“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
One of Jesus’ greatest parables is the parable of the Good Shepherd. We’ve been discussing this for a bit now, and if you haven’t gotten the chance to read the previous posts about the Good Shepherd, check out the first one here. But we’ve laid the foundation that the Lord is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep. We know Him and He knows us. We have the privilege of getting to have relationship with and be personally tended to by our Good Shepherd.
This is all great news, and if the blessing stopped there, then that would be enough. To be personally known by the most loving and caring shepherd is incredible in its own right. But the fact of this matter gets even better.
We Hear His Voice
Following His declaration as our Shepherd, Jesus says this,
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
Looking at the phrase as a whole, it appears that the Lord is referring to salvation, and answering the call of Christ. The first part of the phrase is representative of us hearing the call of Christ as unbelievers. Then the Lord knows us, and we follow Him. What follow is salvation and eternal life with Christ. This is echoed by Jesus’ reference to eternal life and at first look, this is all that Jesus is referring to. However, I believe that it goes farther than that.
Throughout the whole of scripture, the Lord speaks to His people on many occasions. He even has repeated discussions with people like Moses and Abraham. Jesus walked and talked with His disciples and many others, even appearing to Paul after His ascension into Heaven. He continually reflects that He wants to dwell among His people and communicate with them in a few different ways.
So, I believe that this scripture is not only referring to salvation, but also, to the sheep hearing the voice of the Lord in their common, everyday life.
How to Hear His Voice
Minister Andrew Wommack has said this referring to this passage in John 10,
”Notice that He said in verse 3, His sheep hear His voice. He didn’t say His sheep CAN hear His voice or SHOULD hear His voice. He made the emphatic statement that His sheep DO hear His voice. Most Christians would question the accuracy of that statement since their experiences don’t line up. But it’s not what Jesus said that is wrong; all true believers can and do hear the voice of God; they just don’t recognize what they are hearing as being God’s voice.”
The Lord speaks to us constantly and oftentimes, we don’t even hear Him. For example, one fo the ways that the Lord has spoken to us is through His Word. But if we never pick up the Bible, we won’t ever hear what the Lord has said. We have to pick up the Bible and read it, to hear from the Lord through scripture. We have to have ears to hear the Lord, or we simply won’t hear His voice.
The only thing for us to do then, in order to hear His voice, is to listen for it. We must tune out the other noises we hear, in order to hear Him.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah hears the Lord as the sound of a gentle blowing. Some translations refer to it as a low whisper, or a still small voice. All translations refer to its quiet and gentle tone.
Among all of the loud noises, and the temptations that we face in today’s age, it’s not always easy to hear a still small voice. But when we quiet the noise, and we still ourselves, we become drastically more aware and attentive to the sound of a gentle blowing, and to the voice of the Lord.
Final Thoughts
When I first read this verse, it didn’t stand out to me. It’s always been my understanding that the Lord speaks to us, not only through His word, but through other forms of communication, such as through dreams and visions for example. However, many people don’t understand this aspect of the Lord, and I believe that it is hurting their faith, and relationship with the Lord.
In order to grow closer to pretty much everyone, you have to hear them. You have to be able to talk, and communicate, and in order to do that, you have to be able to hear them. Likewise, true intimacy is formed with the Lord when we are able to communicate and speak with Him. Hearing Him is important for that.
Also, while we communicate and get to know the Lord, we get to know His goodness and character, growing in our faith and knowledge of the Lord. Hearing the Lord is crucial for this as well. So, for the next few weeks, we will be discussing hearing the Lord’s voice, as it pertains to revelation, reading scripture, and developing our faith.
Come back next week to hear more about hearing from the shepherd, and receiving revelation from the Lord.
