Author: kezha1

The key question that arose from the entirety of Jesus’ Ministry here on earth can be boiled down in one question…Are You really Who You say You are?” Jesus’ disciples had already reached that conclusion for themselves, (John 6:69) but the vast majority of people had not. Again, Jesus points to His miracles & wonderous works as evidence of the trustworthiness of His claims that He was doing the work His Heavenly Father had given Him. (John 5:36) But most people had already decided… closing their eyes & ears to the plain proof in front of them…not willing to believe that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah.

Or elsewhere, Jesus told His disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21) In both passages Jesus is talking about the Great Commission…but it’s much more than that. Jesus explicitly & exactly obeyed His Father, and in it He found unspeakable joy. So as image-bearers of Christ, our joy must also come from obediently doing what the Lord calls us to…never evaluating our obedience by spiritual goals we’ve reached or successes we’ve gained. Our joy should come from seeing complete fulfillment of the specific plan & purpose for which we were created by God as we walk it out in obedience.

Once again, Jesus & His Words separated the people into two camps. One side, especially the Jewish Leaders, thought Jesus was insane & controlled by Satan and didn’t want anything to do with Him. While the rest looked at those Jesus had healed and argued that no one under the power of a demon could do that…only God. (Exodus 4:11) In Mark 3:21, even Jesus’ family were concerned about His sanity after hearing Him speak…thinking they needed to come & take charge of Him, exclaiming, “He’s out of His mind.” But the real division wasn’t about semantics…it was about belief or unbelief that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, faith or faithlessness that what He said was true, and trust or distrust that His power came from God.

The idea that Jesus was ever a victim is totally false. He freely and by deliberate choice offered Himself for sinners on the Cross…voluntarily giving up His Spirit (John 19:30) that we may have the gift of eternal life. No more is this seen than in the Garden of Gethsemane when one of His companions cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant and Jesus rebuked him for the violence by saying, “Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) As the target of the Jewish leaders, they might of thought Jesus had no choice, no control, and no power over them…but they were sadly mistaken. For it was Jesus who ultimately had all authority…even over the power of death & the grave to hold Him.

These other sheep Jesus is talking about here are us…Gentile Believers. The Temple in Jerusalem had court walls that separated Gentiles from Jews, with signs posted excluding Gentiles from the inner courts. But what Jesus is saying here is that the Gospel Message isn’t confined just to the Jews, but extends to the rest of the world, and the age-old division between Jew & Gentile will be overcome by His reconciling death on the Cross. Jesus called Gentile Believers scattered children in John 11:52 & through His death would bring both the Jewish nation and them together & make them one. This inclusiveness summed up by Him in John 17:20-21 when Jesus prayed for all Believers, “I pray for those who will believe in Me through their Message, that all of them may be one.” Jesus is praying for the whole body of Believers -both Jew & Gentile, even those who will be born & come to faith in the future…which includes us!

Jesus is comparing His intimate relationship with God the Father and His close fellowship with His sheep. When Jesus said that He “knows” His sheep it’s so much more than just mentally grasping who they are…It’s a deep personal understanding and commitment of His Will to love and care for His flock…and of willingly laying down His life for their sake. In other words, to say that Jesus knows His sheep in this way refers to God’s gracious redemptive work through His only Son. But it also says that, “My sheep know Me.” So how do we go about this? In Exodus 33:12, Moses replied to God, “You have said, I know you by name and You have found favor with me. If You are pleased with me, teach me Your Ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You.” The only way to “know” God is through His Word & prayer. For it’s only by this we can truly gain knowledge, intimate fellowship, and personal experience about His ultimate plan & purpose for our lives.

Here Jesus is contrasting the stark difference between Himself & the hired hand. Jesus gave His life willingly on behalf of sinners…while the cowardly servant forsook the sheep as soon as there was a threat. While the good shepherd showed His greater love by laying down His life for the flock, (John 15:13) the hired hand immediately deserted the sheep, controlled only by self-interest & lack of compassion. Which sadly left the sheep forsaken, vulnerable to attacks, and separated from one another. In other words, open for the evil one to pillage at leisure. But God cares for His people, the sheep of His pasture, or as I Peter 2:25 tells us, “For you were like sheep gone astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd & overseer of your souls.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep. (Hebrews 13:20)

The whole purpose of a oil lamp is that it may give off light…not be hidden away somewhere. And our whole purpose as Believers is to display God’s light through our lives…not conceal it to others around us. But instead of shining like a burning lamp in the dark, we tend to veil the light within us, too afraid to share it with the world. In Isaiah 60:1-3 God promised that the light of His glory in Israel would attract all nations. And we are then told in John 1:9 that Jesus is the light of the world… His light now shining through His Church. (I John 1:8-10) So as His Church, now is the time to pull our lamps out from under the bed and allow them to shine like beacons on a hill to a dark & dying world.

The evil one doesn’t want you to succeed. He cares nothing about what your Ministry is, your dedication to serving others, or your desire to follow Jesus. His only focus is how he can cast doubt in your mind, tempt you to stumble, or bring about such confusion that you become discouraged & give up. And then he’s won…stealing your joy, effectively killing your Kingdom work, and destroying your fellowship with the Lord…and he didn’t even work hard or use any new technique. No, from the beginning in the Garden of Eden with Adam & Eve he’s used the same old play book. But this verse above contrasts him with that which Jesus gives us, namely eternal life. We read in Romans 5:17, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” This gift of grace is over & above enough…it’s exceedingly greater than sin, judgment, & condemnation…abundantly promising justification, righteousness, and life.

A flock of sheep was a common image of God’s people throughout the Bible…and here Jesus is also using the same analogy when He makes another “I AM” statement. “I Am the gate for the sheep.” In other words, I Am the only way to salvation & eternal life. Jesus was very explicate when He said in Matthew 7:13, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide & the way is easy that leads to destruction, & those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow & the way is hard that leads to life, & those who find it are few.” And He was just as blunt when He called Church leaders thieves & robbers…for their failing to faithfully administer God’s Word & protect the flock that was under their care. In Ezekiel 34:15 God declares to these disloyal shepherds, “I Myself will tend My sheep….” with Jesus later taking on that role of Good Shepherd.