What Does It Mean That “My Sheep Hear My Voice” (John 10:27)?
One of the Scripture’s most informative images of Yahusha is as the Good Shepherd. Part of that image involves His leadership or Mastership/headship of the flock. Yahusha expresses that role by saying, “My sheep hear My voice.” Only Yahuah’s true sheep follow and obey Him because they know and recognize His voice. Yahusha said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
In John 10:1–30, as Yahusha faces growing opposition from His enemies, He draws His followers ever closer by introducing them to the kind and caring leader He embodies—the Good Shepherd. Yahusha wants His disciples to recognize that He is not like the abusive religious leaders who were in constant conflict with Him and His ministry. He shows them that they must follow Him as sheep follow their shepherd.
In this illustration, the sheepfold represents a place of security, a protective shelter of the family of Yahuah. No one can enter the fold except through the Good Shepherd (John 10:7–9). He alone determines who may come in. He protects His sheep and leads them, and even lays down His life for them (verse 11). Only true sheep follow His leadership: “After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). Messiah leads by example. His life illustrates how we ought to live. He doesn’t have to push or prod us to follow Him but guides us by walking ahead of us. And His sheep hear His voice, that is, we know His voice and recognize Him as our leader.
The simple statement My sheep hear My voice is packed full of Natsarim doctrine. It expresses personal intimacy between the shepherd and his sheep. In the first century, a single sheep pen held multiple flocks, so it was essential for the sheep to know and recognize their own shepherd’s voice. There had to be an unmistakable familiarity between sheep and shepherd for the sheep to feel safe and know which voice to follow. Yahusha said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). Knowing Yahuah’s voice indicates experiential knowledge through a relationship with Him.
My sheep hear My voice also highlights the call of Yahusha HaMashiach that brings believers into a new and abundant life of fellowship with Him (Romans 8:28–30). Yahusha as the Good Shepherd calls us by name (John 10:3; Isaiah 45:3–4), and He knows us by name (Exodus 33:17).
My sheep hear My voice speaks of those who listen with obedient attention—this kind of listening results in faith. Paul taught the Romans, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Messiah” (Romans 10:17). One primary way we hear Yahuah’s voice is through the Word of Yahuah. By hearing His voice in Scripture, we get to know Him, and knowing Him produces faith, and that faith causes us to follow and obey.
First John 2:3–6 explains that to know Yahuah is to obey Him: “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for Yahuah is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Yahusha did.” True sheep know Yahuah’s voice and prove it by obeying His commands. They live as Yahusha did.
My sheep affirms that there are true sheep and false sheep. True sheep know, listen to, and obey the Good Shepherd’s voice; false sheep pay no mind. My sheep also communicates the reality of our union with Messiah: “But whoever is united with Yahuah is one with him in reach (spirit)” (1 Corinthians 6:17). We belong to our Good Shepherd (John 17:6).
Of His sheep, Yahusha said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28–30). Those who belong to the Good Shepherd belong to Yahuah the Father. They are His forever. Yahusha laid down His life on the stake to give His followers eternal life, and they are safe in His sheepfold for all eternity (John 6:37, 39; 17:2, 9; 18:9).
The Good Shepherd says, “My sheep hear My voice.” These sheep have heard the call of Messiah to enter the sheepfold. By grace, the Good Shepherd has saved them through faith, and now they belong to the family of Yahuah forever (Ephesians 2:1–10).
Source:
https://www.gotquestions.org/my-sheep-hear-my-voice.html
