The Thief comes to Steal, Kill and Destroy, but who is the thief Jesus was referring to?
John 10:1-10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Ok, many things to glean here. I asked the question, when Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, who is the thief? Well, in many Christian circles they would say satan, therefore, to them, this verse is referring to satan. But what if I told you, this was not referring to satan, but false teachers, false leaders, and bad leaders within the church or religious institutions? How do we know that? Because look at the very first coupe of words and see whom Jesus was addressing with this dialogue. He was addressing the Pharisees. Now, who were they? They were the religious establishment or religious leaders in Jesus’ day. In context, Jesus is referring to Himself as the good shepherd and the voice of a stranger His sheep (God’s people) will not follow. So, in context, here is what is going on:
1. Jesus is the good shepherd here in these versus and His people and only His people hear His voice and the voice of stranger will not follow. Ok, we got that.
2. But who is the voice of a stranger? Who is the thief and the robber? Well, in context it is the false leaders, false teachers, false prophets or anyone else who does not align to what Jesus is saying and all about. How do we know that?
3. Again, because of whom Jesus was addressing, the Pharisees. They were the audience Jesus was speaking to, therefore, that determines the context here. To say this is referring to stan when satan is never addressed in this narrative is taking something foreign to the narrative and adding it to the text to MAKE it work. Well, the rules of biblical interpretation NEVER allow us to do that, therefore, to infuse satan into this text and make it about him violates good, sound, biblical interpretation.
4. So, this is not referring to satan. However, if you want to say that stealing, killing, and destroying, are attributes of satan, Amen, I’ll agree with that, and if you are using this text to prove that, Amen, I can get with that. So, these are attributes of satan, no problem. And yes, satan does use false leaders and teachers, to steal, kill, and destroy, so I would be ok with that as well.
5. However, to make this be about satan, in context here, it is not. It is referring to false leaders, false teachers, false prophets, or any other false leader within the realm of coming up against what Jesus is saying. So as a friend of mine says, “this passage is not a satan passage but a church leadership passage”. Well, I see his point, and I agree.
6. So, if you want to say, “these are attributes of satan, go ahead, but know this is not referring to him directly, be blessed.
Closing Prayer:
Lord thank you for Your word and I thank you for giving us insight into false prophets, preachers and teachers. Thank you for showing us satan does do all these things, however, in context, false teachers and prophets do them to. May You give us a heart of discernment so we know the difference to listen to good teachers and stay away from the false ones so we will not be led about by bad doctrine. Help us Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
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