John 10:2-3 Hearing His Voice
But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:2-3
In verse 5 he repeats, “they know his voice” and in verse 6, “they do not know the voice of strangers.” And finally in verse 14, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father.”
There is a story in Luke 24 about Jesus joining two men traveling to Emmaus after he was raised from the dead — but “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him” (v 16). They heard Jesus speak and teach — their spirit recognized him— but their eyes did not. The mind explained away what they saw and they experienced and inward conflict. After “their eyes were opened and they recognized him,” they said, “were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road…?” The Spirit of the Shepherd will speak to the sheep in many ways — through men, women, movies, dogs, books, the wind, natural processes, strangers on the road to Emmaus, almost anything — it doesn’t matter, the sheep recognize that it is him.
Knowing his voice is different than reading the Bible
Hearing and living by the “word of God” is my ability to hear and know this voice… not read and interpret the Bible. Anyone can toss a verse my direction, even the devil. It is in the spirit behind something communicated that one may recognize who is behind it and whose voice, or “word” is being spoken.
Without question the Pharisees and teachers in Israel knew the written word of the Torah. If salvation came from reading and knowing the Law, the Prophets, the wisdom of David—the Bible—they would have been the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. For those who mentally process Bible knowledge, devote themselves to knowing doctrine, or even zealously follow his commandments, there can be a false sense of knowing God in this this intellectual pursuit, but it is not the same as hearing His word and knowing His voice. My mind (or the flesh, which can read and study) is different than my spirit.
When Jesus speaks to his disciples about the “commandments,” [Jn 14:15, 21; Jn 15:12; 1 Jn 5:3] and “My Father’s commandment to me,” [Jn 12:49; Jn 10:18] although the reference could be associated with the written word, it still meant something specific and understood in the spirit— not an unalterable law written in stone that is parsed by the intellect. Knowing His word is, above all things, hearing his voice by whatever means with which he uses to speak to me.
There is a filter on the words God speaks
His sheep hear his voice — they have a filter that distinguishes those who are not the shepherd. Likewise, those who are not his sheep, have no filter, and no way of knowing his voice. They may follow anyone and not know the difference.
Jesus is making a distinction between himself and the Pharisees, and also between the sheep, and those who were unable to distinguish his voice.
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10-17 NASB1995
What if I can’t or don’t hear?
It is a process to learn to trust the Shepherd and to have confidence that His intention is good for me. When sheep follow, it’s because they have become familiar with the Shepherd’s care: giving them food, protecting, speaking kindly, treating them gently and a confidence that he doesn’t intend to harm. The same is true with knowing Jesus. There must be experience and exposure to his kindness, compassion and care before I can recognize his voice. It’s very personal.
But, if I am governed by my natural mind, and not the spirit, and become unsure if I am able to hear His voice, God points us to what we do know — a minimum common denominator—what is written by Moses, the Prophets, Psalms — that which we know for certain comes from God. My mind trusting in the law is still not foolproof by any means, but once I do what I know to do, from there I can return to hearing His voice speaking to me. This hearing ability is something I knew very early as a child — and I must return to it.
The rich young ruler: A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 18:18, 20-22 NIV
The rich man and Lazarus: “Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” But he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!“ But he said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”
Luke 16:27-31 NASB1995
The Shulamite: “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where do you pasture your flock, where do you make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?” [response] “If you yourself do not know, most beautiful among women, go forth on the trail of the flock and pasture your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.”
Song of Solomon 1:7-8 NASB1995
For me there were many instances of God’s divine interaction with me that at the time I didn’t recognize as Him. When I was five years old and a bully threatened, a friend stepped in and told him to go away. That was Jesus. When I was 16, a man at a job I was working with shared the salvation story about Jesus, but I didn’t know his voice yet. After I had become a believer, I was talking about the kingdom with a friend and at 19 my heart recognized the presence of the Shepherd in my friend. At work one day when I was 34, I had an interaction with my boss that solved a very difficult problem I was experiencing. When I left his office, I recognized that the words and actions he took were those of my Shepherd. He’s constantly speaking, and my heart is endeavoring to hear Him every day in every way he speaks and leads.
Knowing his voice is a characteristic of those who belong to him. The first step is to kill the fleshly man —the unredeemed mind which trusts itself and its ability to process — in baptism. The result is the emergence of a man willing to listen to information which originates apart from the mind. When born of His Spirit, He awakens our heart and senses to hear — and to learn to hear better.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
John 3:6, 8 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Romans 8:9, 11, 14 NIV
David heard his Shepherd when he wrote:
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4NIV
And Isaiah also spoke of that familiarity:
Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Isaiah30:21NASB
Knowing the Shepherd’s voice is not a struggle or effort. It is a surrender to Spirit’s voice I heard as a young child and returning to the comfort and familiarity with Him that I had before I allowed my mind and so many other voices to drown out His clear and quiet voice. This is why baptism is so important: it is the symbolic death of the fleshly mind and sense of self which is so important to me and surrenders to his voice in this moment. Relying on his Spirit and not my mind, is the ongoing struggle I have had my entire life. The flesh (mind) works against the Spirit and my spirit to drown out His voice with reasoning, the worry, or fear, that He has already cast out.
Footnote: Knowing His voice is not frightening or risky
There is no fear in love. [1 John 4:18] When asking the Father for something good, He doesn’t return something bad. [Matthew 7:9-10] A child of God does not need to have a covering* or pastor* qualify what he or she hears. The voice will be drowned out by the fear of hearing a stranger. Yet, in the very process, we cannot set up a stranger (a pastor, minister, parent) to mediate between God’s voice and my hearing. It can feel scary for me to trust the Spirit of God, and to trust that I myself am able hear Him. There is no getting around this. But it is one of the most important life lessons one may learn — and should be the first taught by any spiritual mentor or caretaker. I must learn the voice of the Shepherd and not allow it to be muffled by others claiming loudly, “Listen to me first! I am the shepherd*! I am the pastor* he appointed over you.”
*No, you are a hireling — and you care nothing for the sheep.