October 25

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9.

A DOOR is a very familiar and striking representation of the Lord Jesus. It seems hardly necessary to remark, that it must be a metaphor. Yet the Papists, from taking literally what is spoken in a similar instance, have introduced the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. Because, when he took the bread and the wine, our Saviour said, "This is my body, and this is my blood," they believe that the disciples received his real body and blood, and that every communicant does the same now when the priest has consecrated the elements; and, say they, we only take him at his word—nothing can be plainer. Upon the same principle, we may say he is timber and nails; for he says—what can be clearer?—I am the door. But can any man of common-sense, can a child suppose that he means any thing more than that a door is an image of him?

The design of the allusion is obvious. A door is the medium of passage, and Jesus stands between God and us. He is the mediator of the new covenant. God comes to us through him, and conveys all his blessings to us by him. And we approach God through him. I am the way, said he; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And as, with regard to our persons, we come unto God by him, so it is with regard to our services; we offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And with regard to both, we have boldness and access with confidence only by the faith of him.

But how is the person described who derives benefit from him? He makes use of him for this purpose, "By me if any man enter in." This supposes a spiritual concern. Many are careless about their souls. They have never been convinced of sin, never induced, from an apprehension of their danger, to cry, What must I do to be saved? They are men of the world, and all their anxieties are confined within the narrow bound of time and sense. Others, if in a degree awakened, are not enlightened. Their concern is erroneously directed; for there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but it ends in death. There is a refuge that cannot abide the storm. There is a hope that is like the spider's web, as curiously wrought, and as easily destroyed. The case is this. There is salvation in none other than in him, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. In the Lord alone have we righteousness and strength. To him, therefore, must men come. And to him the Christian does come. He knows not only that there is no salvation for him out of Christ, but that there is no salvation for him in Christ without a dependence upon him and an application to him. He knows that, as a medicine never taken can never cure, and as food never eaten can never nourish, so an unapplied Saviour is no Saviour to him. He therefore makes use of Christ for every end he is revealed to answer. He builds upon him as a foundation. As a way, he walks in him. As a door, by him he enters in.

And what are the advantages he obtains when admitted? Safety. "He shall be saved." Saved from the curse of the law and the wrath to come. Saved from the roaring lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Saved from the king of terrors. Saved from a world lying in wickedness. Saved from an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.

Liberty. "He shall go in and out." A man is free in his own house. He goes in and out at his pleasure; and when he goes out, he is not shut out like a stranger, and when he goes in, he is not shut in like a criminal. This, too, is the privilege of sheep under the care of a good shepherd. They go in; but if they could not go out, the fold would be a prison. They therefore at night go in for protection, and in the morning go out for food. The expression, therefore, is used in the Scripture as significant of freedom, and the meaning is, that what is done for the Christian's safety does not compromise his liberty. He knows the truth, and the truth makes him free, and he is free indeed—free to go wherever he pleases in Immanuel's land—free to partake of all the privileges of the sons of God.

Plenty. "And find pasture." Ah, said one of them, realizing this. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters." So Isaiah. "They shall feed in the ways"—the ways of his commandments, ordinances, and dispensations—"and their pastures shall be in all high places," where they cannot be hid, but where they may seem unlikely to find supplies—as elevations, especially in warm countries, are commonly barren—but he feeds them, while he lifts them up, for ever. Religion raises them, but not into regions of barren speculation; for it is added, "They shall not hunger, nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them."