DARREN STOTT

[9] I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. [10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:9-10 ESV

John 10:9-10 is all about three things: Location, location, location! Checkout what Jesus is saying; he claims to be the starting point (the door) by which we can enter a very special location; the pasture. This word “pasture” appears throughout scripture and always refers to the same location. So where is this place? It’s a secret! Its locality is so well hidden that no man can find or enter into it, except by access through Jesus Christ.

This location is also referred to in the twenty-third Psalm verses 2-3,

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

It is a green meadow with a quiet still brook that flows through it. Jesus, our shepherd, is there, and he makes us lay down so that we can rest. It’s while we rest that our mind is quieted, our will is permitted to relax, and our emotions take a deep breath for fresh air – it is in this very special place that our soul is restored.

In Ezekiel 34:13-15 God invites his people to the pasture:

And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The pasture in Ezekiel 34 is a Kingdom of rest, and the fruit of the Kingdom is Romans 14:17 fruit; right standing with God, freedom from striving, and the absence of worry and fear. The hallmark of our salvation is our ability to enter into this location with the Father and trust him enough to allow him to make us lie down. The best part is, we don’t ever have to leave the pasture – the pasture is where we were meant to reside – with our Father – his rod and staff by our side.