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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Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Jehovah-Jireh
57-0810 §91
Here's a lady sitting right down here, little blue hat on. She's praying for somebody. I see her in her home praying before an open Bible. She's praying for a domestic trouble. That is her son, for his home. He's an alcoholic, and you're asking God to save him. That's right, lady. If that's right, raise up your hand. Have faith. Your faith has touched Him. Now, believe for the one you're praying for, and you can have what you're asking for. All right. This the lady? Oh, the woman's deaf. She's got a deaf spirit on...
The unconditional covenant that God made
54-0306 §106
Have faith in God. I challenge. All right. Have faith. Just a moment. I feel the Spirit moving somewhere... Oh, here it is, sitting here. The woman's deaf. Bow your heads, everywhere. Somebody bring her over here. O Jehovah, in the name of Jesus I come. This evil spirit deafened the ears of this woman to cause her to walk before a vehicle to be killed or some evil thing. But he can't stand in Your presence. You said, when the deaf spirit went out of the man, "He can hear." And, Lord, she's unprivileged to hear the...
The Good Shepherd of the sheep
57-0308 §13
...d through his youthful days it might have been hard for him to understand. But after while he finds out, it was for a testimony of the Lord Jesus. Now, God does things like that. Now another thing about these sheep: If they have to have a shepherd, and a man, a owner of the sheep, when he went to get a shepherd, he had to... He went and searched out till he got the best shepherd that could be gotten, because he loves his sheep. And this man must be special trained in knowing how to take care of the sheep. He must k...
Wisdom versus Faith
62-0401 §86
These all started in Genesis, the seed chapter, and has been ever since... Ever since been on the scene, it's been the same thing: a fight between wisdom and faith---always fighting. So wisdom is of the devil and for his children. Did you ever notice? All of you seen sheep; all of you seen goats. But, you know, the bleat of them two is so close, it takes a real shepherd to tell the difference. You put an old goat out there and let him bleat, and then you go over here and put a sheep there and let him bleat. Listen...
Shepherd of the sheepfold
56-0403 §36
And that's the way the human race is: We are absolutely, totally, helpless without the Shepherd of the fold. We can't find our way back. We've tried to educate our way back; we've tried to reform our way back; but we will never be able. Education will never do it. Reformation will never do it. We're not reformers. The police out here are reformers. We're preachers of the Gospel. Not to try to put people on penalty and crawl on your knees and so forth, but to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ: deliverance to the peo...