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).