John 10:1-3 - The sheep hear His voice

10:1,2

One of the key themes in the Old Testament prophets is that of the bad and good shepherds. The most obvious of these is Ezekiel 34, others include Is 40:11; 56:9-12; Jer 23:1-4; 25:32-38; Mic 5:4-6; Zech 11. Then there is, of course, Psalm 23, among others. A key element of Ezek 34 is that God promises to shepherd the flock Himself, so when Jesus claims to be the good shepherd He is making another enormous claim.Jesus begins this section by drawing a distinction between the good shepherd and the thief or robber. The good shepherd is open about what he does and enters by the gate. The bad shepherds enter by another way.

10:3

The background to all this, apart from the Old Testament background, is the fold that sheep would be kept in. There may also be several flocks in the same pen, and an undershepherd would guard the gate. So the guard would allow the good shepherd in. It is well known that sheep would recognise the voice of their own shepherd. So Jesus would call out to His sheep. He would also call them by name. There is a strong element of the sovereignty of God here. Jesus did not just come on a fishing expedition to see who would follow Him. He came for specific people. Now some get all worried about this as it is predestination, or a Calvinist view. People worry because they think it means our actions count for nothing. We should be aware that the Bible teaches the sovereignty of God, that He chose us before the creation of the world. This deliberate saving of us should be a great comfort and source of strength to us. The Bible also teaches that the actions we take, the attitudes we have matter deeply. Our problem arises from the fact that we cannot work out how both can be true. We should look to Prov 3:5 and not lean on our own understanding. God has no problem with marrying the two concepts together.