Every summer many people love to sit on the porch-it used to be a mark of living in a small town where neighbors sat on the porch-waved to passersby and enjoyed everything from ice cream on a hot day to a starry romantic night. In Scripture people were told of a porch that they were to come to and find eternal life. In John 10 Christ spoke at Solomon's porch as the shepherd of His sheep. This portion of the temple was the last remaining piece of the original temple. The original had been ransacked by Nebuchadnezzar then after Alexander's day, defiled by Antiochus. It was rededicated and became the basis for the Feast of Dedication-now known as Hannukah-mentioned by John in his 10th chapter. Most people pass this detail by but it explains why Christ was there. This porch was not only the remnant of Solomon's temple but it symbolized two things-one the remnant of Israel that waited for the Messiah-and two-the fact that David had dedicated this spot before Solomon built the temple. David was the only shepherd king to have stood at this spot until Christ stood there in John 10-and no other would do so afterwards. It is interesting that He says I am the door--a door on a porch is quite common-this one is uncommon for it leads to eternal life by way of faith.
So in John 10 we see Christ walking-He could have chosen this spot because it was here that He was dedicated as an infant-ready for circumcision and naming. This was just 8 days after being seen by shepherds in Bethlehem. More likely it is because He is David's son- a shepherd and a king-the last time a descendant of David stood there the temple was being dedicated by Solomon so Jesus now makes the last dedication that porch would ever see. There would be no more needed because He would be sacrificed as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world. The original porch was decorated with gold and two pillars of brass about 18 feet high. These were named Jachin and Boaz-Jachin was on the right side and its name meant He will establish while Boaz on the left meant in Him is strength. Very likely the original pillars were long gone, yet Jesus deliberately chose the Porch for His walk to establish His credentials as our Shepherd. He also claimed to have the strength of God to lay down His life and take it up again-He also claimed no one could snatch His sheep from His hands. So we can see just how important this porch should have been as Jesus spoke and how important it is today when we read of it. Once that porch would have been the first place you as a sinner would have brought your sheep for your sin offerings- all Israel would have gathered there like sheep; they would have been fed the Law and Gospel of God's Word and hear their sins forgiven. Many sheep-that is-believers- were scattered when the Old Testament ended-some in the exile-others were wounded by bad shepherds-that is, the leaders and teachers. So the prophets said the Lord Himself would come and be the shepherd of all the sheep for that was His title-the Shepherd of Israel. So Solomon's Porch was not just a remnant of the original temple but a symbol of the remaining believers. It symbolized a fallen people- a destroyed sheep herd not only due to evil shepherds but to wandering sheep-no wonder Isaiah said all we like sheep have gone astray and everyone has gone his own way-but the Lord laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. So Christ was calling the remnant of his original sheep in John 10. Sadly many that day were goats. But He was still their shepherd-indeed as Peter says He is the Chief Shepherd. He came for the remnant of Israel and for us. Those people who listened to Jesus hung on to Solomon's porch because they hoped the Messiah would come. They knew it was a place of dedication and deliverance from sin through the blood of another. But that place would forever be declared obsolete. The shadow would make way for the substance, the Spiritual House built up of living stones. While the temple functionaries celebrated cleansing and purging in a defiled temple, Jesus was dedicating the Remnant Porch for the Promise of the Father: the mighty Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire. Here the Remnant, according to the election of grace, would obtain what Israel sought and did not obtain. Romans 11:4-7 So today he walks among us and shows us the open door in Baptism. Here we enter the kingdom by His grace. He calls us by name and once open that door allows us to go in and out and find pasture. This door is open for all who want to be His for it is the sheep gate into eternal life; it is where your guilt is washed away by faith. Jesus stood at the outermost portion of that original temple for a great reason that has outlasted time-it applied even after He died and rose from the dead. This is why there was one of the first miracles in the early church at this very porch-in Acts 4-a man is healed. He is one of the other sheep Jesus spoke of in John 10 when he walked Solomon's porch. This symbolically speaks to the fact that Gentiles were relegated to the outer courts- so in Acts the believers are finding these other sheep. They stood on that same porch as their Shepherd Jesus had done and called the sheep by name through the preaching of God's Word of Law and Gospel. Before we see the last place Christ walked for a final dedication, we should know that in Solomon's day there were doorkeepers. 1 Chronicles 26 tells us their service was equal to the musicians of the temple and those who killed the lambs on God's altar. They were still using these doorkeepers in Jesus' day-they may even have been there listening before those doors into the inner courts. But they are no more even as that porch is no more. Today it is our job by the power of the one who alone can open hearts to hear and believe-the Holy Spirit--we are to say as they once did in that Psalm-I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. That man in Acts 4 was crippled physically-brought to the porch and made whole by God's power---how many people today are moral cripples? Crippled because they were like sheep but they weren't Christ's sheep-they followed an idea or someone who influenced them in ways that ruined their life? For everyone who is led to hear Christ and find life there is at least 3 more who are being led to the slaughter. We know what happens when we follow someone as the voice of authority in medical or financial matters and their advice is wrong. It does matter whose voice you follow-some follow the voice of what's popular or cool-they vote for their leaders this way; they follow those who promise freedom by using the work of others and their money-this is slavery. We need not be either a nation or a church of the kind of sheep without a heavenly shepherd for even our founding fathers said they relied on heaven for guidance. They knew they answered to a greater shepherd. This is why Jesus walked that porch as a lesson for all who lead and follow in church and nation; it's why He walks with us today and why He gives us one final place to see Him walk. In the book of Revelation-just 20 years after that porch of Solomon was destroyed by Rome- John writes of Christ walking once more. This time it's amongst the lamp-stands-which would have also been at Solomon's temple but were now symbolized by the local churches. As He did in John 10, Christ the Good and Great Shepherd spoke and once more said His sheep would hear His voice; so it is written to every one of the churches He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Sadly that did not continue and just as Solomon's porch disappeared so in due time, the 7 churches also disappeared. But this need not be so. In the Holy Land shepherds care for sheep and goats alike-but with goats there is often what is called a He-goat that leads the others. It is that custom which is mentioned in Isaiah 14 when he calls the kings of the earth he-goats. That's because the bad ones look like their shepherd-the devil. Even Daniel called Alexander the Great by this title of he-goat. So When He returns Jesus will gather all nations before Him and separate sheep from goats-that goes for leaders and followers alike for there can be only one shepherd.
That is our good news-Christ is on the porch and He is the door. He still walks among His sheep-He still feeds us His body and blood in His Supper and as Luther says daily richly forgives all our sins. So the Christian who goes in and out of worship should be able to say I have been fed by Christ-I have heard His voice-no one can snatch me out of His hands. So He still says-I am the Door-by me if any man enters in he shall be saved. Amen.
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