 Who is the thief in John 10? Many have speculated and it seems like it's pretty cut and dry. There are two options. Either it is false teachers, false shepherds, hirelings, or it is a devil. Well, let's go and take a look at it ourselves. Matter of fact, instead of going to John 10, 10, let's start in John 10, one. Now, this is a conversation that's been going on since really John nine, but he's talking about the good shepherd. Let's see if we can still gain the understanding of the context here. And I think we're going to see something. Truly, truly I say to you that he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. This person that does so is a thief. Now, the word of the shoes, here's the word play face, which is a thief. It is an author's means. It does not have a definite article, the word the. I think that's important, by the way. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. That is, that is Jesus. We're going to find out to him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads him out. So we're clearly talking about Jesus here. When he puts forth all his own idiot, his own sheep, those that belong to him, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger, they simply will not follow, but flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. And this is in the plural. So the voice of strangers, this figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were, which he had been saying to them. So Jesus, verse 10, said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you that I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers. So anyone that came before him in terms of leading the sheep, they are thieves and robbers. And so if we can see, we can get an idea of who the thieves are, at least partially, these and robbers, who are of these people were, that it came before him, but the sheep did not hear them. True sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in, out, in and out, I'm sorry, and find pasture. Here it is. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and they may have it abundantly. So now this question is where it's stated, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So the question is who is the thief? Well, the first obvious understanding of this is the thief is any false teacher, any hireling, any false prophet, anyone that wants to come and lead them astray. However, I think it would do a huge disservice to think that it is only speaking of an actual person. Why? Because there's always something behind a false teacher, behind a false prophet, behind a hireling. Does this also entail the devil? It absolutely does. Jesus makes an important point to tell them that no one will be able to snatch the sheep out of his hand. Well, that makes sense if you're thinking about just a human being, but it also makes sense even if we think about something that's more sinister that's at play as well. That is the devil, that is the enemy. Because we know that his job is to come and snatch away anything that is in us, that is in the hearts of the believer. In Luke eight, he says now, speaks about the parable of the sower in the seed. He says, the seed is the word that's sown of God, the word of God that's been sown. Those beside the road are those who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they will not believe and be saved. So his job, the enemy's job will come is to come and take the word away from the person's heart. Well, how does he do so? Well, what does he do? He's gonna use means as well, which is gonna be somebody also. It's not though that the devil has the ability to come in and take with his hand the word out of your heart. He's going to use mean. So while in John 10, he's speaking of actual men, there's also a double meaning because without question, who is going to be behind those men, those false teachers, those false preachers, those false prophets, those hirelings, it's going to be someone who is influenced by the enemy who doesn't know the Lord, who aren't his, but they belong to their father, the devil, which is why God goes through great links to get us to understand who is ultimately at play. We don't war against flesh and blood, but instead we war against principalities. So in John 10, it's proper, I would say, to associate this passage with both the false teachers, the false prophets, but ultimately who's behind the false teachers, the false prophets. That would be the great thief, the great liar, the one who comes to steal the word from your heart, the one who roars around, walks around like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, the one who would like to be the wolf and to snatch you out of his hand, but the Bible says he cannot. And so now, and so now just to be clear, he is speaking primarily of actual hirelings, false teachers, false preachers and so forth, but it necessarily has to also be connected to the devil himself because that is his job to work in these false teachers, these false preachers. Because who does the Bible say that these false teachers, these false prophets are of, they are of their father, the devil. And so in this case, I believe we've got a double meaning here, but it doesn't matter because the good news that he states in chapter 10 and verse five of the sheep, he says, a stranger, they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of the strangers. Now notice though, it's a stranger, they will not follow, but he's speaking also in terms of plurality, but if we go to verse 10, there's a little bit of a difference here. There's a little bit of a shift. In verse 10, it says the thief with a definite article. And I think that that kind of also gives a picture as to who is behind it. The thief comes to steal, come destroy. Now, is it possible that I might be making too much out of the thief? It's possible, but I think both it applies to the thief, the ultimate one, the ultimate robber, versus those who also will play the part or do his bidding of their father. And so in this regard again, I believe that he's speaking primarily of false teachers but ultimately of the devil who was at work and it played behind them. Amen.