Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: John 10
Called By Name

Called By Name

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To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

John 10:3  

Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to Him, Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher). 

John 20:16 

Christ says He calls His Own by name. In the broad sense, we can apply this to His call of His redeemed unto salvation. In the narrow sense, we can say He calls His Own by name in specific instances and on special occasions. He spoke to Saul of Tarsus by name on the Damascus Road. He spoke to Peter by name to convince him to take the gospel to the gentiles. In our text, He spoke to Mary by name to reveal to her that He had risen from the dead. This was a wonderful moment for Mary. She loved Him deeply; had followed Him faithfully; seen Him die horrifically; mourned Him thoroughly; and now sought to bury Him properly. What she was not expecting was to hear Him audibly call her by name. The recognition that came with Christ calling her by name thrilled her thoroughly. It gave her hope, faith, and joy. She turned to embrace the One she loved most. When we are at our lowest, have lost our sight of Christ, and are grieving deeply, it restores our faith, hope and joy to hear Him call us by name. By the power of His Holy Spirit, He still does.  

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we praise You that You know us by name. 
We rejoice that when we are at our lowest, 
You call us and turn our eyes to You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
By His Knowledge

By His Knowledge

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He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 

Isaiah 53:11 

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 

John 10:14-15 

By His knowledge, Christ, God’s Righteous Servant, justifies many. What is this knowledge? Christ indicates that it exists in two ways. In the second portion of our text, taken from John’s Gospel, Christ says, ‘I  know my sheep.’ Thus, because Christ knows His sheep, the first portion of our text makes sense in saying, ‘By His knowledge shall Christ justify many.’ He knows them and justifies them. The other aspect is also true in the light of the verses from John, where Christ says, ‘and am known of mine.’ He elaborates on the spiritual work of conversion later in the chapter when He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’ Christ speaks to His sheep through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit effectually calls them to Christ. Thus, they come to know Him. By faith, they receive the justification that He has accomplished for them. Christ knows His people first and they come to know Him in time. This is eternal life. As Christ remarked in His High Priestly Prayer, ‘and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’ Christ knows His people, has borne their iniquities, justifies them, and brings them to know Him in due course of time. ‘By His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many for He shall bear their iniquities.’ 

O, Great Shepherd of the sheep, 
we rejoice that You know us. 
We praise You that in due course of time, 
by your Spirit, You bring us to know you.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘I Am The Door’

‘I Am The Door’

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‘I Am The Door’

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep….I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:7 & 9

We have, in past days, spent time considering some of Christ’s descriptions of Himself. Today, we arrive at another one. Christ employs this description of Himself within the context of His Self-revelation as the Good Shepherd. A little cultural background will help us understand His reference. Christ’s reference to Himself as ‘The Door,’ seems most plain from verse 9, ‘If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. This falls in line with John 14:6, ‘Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”’ Beyond this, there is another consideration. When shepherds would gather their sheep together for the night, they would bring them into a prepared enclosure with one opening. The top of the enclosure was often covered with thorns and other obstructions, so as to make it impassable to predators. The shepherd would lie down in front of the opening. If any predator would seek to get to the flock, he would have to get past the shepherd, who was, in a de facto way, ‘the door.’ So Christ is, ‘The Door’ for His people. He is not only ‘the Way, the Truth , and the Life.’ He is also the Great Defender of His sheep. Woe be to the predator who preys upon the sheep of Christ’s fold. Christ, Who is the Gentle Savior, is also the Righteous Judge. He will not fail to do judgement and justice unto all who would do His people harm.

O, Christ, Our Great Shepherd of the sheep,
We rejoice that You both defend and protect all of your people,
‘that all things work together for good to them that love You.’
We trust in You, who set Yourself as the Door, between us and our enemies.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning.
Abundant Life

Abundant Life

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Abundant Life

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

Christ came with purpose.  As we have considered our text for the past few days, we have dwelt upon the Person of Christ, Who has come. We have dwelt upon the people for whom He has come.  Today we shall dwell upon the purpose for which He has come. Christ declares boldly, ‘I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ John refers to this in the first chapter of his gospel. ‘In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’  Simply put, there is no real life apart from Christ. Christ has come to give life unto ‘His sheep’ in every way possible. We have found this to be so in our own experience. We were born ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ We lived in that spiritually dead estate and condition for perhaps many years. God ordered and changed our circumstances to encounter Christ. The Holy Spirit granted us regeneration, gave us repentance unto life, and faith to believe. We have embraced Christ, as He is freely offered to us in the Gospel. Now, we live as we have never lived before. We feel what we could not feel in our deadness. We see what we could not see in our blindness. We hear, what we could not hear in our deafness. We are going, now to the home where our unable limbs could not have taken us before. We have already, ‘the foretaste of glory divine.’ It only gets better from here, for Christ said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.’ Here is abundant life.

O, Gracious Lord of Life,
we praise You that You are both life and light unto all Your people.
We rejoice that the life that we now have will only yield to a greater life
when we see you face to face.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Who Are ‘They?’

Who Are ‘They?’

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Who Are ‘They?’

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

As Christ speaks of the great purpose for which He has come, He identifies a group of people for whom He has come and for whom He is accomplishing this great purpose. In our text, He refers to them simply as, ‘they.’ Who exactly are, ‘they?’ The answer to that lies all around the text. In the first few verses of the chapter, because He is speaking more generally, Christ refers to them as ‘the sheep.’ By verse fourteen, Christ speaks of them as ‘My sheep.’ By verse twenty-six He distinguishes those who are ‘My sheep,’ from those who are ‘not of My sheep.’ By verse twenty-nine, He declares that these ‘sheep’ are those whom ‘the Father’ has given Him. Of these ‘sheep,’ Christ proclaims, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.’ ‘They’ are, in fact the ‘Elect of God.’ God chose them in Christ, ‘before the foundation of the world.’ God has ‘in the fullness of time’ sent forth His Son ‘made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.’ ‘They’ are those of whom Christ speaks in John six when He says, ‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.’ We may take heart in these identifications of these people. By the Grace of God we have come to Christ. We do hear His voice. We do follow Him. Therefore, we are ‘they.’ We rejoice today at this assurance, ‘We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.’

O, Great Shepherd of the Sheep,
we praise You that You have made us Your very Own.
We rejoice that You will lead us all the way to Glory,
and that we, ‘shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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