Title: Jesus the Good Shepherd
Contents
Bible Text: John 10:11~18
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Introduction
Before the Israelis settled and established an agricultural society, they lived a pastoral nomadic life. So it was a natural phenomenon to understand their relationship with God as an idyllic image. In this historical background in which he saw himself as God's sheep, Jesus said that he was the Good Shepherd. The meaning here is clear. He is the shepherd who will lead us to God. The baby born in Bethlehem is the true revelation of God and the revelation of salvation as the way to God. But how does our good shepherd lead us to God?
1. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us to God by translating God's message for man.
In the East, shepherds lead their sheep by making non-verbal sounds, which can discern, trust and obey his shepherd's voice. The shepherd reassures the sheep by regularly singing loudly as he watches his sheep graze. He also calls the sheep to follow, and the sheep recognize the voice and move towards it.
Lewis Cassels once wrote about a man who had a bad feeling about Christmas. He was a noble and kind man who loved his family, but he could never understand the Christmas message of the incarnation. It was believed that it was an absurd and childish occurrence for God to become flesh. One Christmas Eve, while his family was at church, they found several birds stuck in front of his house in the snow. He wanted to invite the birds to the barn where his children's ponies were, but there was no way to let them know his thoughts. He tried all sorts of ways, beckoning them to them and putting the crumbs towards the barn, but he realized that it was impossible to communicate with them without becoming a bird like them. And just then, the church bell rang, announcing the good news of Christmas. It was only when he heard the bell that he realized why the incarnation was inevitable. God has made communication possible so that it can lead us to a place of safety.
Jesus came to us to lead us to the barn, to show that God loves us, and to save us. Whenever we come across the story of the birth of Jesus, we must remember that He was born to call us to Himself by establishing a communication between us and God. Jesus communicates the message of God so that we can understand it.
2. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us to God by personally giving us the Word of God.
Jesus knows us, He calls us by name, and we know Him. The Good Shepherd knows each of us intimately. In the eastern regions, sheep are bred for wool, not for food. The shepherd therefore gets to know each sheep as he raises them and gives them nicknames such as “brown legs” or “black ears” according to their physical characteristics.
Before God became incarnated in Bethlehem, we humans had no choice but to talk about God as an abstract and stranger at best. He was naturally different from us, outside our world. There was no way to know for sure whether he liked us, was on our side, or was an enemy. I was just guessing. The baby, born on the first day of Christmas, shaped for us our understanding of God and His feelings for us. Read John 3:16 with your name in your name. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
3. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us to God through the sacrifice of love.
The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. “(John 10:11, 15) 11 I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, 15 but as the Father knows me and I know the Father, so I lay down my life for the sheep.” you came to do it. Jesus' death on the cross is for the solution of our sin problem. This was foreshadowed through the sacrificial laws of the Old Testament. In particular, the burnt offering best illustrates the death of Jesus on the cross.
In order for my salvation to take place, my sins must first be resolved. Jesus came to solve the problem of sin. Jesus' death on the cross is for the solution of our sin problem. This was foreshadowed through the sacrificial laws of the Old Testament. In particular, the burnt offering best illustrates the death of Jesus on the cross.
The first step in offering a burnt offering is to bring the offering to God. For sinners to be forgiven of their sins. The sacrifice must be a male without blemish. This symbolizes Jesus without blemish. It shows that the only person who can be offered as a sacrifice for our sins is the sinless Jesus, who has true divinity and humanity.
Second, the sacrificer must directly lay his hands on the unblemished sacrifice he has brought. The laying on of hands means identification with the sacrifice. Through the laying on of hands, I confess that this sacrifice is my representative and my representative. And it symbolizes that one's sins are transferred to the sacrifice through the laying on of hands. In other words, the sacrifice is a confession that I became a representative and a substitute for my sins. Believing that Jesus died on the cross for me is like laying my hands on Jesus' head.
Third, the sacrificer had to shed the blood of the sacrifice he had placed his hands on. This means that the penalty for sin must be death. To bleed is death. Because life is in the blood. After the blood was shed, the priest sprinkled it all over the altar. This is to publicly testify that the sacrifice died in the place of the sinner who offered the sacrifice.
The offering was cut into pieces and all parts except the skin were thoroughly burned on the altar of burnt offering. This shows that the sacrifice received the wrath of God thoroughly as a price for sin. Just as the sacrifice was completely burned on the altar of burnt offering, so Jesus was judged by God's wrath on the cross. That is, I received the wrath of God instead of me.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, willing to sacrifice his life with a joyful heart. God gave His Son Jesus to Bethlehem and to Jerusalem, to a manger and to the cross, to life and to death. Jesus did not have to die. He could have listened to the advice of a friend like Peter. Jesus could have called numerous angels to help him. But the Good Shepherd died to bring life to sheep like you and me. Jesus laid down His life so that His sheep might live abundantly and everlasting life.
conclusion
One day, Jesus revealed what the Father was like. A shepherd was tending a hundred sheep, but one of them was lost during the course of a day. Tired, hungry and thirsty, I wanted to go back to my family and be with them as soon as possible, but nevertheless, I traced the difficult road I had taken that day and climbed up again, and eventually found the sheep that I was afraid of. Then he returned home with tender joy on his shoulders and feasted on the ointment that had found the lost sheep. After this story, Jesus explained that God is such a shepherd.
Jesus wants us all to be safe in us. He has come a long way to become incarnate. Jesus rejoices when a person is saved. This is the meaning of Christmas. The baby in the manger is the God who longs for us.