January 16, 2015
“Dad, it’s the elephant in the room.” My son made a point that he felt was extremely obvious, but no one wanted to admit that they got it. That was the first time I remember hearing that expression. I have heard it many times since. The term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue which is obvious to everyone who knows about the situation, but which is deliberately ignored because to do otherwise would cause great embarrassment, or trigger arguments or is simply taboo.
It struck me that the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ are so very profound, yet they apparently go without notice. These truths become spiritual “elephants in the room.” I get the fact that His words – the words written in red in my Bible – are no more inspired by the Holy Spirit than those of Peter, Paul, James, and John. But I admit that His words weigh heavily upon this writer’s heart. This blog starts a short series on the seven “I Am’s of Jesus Christ.” In these “I Am” statements I want to look closely at some recognizably clear but painfully ignored statements (elephants in the room) of our Lord.
Why do people who hear the gospel reject the gospel? The short answer is that all are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin and the dead cannot hear. Secondly, Satan blinds the minds of people to the truth contained in the gospel. Adam’s entire race is born dead and blind. It should be obvious that unless God works to allow His word to penetrate the mind of the dead by breaking the hold of Satan’s blindness, the person cannot hear and believe the gospel. The real reason why people do not believe comes from the lips of Jesus Christ.
Let’s visit our Lord’s “I am” found in John 10. Jesus begins by identifying Himself in verse 11 as the Good Shepherd, “I am the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep.” This was in contrast to the hired helper that really does not own the sheep and would most likely not lay down his life for them (vs. 11-13). In verse 14 He repeats, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I am known by My own.” How He knows His sheep or how they know Him, He does not say. Then in verses 27 and 28, He crystalizes this truth by a further explanation. The Good Shepherd uses the personal pronoun, “My sheep.”
He is plainly identifying a special group of people that He owns, a people branded as His own possession. This is obviously in contrast to some who are not His sheep. He continues, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.” Again, He does not tell us how He knows His sheep or how His sheep hear His voice or how they know Him or how they follow Him, He just states that it is so. One has to work hard to misunderstand these words written in red. Amazingly, He then says that He gives these sheep, the ones whom He knows and the ones who follow Him, eternal life, that they will never perish.
This forced me to ask a few questions. “When were these sheep His sheep? Did they become His sheep after they heard His voice and decided to follow Him? Or were they His sheep before they heard His voice and followed Him?” They belonged to Him before they followed Him and before He gave them eternal life. As far as we know, they were always His sheep. A group of Jews surrounded Jesus and demanded that He tell them if He was truly the Christ (John 10:24). He strongly informed them, “I told you and you do not believe.”
Belief in Him is the subject. He said that the works that He had done were sufficient to convince anyone that He was the Christ. He was obviously referring to His amazing miracles. Verse 26 answers the question as to why people do not believe in Jesus Christ. “But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep.” This can’t be missed! It is so very clear. It is the elephant in the room. The Jews who rejected Jesus Christ rejected Him because they did not belong to Him. Those who belonged to Him believed! This is the reason people reject the gospel.
Ah, Jews, you say. Yes, He is speaking specifically here about Jews. Those coming to Him were Jewish sheep not Gentile. But in verse 16 He says, “And other sheep have I which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” These “other sheep,” which will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd are Gentile sheep. Some Gentiles will hear His voice and come to Him. And then there will be one flock (made up of both Jews and Gentiles) and one shepherd. Who could miss this? It’s the elephant in the room.