I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.
John 10:14
COVID has given us all opportunity to re-evaluate our personal relationship with the Father. Many of us find ourselves re-aligning our lives. We are experiencing new and greater depths of God as He continues to reveal Himself as the I AM that I AM. This time of personal communion and intimacy and perhaps, refocused awareness of His Majesty, is preparing HIS church for her greatest hour to be His manifest glory in the midst of the darkness.
From John 10, Jesus, in declaring himself as the good shepherd, once again, manages to brings a divide into the minds and hearts of the people. Jesus said, “the words I speak are spirit and truth” and just like then, his words can not be grasped with a natural understanding. His words must impact our heart before they reshape our thinking. Natural man first “hears” and sifts through by reason. However, it can only be by faith that understanding can come. We must be willing to embrace the words of Jesus as truth before they transform our minds and life.
I think the revelation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of the most intimate insights of the Fathers care for His children. His unfailing love and faithfulness to the people He chose continues in the provision of Christ as a Good Shepherd.
He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes. Isaiah 40:11
1 Peter reveals Jesus as the Chief Shepherd (over every grace gifted one) and Overseer of our Souls. Called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus must hold the awareness first hand of what it means to be a sheep, and then one who provides a righteous care for those sheep He is given.
For the Lamb in the Center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will “lead us us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” Rev. 7:17
As The Good Shepherd, Jesus would have had understanding from scripture about what “good” actually meant. Jeremiah declared the Good Shepherd as one who holds the very heart of God and feeds his sheep with knowledge and understanding.
“And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD…”
These promise from God, that He would raise up shepherds over them to tend them, so that they would no longer be afraid nor dismayed, nor go missing, must have given definition to Jesus’ walk.
Just as Psalm 23 must have provided insight and instruction for Jesus, we see event after event in the Gospels fulfill these scriptures, naturally and spiritually. With the Spirit of the Lord abiding upon Him, Jesus begins his care with proclamations that bring His abundant life. His works were and are still performed from a heart of compassion, as he heals, feeds, delivers and gathers multitudes.
All these scriptures reveal the heart of a Father towards His people by the provision He gives us in the Lord Jesus as that Good Shepherd.
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.
John 10:14
COVID has given us all opportunity to re-evaluate our personal relationship with the Father. Many of us find ourselves re-aligning our lives. We are experiencing new and greater depths of God as He continues to reveal Himself as the I AM that I AM. This time of personal communion and intimacy and perhaps, refocused awareness of His Majesty, is preparing HIS church for her greatest hour to be His manifest glory in the midst of the darkness.
From John 10, Jesus, in declaring himself as the good shepherd, once again, manages to brings a divide into the minds and hearts of the people. Jesus said, “the words I speak are spirit and truth” and just like then, his words can not be grasped with a natural understanding. His words must impact our heart before they reshape our thinking. Natural man first “hears” and sifts through by reason. However, it can only be by faith that understanding can come. We must be willing to embrace the words of Jesus as truth before they transform our minds and life.
I think the revelation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of the most intimate insights of the Fathers care for His children. His unfailing love and faithfulness to the people He chose continues in the provision of Christ as a Good Shepherd.
He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes. Isaiah 40:11
1 Peter reveals Jesus as the Chief Shepherd (over every grace gifted one) and Overseer of our Souls. Called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus must hold the awareness first hand of what it means to be a sheep, and then one who provides a righteous care for those sheep He is given.
Rev. 7:17 For the Lamb in the Center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will “lead us us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
As The Good Shepherd, Jesus would have had understanding from scripture about what “good” actually meant. Jeremiah declared the Good Shepherd as one who holds the very heart of God and feeds his sheep with knowledge and understanding.
“And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD…”
These promise from God, that He would raise up shepherds over them to tend them, so that they would no longer be afraid nor dismayed, nor go missing, must have given definition to Jesus’ walk.
Just as Psalm 23 must have provided insight and instruction for Jesus, we see event after event in the Gospels fulfill these scriptures, naturally and spiritually. With the Spirit of the Lord abiding upon Him, Jesus begins his care with proclamations that bring His abundant life. His works were and are still performed from a heart of compassion, as he heals, feeds, delivers and gathers multitudes.
All these scriptures reveal the heart of a Father towards His people by the provision He gives us in the Lord Jesus as that Good Shepherd.