Day 19, Jesus Is the Good Shepherd

Day 19:  I AM the Good Shepherd

Prayer: 

Our Father in heaven, open the eyes and ears of our hearts to see and hear all the ways You have shown Your love to us by sending Jesus as our Good Shepherd.  Help us to believe and rely on the love You have for us . Teach us to abide and relax under the care of the Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in constant companionship with Him. Amen. 

Scripture: 

John 10:11:  I AM the good shepherd.  The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John 10:14: I AM the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

The Feast of Tabernacles had ended, but Jesus remained on in Jerusalem.  He continues to engage the Jewish religious leaders, giving them another opportunity to realize that He is their Messiah, the One God had promised to send.  Jesus has just opened the eyes of a man who was blind from birth.  It was by the will of God that this man was born blind, as punishment for some sin that either he or his parents had done, but that through his healing the religious leaders would have clear proof of Jesus' claim to be the Messiah would be substantiated.  Opening the eyes of the blind was a direct manifestation of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: when Messiah comes "the eyes of the blind shall be opened" (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7).  But there was another blindness that was worse than that of the man born blind. The hearts of the religious leaders were blind to the spiritual truth of who Jesus was. If they could only see . . .

So Jesus makes another Messianic claim: I AM the Good Shepherd. Several of the prophets had foretold that the Messiah would be a shepherd. The Good Shepherd, Jesus maintains, protects His flock from the thieves and robbers—the confusion of false messiahs—by coming through the legitimate door of fulfilled prophecy. Here He is standing before them, claiming that He is clearly identifiable through this means. His miraculous power also proves that He is the Messiah.

David had written, "The Lord [Yahweh] is my Shepherd." By using the title of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is not only claiming to be the Messiah, but He is also claiming to be YHWH [Yahweh], the God who had revealed Himself to Moses as the great I AM.

At the Feast of Dedication, the Jewish leaders surround Jesus and demand that He tell them if He is the Messiah. Jesus picks up the shepherd-sheep metaphor again, telling them very pointedly that they are not His sheep. If they were, they would hear His voice and follow. He has spoken only truth, only the Word of God. The sheep who desire to know the truth hear His voice; they understand and follow. The truth resonates with them.

Then He makes the outrageous promise to give to His sheep eternal life, concluding His words with "I and My Father are one." He was the Messiah and He was God. Once again, the religious leaders, blind to the truth, took up stones to stone Him for blasphemy.

If they only would have believed and followed Him—He wanted to bring them out from under the condemnation of the Law into the glorious freedom and joy of Grace. He would go before them and lead them out. This Greek verb "bring out" means to bring them out forcibly. Jesus is going to lead the true sheep out of the Old Covenant and into the New Covenant.  It will be a dynamic change, leading to abundant life.

In this metaphor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus paints a picture that includes several other characters. The character in the story that Jesus spends the most time on is the hireling. The hireling is supposed to protect the flock from the wolves—those prevailing evils within and without that would devour the sheep. The sheep are vulnerable out in the open and are fully dependent on their shepherd. They are entirely unable to protect themselves; they have no built-in mechanism for that. But if danger approaches, threatening the sheep, the hireling will not put himself in harm's way to protect the sheep.  He doesn't own the sheep.  He has no vested interest in them.  He doesn't know the sheep.  He is just being paid to watch them for the day.  His heart is not entwined with the welfare and the individual personalities of the sheep.  They are just a bunch of sheep to him.  His own life is much more valuable to himself than the life of a sheep.  Put out some effort?  Risk getting hurt?  That's above his pay grade.  Actually, it's above his heart grade.  He doesn't care for the sheep.

Unlike the hireling, the Good Shepherd does care for the sheep.  He is willing to lay down His own life in order to protect the sheep from destruction.  He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. He is bonded to them in covenantal love. Several times throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus tries to make clear to us that His bond with us is as close, as intimate, and as deep as His relationship with the Father. He knows us and wants us to know Him in the same way as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father (John 10:15). He wants to show us that the Father loves us in the same way and to the same degree as He loves His own Son (John 17:23).

God desires relationship with us. The heart of God planned our great eternal redemption. The Father was willing to sacrifice for us His only Son. No wonder John would later write, "How great is the Father's love for us!" (I John 3:1). And Jesus, God's beloved who came to reveal to us the Father's heart, was willing to die to make that possible. In this declaration of Himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus is careful to explain that His life would not be taken from Him; He would lay it down willingly.

Peter makes this point boldly and brilliantly on the day of Pentecost:  "Men of Israel, hear these words:  Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it" (Acts 2:22-24, emphasis added).  Jesus' death was purposeful; it was determined; it was volitional.  The Jewish and Roman leaders had indeed performed the lawless deed of crucifying Jesus Christ. It appeared His life was violently taken from Him; it seemed to the Jewish religious leaders they had had their way. But they were only following the script God had pre-written and pre-ordained. The truth behind the entire unfolding of the crucifixion of Jesus remained:  He laid down His life for the sheep . . . and He took it up again, that He might pour His life into us. 

The God who is a Shepherd.  Amazing.  It seems almost too good to be true.  He is not just offering us some philosophical, abstract religious ideas or even some system or steps to a better life.  No, He is offering His continual, eternal Presence. His Presence is not some nebulous force, but an intimate, comforting communion.  He knows us and calls us by name; He is personal and treats us as individuals.  We are His and He cares for us with a strong, inseverable covenantal love.

The Good Shepherd goes before us. He doesn't drive us from behind like cattle; He leads us to places of provision and of peace and refreshment, and we follow Him because we know His voice. The Good Shepherd mends our souls, patiently instructing us in new ways of thinking and doing. The Good Shepherd promises to be with us, walking with us through the agonizing experiences of life—through the darkest valleys, through our deepest fears and griefs, even through the "valley of the shadow of death." The Good Shepherd is our constant Companion and Protector, serving us and bringing us to places of abundance. He stands by us and stands up for us.  The Good Shepherd lays down His life for us. 

He demonstrates His favor in a multiplicity of ways, filling our hearts with more than their capacity to hold.  His goodness goes before and behind; we are surrounded by His love and care.  As He said to the religious leaders at Hanukkah, no one can snatch us out of His hand.  We are safe, eternally secure, because He is our Shepherd.  Is this not the same meaning that David captured when he wrote, "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever"?  The Good Shepherd offers to us Himself—for all eternity. Listen to His voice. Follow Jesus, your Good Shepherd.

Family Worship:

Make a list together as a family of all the things a shepherd does for his sheep.  Read Psalm 23 together and list the things that Psalm tells us our Good Shepherd does for us.  Continue your list by reading the following verses from John 10, looking for the specific things that Jesus does for His sheep:  John 10:2-4, 10-11, 14-16, 27-29. 

Conclude your time together with prayer, thanking God for sending Jesus to be our Good Shepherd.  Ask each family member to choose one or two things from your list to thank the Lord Jesus for doing for you as your Good Shepherd.

Jesus Christ:  The Good Shepherd, who knows us by name, who willingly laid down His life for us, and calls us to follow Him.

Additional Scriptures:  

Numbers 27:15-17:  Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying: "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd."

Psalm 23:1-6:  The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Isaiah 40:11:  He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.

Isaiah 49:5-10, 13:  "And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength), indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"  Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to the Servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel; and He has chosen You."  Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; that You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on all desolate heights. They shall neither hunger nor thirst.  Neither heat nor sun shall strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them. Even by the springs of water He will guide them. . . . Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.

Jeremiah 31:10-14: "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.  For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD—for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.  I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD."

Ezekiel 34:11-31: For thus says the LORD God: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord God. "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment. And as for you, O My flock," thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet." Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: "Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.  Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.  I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David.  He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people," says the Lord God.  "You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord God.

Micah 5:2-5a: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." Therefore He shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace.

Zechariah 13:7-8a:  "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion." says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered."

John 15:13:  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Romans 5:6-8:  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hebrews 13:20-21:  Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.

I Peter 2:24-25:  [He] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.  For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I Peter 5:1-4:  The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:  Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

I John 4:9-10:  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Revelation 7:13-17: Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."