Dear Fellow Children of God,
In my daily devotions I am currently reading in the book of Micah. As you perhaps know, Micah is an Old Testament prophet who proclaimed God’s Word around the same time as Isaiah. In fact, some of the words of Micah and Isaiah echo each other. (For example, see Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3). But, the work of a prophet in Old Testament times was not necessarily pleasant work. God sent these servants to call His chosen people back to Him. But, in order to call the Old Testament Israelites, the prophets needed to point to their sin; their rebellion, their idolatry, their adultery, their dishonesty.
One of the sins for which Micah called out the people was their half-hearted worship. God’s chosen people went through the motions of obeying, they went through the motions of worshiping their Creator and Lord. But, their hearts were not in that worship. After reading the devotions on Monday, April 27, the editor of my devotional Bible pointed out the root of the problem. “They didn’t want to obey.” So, how do we bring ourselves to WANT to worship and serve the Lord?
The answer to that deep question is found in the Bible readings assigned in liturgical churches for this coming Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday. The Fourth Sunday of Easter has for centuries read through parts of John 10, also called the Good Shepherd chapter. The people of God have long known the shepherd metaphor. In the Old Testament Psalm 23 comforts us with the promise, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Shepherds stay with their sheep, and protect them, feed them, and even search for these sheep when they foolishly wander from the safety of the flock and the shepherd. But, in John 10 God further reveals Himself as Jesus teaches that He is not just the Shepherd, He is the Good Shepherd. Please read these verses from John 10 with me.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and
out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . 14
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the
sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must
bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock,
one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay
down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I
have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my
Father." (John 10:9-11, 14-18)
As you read John 10 you not only hear the special care and love Jesus has for God’s created children, His sheep, but you also hear how that love was delivered in Jesus’ Good Friday “laying down” of His life, and in His Easter “taking up” again of His life. What special love God gives us in His Son, Jesus!
However, the amazing truth is that Jesus is not only The Good Shepherd. Jesus is also the Lamb! John the Baptist told the people of his day, 29 . . . "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Please let that unfathomable truth sink in. Shepherds are human, and lambs are animals. How can the Shepherd be The Lamb? But, Jesus, the Lord and Creator of all, set aside His divine nature and became a human, in order to save His lost lambs. Jesus is the Shepherd who even became the Lamb so that He could die on the cross and rise again for the flock of God. Consider the depth of love the incarnation took from our Lord. Consider the depth of love Jesus’ sacrificial, torturous death required. But, that is how deeply God loves us. That is how much God loves you!
In fact, in my Wednesday devotions I read Micah 5, the chapter which prophesies the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. This chapter of Micah also foreshadows the truth of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Jesus is God Himself, “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5:2) Jesus is the Shepherd who “shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD.” Jesus is the Promised Savior who, for God’s people, is “their peace.” (Micah 5:4)
As I said earlier, the writer of my devotions raised the question, “How do we bring ourselves to WANT to worship and serve the Lord?” However, when we realize the depth of love, the depth of sacrifice, which God has shown in Jesus to wandering sheep like us, how can we not love Him in return? How can we not WANT to worship the one who is our Good Shepherd, and The Lamb?
A Child of God, Amazed at the Deep, Sacrificial Love of our Good Shepherd and our Lamb,
Pastor Jonathan
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