What does it mean that "my sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27)?

John 10:27. This leads the Lord to give the marks of His sheep. The first great mark is that the sheep hear the Shepherd's voice (cf. verses 3, 4, 5, 16). All heard His actual words, but hearing His voice implies that the sheep received in faith the message that the words contained, a message that disclosed to the sheep their sinfulness and need, but revealed the love and grace that meets the need. The woman at the well is a striking example of one who heard the Shepherd's voice. (Compare Acts 13:27, for the distinction between the words of Scripture and the voices of the prophets.)

The second mark is that the sheep are known of the Lord. As we have seen, the Lord calls them individually by name, implying His perfect knowledge of the sheep, and that the Shepherd has individual dealings with them (cf. verses 3, 14).

"To Him the porter opens" (v. 3). The porter is a figure of the power of God, whether acting providentially in ordering circumstances, or by the Spirit working in the hearts of men. Thus the way was opened for Christ to reach "His own sheep." However, while the Lord presents Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep, it is not as in Ezekiel 34, to deliver Israel from their enemies and establish them in their land. For that the time has not yet come. Israel has rejected Christ, and the nation is left in its blindness. Thus, the Lord is presented as the Shepherd calling His own sheep and leading them out of the Jewish fold into all the blessings of the new Christian flock. Of the mass of the Jewish nation, by whom He is rejected, He has to say, "Ye are not of my sheep." (26). Here, then, the Lord is seen in the midst of the corrupt Jewish nation exclusively occupied with His sheep, while they recognise no voice but His. Then we learn the three great activities of the Lord on behalf of His sheep. (1) The Shepherd calls His own sheep by name, and they hear His voice. Hearing His voice implies that they not only heard the words of the Lord, but, that His words conveyed a personal message that reached their hearts. Preaching at Antioch, Paul can say to the Jews that their rulers "Knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day." (Acts 13:27). Thus though they heard the prophetic Scriptures, these Scriptures conveyed no message to the hearers. They did not hear the voice of the prophets. The sheep "hear His voice," He has personal dealings with them. "He calls His own sheep by name." As we trace the Lord's path, recorded in this Gospel, we hear Him calling His sheep one by one. Simple fishermen, like Andrew, Simon, and Philip, are called. Nathanael, an Israelite in whom is no guile; Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler; a fallen woman by a well side; a nobleman of Cana; a helpless man at Bethesda, and a blind beggar by the wayside are called. They came from very different grades of society, but one thing marked them all, they "heard His voice." (2) Having called them, the Shepherd does not leave them in the Jewish fold, that had rejected Christ. "He leads them out" of the Jewish nation that was passing on to judgment.

They hear His voice (vers. 4, 16, 27). This goes back, as already explained, to the very commencement, when He calls His own sheep by name, and is that which distinguishes them as His sheep. The Lord Himself draws the contrast. "Ye" (He said to the Jews), "ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice," etc. (vers. 26-27). We may combine with this another trait, "They know not the voice of strangers" (ver. 5). Herein lies the safety of the flock. They at once recognise the voice of the Shepherd; but though a stranger should simulate the tones of the Shepherd ever so closely, they know not his voice; i.e., they detect it as that of a stranger. This is that which is taught by the Apostle John. "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. … These things I have written to you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abides in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in Him" (1 John 2:20-27). There is no need, therefore, that we should seek to be familiar with all the errors that abound on every hand in order to escape their seductions: it is enough for us that we know the voice of the Shepherd; and our safety will be in ever listening to it, becoming increasingly acquainted with it, maintaining evermore the attitude of her who sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard His word (Luke 10:39). This will be at once our preservative from danger, and the means of our safety and blessing.

Consequent upon hearing His voice, the sheep follow the Shepherd. "He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice" (vers. 4, 27). The sheep has no will but that of the Shepherd; and ceasing to follow Him it becomes a wandering sheep. "All we like sheep," says the prophet, "have gone astray, and turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). In Eastern lands, and indeed in some parts of Europe, the shepherd ever goes before his sheep; and when he moves onward, they follow, and when he stops, they stop likewise. Our blessed Lord alludes to this in the scripture before us, and uses the custom to convey most striking instruction. For to follow the Shepherd necessitates that the eye of the sheep should be ever upon Him, that, indeed, they should ever be on the watch to ascertain when He would have them to move, and where He would have them follow. Everything is thus left in the Shepherd's hands: it is His to discern a coming danger, to provide for their sustenance, and to indicate their path. Their responsibility is to follow — to follow the Shepherd wherever He may lead — to follow Him until He shall come to receive them to Himself.

"And the sheep hear his voice." (Verse 3) So we find in the gospels, particularly Luke's, from the beginning. "And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" — an evident allusion to what had befallen the blind man. No doubt he had been turned out of the synagogue; but Christ imprints, on this, their wicked act, His own interpretation, according to divine counsels. Little did the man know at that painful moment, that it was in reality grace which was leading him out. If it was a little before His own public and final rejection, it was, after all, the same principle at the bottom. The disciple is not above his master; but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. "He goeth before them." This seems to refer to the manner in which it had been, and should be, accomplished. Already had the Lord tasted the enmity and scorn of man, and especially of the Jews; but He also knew the depths of shame and suffering which He must soon pass through, before there was an open separation of the sheep. Thus, whether it were done virtually or formally, in either case Jesus went before, and the sheep followed; "for they know his voice." This is their spiritual instinct, as it is their security — not skill in determining or refuting error, but simple cleaving to Christ and the truth. See this exemplified in the once blind man. What weight had the Pharisees with his conscience? None whatever. They, on the contrary, felt he taught them. "A stranger will they not follow," any more than he would follow the Pharisees. For now, by the new eyes which the Lord had given him, he could discern their vain pretensions, and their hostility against Jesus so much the worse, because coupled with "Give God the praise." "A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him" — not because they are learned in the injurious jargon of strangers, "for they know not the voice of strangers." They know the Shepherd's voice, and this they follow. It is the love of what is good, and not skill in finding out what is evil. Some may have power to sift and discern the unsound; but this is not the true, direct, divine means of safety for the sheep of Christ. There is a much more real, immediate, and sure way. It is simply this: they cannot rest without the voice of Christ; and that which is not the voice of Christ they do not follow. What more suitable to them, or more worthy of Him?

Sheep are docile creatures. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). How knoweth the lamb its mother amongst a thousand of the flock? Natural instinct teacheth it. From what teacher or art is it, that the swallow buildeth its clay house and nest, and every bee knoweth its own cell and waxen house? So the instinct of grace knoweth the voice of the Beloved among many voices (Cant. 2:8). To the new creature, there is in Christ's word some character, some sound of heaven, that is in no voice of the world, but in His only.

The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. There are many other voices, but the sheep do not know them. Their safety consists, not in knowing them all, but in knowing that they are not the one voice which is life to them — the voice of Jesus. All the rest are the voices of strangers.

Had the Lord stopped there, many a true sheep might have questioned the reality of his own Christian profession. But He proceeded to describe His sheep, and spoke of their everlasting security. It is, let us remember, the Shepherd's own description, so all can rest on it. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one" (27-30).

We have read, in the opening verses of the chapter, of sheep in a fold, such as might have been seen any day in Palestine. Their shepherd the sheep knew, and would follow him, but no one else. Now we learn no longer in a proverb, but in plain language, both that which would characterise Christ's sheep, as well as something about Him, the Shepherd. As for the sheep, they hear His voice, and follow Him. Then, speaking of Himself, He declares, "I know them." Of the sheep's knowledge of Him He here makes no mention. His knowledge of them He makes prominent. How gracious was this! Many an one might question his or her knowledge of Christ. Did they know Him aright? Did they know Him as they ought? And then write bitter things against themselves. Now here He gives no room for such morbid thoughts. The question for them is a very different one. Do they hear His voice? Do they follow Him? Each one should be able to answer this, however haltingly one may follow the Shepherd. Very gracious, then, was it of the Lord thus to speak of His sheep — gracious, too, how gracious, to speak of Himself as He does: "I know them." Nothing can they tell Him about themselves of which He is ignorant. Their circumstances, their trials, their difficulties, their needs — all fully known to Him. What they are as sinful creatures, what they have done in the past, to what they are prone, if not kept — all is perfectly known to Him. What comfort!

There were many who listened to the Son of God speaking on earth who did not hear His word. They heard Him speak with the hearing of nature, but they did not hear with the hearing of faith, for their ears had not been opened by God to receive the divine communications spoken by His Son. It is the same today. Men may read the Scriptures, or listen to the word of God spoken, without apprehending anything of the precious truth of God contained in the words written or spoken.

Hearing the word of the Son of God is not simply that we once heard on some particular occasion the truth of God, but rather it is an attitude of soul that characterises the true Christian. There was indeed a beginning to this hearing, when the soul first apprehended something of the divine truth that attracted the heart to Jesus. It was probably a word that brought peace to the conscience, but it formed a divine link in the soul with Jesus, the Son of God; and from that time on it has been the normal habit of the soul to hear the word of the Son of God.

In contrast to these the Son of God tells us what are the marks of His own sheep—“My sheep” as He calls them: (1) They “hear My voice” (John 10:27). His Word in the Gospel has reached them in the power of the Spirit, and in this way His voice has livingly become known to them. (2) “I know them.” There is nothing haphazard in this matter of eternal import. In view of the corruptions and imitations of the faith the real are comforted in 2 Timothy 2:19 with this same fact, “The Lord knows them that are His.” (3) “They follow Me” He further says. This is encouraging for those who are perplexed by the rival claims of sects and parties and their leaders. The sheep of Christ simply follow the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and He gives them what none other could give, as He says, (4) “I give them eternal life.” We may be able to explain this gift in a very limited measure, but it is ours nevertheless and it is not simply life in eternal blessedness, for it involves also the knowledge of the Father and the Son. (5) “They shall never perish.” Tried as they may be on their journey to the Father’s house, not one of the flock, however, can be lost, thank God, for Jesus said: (6) “No one shall seize them out of My hand.” The thief may come, the wolf may scatter, the hireling may flee, but the Shepherd’s hand of omnipotence holds every one safely. Moreover, (7) “No one can seize out of the hand of My Father.” In the Son’s hand we are perfectly safe, and in the Father’s hand we are equally so we are doubly safe, if it be necessary so to express it, for we belong to both the Father and the Son.

Who are the sheep mentioned here in John 10? How am I to know that I am one of the sheep? A sheep here is one that hears the voice of the Son of God and follows Him. Have you heard His voice? You say, I know my Bible from beginning to end. This is quite possible, and yet you may never have heard His voice once in all your life. This voice is an inward thing, and can only be heard by those, whose ears are opened to hear. Their state is such that they can hear now that which they could not hear before, and they prove it by following Him. Follow Him where? To the place where He has gone. Where is that? He has gone out of this world unto the Father, and you follow Him into this out-of-the-world condition of things to the place where He has the pre-eminence. The preeminence of love. It is not an outward thing. Outwardly all may be unchanged, and yet inwardly all be different because you are changed and belong to a new sphere; in the sense of your soul you are outside the old.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." This is characteristic. Do get hold of the present tense. Some people say, Do you believe that "Once saved for ever saved?" I say, I don't like it put in that way, for that is not the way in which the scriptures speak; and, dear friends, you will soon be led into error if you do not adhere to scriptural ways of expression. I see no comfort in this book for the man, who says, "I [am?] the one who is in touch with Christ to-day. I see no comfort in this book for the man who says, "I did believe once," but I see every comfort for the man who is connected with a living Christ to-day. I see nothing for the man who says he had something yesterday but has not got it to-day. The whole point is that God is speaking about to-day. The question is, Are we His sheep to-day? If you are, what happens? Why, you are hearing His voice today. Not the voice of scripture only that everybody hears, but that inward small voice that only His own hear. No one else hears it, but you hear, and you are attracted. You say, "There is no one like that One who is speaking to me. He wants me, and I must follow Him. There is no one like Him. Even though it goes against father, mother, children, my best interests here, I must follow Him."