"I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them....I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (Ezekiel 34:11 & John 10:11)
I was just with a "sheep" for whom Jesus, "....gives His life...." There is little I can do, but oh how very much Jesus does, "look after them."
Notice that in both texts it is not the "unsaved" about which Jesus is speaking. We have used the John text so long for "reaching the lost" that too much of the Church has forgotten, "The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep," viz., those who are already His, already of "the saved," the Church.
Even the Bible says that there are good shepherds and bad shepherds. Ezekiel tells us, "....Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!...You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost....My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. I guess we could say, The bad shepherd gives his life for himself. Notice that Jesus is not speaking of "the lost" here. The, "strays," those who have, "wandered over the mountains...," of which, "The Word of God," speaks here is, "My flock." Yes, this speaks of Israel, but also, yes, it speaks of "the lost sheep of the Church."
Jesus came to fulfill the promise of Scripture, and particularly Ezekiel 34:11 & 12, "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'I Myself will search for my sheep and look after them....I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.'" Our Lord Jesus tells us that He came, "to seek and to save that which was lost." Of course this includes those who never surrendered their lives to Jesus. But it for sure means, and this has been far too neglected by far too many, the "prodigals," those who were once in Father's house, but for whatever reason left their glorious inheritance. Maybe it was deception, maybe it was heartbreak, maybe the pain of what "life" brought them. But whatever the "cause," they are out there, like that one-out-of-a-hundred sheep who just couldn't seem to find his/her way back.
"I Myself will search for...and look after them." If this does not "make your day," nothing will. Jesus not only "searched" for us when we were outside "the Fold," but He always does so when, as dumb sheep, we leave the safety of Him and His care and get out there in the rocks and crags of life. Yet He still, "....will search for....and look after them....Good Shepherd," is He.
Father, in Jesus' Name, more and more, over the more and more years, I am getting more and more just Who You Are to me. Amen.
*******************************
* News Article at: jhs58.blogspot.com
* Please pray with us about the continued supply for our Berlin/Wittenberg Mission
I was just with a "sheep" for whom Jesus, "....gives His life...." There is little I can do, but oh how very much Jesus does, "look after them."
Notice that in both texts it is not the "unsaved" about which Jesus is speaking. We have used the John text so long for "reaching the lost" that too much of the Church has forgotten, "The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep," viz., those who are already His, already of "the saved," the Church.
Even the Bible says that there are good shepherds and bad shepherds. Ezekiel tells us, "....Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!...You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost....My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. I guess we could say, The bad shepherd gives his life for himself. Notice that Jesus is not speaking of "the lost" here. The, "strays," those who have, "wandered over the mountains...," of which, "The Word of God," speaks here is, "My flock." Yes, this speaks of Israel, but also, yes, it speaks of "the lost sheep of the Church."
Jesus came to fulfill the promise of Scripture, and particularly Ezekiel 34:11 & 12, "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'I Myself will search for my sheep and look after them....I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.'" Our Lord Jesus tells us that He came, "to seek and to save that which was lost." Of course this includes those who never surrendered their lives to Jesus. But it for sure means, and this has been far too neglected by far too many, the "prodigals," those who were once in Father's house, but for whatever reason left their glorious inheritance. Maybe it was deception, maybe it was heartbreak, maybe the pain of what "life" brought them. But whatever the "cause," they are out there, like that one-out-of-a-hundred sheep who just couldn't seem to find his/her way back.
"I Myself will search for...and look after them." If this does not "make your day," nothing will. Jesus not only "searched" for us when we were outside "the Fold," but He always does so when, as dumb sheep, we leave the safety of Him and His care and get out there in the rocks and crags of life. Yet He still, "....will search for....and look after them....Good Shepherd," is He.
Father, in Jesus' Name, more and more, over the more and more years, I am getting more and more just Who You Are to me. Amen.
*******************************
* News Article at: jhs58.blogspot.com
* Please pray with us about the continued supply for our Berlin/Wittenberg Mission
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
