WHO JESUS SAID HE WAS

I continue today with the seven statements in the gospel of John, where Jesus tells who he thought (knew, said) he was. We have looked at "I am the bread of life," and "I am the light of the world." Now today to the third, "I am the gate (or door)."

John 10:1-9. (Especially verses 7 & 9) "7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ... 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture." (NIV--See biblegateway.com)

A gate is a passageway, a door, a way into and out of something. This passage in John 10 is about sheep and pastures and storage places for sheep. Jesus compares Himself to a gate to the sheepfold for His sheep. He compares people to sheep. Often in Bible times, several shepherds would put their sheep into the same sheepfold (storage space) as other shepherds. But a person may act as "gate" or "doorkeeper." This would be a person who would protect the sheep from going out, but also from others (wolves, other wild animals, thieves) from coming in. Jesus described Himself here as that.

But He turns the picture into a sheepfold that is a place of salvation and a place of spiritual sustenance (food, water, bread). So He is building on some of the other descriptions and metaphors that He has already given in John about Himself.

He is here stating that the "one who enters through me will be saved." In other words, there is an ultimate "saving" found in Him, but He is the gate or door to it.

He will later make this statement even more bold in John 14:6 (looked at later).

What is salvation? It is something worth having, and it is something that Jesus is the door or key for. It is something worth investigating further to find out what it is and how to obtain it. Apparently, Jesus says He is a gate to God and relationship with God Himself.

I need protection against the wolves of the world. I need protection from myself straying (see also Psalm 23 and the idea of the "rod and staff".)

Jesus believes something profound here--He is the door to God and His best. Others have thought they were this, but the writer of the gospel of John believes that Jesus did not just say it. He actually proved that He was the door by His actions, His life, His miracles, and His end and beginning.

I believe I have entered that door. I have found that food and water--that sustenance. I have found and experienced God through this Gate--Jesus. I have found that saving.

Have you? And, if not, will you look further at Jesus' teachings and life from the gospel of John? Will you consider all that John (who personally knew Jesus) said that Jesus said and did?

The one who enters through Him will be saved and find pasture. He is the gate!

MY WAY--HIS WAY

People struggle. We all want to have it our way, on our terms. But life, and life with God especially, is not that way.

I am teaching Old Testament now, and have been teaching/reading in Genesis. One thing I am learning from this survey is the bigger picture. So often we read one verse or one small passage from the Scriptures, and do not see the bigger story--the bigger picture. At times, we need to read the Bible as story--as we read other novels or stories.

The story of Abram (Abraham) is one interesting story, dealing with "my way or His way." (Genesis 12-22, especially)

God tells Abram that He plans to bless him with a land, a relationship (with Himself) and with many descendants. And Abram will be a blessing to many nations. But the promise doesn't come quickly.

For about 25 years, Abram struggles with "my way or His way--especially in the area of a son and descendants. God tells him (Abram is 75) that he will have a son. His wife Sarai (Sarah) is 65. But as time goes on (read the chapters for yourself), this gets even harder to believe for Abram. So he takes things in his own hands. (Glad you and I never do that! LOL)

He tries to save his own life by saying that his wife, Sarai, is his sister. He talks to God and says that he guesses his servant Eliezer will inherit his possessions (God's promises to him--things that would normally be given to a son). But God says, "No, not him--a son."

He still doesn't receive the promise of a son, so he thinks that his nephew, Lot, will be the one inheriting it all. But that is taken care of by Lot's circumstances and a separation between Lot and Abraham.

Then, Abraham takes things into his hands (Sarah also does this--her "my way"), by taking Hagar as the surrogate mom for a son, Ismael. But God tells Abraham again, "this is not the promised son--he will be a son you have with Sarah."

Finally, twenty-give years later, after doing things his way, rather than God's way, he receives, with his wife, Sarah, the promised son, Isaac. What joy--what blessing--what laughter (Isaac's name means this)!

And then in Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to do an illogical thing. "Take your son, your only son, [the promised son] and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on Mt Moriah." God's way doesn't at all make sense at this time (Did it make sense before--advanced ages and birth of a son and 25 years later?).

But this time, Abraham does it God's way--takes the promised son to sacrifice him to God. God stops him from killing and sacrificing his son, just at the critical moment. Abraham has proven he is willing NOW to do things, finally, God's way. And God supplies another sacrifice, hence the name of God, Jehovah Jireh (the LORD, my Provider).

Did God need to prove to Himself that Abraham would follow Him here? No, God already knew. But Abraham needed to learn, for himself, that God was trustworthy, even when things do not intellectually or emotionally make sense to oneself. God's way is the best way. And Abraham saw that to follow God was the best thing to do, rather than attempting to live "his way (Abraham's).

Finally, God's way, not his way. Finally, trusting God, not himself. Finally, seeing God is good and has good in mind and has the best way for things to occur--and even amazing things to happen.

Abraham finally got it. Have I? Have you? My way or His way--which is REALLY best?

MY DAD

Today we celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday, though it was actually yesterday. Today is really my father's birthday--born in 1903. When Laurel was born, it was almost like God gave us her to replace or to comfort us for the loss of my dad that we would have about three years later.

My dad grew up, raised by his grandfather, in a small town. He walked to school and went to a one room school, several miles from where he lived.

He played basketball in high school--back in the days when after each basket, the ball went back to center court for a jump ball. He said that if you had a good center to jump, you got most of those jump balls.

He worked cutting bread dough for Wonder Bread in Indiana. He sent money back to his grandfather, helping them have money to live on. He worked at an oil refinery in Minneapolis. He sold candy when there was shortage of sugar, therefore a shortage of candy. He worked as a foreman, building LST (landing vehicles for tanks, etc.) during WWII in Seneca, IL. The last years of his working life, he worked all over southern Illinois as a boilermaker, helping build power plants, oil refineries and such.

People in the town he grew up in, and the town he settled back in with his five kids (and later one more--me), respected and liked the quiet, gentle man he was. He was well-liked by boilermakers with whom he worked. (I got to work one summer with some of those men, and several told me how much they liked my dad.) He did his best to support his family through depression times, unemployment times, and good times.

I loved my dad. And he wasn't "father" to me--he was "dad," with all the close, warm feeling that the word to me implies.

There is a praise chorus that I like that goes like this: "Abba, Father, My defender, You are holy, I surrender, In my weakness you protect me, When my heart strays you correct me. Abba, Father, I love you daddy."

My dad was many of those things to me--close, defender, an example of holiness (as best I could see), one who followed God, one who protected me, and one who corrected me. And I loved him for all of that and more.

But today, though I miss my daddy, I still have an Abba, Father that this song was written about. He is certainly One that goes beyond all the love, protection, correction and holiness that my earthly father could provide. He is the One who gave me the godly father that I had on earth. And I am eternally thankful, that even though I do not have my physical dad, I have Him always here with me to guide me, protect me, give me wisdom and strength to live out my life here on this earth.

Thanks today to Cecil, my earthly dad. You are cherished and loved, even these many years after your passing from this earth. But thanks mostly to God, my Abba Father, with whom my earthly father now dwells. One who is always available and very near to each of us. He said, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." I love You, Abba, Father!