Only One Voice

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ONLY ONE VOICE

John 10:1-6

10:1 "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. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 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. 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 they did not understand what he was telling them.

NIV

There is no need to try to explain what Jesus was actually saying because he will explain it more clearly in his next words, but there is a truth we should be careful to note. Are we hearing the voice of our shepherd or are we hearing the voice of some stranger? We have been told all throughout scripture about false teachers, and here Jesus is making the point that he is the only teacher we should listen to, because he is the only true teacher. But it just might be possible for some of us to be tricked into thinking some of these false teachers are true, but they are not. They have entered the sheep pen by some other method other than the gate. There can be only one reason a person would come into the pen other than through the gate, and that would be for personal gain. There would attempt to steal some of the sheep for their own flock, or to take them to slaughter, both for their own gain. We cannot afford to listen to them, in fact, we should know that we do not recognize their voice. We only now the voice of our beloved shepherd, and he is the only shepherd we will follow. It may be true some sheep have certainly left the pen following after someone who is trying to imitate the voice of Jesus. They might sound pretty good, but their voice is not real, it is but an attempt of imitating Jesus’s voice. Jesus is clear here, that if we are believers, we should only hear his voice.