Show Notes
Would you like to hear the voice of the Lord? It can be extremely useful, especially if you’re a politician or a pastor. You can say, “Vote for me” or “Give more money because God says so.” But if God didn’t say so, that’s taking the name of the Lord in vain, or maybe false prophecy punishable by death (Deut. 13:5). But if God did tell you to tell something to someone, you better do it, or you might be swallowed by a whale and barfed up on a beach in Syria. Hearing God’s voice is terribly important and can be profoundly stressful.
Many years ago, at a pastor’s luncheon in downtown Denver, I sat next to an old Pentecostal pastor. In the course of conversation, I asked him, “How do you hear the voice of God? I’m not sure that I do.” He looked at me and said, “Well now, that’s a very strange thing for you to say... For in John 10, Jesus says ‘My sheep hear my voice.’” Just then someone called the meeting to order, and so for the entire luncheon — and long after — I worried, “What if I’m not one of His sheep?”
In John 10:1-4, having just healed the man born blind, Jesus says to the Pharisees who are questioning Him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold [literally: courtyard of the sheep] but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the door keeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
He didn’t say, “They ought to know his voice” — just, “They do.” So, am I one of His sheep?
Have you seen this “Far Side” cartoon? The captions read: “What we say to dogs: ‘Okay Ginger! I’ve had it! You stay out of the garbage!’ “What dogs hear: ‘blah, blah, Ginger! blah blah!’”
So, what would sheep hear? “Blah, blah, Fluffy, blah, blah” or “Blah, blah, Peter, blah blah.”
When we led a tour of Israel years ago, we saw shepherd boys all over the Judean hillsides. They were each talking and walking, with a flock of sheep following behind. In front of each shepherd was a group of goats being driven by the shepherd’s goads. To St. Paul on the Road to Damascus, Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, it’s hard to kick against the goads.” It sounds like St. Paul was once a goat.
God speaks in a variety of ways. He spoke all creation into existence with His Word. He speaks, and everything moves. He speaks through creation, people, Scripture, and signs.
Perhaps you remember a night camping as a child — you stared at the stars, wondering about Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Life, asking “What does it all mean?”… and you felt like God was calling your name. I bet He was. But creation can send mixed messages: chaos and Logos, darkness and Light, death and Life.
He speaks through creation and groups of people. He spoke to me through my youth group. But here in John, these Pharisees are fixing to crucify Jesus according to the traditions of their group.
He speaks through creation, people, and Scripture, but Jesus already told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures for you think that in them you have life and it is they that bear witness to me. But you refuse to come to me that you may have Life.” He speaks through creation, tradition, Scripture, signs, wonders, and prophetic utterances. And yet Scripture commands us to “test everything.” Sheep are stupid. How do sheep test everything?
The Jews constantly sought signs. They had just seen the fifth of the seven signs which all point to the seventh sign — “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” As Paul put it: “…The plan for the fullness of time, to bring together under one head, all things in Jesus” (Ephesians 1:10).
As I’ve been sharing, I think I once saw this. Not long after that pastor’s luncheon, God undid me with a word that I heard (So, yes, it’s possible.) And later that day, He literally held me to the floor and revealed
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John 18:38-40: “Pilate said to [Jesus], ‘What is truth?’ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber [lestes: a taker].”