June 21, 2023
Knowing the True Voice
“Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;” John 10:25-27 (NASB)
When I was very young, we lived in mobile a home on Dunns Creek, outside Palatka, Florida. My father had just returned from Vietnam for a short time. I hardly remembered him when he returned home as I was so young. My brother and I shared a bedroom at the time. One night after I went to bed, I thought I saw something crawling on the wall. My brother was still at work. I shouted out, “There is something on the wall!” My mom said, “Go to sleep!” So I tried, looking carefully at the wall every few minutes. When I opened my eyes again, it looked like it was getting closer. I hollered again, “Mom, it’s getting closer!” Then, after all the time my father was gone, I still remember his voice, “Let me see what’s going on!” When he turned on the light, a black widow spider was about three feet from my pillow. Dad was so calm. He took the palm of his hand and splattered the spider on the wall. It fell down the side of the bed. After all that time he had been away, I still remembered dad’s voice. I don’t mind saying I didn’t sleep much that night. It was just in case it came back to life again.
“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice,” This was the whole point of the teaching of the Good Shepherd. The Jews were not of the True Shepherd’s flock in their pious clothing. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing. The True Shepherd was there to defend His sheep. It is interesting how John 10 is a beautiful rendition of Psalm 23. Hughes says it best, “Psalm 23 conveys great comfort. At the end of life we often repeat it, and it is repeated back to us. Our children know that psalm. It is so easy to relate to young David out in the field. As he looked over his flocks, he began to think about them, and his thoughts went to the Shepherd. Then out came his harp, and under the Spirit’s direction he composed the magnificent 23rd Psalm. Psalm 23 is a psalm of status, parallel to John 10. We will consider the Lord’s provision in the first three verses of Psalm 23, the Lord’s direction of us at the end of the third verse, the Lord’s protection in verse 4, and in verses 5–6 the Lord’s exaltation of his flock.”[1] As David looked out over the flocks each day, he knew each one by name before they got to know him. So it is that before men know God, they must first be known by Him. But the Jews weren’t known by God. They were acting like wild animals among the sheep. But “God does all that is necessary to induce them to believe, but who shall tame wild beasts? This will never be done, till the Spirit of God change them into sheep… In short, Christ means that it is not wonderful, if there are few who obey his Gospel, because all whom the Spirit of God does not subdue to the obedience of faith are wild and fierce beasts.”[2]
Wild beasts don’t know the voice of the shepherd, but the sheep do. Just as you and I know God, His voice is always one that cuts through the craziness each day. In my bed that night it was pretty crazy being scared out of my mind, but my Father ran to my rescue to deliver me!
[1] Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (pp. 272–273). Crossway Books.
[2] Calvin, J., & Pringle, W. (2010). Commentary on the Gospel according to John (Vol. 1, pp. 414–415). Logos Bible Software.