John 10:8

“All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”

There have been false Messiahs and false teachers, under whatever guise, but they would not gain wide acceptance by the true people of God. The ‘all' refers to those who in one way or another had taken advantage of the people's expectations, pointing in the end to themselves rather than to God. Thus it refers to those who have sought to replace Him as a Saviour by propounding other ways of salvation, something that Abraham, Moses and the true prophets never did as He has previously made clear (John 5:39; John 5:46; John 8:56).

They included the Pharisees who pointed to another way of salvation through commitment to the covenant in a way which meant keeping the Law in accord with the dictates of the Rabbis; false Messiahs who periodically appeared, false prophets who pointed elsewhere to other than the true way, of which many are mentioned in the Old Testament (e.g. Jeremiah 50:6; Ezekiel 34:2; Zechariah 11:15); false priests who emphasised the ceremonies more than their meaning; or other religious figures of any kind who offered salvation apart from Christ.

They all entered the fold by a way other than the doorway, and they sought to lead out the sheep by another way than the doorway. And many sheep were deceived. But not His true sheep. His true sheep did not follow the false shepherds. For such false shepherds see Isaiah 56:9; Jeremiah 23:1; Jeremiah 25:32; Ezekiel 34:1; Zechariah 11:1. Once again we see Jesus bringing out His uniqueness. If these shepherds had been true shepherds they would now be pointing to and magnifying Jesus.