John 10:8 All That Ever Came Before Me Are Thieves and Robbers: but the Sheep Did Not Hear Them.?
Jesus is saying He alone is the Door and the true Shepherd, and every one who tries to lead God’s people without coming through Him and His Word is a thief and a robber. The true sheep don’t follow such voices.
Now notice the context. The Bible says, “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). Then He declares, “I am the door” (John 10:7,9) and “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). So when He says, “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,” He is not condemning the prophets God sent, because those prophets pointed to Him. He Himself said, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39), and, “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me” (John 5:46). John the Baptist was also sent from God (John 1:6–8). So who are the thieves and robbers? Those who “climb up some other way”—self-appointed leaders, false messiahs, and religious systems that bypass Christ the Door and the revealed Word. That’s exactly what the Lord rebuked in passages like Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34—shepherds who feed themselves and scatter the flock.
“You see,” the proof that the sheep are God’s own is this: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). The elect have an ear for the Word; they won’t be carried by strange voices. Christ leads by His Word and Spirit. Anyone who draws attention to himself, adds another door, or offers life apart from the new birth through Christ is robbing the flock.
Simple logic makes it plain. The same Lord who affirmed Moses and the Scriptures would not call His own sent servants thieves. The “all” of John 10:8 is qualified by the context—“all” who came another way, not through the Door.
Clear conclusion: John 10:8 exalts the exclusiveness of Christ as the only Door and exposes every leader or system that bypasses Him as theft and robbery. The true sheep do not hear them; they follow the Shepherd’s voice in the Word.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Looking at the unseen
59-0410 §9
Now, He likened us unto sheep. A sheep is totally lost without a leader. Now, if you've ever raised sheep, you know how true that is. And if you ever went to a slaughter house... I think that's one of the most pitiful cases of animal life, to see the slaughter of sheep. The little fellow is just depending on something to lead them. And do you know what they take to lead the sheep into the slaughter? A goat. He leads the sheep right over into the slaughter pen, and he goes up the aisle with them. Then when it comes...
Sirs, we would see Jesus
60-0109 §25
Now, we know in the beginning, when He came on earth the people were looking for a Messiah. But thousands of them did not know the nature of this Messiah because they never studied the Word. They studied it in the line of their creed or their denomination or their sect. They studied it according to that, but not according to the way God said. For if you'll notice, God told Moses, in Deuteronomy 18:15, that "The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet among you, liken unto me." And it would come to pass that whosoeve...
What went ye out to see?
59-1001 §16
...ifteenth. I like to read His Word, because His Word is true, and it's eternal. The reason I like to read His Word, because my words will fail. I'm a man. But His words can never fail. And to you precious people that's here tonight, I know of no more than reading this Word, you'll get something. You'll go home. For this is the food that Brother Graham was speaking of. May He quicken it to us as we read. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach an...
Shepherd of the sheepfold
56-0403 §49
So, I watched these sheep, and one amazing thing that I noticed about them, about the sheep, was this. That when they went down through the street, there was all kind of dainties laying out. The Eastern countries are not like the Western. We put all of our things under all kind of a dehydration and have it laying up in a great frosted counters and so forth, but in the East, they lay them right out on the streets, right like that. And here come this shepherd with about a string of sheep almost a city block long, wal...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 7:E-55
...ave received (the truth as a permanent deposit) and what way you heard (it) and be safeguarding (it), and have a change of mind at once." It is very evident from this verse that God had given them truth as a permanent deposit. It was received and is irrevocably theirs. It now remains to be seen what they will do with it, whether they will regard it or not. And that is true. They had been given the basic truth of the whole Gospel, "The just shall live by faith", "Salvation is of the Lord." They had heard the truth o...