In the Garden of Eden, after Eve was beguiled by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit, God made a solemn pronouncement. Directly addressing the devil He said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Here God delineates the two groups that exist in the world today. One is the seed of the woman, the other the seed of the devil.
Who are the descendents (the seed) of Eve? All the world are her physical descendents, but, by far, not all are her spiritual descendents. Her descendents are those who follow in her steps, repenting of their sins, and keep God’s commandments. This is His church as represented by the woman in Revelation 12:17, whose seed “keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.”
Who then are the devil’s seed? John identifies them clearly in 1 John 3:8: “He who sins is of the devil.” Sin is breaking the law of God. If you are living in sin, you are proclaiming to the whole world that you are the devil’s child.
So, we see that this whole issue hangs on one principle. Do you keep or break the commandments of God? This is the dividing line between the two groups, and there is no mixing. You must either be the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent. You can never be fifty percent the seed of the serpent and fifty percent the seed of the woman. It is one or the other. Ellen White said it this way: “There must be open and avowed enmity between the church and the serpent; between her seed and his seed.” Signs of the Times, August 26, 1889.
It looks very simple then; there are two groups, the woman’s seed—the church—and the seed of the devil. However, it can appear much more complicated than that. In John 10, Jesus illustrated this, using sheep to symbolize His people. The seed of the serpent are those who want to be in the church as part of the professed people of God, but do not enter through the door. Jesus said about them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” John 10:1.
What does the sheepfold represent and what is its function? In Heavenly Places, 324 says, “The Lord can carry forward His work without our cooperation. He is not dependent on us for our money, our time, or our labor. But the church is very precious in His sight. It is the case which contains His jewels, the fold which encloses His flock, and He longs to see it without spot or blemish or any such thing.”
The fold is the church, and its function is to protect the flock. But what happens when wolves, in sheep’s clothing, sneak over the wall and get in with the sheep? Do the sheep know that they are wolves? No, because they are in sheep’s clothing, and appear just like all the other sheep. These then are the tares. They are not part of God’s people (the wheat), but they are in sheep’s clothing, and so the sheep cannot tell any difference.
We need to learn a lesson from this. Just because you are in the house does not mean you are a member of the family. Take my home for instance. Each member of my family has a key to the door, and when we go in and out, we use the key to unlock the door. But, what if a burglar comes to my home, and crawls through the window to steal from us. Is he in the house? Yes, but is he a part of the family? Of course not, he is a robber and a thief. The same is true for those who enter the fold by climbing over the wall. They are thieves, robbers, wolves in sheep’s clothing and tares.
Wolves Take Over the Fold
It is a dangerous situation when wolves in sheep’s clothing get into the fold. They may have on sheep’s clothing, but they still bite. Here is how inspiration describes them: “All the way along in the history of the Third Angel’s Message there have been found among the believers men who have done much harm to God’s cause. These men are spots in our feasts of charity; tares among the wheat; wolves among the sheep, ready to bite and devour.” Review and Herald, May 12, 1903. The sheep in that fold are then scattered and the wolves take over the fold, or the tares take over the field.
That is what happened in Jesus’ day. In John 9, we can read the context in which Jesus told the parable of the sheepfold. It tells the story of how Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath. Because this man acknowledged Christ as his healer, the Pharisees disfellowshipped him—cast him out of the fold. Ellen White comments on this in Signs of the Times, December 4, 1893: “And in no gentle manner they thrust him out of the synagogue. The sheep was cast out of the fold for being a living witness to the power of Christ. Many have been cast out of the church whose names were registered upon the Book of Life. Wolves in sheep’s clothing were ready to cast out of the fold and devour one who was entitled to the Lord’s pasture . . . But Jesus, the true Shepherd, sought him, and gave him a place within the fold.” How did Jesus give him a place in the fold? Did He go to Caiaphas and say, “There is a man over here whose sight I restored and your subordinates disfellowshipped him. I want you to put his name back on the church books.” That is not the way Jesus gave him a place in the fold. We need to rethink who and what the church is, because it says here that Jesus gave this man a place within the fold.
This was not the last time someone like this was disfellowshipped wrongly. You and I have a responsibility to sheep that have been mauled by wolves and have been cast out of the fold. We need to care for them and give them a place in the fold. “With proper labor, many souls might have been added to the church who are driven from the fold into the wilderness of unbelief.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 274.
Entering Through the Door
In the Day of Judgment, the only people who will be saved are those who entered through the door. The ones who climbed over the wall will be lost. What is this door? Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 10:7–9.
It is important to belong to the church, to be in the fold, but it will not do any good to get into the fold unless you go through the door. If you go through the door, you will be saved. If you climb over the wall, you may be in the fold, but you will be lost. You are a thief and a robber. Jesus said, “I am the Door,” and then He says, “I am the good Shepherd and the Shepherd goes through the door.” (See verses 2, 11 and 14.) There is a double symbol here. Both the door and the shepherd represent Jesus. How does that work? Think it through carefully for a moment. If there is a door and the good shepherd goes through that door, then there must have been a time before the shepherd goes through the door and a time after he has entered the fold.
How can this be applied to the life of Christ? It cannot refer to His divinity, because Jesus assures us that there has never been a time when He was not in close fellowship with the Father—when He was not divine. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning . . . the Word was God.” You cannot go before the beginning.
The symbolism must then refer to the humanity of Christ. There was a time when Jesus left His throne in heaven and came to this world and became incarnate. He took upon Himself human flesh and human nature like ours, uniting His divinity with our humanity. This is a mystery that we will study throughout all eternity. He became one flesh with us, so that we could become one spirit with Him. He went through the door. He united His divinity to our humanity. That is how He became the good shepherd who could reach down to the bottom of the sin problem, pick up a lost sheep and take him back to the fold.
What does it mean for us to go through the door? Just as Jesus united His divinity with our humanity, so our humanity must be united with His divinity in order for us to be saved. We must become partakers of the divine nature and be born again. (See 2 Peter 1.) When you are born again, you receive the divine nature, receiving a new mind, and a new spirit. Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Ellen White describes this experience in these words: “The old nature, born of blood and the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The old ways, the hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up; for grace is not inherited. The new birth consists in having new motives, new tastes, new tendencies. Those who are begotten unto a new life by the Holy Spirit, have become partakers of the divine nature, and in all their habits and practices they will give evidence of their relationship to Christ.” The Signs of the Times, November 16, 1891.
Without this process occurring in your life, you cannot be saved. You may have been baptized with water, you may have your name on the church books, but if you have not gone through the door, you cannot be saved. You are just as lost as the people on the outside of the fold. If we have not entered through the door, then we must have climbed over the wall, and that is the problem in Adventism. Too many people have gone over the wall and they are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. It is because of this that there is so much backbiting and so many sheep are getting mauled and turned out of the fold.
Hearing and Following Christ’s Call
In John 10:2–5 we read, “But He who enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice; and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He brings out His sheep, He goes before them; and the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus calls His own sheep by name and they follow Him, because they know His voice. What alarms me is that there are so many people in Adventism that for one reason or another do not recognize the Shepherd’s voice. If you are one of His sheep, you will recognize His voice. When He speaks through the testimonies of His Spirit, sends special messengers to the remnant, and speaks through the prophets and the apostles, the sheep will recognize His voice.
Not only do the sheep recognize His voice, but He leads them out and they follow Him and not strangers. They will not even listen to strangers, but will flee from them. What voices are you and your children listening to? It is amazing to me, that some of our people listen to so many voices. They read different books and magazines, watch many videos and television programs, and listen to radio programs. When their children go out into the world, they come to us and ask, “What happened?” What has happened is that their children have been listening to the voice of a stranger for twenty years.
As I prayed about this, I said, “Lord, if I am one of Your sheep, I want to hear Your voice. Please help me to hear Your voice.” When I read the Bible and the writings of Ellen White, I hear His voice, but I have to do more than hear. The sheep hear His voice and follow. We must also obey the instructions that are given.
If we hear Christ’s voice and obey, we can have assurance that we will be saved. “My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:27–29.
“The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight than the whole world. The Saviour would have passed through the agony of Calvary that one might be saved in His kingdom. He will never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them fast.” The Desire of Ages, 480.
The plan of salvation is simple. We do not have to be a theologian, have a high I.Q. or have a college education; we only need to hear His voice and obey Him. When we hear His voice speaking through the prophets and apostles, and the special messenger to the remnant, and we follow, He says, “I will put you in my hand. My Father who gave you to Me is greater than all and nobody can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” What a wonderful assurance!
Recognizing Christ’s Voice
How can we know that we are listening to Christ’s voice and not that of a stranger? By studying God’s Word and the Spirit of Prophecy, we learn the truth and are able to differentiate between it and error. Are you having your devotions every day? Are you praying and asking the Lord to help you to have His truth so implanted in your heart that you will not be deceived by the errors that you encounter every day?
There are a lot of people in Adventism that have not listened to the Shepherd’s voice enough so that they can tell the difference between His voice and a stranger’s voice. If we are in that situation, we will be lost. Deceptions will come that are so severe that we will not be able to stand unless we are firmly grounded in God’s Word. Truth and error will look so similar that unless our minds are guided by the Holy Spirit we will be led to accept error.
Friends, now is the time for us to choose to go through the door, to be changed, fully and completely, by the transforming power of Christ. You can, if you are willing to submit all. I invite you, today, to follow Christ through the door into the sheepfold. Enter the hand of Christ where you will be safe. Unless you choose to leave, He will hold you secure and nothing can pluck you out of His hand.