, which was necessary to preserve the intentions of the
|
|
surrender.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>2ndly,</I> See here the grace of Christ; since none could demand his
|
|
life of him by law, or extort it by force, he <I>laid it down of
|
|
himself,</I> for our redemption. He offered himself to be the Saviour:
|
|
<I>Lo, I come;</I> and then, the necessity of our case calling for it,
|
|
he offered himself to be a sacrifice: <I>Here am I, let these go their
|
|
way; by which will we are sanctified,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:10">Heb. x. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was both the offerer and the offering, so that <I>his laying down
|
|
his life</I> was his offering up himself.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_21"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Sentiments Concerning Christ.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for
|
|
these sayings.
|
|
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear
|
|
ye him?
|
|
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a
|
|
devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here an account of the people's different sentiments concerning
|
|
Christ, on occasion of the foregoing discourse; there was a division, a
|
|
<I>schism,</I> among them; they differed in their opinions, which threw
|
|
them into heats and parties. Such a ferment as this they had been in
|
|
before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+7:43,9:16"><I>ch.</I> vii. 43; ix. 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
and where there has once been a division again. Rents are sooner made
|
|
than made up or mended. This division was occasioned by the sayings of
|
|
Christ, which, one would think, should rather have united them all in
|
|
him as their centre; but they set them at variance, as Christ foresaw,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+12:51">Luke xii. 51</A>.
|
|
|
|
But it is better that men should be <I>divided</I> about the doctrine
|
|
of Christ than <I>united</I> in the service of sin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+11:21">Luke xi. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
See what the debate was in particular.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Some upon this occasion spoke ill of Christ and of his sayings,
|
|
either openly in the face of the assembly, for his enemies were very
|
|
impudent, or privately among themselves. They said, <I>He has a devil,
|
|
and is mad, why do you hear him?</I>
|
|
|
|
1. They reproach him as a demoniac. The worst of characters is put upon
|
|
the best of men. He is a distracted man, he raves and is delirious, and
|
|
no more to be heard than the rambles of a man in bedlam. Thus still, if
|
|
a man preaches seriously and pressingly of another world, he shall be
|
|
said to talk like an enthusiast; and his conduct shall be imputed to
|
|
fancy, a heated brain, and a crazed imagination.
|
|
|
|
2. They ridicule his hearers: "<I>Why hear you him?</I> Why do you so
|
|
far encourage him as to take notice of what he says?" Note, Satan ruins
|
|
many by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances, and
|
|
representing it as a weak and silly thing to attend upon them. Men
|
|
would not thus be laughed out of their necessary food, and yet suffer
|
|
themselves to be laughed out of what is more necessary. Those that hear
|
|
Christ, and mix faith with what they hear, will soon be able to give a
|
|
good account <I>why they hear him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Others stood up in defence of him and his discourse, and, though
|
|
the stream ran strong, dared to swim against it; and, though perhaps
|
|
they did not believe on him as the Messiah, they could not bear to hear
|
|
him thus abused. If they could say no more of him, this they would
|
|
maintain, that he was a man in his wits, that he had not a devil, that
|
|
he was neither senseless nor graceless. The absurd and most
|
|
unreasonable reproaches, that have sometimes been cast upon Christ and
|
|
his gospel, have excited those to appear for him and it who otherwise
|
|
had no great affection to either. Two things they plead:--
|
|
|
|
1. The excellency of his doctrine: "<I>These are not the words of him
|
|
that hath a devil;</I> they are not idle words; distracted men are not
|
|
used to talk at this rate. These are not the words of one that is
|
|
either violently possessed with a devil or voluntarily in league with
|
|
the devil." Christianity, if it be not the true religion, is certainly
|
|
the greatest cheat that ever was put upon the world; and, if so, it
|
|
must be of the devil, who is the father of all lies: but it is certain
|
|
that the doctrine of Christ is no doctrine of devils, for it is
|
|
levelled directly against the devil's kingdom, and Satan is too subtle
|
|
to be divided against himself. So much of holiness there is in the
|
|
words of Christ that we may conclude they are <I>not the words of one
|
|
that has a devil,</I> and therefore are the words of one that was sent
|
|
of God; are not from hell, and therefore must be from heaven.
|
|
|
|
2. The power of his miracles: <I>Can a devil,</I> that is, a man that
|
|
has a devil, <I>open the eyes of the blind?</I> Neither mad men nor bad
|
|
men can work miracles. Devils are not such lords of the power of nature
|
|
as to be able to work such miracles; nor are they such friends to
|
|
mankind as to be willing to work them if they were able. The devil will
|
|
sooner put out men's eyes than open them. Therefore Jesus <I>had not a
|
|
devil.</I></P>
|
|
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|
<A NAME="Joh10_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_27"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_28"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_29"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_30"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_31"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_32"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_33"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_34"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_35"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_36"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_37"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh10_38"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Christ's Conference with the Jews.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
|
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<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it
|
|
was winter.
|
|
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
|
|
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How
|
|
long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
|
|
plainly.
|
|
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the
|
|
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
|
|
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I
|
|
said unto you.
|
|
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
|
|
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
|
|
perish, neither shall any <I>man</I> pluck them out of my hand.
|
|
29 My Father, which gave <I>them</I> me, is greater than all; and no
|
|
<I>man</I> is able to pluck <I>them</I> out of my Father's hand.
|
|
30 I and <I>my</I> Father are one.
|
|
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
|
|
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from
|
|
my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
|
|
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee
|
|
not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
|
|
makest thyself God.
|
|
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said,
|
|
Ye are gods?
|
|
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and
|
|
the scripture cannot be broken;
|
|
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent
|
|
into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of
|
|
God?
|
|
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
|
|
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works:
|
|
that ye may know, and believe, that the Father <I>is</I> in me, and I
|
|
in him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here another rencounter between Christ and the Jews in the
|
|
temple, in which it is hard to say which is more strange, the gracious
|
|
words that came out of his mouth or the spiteful ones that came out of
|
|
theirs.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. We have here the time when this conference was: <I>It was at the
|
|
feast of dedication, and it was winter,</I> a feast that was annually
|
|
observed by consent, in remembrance of the dedication of a new altar
|
|
and the purging of the temple, by Judas Maccabæus, after the temple
|
|
had been profaned and the altar defiled; we have the story of it at
|
|
large in the history of the Maccabees (lib. 1, cap. 4); we have the
|
|
prophecy of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:13,14">Dan. viii. 13, 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
See more of the feast,
|
|
|
|
<U>2 Mac. i. 18</U>.
|
|
|
|
The return of their liberty was to them as life from the dead, and, in
|
|
remembrance of it, they kept an annual feast on the twenty-fifth day of
|
|
the month <I>Cisleu,</I> about the beginning of <I>December,</I> and
|
|
seven days after. The celebrating of it was not confined to Jerusalem,
|
|
as that of the divine feasts was, but every one observed it in his own
|
|
place, not as a <I>holy time</I> (it is only a divine institution that
|
|
can sanctify a day), but as a <I>good time,</I> as the days of Purim,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+9:19">Esth. ix. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ forecasted to be now at Jerusalem, not in honour of the feast,
|
|
which did not require his attendance there, but that he might improve
|
|
those eight days of vacation for good purposes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The place where it was
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch;</I> so called
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:11">Acts iii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
not because built by Solomon, but because built in the same place with
|
|
that which had borne his name in the first temple, and the name was
|
|
kept up for the greater reputation of it. Here Christ walked, to
|
|
observe the proceedings of the great sanhedrim that sat here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+82:1">Ps. lxxxii. 1</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>he walked,</I> ready to give audience to any that should apply to
|
|
him, and to offer them his services. He walked, as it should seem, for
|
|
some time <I>alone,</I> as one neglected; walked pensive, in the
|
|
foresight of the ruin of the temple. Those that have any thing to say
|
|
to Christ may find him in the temple and walk with him there.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The conference itself, in which observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A weighty question put to him by the Jews,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
They <I>came round about him,</I> to tease him; he was waiting for an
|
|
opportunity to do them a kindness, and they took the opportunity to do
|
|
him a mischief. Ill-will for good-will is no rare and uncommon return.
|
|
He could not enjoy himself, no, not in the temple, his Father's house,
|
|
without disturbance. They came about him, as it were, to lay siege to
|
|
him: <I>encompassed him about like bees.</I> They came about him as if
|
|
they had a joint and unanimous desire to be satisfied; came as one man,
|
|
pretending an impartial and importunate enquiry after truth, but
|
|
intending a general assault upon our Lord Jesus; and they seemed to
|
|
speak the sense of their nation, as if they were the mouth of all the
|
|
Jews: <I>How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ
|
|
tell us.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) They quarrel with him, as if he had unfairly held them in suspense
|
|
hitherto. <B><I>Ten psychen hemon aireis</I></B>--<I>How long dost thou
|
|
steal away our hearts?</I> Or, <I>take away our souls?</I> So some read
|
|
it; basely intimating that what share he had of the people's love and
|
|
respect he did not obtain fairly, but by indirect methods, as Absalom
|
|
stole the hearts of the men of Israel; and as seducers deceive the
|
|
<I>hearts of the simple,</I> and so <I>draw away disciples after
|
|
them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+16:18,Ac+20:30">Rom. xvi. 18; Acts xx. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
But most interpreters understand it as we do: "<I>How long dost thou
|
|
keep us in suspense?</I> How long are we kept debating whether thou be
|
|
the Christ or no, and not able to determine the question?" Now,
|
|
|
|
[1.] It was the effect of their infidelity, and powerful prejudices,
|
|
that after our Lord Jesus had so fully proved himself to be the Christ
|
|
they were still in doubt concerning it; this they willingly hesitated
|
|
about, when they might easily have been satisfied. The struggle was
|
|
between their convictions, which told them he was Christ, and their
|
|
corruptions, which said, No, because he was not such a Christ as they
|
|
expected. Those who choose to be sceptics may, if they please, hold
|
|
the balance so that the most cogent arguments may not weigh down the
|
|
most trifling objections, but scales may still hang even.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It was an instance of their impudence and presumption that they
|
|
laid the blame of their doubting upon Christ himself, as if he <I>made
|
|
them to</I> doubt by inconsistency with himself, whereas in truth they
|
|
made themselves doubt by indulging their prejudices. If Wisdom's
|
|
sayings appear doubtful, the fault is not in the object, but in the
|
|
eye; they are all <I>plain to him that understands.</I> Christ would
|
|
make us to believe; we make ourselves to <I>doubt.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) They challenge him to give a direct and categorical answer whether
|
|
he was the Messiah or no: "<I>If thou be the Christ,</I> as many
|
|
believe thou art, <I>tell us plainly,</I> not by parables, as, <I>I am
|
|
the light of the world,</I> and <I>the good
|
|
|
|
Shepherd,</I> and the like, but <I>totidem verbis--in so many words,</I>
|
|
either that thou art the Christ, or, as John Baptist, that thou art
|
|
not,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:20"><I>ch.</I> i. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now this pressing query of theirs was <I>seemingly good;</I> they
|
|
pretended to be desirous to know the truth, as if they were ready to
|
|
embrace it; but it was <I>really bad,</I> and put with an ill design;
|
|
for, if he should tell them plainly that he was the Christ, there
|
|
needed no more to make him obnoxious to the jealousy and severity of
|
|
the Roman government. Every one knew the Messiah was to be a king, and
|
|
therefore whoever pretended to be the Messiah would be prosecuted as a
|
|
traitor, which was the thing they would have been at; for, let him tell
|
|
them ever so plainly that he was the Christ, they would have this to
|
|
say presently, <I>Thou bearest witness of thyself,</I> as they had
|
|
said,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+8:13"><I>ch.</I> viii. 13</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Christ's answer to this question, in which,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He justifies himself as not at all accessary to their infidelity
|
|
and skepticism, referring them,
|
|
|
|
[1.] To what he had said: <I>I have told you.</I> He had told them that
|
|
he was the Son of God, the Son of man, that he had life in himself,
|
|
that he had <I>authority to execute judgment,</I> &c. And is not this
|
|
the Christ then? These things he had told them, and they believed not;
|
|
why then should they be told them again, merely to gratify their
|
|
curiosity? <I>You believed not.</I> They pretended that they only
|
|
doubted, but Christ tells them that they did not believe. Skepticism in
|
|
religion is no better than downright infidelity. It is now for us to
|
|
teach God how he should teach us, nor prescribe to him how plainly he
|
|
should tell us his mind, but to be thankful for divine revelation as we
|
|
have it. If we do not believe this, neither should we be persuaded if
|
|
it were ever so much adapted to our humour.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He refers them to his works, to the example of his life, which was
|
|
not only perfectly pure, but highly beneficent, and of a piece with his
|
|
doctrine; and especially to his miracles, which he wrought for the
|
|
confirmation of his doctrine. It was certain that no man could do
|
|
those miracles except God were with him, and God would not be with him
|
|
to attest a forgery.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He condemns them for their obstinate unbelief, notwithstanding all
|
|
the most plain and powerful arguments used to convince them: "<I>You
|
|
believed not;</I> and again, <I>You believed not.</I> You still are
|
|
what you always were, obstinate in your unbelief." But the reason he
|
|
gives is very surprising: "<I>You believed not, because you are not of
|
|
my sheep:</I> you believe not in me, because you belong not to me."
|
|
|
|
[1.] "You are not disposed to be my followers, are not of a tractable
|
|
teachable temper, have no inclination to receive the doctrine and law
|
|
of the Messiah; you will not herd yourselves with my sheep, will not
|
|
come and see, come and hear my voice." Rooted antipathies to the gospel
|
|
of Christ are the bonds of iniquity and infidelity.
|
|
|
|
[2.] "You are not <I>designed</I> to be my followers; you are not of
|
|
those that were given me by my Father, to be brought to grace and
|
|
glory. You are not of the number of the elect; and your unbelief, if
|
|
you persist in it, will be a certain evidence that you are not." Note,
|
|
Those to whom God never gives the grace of faith were never designed
|
|
for heaven and happiness. What Solomon saith of immorality is true of
|
|
infidelity, It is <I>a deep ditch, and he that is abhorred of the Lord
|
|
shall fall therein,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+22:14">Prov. xxii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Non esse electum, non est causa incredulitatis propriè dicta,
|
|
sed causa per accidens. Fides autem est donum Dei et effectus
|
|
prædestinationis--The not being included among the elect is not
|
|
the</I> proper <I>cause of infidelity, but merely the</I> accidental
|
|
<I>cause. But faith is the gift of God, and the effect of
|
|
predestination.</I> So Jansenius distinguishes well here.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He takes this occasion to describe both the gracious disposition
|
|
and the happy state of those that are his sheep; for such there are,
|
|
though <I>they</I> be not.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] To convince them that they were not his sheep, he tells them what
|
|
were the characters of his sheep. <I>First,</I> They <I>hear his
|
|
voice</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
for they know it to be his
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and he has undertaken that they shall hear it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
They discern it, <I>It is the voice of my beloved,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+2:8">Cant. ii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
They delight in it, are in their element when they are sitting at his
|
|
feet to hear his word. They do according to it, and make his word their
|
|
rule. Christ will not account those his sheep that are deaf to his
|
|
calls, deaf to his charms,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:5">Ps. lviii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> They <I>follow him;</I> they submit to his guidance by
|
|
a willing obedience to all his commands, and a cheerful conformity to
|
|
his spirit and pattern. The word of command has always been, <I>Follow
|
|
me.</I> We must eye him as our leader and captain, and <I>tread in his
|
|
steps,</I> and walk as he walked--follow the prescriptions of his word,
|
|
the intimations of his providence, and the directions of his
|
|
Spirit--<I>follow the Lamb</I> (the <I>dux gregis--the leader of the
|
|
flock</I>) <I>whithersoever he goes.</I> In vain do we <I>hear his
|
|
voice</I> if we do not <I>follow him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] To convince them that it was their great unhappiness and misery
|
|
not to be of Christ's sheep, he here describes the blessed state and
|
|
case of those that are, which would likewise serve for the support and
|
|
comfort of his poor despised followers, and keep them from envying the
|
|
power and grandeur of those that were not of his sheep.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> Our Lord Jesus <I>takes cognizance</I> of his sheep: They
|
|
<I>hear my voice,</I> and <I>I know them.</I> He distinguishes them
|
|
from others
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+2:19">2 Tim. ii. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
has a particular regard to every individual
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+34:6">Ps. xxxiv. 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
he knows their wants and desires, knows their souls in adversity, where
|
|
to find them, and what to do for them. He knows others afar off, but
|
|
knows them near at hand.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> He has provided a happiness for them, suited to them:
|
|
<I>I give unto them eternal life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. The estate settled upon them is rich and valuable; it is life,
|
|
eternal life. Man has a living soul; therefore the happiness provided
|
|
is life, suited to his nature. Man has an immortal soul: therefore the
|
|
happiness provided is eternal life, running parallel with his duration.
|
|
<I>Life eternal</I> is the felicity and chief good of a <I>soul
|
|
immortal.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. The manner of conveyance is <I>free: I give it</I> to them; it is
|
|
not bargained and sold upon a valuable consideration, but given by the
|
|
free grace of Jesus Christ. The donor has power to give it. He who is
|
|
the fountain of life, and Father of eternity, has authorized Christ to
|
|
give eternal life,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+17:2"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Not <I>I will</I> give it, but <I>I do</I> give it; it is a present
|
|
gift. He gives the assurance of it, the pledge and earnest of it, the
|
|
first-fruits and foretastes of it, that <I>spiritual</I> life which is
|
|
<I>eternal</I> life begun, heaven in the seed, in the bud, in the
|
|
embryo.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> He has undertaken for their security and preservation
|
|
to this happiness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>a.</I> They shall be <I>saved from everlasting perdition. They shall
|
|
by no means perish for ever;</I> so the words are. As there is an
|
|
eternal life, so there is an eternal destruction; the soul not
|
|
<I>annihilated,</I> but <I>ruined;</I> its being continued, but its
|
|
comfort and happiness irrecoverably lost. All believers are saved from
|
|
this; whatever cross they may come under, they shall not <I>come into
|
|
condemnation.</I> A man is never undone till he is in hell, and they
|
|
shall not go down to that. Shepherds that have large flocks often lose
|
|
some of the sheep and suffer them to perish; but Christ has engaged
|
|
that none of his sheep shall perish, not one.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>b.</I> They cannot be kept from their <I>everlasting happiness;</I>
|
|
it is in reserve, but he that gives it to them will preserve them to
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) His own power is engaged for them: <I>Neither shall any man
|
|
pluck them out of my hand.</I> A mighty contest is here supposed about
|
|
these sheep. The Shepherd is so careful of their welfare that he has
|
|
them not only within his fold, and under his eye, but <I>in his
|
|
hand,</I> interested in his special love and taken under his special
|
|
protection (<I>all his saints are in thy hand,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:3">Deut. xxxiii. 3</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet their enemies are so daring that they attempt to pluck them out of
|
|
his hand--<I>his</I> whose <I>own</I> they are, whose <I>care</I> they
|
|
are; but they cannot, they shall not, do it. Note, Those are safe who
|
|
are in the hands of the Lord Jesus. The saints are <I>preserved in
|
|
Christ Jesus:</I> and their salvation is not in their own keeping, but
|
|
in the keeping of a Mediator. The Pharisees and rulers did all they
|
|
could to frighten the disciples of Christ from following him, reproving
|
|
and threatening them, but Christ saith that they shall not prevail.
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) His Father's power is likewise engaged for their
|
|
preservation,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
He now appeared in weakness, and, lest his security should therefore be
|
|
thought <I>insufficient,</I> he brings in his Father as a further
|
|
security. Observe,
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] The power of the Father: <I>My Father is greater than
|
|
all;</I> greater than all the other <I>friends</I> of the church, all
|
|
the other shepherds, magistrates or ministers, and able to do that for
|
|
them which they cannot do. Those shepherds slumber and sleep, and it
|
|
will be easy to pluck the sheep out of their hands; but he keeps his
|
|
flock day and night. He is greater than all the enemies of the church,
|
|
all the opposition given to her interests, and able to secure his own
|
|
against all their insults; he is <I>greater than all</I> the combined
|
|
force of hell and earth. He is greater in wisdom than the <I>old
|
|
serpent,</I> though noted for subtlety; greater in strength than the
|
|
great red dragon, though his name be <I>legion,</I> and his title
|
|
<I>principalities and powers.</I> The devil and his angels have had
|
|
many a push, many a pluck for the mastery, but have never yet
|
|
prevailed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:7,8">Rev. xii. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord on high is mightier.</I>
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] The interest of the Father in the sheep, for the sake of
|
|
which this power is engaged for them: "It is my Father <I>that gave
|
|
them to me,</I> and he is concerned in honour to uphold his gift." They
|
|
were given to the Son as a trust to be managed by him, and therefore
|
|
God will still look after them. All the divine power is engaged for the
|
|
accomplishment of all the divine counsels.
|
|
|
|
[<I>c.</I>] The safety of the saints inferred from these two. If this
|
|
be so, then <I>none</I> (neither man nor devil) is <I>able to pluck
|
|
them out of the Father's hand,</I> not able to deprive them of the
|
|
grace they have, nor to hinder them from the glory that is designed
|
|
them; not able to put them out of God's protection, nor get them into
|
|
their own power. Christ had himself experienced the power of his Father
|
|
<I>upholding</I> and <I>strengthening</I> him, and therefore puts all
|
|
his followers into his hand too. He that secured the glory of the
|
|
Redeemer will secure the glory of the redeemed. Further to corroborate
|
|
the security, that the sheep of Christ may have strong consolation, he
|
|
asserts the union of these two undertakers: "<I>I and my Father are
|
|
one,</I> and have jointly and severally undertaken for the protection
|
|
of the saints and their perfection." This denotes more than the
|
|
harmony, and consent, and good understanding, that were between the
|
|
Father and the Son in the work of man's redemption. Every good man is
|
|
so far one with God as to concur with him; therefore it must be meant
|
|
of the <I>oneness of the nature</I> of Father and Son, that they are
|
|
the same in substance, and equal in power and glory. The fathers urged
|
|
this both against the Sabellians, to prove the distinction and
|
|
plurality of the persons, that the Father and the Son are two, and
|
|
against the Arians, to prove the unity of the nature, that these two
|
|
are <I>one.</I> If we should altogether hold our peace concerning this
|
|
sense of the words, even the stones which the Jews took up to cast at
|
|
him would speak it out, for the Jews understood him as hereby making
|
|
himself God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>)
|
|
|
|
and he did not deny it. He proves that none could pluck them out <I>of
|
|
his hand</I> because they could not pluck them out <I>of the Father's
|
|
hand,</I> which had not been a conclusive argument if the Son had not
|
|
had the same almighty power with the Father, and consequently been one
|
|
with him in essence and operation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The rage, the outrage, of the Jews against him for this discourse:
|
|
<I>The Jews took up stones again,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is not the word that is used before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+8:59"><I>ch.</I> viii. 59</A>),
|
|
|
|
but <B><I>ebastasan lithous</I></B>--<I>they carried stones</I>--great
|
|
stones, stones that were a <I>load,</I> such as they used in stoning
|
|
malefactors. They <I>brought</I> them from some place at a distance, as
|
|
it were preparing things for his execution without any judicial
|
|
process; as if he were convicted of blasphemy upon the notorious
|
|
evidence of the fact, which needed no further trial. The absurdity of
|
|
this insult which the Jews offered to Christ will appear if we
|
|
consider,
|
|
|
|
1. That they had <I>imperiously,</I> not to say <I>impudently,</I>
|
|
challenged him to tell them plainly whether he was the Christ or no;
|
|
and yet now that he not only said <I>he</I> was the Christ, but proved
|
|
himself so, they condemned him as a malefactor. If the preachers of the
|
|
truth propose it <I>modestly,</I> they are branded as cowards; if
|
|
<I>boldly,</I> as insolent; but <I>Wisdom is justified of her
|
|
children.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. That when they had before made a similar attempt it was in vain; he
|
|
<I>escaped through the midst of them</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+8:59"><I>ch.</I> viii. 59</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet they repeat their baffled attempt. Daring sinners will throw stones
|
|
at heaven, though they return upon their own heads; and will strengthen
|
|
themselves against the Almighty, though none ever hardened themselves
|
|
against him and prospered.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. Christ's tender expostulation with them upon occasion of this
|
|
outrage
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Jesus answered</I> what they <I>did,</I> for we do not find that
|
|
they <I>said any thing,</I> unless perhaps they stirred up the crown
|
|
that they had gathered about him to join with them, crying, <I>Stone
|
|
him, stone him,</I> as afterwards, <I>Crucify him, crucify him.</I>
|
|
When he could have answered them with fire from heaven, he mildly
|
|
replied, <I>Many good works have I shown you from my Father: for which
|
|
of those works do you stone me?</I> Words so very tender that one would
|
|
think they should have melted a heart of stone. In dealing with his
|
|
enemies he still argued from his works (men evidence what they
|
|
<I>are</I> by what they <I>do</I>), his <I>good works</I>--<B><I>kala
|
|
erga</I></B> excellent, eminent works. <I>Opera eximia vel
|
|
præclara;</I> the expression signifies both <I>great works</I>
|
|
and <I>good works.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The divine power of his works convicted them of the most obstinate
|
|
infidelity. They were works <I>from his Father,</I> so far above the
|
|
reach and course of nature as to prove him who did them <I>sent of
|
|
God,</I> and acting by commission from him. These works he
|
|
<I>showed</I> them; he did them openly before the people, and not in a
|
|
corner. His works would bear the test, and refer themselves to the
|
|
testimony of the most inquisitive and impartial spectators. He did not
|
|
show his works by candle-light, as those that are concerned only for
|
|
<I>show,</I> but he showed them at noon-day before the world,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+18:20"><I>ch.</I> xviii. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:6">Ps. cxi. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
His works so undeniably <I>demonstrated</I> that they were an
|
|
incontestable <I>demonstration</I> of the validity of his
|
|
commission.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The divine grace of his works convicted them of the most base
|
|
ingratitude. The works he did among them were not only miracles, but
|
|
mercies; not only works of wonder to amaze them, but works of love and
|
|
kindness to do them good, and so make them good, and endear himself to
|
|
them. He healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, which
|
|
were favours, not only to the persons concerned, but to the public;
|
|
these he had repeated, and multiplied: "<I>Now for which of these do
|
|
you stone me?</I> You cannot say that I have done you any harm, or
|
|
given you any just provocation; if therefore you will pick a quarrel
|
|
with me, it must be for some good work, some good turn done you; tell
|
|
me for which." Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The horrid ingratitude that there is in our sins against God and
|
|
Jesus Christ is a great aggravation of them, and makes them appear
|
|
exceedingly sinful. See how God argues to this purpose,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:6,Jer+2:5,Mic+6:3">Deut. xxxii. 6;
|
|
Jer. ii. 5; Mic. vi. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) We must not think it strange if we meet with those who not only
|
|
hate us without cause, but are our adversaries for our love,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:12,41:9">Ps. xxxv. 12; xli. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
When he asks, <I>For which of these do you stone me?</I> as he
|
|
intimates the abundant satisfaction he had in his own innocency, which
|
|
gives a man courage in a suffering day, so he puts his persecutors upon
|
|
considering what was the true reason of their enmity, and asking, as
|
|
all those should do that create trouble to their neighbour, <I>Why
|
|
persecute we him?</I> As Job advises his friends to do,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:28">Job xix. 28</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. Their vindication of the attempt they made upon Christ, and the
|
|
cause upon which they grounded their prosecution,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
What sin will want fig-leaves with which to cover itself, when even the
|
|
bloody persecutors of the Son of God could find something to say for
|
|
themselves?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They would not be thought such enemies to their country as to
|
|
persecute him for a good work: <I>For a good work we stone thee
|
|
not.</I> For indeed they would scarcely allow any of his works to be
|
|
so. His curing the impotent man
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+5:1-46"><I>ch.</I> v.</A>)
|
|
|
|
and the blind man
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+9:1-41"><I>ch.</I> ix.</A>)
|
|
|
|
were so far from being acknowledged good services to the town, and
|
|
meritorious, that they were put upon the score of his crimes, because
|
|
done on the sabbath day. But, if he had done any good works, they would
|
|
not own that they stoned him <I>for them,</I> though these were really
|
|
the things that did most exasperate them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:47"><I>ch.</I> xi. 47</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus, though most absurd, they could not be brought to own their
|
|
absurdities.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They would be thought such friends to God and his glory as to
|
|
prosecute him for blasphemy: <I>Because that thou, being a man, makest
|
|
thyself God.</I> Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) A pretended zeal for the law. They seem mightily concerned for the
|
|
honour of the divine majesty, and to be seized with a religious horror
|
|
at that which they imagined to be a reproach to it. A blasphemer was to
|
|
be <I>stoned,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+24:16">Lev. xxiv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
This law, they thought, did not only justify, but sanctify, what they
|
|
attempted, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:9">Acts xxvi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The vilest practices are often varnished with plausible
|
|
pretences. As nothing is more <I>courageous</I> than a well-informed
|
|
conscience, so nothing is more <I>outrageous</I> than a mistaken one.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:5,Joh+16:2">Isa. lxvi. 5; <I>ch.</I> xvi. 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) A real enmity to the gospel, on which they could not put a greater
|
|
affront than by representing Christ as a blasphemer. It is no new thing
|
|
for the worst of characters to be put upon the best of men, by those
|
|
that resolve to give them the worst of treatment.
|
|
|
|
[1.] The crime laid to his charge is <I>blasphemy,</I> speaking
|
|
reproachfully and despitefully of God. God himself is out of the
|
|
sinner's reach, and not capable of receiving any real injury; and
|
|
therefore enmity to God spits its venom at his name, and so shows its
|
|
ill-will.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The proof of the crime: <I>Thou, being a man, makest thyself
|
|
God.</I> As it is God's glory that <I>he is God,</I> which we rob him
|
|
of when we make him altogether such a one as ourselves, so it is his
|
|
glory that <I>besides him there is no other,</I> which we rob him of
|
|
when we make ourselves, or any creature, altogether like him. Now,
|
|
<I>First,</I> Thus far they were in the right, that what Christ said of
|
|
himself amounted to this--that he was God, for he had said that he was
|
|
<I>one with the Father</I> and that he would <I>give eternal life;</I>
|
|
and Christ does not deny it, which he would have done if it had been a
|
|
mistaken inference from his words. But, <I>secondly,</I> They were much
|
|
mistaken when they looked upon him as a <I>mere man,</I> and that the
|
|
Godhead he claimed was a usurpation, and of his own making. They
|
|
thought it absurd and impious that such a one as he, who appeared in
|
|
the fashion of a poor, mean, despicable man, should profess himself the
|
|
Messiah, and entitle himself to the honours confessedly due to the Son
|
|
of God. Note,
|
|
|
|
1. Those who say that Jesus is a <I>mere man,</I> and only a <I>made
|
|
God,</I> as the Socinians say, do in effect charge <I>him</I> with
|
|
blasphemy, but do effectually prove it upon themselves.
|
|
|
|
2. He who, being a man, a sinful man, makes himself a god as the Pope
|
|
does, who claims divine powers and prerogatives, is unquestionably a
|
|
<I>blasphemer,</I> and <I>that</I> antichrist.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. Christ's reply to their accusation of him (for such their
|
|
vindication of themselves was), and his making good those claims which
|
|
they imputed to him as blasphemous
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), where he proves himself to be no blasphemer, by two
|
|
arguments:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. By an argument taken from <I>God's word.</I> He appeals to what was
|
|
<I>written in their law,</I> that is, in the Old Testament; whoever
|
|
opposes Christ, he is sure to have the scripture <I>on his side.</I> It
|
|
is written
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+82:6">Ps. lxxxii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I have said, You are gods.</I> It is an argument <I>a minore ad
|
|
majus--from the less to the greater.</I> If they were gods, much more
|
|
am I. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) How he explains the text
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture
|
|
cannot be broken.</I> The word of God's commission came to them,
|
|
appointing them to their offices, as judges, and therefore they are
|
|
called <I>gods,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+22:28">Exod. xxii. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
To some the word of God came immediately, as to Moses; to others in the
|
|
way of an instituted ordinance. Magistracy is a divine institution; and
|
|
magistrates are God's delegates, and therefore the scripture calleth
|
|
them gods; and we are sure that the scripture <I>cannot be broken,</I>
|
|
or broken in upon, or found fault with. Every word of God is
|
|
<I>right;</I> the very style and language of scripture are
|
|
unexceptionable, and not to be corrected,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:18">Matt. v. 18</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How he applies it. Thus much in general is easily inferred, that
|
|
those were very rash and unreasonable who condemned Christ as a
|
|
blasphemer, only for calling himself the Son of God, when yet they
|
|
themselves called their rulers so, and therein the scripture warranted
|
|
them. But the argument goes further
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>):
|
|
|
|
If magistrates were called Gods, because they were commissioned to
|
|
administer justice in the nation, <I>say you of him whom the Father
|
|
hath sanctified, Thou blasphemest?</I> We have here two things
|
|
concerning the Lord Jesus:--
|
|
|
|
[1.] The honour done him by the <I>Father,</I> which he justly glories
|
|
in: He <I>sanctified him,</I> and <I>sent him into the world.</I>
|
|
Magistrates were called <I>the sons of God,</I> though the word of God
|
|
only came to them, and the spirit of government came upon them by
|
|
measure, as upon Saul; but our Lord Jesus was himself the <I>Word,</I>
|
|
and had the <I>Spirit without measure.</I> They were constituted for a
|
|
particular country, city, or nation; but he was sent <I>into the
|
|
world,</I> vested with a universal authority, as Lord of all. They were
|
|
<I>sent to,</I> as persons at a distance; he was <I>sent forth,</I> as
|
|
having been from eternity with God. The Father <I>sanctified him,</I>
|
|
that is, designed him and set him apart to the office of Mediator, and
|
|
qualified and fitted him for that office. <I>Sanctifying</I> him is
|
|
the same with <I>sealing</I> him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+6:27"><I>ch.</I> vi. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Whom the Father sends he sanctifies; whom he designs for holy
|
|
purposes he prepares with holy principles and dispositions. The holy
|
|
God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he finds
|
|
or makes holy. The Father's sanctifying and sending him is here vouched
|
|
as a sufficient warrant for his calling himself the <I>Son of God;</I>
|
|
for because he was a <I>holy thing</I> he was <I>called the Son of
|
|
God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:35">Luke i. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:4">Rom. i. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The dishonour done him by the Jews, which he justly complains
|
|
of--that they impiously said of him, whom the Father had thus
|
|
dignified, that he was a <I>blasphemer,</I> because he called himself
|
|
the <I>Son of God: "Say you of him</I> so and so? Dare you say so? Dare
|
|
you thus set your mouths against the heavens? Have you brow and brass
|
|
enough to tell the God of truth that he lies, or <I>to condemn him that
|
|
is most just?</I> Look me in the face, and say it if you can. What! say
|
|
you of the Son of God that <I>he is a blasphemer?</I>" If devils, whom
|
|
he came to condemn, had said so of him, it had not been so strange; but
|
|
that <I>men,</I> whom he came to teach and save, should say so of him,
|
|
<I>be astonished, O heavens! at this.</I> See what is the language of
|
|
an obstinate unbelief; it does, in effect, call the holy Jesus a
|
|
blasphemer. It is hard to say which is more to be wondered at, that men
|
|
who breathe in God's air should yet speak such things, or that men who
|
|
have spoken such things should still be suffered to breathe in God's
|
|
air. The wickedness of man, and the patience of God, as it were,
|
|
contend which shall be most <I>wonderful.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. By an argument taken from <I>his own works,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:37,38"><I>v.</I> 37, 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
In the former he only answered the charge of blasphemy by an argument
|
|
<I>ad hominem--turning a man's own argument against himself;</I> but he
|
|
here makes out his own claims, and proves that he and the Father are
|
|
one
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:37,38"><I>v.</I> 37, 38</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.</I> Though he
|
|
might justly have abandoned such blasphemous wretches as incurable, yet
|
|
he vouchsafes to reason with them. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>From what</I> he argues--from his works, which he had often
|
|
vouched as his credentials, and the proofs of his mission. As he proved
|
|
himself sent of God by the <I>divinity</I> of his works, so we must
|
|
prove ourselves allied to Christ by the <I>Christianity</I> of ours.
|
|
|
|
[1.] The argument is very cogent; for the works he did were the
|
|
<I>works of his Father,</I> which the Father only could do, and which
|
|
could not be done in the ordinary course of nature, but only by the
|
|
sovereign over-ruling power of the God of nature. <I>Opera Deo
|
|
propria--works peculiar to God,</I> and <I>Opera Deo Digna--works worthy
|
|
of God</I>--the works of a divine power. He that can dispense with the
|
|
laws of nature, repeal, altar, and overrule them at his pleasure, by
|
|
his own power, is certainly the sovereign prince who first instituted
|
|
and enacted those laws. The miracles which the apostles wrought in his
|
|
name, by his power, and for the confirmation of his doctrine,
|
|
corroborated this argument, and continued the evidence of it when he
|
|
was gone.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is proposed as fairly as can be desired, and put to a short
|
|
issue. <I>First, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me
|
|
not.</I> He does not demand a blind and implicit faith, nor an assent
|
|
to his divine mission further than he gave proof of it. He did not wind
|
|
himself into the affections of the people, nor wheedle them by sly
|
|
insinuations, nor impose upon their credulity by bold assertions, but
|
|
with the greatest fairness imaginable quitted all demands of their
|
|
faith, further than he produced warrants for these demands. Christ is
|
|
no hard master, who expects to reap in assents where he has not sown in
|
|
arguments. None shall perish for the disbelief of that which was not
|
|
proposed to them with sufficient motives of credibility, Infinite
|
|
Wisdom itself being judge. <I>Secondly,</I> "But if I do <I>the works
|
|
of my Father, if I work</I> undeniable miracles for the confirmation of
|
|
a holy doctrine, <I>though you believe not me,</I> though you are so
|
|
scrupulous as not to take my word, yet <I>believe the works:</I>
|
|
believe your own eyes, your own reason; the thing speaks itself plainly
|
|
enough." As the invisible things of the Creator are clearly seen by his
|
|
works of creation and common providence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:20">Rom. i. 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
so the invisible things of the Redeemer were seen by his miracles, and
|
|
by all his works both of power and mercy; so that those who were not
|
|
convinced by these works were <I>without excuse.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>For what</I> he argues--<I>that you may know and believe,</I>
|
|
may believe it intelligently, and with an entire satisfaction, that
|
|
<I>the Father is in me and I in him;</I> which is the same with what he
|
|
had said
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I and my Father are one.</I> The Father was so in the Son as that in
|
|
him <I>dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead,</I> and it was by a divine
|
|
power that he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father as
|
|
that he was perfectly acquainted with the whole of his mind, not by
|
|
communication, but by consciousness, having lain in his bosom. This we
|
|
must <I>know;</I> not know and <I>explain</I> (for we cannot by
|
|
searching find it out to perfection), but know and <I>believe</I> it;
|
|
acknowledging and adoring the depth, when we cannot find the
|
|
bottom.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_39"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_40"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_41"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh10_42"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Christ Retires beyond Jordan.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out
|
|
of their hand,
|
|
40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John
|
|
at first baptized; and there he abode.
|
|
41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle:
|
|
but all things that John spake of this man were true.
|
|
42 And many believed on him there.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the issue of the conference with the Jews. One would have
|
|
thought it would have convinced and melted them, but their hearts were
|
|
hardened. Here we are told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. How they attacked him by force. Therefore <I>they sought again to
|
|
take him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
Therefore,
|
|
|
|
1. Because he had fully answered their charge of blasphemy, and wiped
|
|
off that imputation, so that they could not for shame go on with their
|
|
attempts to stone him, therefore they contrived to seize him, and
|
|
prosecute him as an offender against the state. When they were
|
|
constrained to drop their attempt by a popular tumult, they would try
|
|
what they could do under colour of a legal process. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:13">Rev. xii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or,
|
|
|
|
2. Because he persevered in the same testimony concerning himself, they
|
|
persisted in their malice against him. What he had said before he did
|
|
in effect say again, for the <I>faithful witness</I> never departs from
|
|
what he has once said; and therefore, having the same provocation, they
|
|
express the same resentment, and justify their attempt to stone him by
|
|
another attempt to take him. Such is the temper of a persecuting
|
|
spirit, and such its policy, <I>malè facta malè factis
|
|
tegere ne perpluant</I>--<I>to cover one set of bad deeds with another,
|
|
lest the former should fall through.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. How he avoided them by flight; not an inglorious retreat, in which
|
|
there was any thing of human infirmity, but a glorious retirement, in
|
|
which there was much of a divine power. He <I>escaped out of their
|
|
hands,</I> not by the interposal of any friend that helped him, but by
|
|
his own wisdom he <I>got clear</I> of them; he drew a veil over
|
|
himself, or cast a mist before their eyes, or tied the hands of those
|
|
whose hearts he did not turn. Note, No weapon formed against our Lord
|
|
Jesus shall prosper,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:4">Ps. ii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
He <I>escaped,</I> not because he was afraid to suffer, but because
|
|
<I>his hour was not come.</I> And he who knew how to <I>deliver
|
|
himself</I> no doubt knows how to <I>deliver the godly out of
|
|
temptation,</I> and to make <I>a way for them to escape.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. How he disposed of himself in his retirement: He <I>went away
|
|
again beyond Jordan,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>.
|
|
|
|
The bishop of our souls came not to be fixed in one see, but to go
|
|
about from place to place, doing good. This great benefactor was never
|
|
out of his way, for wherever he came there was work to be done. Though
|
|
Jerusalem was the royal city, yet he made many a kind visit to the
|
|
country, not only to his own country Galilee, but to other parts, even
|
|
those that lay most remote beyond Jordan. Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What <I>shelter</I> he found there. He went into a private part of
|
|
the country, and <I>there he abode;</I> there he found some rest and
|
|
quietness, when in Jerusalem he could find none. Note, Though
|
|
persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel out of their own city or
|
|
country, they cannot drive him or it out of the world. Though Jerusalem
|
|
was not gathered, nor would be, yet Christ was glorious, and would be.
|
|
Christ's going now beyond Jordan was a figure of the taking of the
|
|
kingdom of God from the Jews, and bringing it to the Gentiles. Christ
|
|
and his gospel have often found better entertainment among the plain
|
|
country-people than among <I>the wise, the mighty, the noble,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+1:26,27">1 Cor. i. 26, 27</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What <I>success</I> he found there. He did not go thither merely for
|
|
his own security, but to do good there; and he chose to go thither,
|
|
where John at first baptized
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:28"><I>ch.</I> i. 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
because there could not but remain some impressions of John's ministry
|
|
and baptism thereabouts, which would dispose them to receive Christ and
|
|
his doctrine; for it was not three years since John was baptizing, and
|
|
Christ was himself baptized here at Bethabara. Christ came hither now
|
|
to see what fruit there was of all the pains John Baptist had taken
|
|
among them, and what they retained of the things they then heard and
|
|
received. The event in some measure answered expectation; for we are
|
|
told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) That they flocked after him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Many resorted to him.</I> The return of the means of grace to a
|
|
place, after they have been for some time intermitted, commonly
|
|
occasions a great stirring of affections. Some think Christ chose to
|
|
<I>abide</I> at <I>Bethabara,</I> the <I>house of passage,</I> where
|
|
the ferry-boats lay by which they crossed the river Jordan, that the
|
|
confluence of people thither might give an opportunity of teaching many
|
|
who would come to hear him when it <I>lay in their way,</I> but who
|
|
would scarcely go a step out of the road for an opportunity of
|
|
attending on his word.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) That they reasoned in his favour, and sought arguments to induce
|
|
them to close with him as much as those at Jerusalem sought objections
|
|
against him. They said very judiciously, <I>John did no miracle, but
|
|
all things that John spoke of this man were true.</I> Two things they
|
|
considered, upon recollecting what they had seen and heard from John,
|
|
and comparing it with Christ's ministry.
|
|
|
|
[1.] That Christ far exceeded John Baptist's power, for <I>John did no
|
|
miracle,</I> but Jesus does many; whence it is easy to infer that Jesus
|
|
is greater than John. And, if John was so great a prophet, how great
|
|
then is this Jesus! Christ is best known and acknowledged by such a
|
|
comparison with others as sets him superlatively above others. Though
|
|
John came in the spirit and power of Elias, yet he did not work
|
|
miracles, as Elias did, lest the minds of people should be made to
|
|
hesitate between him and Jesus; therefore the honour of working
|
|
miracles was reserved for Jesus as a flower of his crown, that there
|
|
might be a sensible demonstration, and <I>undeniable</I> one, that
|
|
though he came after John, yet he was <I>preferred far before him.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] That Christ exactly answered John Baptist's testimony. John not
|
|
only <I>did no miracle</I> to <I>divert</I> people from Christ, but he
|
|
said a great deal to direct them to Christ, and to turn them over as
|
|
apprentices to him, and this came to their minds <I>now:</I> all things
|
|
that <I>John said of this man were true,</I> that he should be the
|
|
<I>Lamb of God,</I> should <I>baptize with Holy Ghost and with
|
|
fire.</I> Great things John had said of him, which raised their
|
|
expectations; so that though they had not zeal enough to carry them
|
|
into his country to enquire after him, yet, when he came into theirs,
|
|
and brought his gospel to their doors, they acknowledged him as great
|
|
as John had said he would be. When we get acquainted with Christ, and
|
|
come to know him experimentally, we find all things that the scripture
|
|
saith of him to be true; nay, and that the reality exceeds the report,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+10:6,7">1 Kings x. 6, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
John Baptist was now dead and gone, and yet his hearers profited by
|
|
what they had heard formerly, and, by comparing what they heard then
|
|
with what they saw now, they gained a double advantage; for,
|
|
<I>First,</I> They were confirmed in their belief that <I>John was a
|
|
prophet,</I> who foretold such things, and spoke of the eminency to
|
|
which this Jesus would arrive, though his beginning was so small.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> They were prepared to believe that <I>Jesus was the
|
|
Christ,</I> in whom they saw those things accomplished which John
|
|
foretold. By this we see that the success and efficacy of the word
|
|
preached are not confined to the life of the preacher, nor do they
|
|
expire with his breath, but that which seemed as <I>water spilt upon
|
|
the ground</I> may afterwards be <I>gathered up again.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+1:5,6">Zech. i. 5, 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) That many believed on him there. Believing that he who wrought
|
|
such miracles, and in whom John's predictions were fulfilled, was what
|
|
he declared himself to be, the Son of God, they gave up themselves to
|
|
him as his disciples,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:42"><I>v.</I> 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
An emphasis is here to be laid,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Upon the persons that believed on him; they were <I>many.</I>
|
|
While those that received and embraced his doctrine at Jerusalem were
|
|
but as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, those that believed on him
|
|
in the country, beyond the Jordan, were a full harvest gathered in to
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Upon the place where this was; it was where John had been
|
|
preaching and baptizing and had had great success; <I>there</I> many
|
|
believed on the Lord Jesus. Where the preaching of the doctrine of
|
|
repentance has had success, as desired, there the preaching of the
|
|
doctrine of reconciliation and gospel grace is most likely to be
|
|
prosperous. Where John has been acceptable, Jesus will not be
|
|
unacceptable. The jubilee-trumpet sounds sweetest in the ears of those
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who in the day of atonement have afflicted their souls for sin.</P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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