John 10:1-21—Jesus the Good Shepherd + PDF Teaching Notes

Jesus said that He is both the door to the sheepfold and the good shepherd, whose sheep know His voice, who will die for the sheep to protect them and then rise again, and is loved by the Father. In contrast to Jesus, there are thieves, wolves and hired hands, all of whom hurt the sheep.

In the Old Testament, Jehovah is the Shepherd and the Israelites were His sheep ("The LORD is my shepherd", Psalm 23). That Jesus here presents Himself as the good shepherd hints at the fact that Jesus is the Jehovah read about in the Old Testament. At the very least, this is a subtle claim to be the Messiah.