Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! … Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil 4:4-6).

There are two ways for humans to live. One is to live always rejoicing, and the other is to live with worries and anxiety over their needs and health. Joy comes from the presence of God, but worries come from themselves. When you try to live by your own ideas, you come to have worries and fear because you know you are not as able, smart, strong or good as you want to be—not enough for what you really wish to get. It is only when you look at your almighty God who is more than enough that his supernatural peace begins to surround you.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (v. 7).

The “understanding” we have is what comes from our flesh, and is always based on our physical reality, but the “peace of God” comes from God and is of the reality of a different dimension. If you want to live rejoicing with this peace, you will need to listen to him constantly through your spirit, and live according to the spiritual reality in which God lives.

The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6).

The soul of a human, as created by God, resides between the body and the spirit facing both the physical reality and the spiritual reality. But the soul (flesh) of a spiritually dead person has lost fellowship with the spirit and is left only in contact with the physical reality through the body. As a result, every activity (the mind) of the soul is dead, not spiritually empowered, and it causes all kinds of problems in life.

Abram, to whom God had already promised to give a child and make him into a great nation, once said:

O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" … "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir (Gen 15:2-3)."

Abram, seeing that he had not been given a child yet and was getting older and older, constantly worried about his heir, and wanted to have some kind of security as to what to do with his possessions. None of his ideas, as seen in these words, was based on the promise, or the spiritual reality that God had presented to him. They all came from Abram’s own flesh, and were his own plans and ideas, which were only based on the physical reality he was facing. If he had carried out any of those ideas, what would have happened to God’s promise? The mind of flesh is hostile to God: it hinders the fulfillment of his word.

So God took Abram out of his tent (the reality he was live in), and told him to look up at the heavens (spiritual reality), and count (consider) the stars. It took some time for him to count them—to come out of the physical reality, and go into the spiritual reality. Then, God spoke to him:

So shall your offspring be (v. 6).

For the fist time, he believed—received the spiritual reality presented to him according to God’s idea and plan. This spiritual reality, the Bible calls “wisdom.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding (Pro 3:5).

She (wisdom) is a tree of life to those who embrace her; Those who lay hold of her will be blessed (v. 18).

And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17)."

We humans were created from the beginning to live as the fulfillment of God’s word, which is the will of God, and we are required to listen to him through our spirit and be faithful and obedient to him doing what he says. Instead, to live according to our own thoughts and ideas by not listening to him and not doing what he says is to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The former brings life and blessings, and latter death and curses. The same difference is seen in the covenant that the people of Israel had with God—life and blessings if God’s commands are kept, and death and curses if not.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life (Deut 30:19).

You need to keep in mind that this choice between life and death is only for those who remain under the covenant with God. It was only in the Garden of Eden that humans had the choice between the two trees. Once they were driven out of the garden, they had no choice but to live under curses. The people of Israel who were brought into the Promised Land had this choice, and we believers under the covenant through Christ have this choice as well: in a spiritual sense, we have been brought back to the Garden of Eden. Speaking of Christians, the Bible says:

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom 8:12-13).

To walk according to the spirit is life, and to walk according to the flesh is death: this choice, we have now. The former means to live as the fulfillment of the word by accepting it and doing what it says, and the latter means to live with the soul in the center of our being, according to its thoughts and ideas, by ignoring God’s voice that comes through the spirit. With no fulfillment of God’s word, his will and good purpose, it results in spiritual death. In such a condition, it is totally impossible for us to obey God’s commands and do his will. We can still understand mentally in our head that his commands are good, and try to keep them with all our efforts, but we always find ourselves not keeping them. The reason is that the word is not in our hearts. For this very reason, God sent his Son to us.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:4).

Our sin had to be removed in order for the word to come into our hearts. The Bible also says:

The unfolding (lit. entrance) of your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130).

Once the word comes into our hearts, it becomes a part of our own thoughts and desires so that we can do his will as something we want to do with a pure heart without any superficial or legalist attitude—true freedom. This is also explained as follows:

… for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, (Phil 2:13-14) …

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it (Deut 30:14).’”

God’s word is given to us so that we can do and obey it. When it is obeyed, the word becomes complete and fulfilled. There are two ways in which humans live: one is the way in which they obey God, and let his word be fulfilled in their lives, and another is the way in which they live against his will with disobedience to him. The result of the former is life, and that of the latter is death. The two trees that were in the middle of the Garden of Eden symbolically represent these two styles of living.

And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17)."

Where there is a command of God, there is a covenant relationship between him and the people he commands. We were all created under his covenant that requires us to be obedient to him. When we lose obedience to him, the covenant is broken, and the fulfillment of his word stops. The result is death. This principle applies equally to the people of Israel under the covenant made through Moses.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deut 30:19-20).

When they faithfully obey the Law, the word of God who is life becomes fulfilled, and they will be blessed, and live long in the land they come to possess. A covenant in the Bible is always associated with a land. To Adam, the Garden of Eden was given, and to the people of Israel, the land of Canaan was given. It represents the inheritance of those who belong to him under the covenant. When the people of Israel entered the land under the leadership of Joshua, they gathered near Shechem and proclaimed blessings on Mount Gerizim and curses on Mount Ebal. These mountains in the center of their land served as a reminder of the covenant they had with God just as the two tress did in middle of the Garden of Eden.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so (Rom 8:5-7).

The principle discussed above applies also to Christians under the new covenant through Christ. This scripture mentions the choice between the two styles of living: one is to live according to the flesh, and the other to the spirit. Apparently, the former corresponds to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the latter the tree of life. The covenant that God made with Adam is still valid to us who are in Christ today. When we were still sinners, we did not have this choice because we had been driven away from the Garden of Eden, but now we do after we were brought back to the Garden of Eden in Christ.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (vv. 12-13).

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mat 4:4).’”

“Bread” is physical food, and God’s “word” is spiritual food. Since we are spiritual beings, we live not only on physical food, but also on spiritual food. But, is this all that this scripture says, and was it all that Jesus meant? Pay attention to the phrase “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” At this time, Jesus’ ministry was about to begin—the time for the fulfillment of all the scriptures written about him.

Physical food is not only for our growth, but also for the energy to act and do all our work. In the same way, spiritual food is not only for the salvation of our soul, or the spiritual growth of our faith, but also for the spiritual work we do according to the will of God: that is, for the work we do for the fulfillment of his word.

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey (or, can do) it (Deut 30:14).

Thus, God’s word is not just for your spiritual growth. If so, it would be better to say, “it is in your ears,” because we know that faith comes by hearing the word of God. Note that it is “in your mouth”, and “you can do it, ” according to the above scripture.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate (lit. utter) on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Josh 1:8).

Here, God was encouraging Joshua not to let the Law (the word) depart from his mouth so that he could do what it said. To do the word of God means to bring it to its fulfillment. More particularly, the fulfillment, for Joshua, meant as follows:

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them (v. 6).

This promise for the inheritance of the land had been given in the time of Abraham, and now it was about to be fulfilled through Joshua, and it had to be fulfilled.

It was by the fulfillment of God’s word that we humans were created.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)."

If our existence came as the fulfillment of God’s word, then the purpose of our existence must be also for the fulfillment of his word—to rule over all the earth. This must be fulfilled. Just as the Promised Land had to be given to the people of Israel through Joshua as the fulfillment of his word, the above scripture must be fulfilled. It was once inhibited because of our sin and disobedience to God, but now through Christ, the right and power to rule over the earth has been restored to us completely: by grace and in Christ, we have become the heir of the world (Rom 4:13-16). And for this purpose, we were chosen to live in obedience to God doing his word according to his will, not doing our own word according to our will.

And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17)."

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:4-5).

In the Bible, life is often expressed together with light, and death with darkness. We have, for instance, the following verses:

He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom (lit. the shadow of death) and broke away their chains (Ps 107:14).

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isa 9:2).

That “the light shines in the darkness” indicates that life has victory over death, and that “the darkness has not understood (or, overcome) it” indicates that death has opposed life, but has not been able to defeat it. It points to the death and resurrection of Christ.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, while the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness (Gen 1:1-4, translation mine).

That “God saw that the light was good” indicates that he did not see that the darkness was good, and wanted to do something about it. So he said, “Let there be light (lit. let light be),” and that word was fulfilled: what he desired was accomplished. And the same work of creation is seen in the New Testament: he saw the darkness of our human world, and desired that light would come to it. So he sent his word—the life and light, and it was accomplished.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)—

Those who received the preexistent Word came to have “the right to become children of God.” It indicates that they had not had it, or had lost it before they came to believe. However, we know that when God created humans, he created them as his children.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)."

All children grow to be like their parents in their personality as well as in their physical appearance. The physical resemblance comes from a gene that is contained in every cell of our body. In the same way, God passed on his gene to humans when he created them as his children. Humans were to grow according to his gene—his nature and power, and to show his glory on earth by working with him and bearing fruit for him as it was programed in the gene. There was, however, one very important condition for this purpose to be fulfilled.

And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17)."

They needed to be obedient to him keeping his commands—his words. Humans were created under the covenant with him, and they were to live by every word that came from his mouth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

It is essential for us to know and accept, by faith, the truth that everything was made through “the Word.”

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Gen 1:1-3).

The particular verbal form of “Let there be …” is called “jussive.” It indicates the wish of the speaker upon another person or thing that is the subject of the verb. God saw that “the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep,” and thought that something was very wrong. He first wished to have “light” there. So he spoke the word, “Let there be light,” and that word came to be fulfilled. In fact, the whole Bible is what God spoke in this way to accomplish what he desired for humanity. Every word he spoke must be fulfilled and will be.

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so (v. 11).

Note the pattern, “God said, …. And it was so”—God’s speaking of the word followed by its fulfillment. Note also, especially here, how the “seed” and “seed-bearing” (both come from the same root) are repeated. Every seed carries its own gene that controls the characteristics and the growth of that particular plant, and every gene is unique. And the plant we see is the fulfillment of its own gene. The whole world including humans were created and exist in this system of “seed” and “seed-bearing.” And this is true in a spiritual sense as well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Ps 139:15-16).

All the days formed for you—what life you will have, the purpose and tasks of your life as well as your characteristics—were already determined and written in God’s book even before your first birthday. This determination is in your spiritual gene. And if it is a gene, it must have been handed down from somebody else?

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)."

Note again that we humans came to exist as the fulfillment of God’s word. And what is significant particularly here is the “image” and “likeness” of God in which we were made—the spiritual gene that we inherited from God. We were all created as God’s children.

… the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (2:7).

Here, the spiritual gene in us is expressed as “the breath of life” which came from God’s mouth. What we see in each one of us is the result of God’s breath—the fulfillment of every word that comes out of his mouth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

We all know that all things were created by God. But do we know that all things were made through the preexistent Word?

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command (lit. word), so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Heb 11:3).

Since we humans are born into this physical world, we live as if the world we live in is the only world that exists, and cannot think of the time when it did not exist. When we make something, we always use some kind of material, and make it into another thing that is also material. So, the truth that “what is seen was not made out of what was visible” needs to be taught to us, and we need to accept it by faith: that is, by believing what God’s word says. God’s word always accomplishes what he says. Everything was created according to what God said, and this world came to exist as the fulfillment of his word. Furthermore, we need to be taught that this Word is not a medium of communication, but a living being.

The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,

before his deeds of old;

I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning,

before the world began.

When there were no oceans, I was given birth,

when there were no springs abounding with water;

Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills,

I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields …

I was there when he set the heavens in place,

when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

when he established the clouds above and …

Then I was the craftsman at his side.

I was filled with delight day after day,

rejoicing always in his presence,

rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind (Pro 8:22-31).

In the context, this “I” is the personified “wisdom” who existed before creation. And this “wisdom” has come to be expressed as “the Word” in the gospel of John.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

The preexistent Word has become the incarnate Word by coming into this world in space, and into the midst of human history in time: he was born as a baby—a descendant of Adam. Having become a human, he has become a visible image of invisible God—the visible fulfillment of the invisible Word. His life on earth, from his birth till the time he was lifted up into heaven, was the fulfillment of God’s word as he himself said:

This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47).

Yet, note that this fulfillment is not restricted to him, but also extended to his disciples as well—“repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” As believers in Christ, we have become part of this fulfillment of God’s word.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col 1:13), …

If you are in Christ, you belong to him. And you have been rescued “from the dominion of darkness” and brought into “the kingdom of the Son he (the Father) loves”—the kingdom of love in which Christ rules, as this scripture says.

In a figurative sense, it can be said that Christ is a shepherd and those who belong to him are his sheep. As the role of a king is often compared with that of a shepherd in the Bible, Christ is our king and shepherd, and we belong to his kingdom and sheep pen. This king-shepherd has laid down his life for us (John 10:15), and feeds and tends us spiritually as well as physically (Ezek 34). Jesus said in his parable of the shepherd and his flock:

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice (John 10:4).

According to this parable, it is by the gate that the shepherd enters the sheep pen. This gate is the entrance or exit from God’s world to this world, and vice versa. It was by this gate that Christ came into this world as “the King of glory” (Ps 24:7ff.), and through his death and resurrection, he rescued us from the world of death, and brought us into the world of life (Ezek 34:13, 37:12-14). Jesus said:

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture (v. 9).

So, Christ not only came to us through this gate, but also became the gate itself for us, and it is by this gate—in Christ—that we enter his sheep pen—his kingdom. This gate is expressed as “the gate of heaven” in the story of Jacob’s dream at Bethel (Gen 28:17). Jacob saw “a stairway resting on the earth, with its top (lit. head) reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (v. 12).” Interestingly, Jesus said the similar thing concerning himself as follows:

I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51).

These words were spoken to Nathanael whom Jesus had seen being under the fig tree. Trees, like the stairway in Jacob’s dream, gave people easy access to the spiritual realm—heaven. In other words, Jesus meant to say, “Nathanael, here am I, the true tree. Follow me.” The same truth is said by Jesus in the following way:

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

It is through Christ, and in Christ, that we have now access to our God, whom we call “Abba, Father.” Also in the same gospel are found the following words spoken to the Samaritan woman:

You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:22-24).

Here, Jesus, whose name means “salvation,” explains that he, together with the Holy Spirit, serves as a true means of worshipping the Father. It should be remembered that “the truth” is Jesus himself. True worshippers worship the Father in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, and they are all part of the family of the Trinity. This is such a great privilege for those who are in Christ—whose heart Christ lives in. So, Paul prays:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Eph 3:14-17).

I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep (lit. the gate of the sheep). All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them (John 10:7-8).

This passage is known as an “I am” passage in John’s gospel. There are seven ‘I am’ passages in the gospel (the number varies depending on how you count them), and they are all related to the life-giving work of God’s redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ. The ones in John 10 particularly reveal Christ as the shepherd who leads the sheep out of the sheep pen (vv. 1-5). Two kinds of predicate “I am” statements are used to show this role of Christ: “I am the gate (particularly, the sheep gate),” and “I am the good shepherd.” It is interesting to note that there was actually a gate called “Sheep Gate” in the northeast corner of Jerusalem near the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2, cf. Neh 3:1, 32).

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (vv. 9-10).

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (v. 11).

A gate is basically an opening of entrance or exit through which one passes from one area to another. As we have already discussed, behind these passages concerning “the gate” in John 10 lies Ps 24. It is worth also looking at the other passages about gates in the Bible. For instance:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Mat 7:13-17).

Think of this gate as a small entrance that leads to a large area like a national park enclosed by a tall fence built all around it. This entrance is the only gate to get in, and it is very small—big enough for only one person to go in at a time. Such is the gate that leads to life—the kingdom of God. Jesus is the only name, and there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (16:18).

Many of major cities in the ancient Neat East were fortified with high and thick walls built around them. They were so thick that they could make some chambers inside the walls at the gates where the important members of the city met and had their meetings. “The gates of Hades” are the gates where Satan and his spirits meet and work out their schemes to hinder and stop God’s work on earth. The church built upon the rock is the tower built on the top of the walls (cf. Prov 18:10), and is connected with the “heads” of the gates in Ps 24. “The keys of the kingdom of heaven” can be understood as the name of Jesus given to the church.

Note also that all four gospels record the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as an important epoch-making event (Mat 21, Mark 11, Luke 19:28ff, and John 12:12ff). Undoubtedly, he must have entered the city through a certain gate, and it can be seen as one form of the fulfillment of his words in John 10:2—“the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.” Then, he said in v. 3, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” And look at the following event recorded in Matthew:

The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people (27:52-53).

In the first part of chapter 10 of John’s gospel, you find two different parables told by Jesus: one beginning at v. 1, and another at v. 7. Although, at first glance, they appear to be alike in content with the image of a shepherd and his flock, some clear differences are, in fact, observed.

"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep (John 10:1-2).

This is the beginning of the first parable. If you are to interpret it allegorically, the “thief and robber” would be Satan, and the “shepherd” would be Christ. Keep in mind that the “sheep pen” has a “gate,” and many sheep are inside the pen. Note that the shepherd “enters” by the “gate.”

The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice (vv. 3-4).

What makes this parable somewhat special and different from the common scene of shepherds in Palestine is that the shepherd does not open the gate by himself, but the “watchman” opens it for him. Once the shepherd enters, he “leads them (the sheep) out” through the gate by calling them by name. And once they are outside the pen, he “goes on ahead of them” and they “follow him.” What does this parable mean?

But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice (v. 5)."

Pay attention to the kind of relationship that the shepherd and the sheep have: they follow the shepherd because they know his voice, but run away from a stranger because they do not know his voice. These sheep belong to the Shepherd, and it illustrates well those who are in Christ.

From the context of chapter 9 and the subsequent stories in chapter 10, it is most likely that the day in which Jesus told these parables was Sunday, which was two days before Hanukah (The Feast of Dedication). Many Jews must have been already in Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. It was their custom that on Sundays, worshipers at the temple recited Ps 24 right after the morning sacrifice was given (on each day of the week, a certain psalm was recited).

Lift up your heads, O you gates;

Be lifted up, you ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty,

The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates;

Lift them up, you ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?

The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory.

Selah (Ps 24:7-10)

These gates lift their heads toward heaven, and the King of glory comes in through them. With this psalm in the background, Jesus told the above parable. It depicts how the sheep, those who belong to him, will come alive and be led out of the sheep pen, in which they have been imprisoned by the thief. Jerusalem was surrounded by walls, and Jesus saw the people in it as the lost sheep without a shepherd in the sheep pen. Through his death and resurrection, he would lead them out—from the dominion of Satan to the care of the Shepherd and Overseer, from the bondage of death and fear to the pasture of life and freedom.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14).

This is what “in Christ” means. The depiction of the parable somewhat resembles the story of the valley of dry bones in Ezek 37. The dry bones of those who had been killed at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem came to life, forming a vast army, and were led out of the graves. Looking into more stories or passages that support the same truth always helps us understand the truth better by bringing more light to it.