6 The Good Shepherd
6
The Good Shepherd
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
John 10:11–16
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
John 10:27–30
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Psalm 23:1
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; “he will lead them to springs of living water.” “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:17
Some well-meaning people want to remove the shepherd-and-sheep image from Scripture, but if we did, we would rob ourselves of several great leaders as well as a great deal of nourishing spiritual truth. “After all,” they argue, “most people in our churches live in cities and have never even seen shepherds and sheep.” But if God’s servants are limited to preaching and teaching only that which is already familiar to people, none of us will ever learn very much.
It’s doubtful that anyone in our churches has ever seen a crucifixion or a resurrection, but if you eliminate these events, you can’t preach the gospel. How many professed Christians can confidently say they have seen an angel or a miracle or, for that matter, the Lord Jesus Christ? It’s obvious that this “never seen” approach to God’s Word is not only dangerous but also ridiculous. All Scripture is inspired and profitable, and that includes the shepherds and the sheep.
Paul used the shepherd image when he admonished the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:28), and Ephesus was a large city. The apostle John used the words shepherd, sheep, and especially lamb (over thirty references) when writing to churches in seven key cities in Asia Minor. Eliminate these images from your Bible and you will have no Savior, no gospel, and not much hope.
Jesus calls Himself “the Good Shepherd” because He is the genuine shepherd in contrast to the false shepherds and hired hands who over the centuries had exploited God’s people. Remember that civil rulers such as kings, princes, and governors were called shepherds, even though many of them were more like wolves and robbers (Isa. 56:9–12; Ezek. 34). The promised Messiah was to be a loving shepherd (Isa. 40:9–11; Ezek. 34:20–24), and Jesus is that Messiah. The word translated “good” in “good shepherd” carries the meanings of “noble, praiseworthy, desirable, and pleasing to God.” Jesus qualifies.
Sheep are mentioned in the Bible over three hundred times, more than any other animal. It may be embarrassing to some believers to learn that sheep are defenseless animals and prone to go astray. (They have poor eyesight and tend to follow other sheep without thinking.) Sheep can also be very stubborn. They are ceremonially clean animals and were frequently offered for sacrifices. The Jewish people raised sheep primarily for the wool, milk, and lambs, and they slaughtered sheep for food only on special festive occasions.
During my many years of ministry, I have pastored three “flocks” and have been a member of three different churches while I was serving in parachurch ministries. I have preached in hundreds of churches and counseled with pastors in many parts of the world; so for over sixty years I have been taking care of sheep and studying them from several different perspectives. However, the sheep mean nothing apart from Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. Let’s examine the relationships that exist between Jesus the Good Shepherd and His sheep, and let’s apply these truths to our own lives as members of His flock.