A quick read of this text will likely cause
you to miss what Messiah is saying. It did for me anyway. However, some brief
dialogue with a couple of brothers this morning led me to what Yeshua was
saying here. Anyone could say “Well, Yeshua was simply saying He’s the Shepherd.
Big deal, right?” Well, He is saying that, and so much more.
In Deuteronomy chapter 13 we read of what
became known as the necessary criteria for “the” Messiah. It states, in part, “If a prophet or a
dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you
comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other elohim,’ which you have
not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that
dreamer of dreams. For Yahweh your Elohim is testing
you, to know whether you love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk
after Yahweh
your Elohim and fear Him and keep His
commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.“
It was well known that any man that came and claimed to be a
prophet of Yahweh, “the” Messiah (“the” Shepherd) absolutely MUST NOT lead
people away from Yahweh’s commandments. No matter how great the sign and wonder
may be, if he leads you anywhere but to the Father, he is false. Period. To make
the connection to our text today, this one who leads anywhere else is one who
has snuck into the sheepfold in order to steal the sheep.
We see this theme throughout Yeshua’s dialogues
with the non-believing leaders, His disciples and gathered crowds. Example: “And Yeshua entered the
temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he
overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who
sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My
house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers/thieves.’”
Matthew 21:12&13 This was more than mere bad behavior. This was a defiling
of His Father’s house.
Several
verses after today’s text, Messiah continues, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be
saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill
and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (v.
8-10)
Historically,
false Messiah’s were always coming around. I would suggest that this has not
changed whatsoever, yet how this has come will hurt. I had to face it myself
and come out the other side.
Brace
yourself. Much of what mainstream doctrine teaches about “Jesus” perfectly fits
the criteria of a false Messiah. “Jesus” is not the Door, as He said that He
was (is). He has become the entire goal. He is the god now. He is the entire
focus, not His Father, despite His constantly speaking of that being His purpose.
He, mainstream doctrine “Jesus”, is the one that did away Yahweh’s commandments…
just like Deuteronomy warned us of. (I
have pages and pages written towards this that I’ve never made public. Much of
it centers around the account of the “nehushtan”/pole of Moses concept that we
see in “Jesus worship” today.)
Lastly, we
must ask. Has humanity responded exactly like the non-believing Pharisees and entirely
missed the true Messiah and His purpose? For most of my life, I had. Yeshua
Himself told us, time and time again, that He is the Door. The Door to what? To
Whom?
Ironically,
nothing at all has changed since the Garden of Eden. The Adversary says “You
don’t need Yahweh’s commands. There’s a better way. Lay Them aside and be
enlightened and ‘free’! Serving your Creator is such a burden.” And we know
what? We read it just moments ago. The Adversary is a thief that comes to
steal, kill and destroy the sheep.
The
leaders that missed Messiah had one grave error. They exalted their own way
over His Father’s. They were a law unto themselves that were used of the
Adversary to attempt to destroy the Great Shepherd. Why? They had become the hands
and feet of a “better” way to serve Yahweh. They were thieves and robbers of
the sheep that they were supposed to care for.
This is
why Yeshua specifically told them this, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your
father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
As John chapter
10 comes to a close, Yeshua states the following, “My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's
hand. I and the Father are one.”
Upon hearing this,
the people wanted to stone Him to death. He was putting them in their place as
He declared that His entire purpose was in perfect alignment with His Father’s
(deeming Them “echad”/one.) This revealed that they (the non-believing leaders),
in fact, were not. Why? They had exalted their own new commands over His Father’s.
He called them out for it and they hated it. They could not stand being told
that they did not know Yahweh. I see this from people on a weekly basis as I
share things that I do. Only the humble heart can receive the truth, even when
it cuts us to the heart.
Anyone, I repeat,
anyone that claims to lead another from Father’s commands and exalts some other
“new” way is a false messiah himself or someone that follows one. There is no
biblical way around it. So, be alert friends. Many have snuck into the
sheepfold and have one thing in mind, stealing you away from the Creator. How?
Lawlessness, which is sin. “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also
practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4
In conclusion, Yeshua
told us that “there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16) There is only
one way in friends, Yeshua Messiah. He alone is the Door. Any and all who do
not meet the biblical criteria for “the” Good Shepherd, yet claim to be one to follow,
are thieves and robbers. Listen well for His voice and give ear to no other.
* I have to at
least mention this. How can Messiah go THROUGH the door and BE the door? The
wonderful Great High Priestly work!!!! Incredible!!!!
THIS BECAME A 3-PART VIDEO SERIES HERE.
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