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Turn with me if you will to the book of John, chapter 10. In my Bible, the title of this knowledge nugget appears as the heading. I am reading from the New American Standard – Updated Edition (NASU). In the Contemporary English Version (CEV), we find the title “A Story about Sheep” and in the New English Translation (NET) Bible, we find “Jesus as the Good Shepherd.” So in reading the first 21 verses of John chapter 10, we have a pretty good idea of who the parable is going to be about.
Let’s look at the first six verses of John Chapter 10:
“1 ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.”
John 10:1-6 (NASU)
Verse 6 tells us that “they” did not understand what Jesus was telling them. Who are “they” in verse 6? Is it the disciples or is it a group of Jews; perhaps Pharisees? We have to go to John 9:40 to take this in context. There we find that Jesus is speaking to a group of Pharisees.
Now before Jesus interprets this parable, I want to ask “Do you understand the parable?” In reality, it is interesting to hear the different interpretations I get when I ask this question to the students.
John 10:7-18 provides the explanation of this parable:
“7 So Jesus said to them again, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.’ ”
John 10:7-18 (NASU)
So who are the “sheep” that Jesus is referring to in verse 7? And who is “all who came before Me” that Jesus is referring to in verse 8? If you answered correctly, you said that the “sheep” are His followers and the “all who came before Me” are the false shepherds [Note: He is speaking to the Pharisees about themselves…]. Do you think this went “over their heads?” In other words, did the Pharisees understand that He was talking about them? That answer comes in the last three verses of this week’s knowledge nugget:
“19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?’ 21 Others were saying, ‘These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?’ ”
John 10:19-21 (NASU)
We see that an uneven split has occurred. Note that the Word says “many” in verse 20 which is referring to those who do not believe in Jesus. The “others” that verse 21 is referring to are believers in Jesus Christ. Where in Scripture have we seen a similar uneven split? Actually in quite a few places but one place that immediately comes to my mind is Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14:
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
Note the many/few comparison. Do you know what these two verses are referring to? If you said Hell and Heaven, you are correct. Or put another way in another translation:
13 “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. 14 But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 (TLB)
But what about the many/few correlation? Does this align with your way of thinking? Do you agree or disagree with this; that FEW will enter Heaven (as compared to those destined for Hell? Is this what a loving God would do to mankind? Considering that these verses appear in RED in the red-letter editions of the Bible, that means that Jesus Christ Himself spoke these words. Do you believe what Jesus Christ has to say?
Wow! A tough but powerful lesson! Let me hear from you either with a comment to this post or via the “Contact Us” form found here.
That will be a wrap for today. You all have been great. I especially appreciate the eMails from folks that either let me know how this ministry has helped them or sent me ideas on content that I could publish. With that, I leave you by speaking this blessing over you:
“I pray that the Lord
will bless and protect you,
and that he will show you mercy
and kindness.
May the Lord be good to you
and give you peace.“
Numbers 6:24-26 (CEV)
Pastor Dave
…well, that is what we must conclude if we take the words of Psalm 91 literally.
“He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge“
Psalms 91:4a (NIV)
The Bible literally says that God has wings, feathers and all! Truth is, this is simply a metaphor, a literary device. In order to make a point, the writer (inspired by the Holy Spirit) painted a picture of God using familiar imagery from the animal kingdom. In fact, the Bible is FULL of such literary devices. The Lord Jesus himself used them!
“29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.“
Matthew 5:29a, 5:30a (NIV)
How many one-eyed Christians do we know? Or one-armed Christians? If none, is it because we’re disobeying the words of Jesus? No, it’s because the literary device he used has been correctly interpreted! The apostle Paul used them too in his great epistles.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.“
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
Anyone storing gold coins or valuable jewelry in jars made of clay? No, of course not!! WE are the jars of clay Paul is referring to! Again, can’t take the words literally, or we miss the author’s (Holy Spirit’s) point completely!
These are just three of countless examples in the Bible where the language used cannot be taken literally. In scripture we find imagery, metaphors, similes, parables, poetry … all used to help our finite minds understand eternal truths. I would suggest that the language of literal-ism often can’t do justice to the unseen and eternal. I just find it absolutely amazing that infinite God has used our minuscule human vocabularies to reveal himself to us in understandable ways, even if that understanding sometimes comes at the cost of years of search and study. Glorious, isn’t it?!
~ Mike
[Originally published: 30 September 2009]
This week I will finish the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. If you have missed the first two installments of this series, I encourage you to go back to Sunday’s Knowledge Nugget #004 and Sunday’s Knowledge Nugget #005 before proceeding with this one in order to understand the entire teaching.
We pick up in verses 27 and 28 of Luke chapter 16.
“27 But the rich man said, ‘Abraham, then please send Lazarus to my father’s home. 28 Let him warn my five brothers, so they won’t come to this horrible place.‘ ”
Luke 16:27-28 (CEV)
The rich man, realizing the peril that he is in, wishes to warn his five brothers of their impending doom. Also, for the first time, the rich man is showing concern for others. But look what Abraham says next:
“Abraham answered, ‘Your brothers can read what Moses and the prophets wrote. They should pay attention to that.’ ”
Luke 16:29 (CEV)
“What Moses and the prophets wrote” is what? Do you know? Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament or the Pentateuch. The prophets wrote the remainder of the Old Testament. Basically, Abraham is referring to the entire Old Testament! So it goes to reason that we should all pay attention to God’s Word; from start to finish. It is the instruction manual for life!
But the rich man was not satisfied with Abraham’s answer. Reading verse 30 of Luke chapter 16 we find:
“Then the rich man said, ‘No, that’s not enough! If only someone from the dead would go to them, they would listen and turn to God.’ ”
Luke 16:30 (CEV)
How often do we hear a request like this? Quite often as it turns out. “If only I could see a miracle, I would believe.” Of course, that line is usually an excuse to go on living a life of sin.
Even the Pharisees had asked Jesus to perform a sign as we see in the following verse:
” ‘Do a miracle for us,’ they said. ‘Make something happen in the sky. Then we will believe in you.’ ”
Mark 8:11 (TLB)
Finally, look at how Abraham responds to the rich man in verse 31:
“So Abraham said,
‘If they won’t pay attention to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even to someone who comes back from the dead.’ ”
Luke 16:31 (CEV)
What Abraham is saying is this. If your brothers will not study the Old Testament with all of its miracles and signs, even sending you back to warn your brothers would have no impact on them. Those types of people will always try to rationalize out what just happened and fail to see God’s Hand in any of it.
Jesus responded in much the same way to the Pharisees as Abraham did to the rich man as seen in the following verse:
“He sighed deeply when he heard this and he said, ‘Certainly not. How many more miracles do you people need?’ ”
Mark 8:12 (TLB)
Oh how true! No matter what miracle is performed, there will still be people that do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Sad but true. So to recap the entire story as told by Jesus, I turn to The Message translation:
19 “There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. 20 A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. 21 All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.“
22 “Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’ “
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. 26 Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’ “
27 “The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father 28 where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won’t end up here in this place of torment.’ “
29 “Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’ “
30 ” ‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’ “
31 “Abraham replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’ “
Luke 16:19-31 (The Message)
I hope you have enjoyed the past three “knowledge nuggets” that covered Luke 16:19-31. It is a powerful story made even more powerful by the fact that this does not appear to be Jesus telling a parable since Lazarus is mentioned. Biblical scholars believe this to be a true and factual event because none of Jesus’ parables use a person’s name. We covered that in the first week of this series.
That will be a wrap for today. You all have been great. I especially appreciate the eMails from folks that either let me know how this ministry has helped them or sent me ideas on content that I could publish. With that, I leave you by speaking this blessing over you:
“I pray that the Lord
will bless and protect you,
and that he will show you mercy
and kindness.
May the Lord be good to you
and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 (CEV)
Pastor Dave
Where DATM Visitors are from since 15 June 2015