Open or shut door……

“As the door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man [move not from his place] upon his bed.”  Proverbs 26:14 AMP

Would you live in your house if it did not have a door?

Doors are pretty important. We would not live in a house without doors because doors serve valuable purposes.

In John chapter ten Jesus makes two “I AM” statements in which He clearly states for the people in general and the Pharisees in particular what a “true” Good Shepherd should look like.  He states that “I AM The Door of the Sheep” (v. 10) and “I AM the Good Shepherd” (v.11).

He presents an exclusive claim in verse 7; “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
The whole point of the story is that there are two kinds of sheepfolds – the first type was large enough to hold several flocks, it was substantially built, and was cared for by a porter or gate keeper. The second kind was often little more than a rough circle of stone and the shepherd himself lay down across the opening and entrance into the sheepfold. The shepherd was the door.  No sheep could get out and no enemy could come in except over his body.  In a very literal sense, the shepherd was the door. There was no way in or out except through him.

There is exclusiveness about the “door.”  You cannot just demand another door!
Jesus is not suggesting the there are several doors to salvation and that He is but one of them.  He says that He is “the” door.  We are not to think of many ways that we could come to God.  Jesus is saying He is the one way, the door by which all the sheep enter.

There are many things that men may think are the door to the kingdom of heaven.  But no matter what men may think religion is not that door, baptism is not that door and works is not that door.  There is only one door.

Verse eight says, “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”  Jesus tells us that you can tell a lot about a man’s character by the way he tries to get into the sheepfold.

There is a problem in that we are separated from God by a wide chasm filled by our sins. The situation can be also be pictured as a wall or fence separating God and man. If there is no way over the wall then our only hope is for some way through the wall, in other words, a door.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (v.9).

The only way to enter the fold is through repentance and receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

You either enter heaven by Jesus or you stay outside.  You cannot demand another door and it is no use looking for another gate.

People, today, do not like to hear this. They want to subscribe to popular thought – that all paths, all faiths and all religions, lead to God, heaven and eternal life.

Jesus is the door to heaven.  And, it is up to Him to open or shut that door.  This brings to mind what Jesus commanded the Apostle John to write:

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”  (Rev 3:7)

The church must be careful that she does not become like the OT synagogue – a closed door. The church must strive to be like Christ – an open door to all who repent and believe.

It was 400 silent, dark years between God’s last utterances to Israel until the day that angels heralded the coming of Jesus Christ.  It was the announcement of a Door of Hope to the world.  For Jesus declared himself, "I am the Door!"

As part of the Godhead, He is the door to the sheep.