See how simple that is! You never ask yourself what a door is, you take it for granted it is for entrance. And the Lord loves to bring Himself before us in the figures of everyday life.
“By Me if any man enter” You are invited to enter to come to the Saviour. It does not say in this verse, “I am the Door of the sheep,” but “I am the Door,” for anyone. You, who are not a sheep not of the Jewish fold you may enter. The way of access is not above the capacity of any human being. “I am the Way” we know what a “way” is. We are very glad to find a path in the wilderness. When wandering over the moors it is very pleasant to find a beaten path, and to know someone has been before us. “Oh,” we say, “I am all right, this way leads somewhere.”
And so with the door. “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Could anything be simpler? But this is in view of the work of redemption. He Who is the Door is also the Good Shepherd, and “the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” Paul says “The Son of God Who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)). We can each day say it who have been to the Saviour. We know the love of One Who has given Himself for us. No one else has. For “a good man” par excellence perhaps not very likely “some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).
Here is the Good Shepherd, Who gave His life for the sheep: but more than that. “Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life that I might take it again” (ver. 17).
Oh, the beautiful accord between the Father and the Son! Not one single thing the Lord Jesus did but was in communion with His Father. He would not even lay down His life without the commandment of the Father. He took the place of a servant. But was He not crucified by lawless hands? He was. Yet “no man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” Look at Him in the garden when they came to take Him!! They went backward, and fell to the ground. Now here is salvation, and it is a large word. The Psalmist says “Thou hast set my feet in a large room.” So with the soul who knows God’s salvation! It has already appeared. What are you waiting for?
Now what follows? Liberty. “I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out.” I have been in bondage all these years to the devil and to my sins; now I have liberty and more—pasture. It is not liberty to do my own will; that is always unsatisfying. Now I have come to the Saviour I have liberty, peace, joy, and power to do His will.
That pasture is not exhausted; that liberty is not cramped. “If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:2323Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)). “In my Father’s house are many abodes”; are they not enough for Him? Nay, He is seeking another abode and with you, that you may be sensible of His Father’s love. The Christian ought to be the happiest man in the world! And he is! You can’t match this happiness. And the Saviour died for my sins! One sin remaining is enough to exclude from God’s presence; but “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
May you prove for your own soul the blessedness and reality of that for His name’s sake!