22010.094 Jesus, Our Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” —John 10:11

Jesus is the good Shepherd—the chief of all shepherds. None so faithful, so gentle, so loving, so skillful, so tender, so kind as He. I am reminded of the words in Isaiah picturing God as the compassionate shepherd gently caring for His flock:

“Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; he leads the ewes along.” —Isaiah 40:11

Certainly, King David’s twenty-third Psalm comes to mind as he writes of the abundant provisions of the Lord—his great shepherd:

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” —Psalm 23:1

“You prepare a feast before me in plain sight of my enemies. You refresh my head with oil; my cup is completely full.” —Psalm 23:5

Jesus, our good Shepherd, is both our sufficiency and our strength—withholding no good thing from His sheep. The psalmist proclaims:

“For the LORD God is our sovereign protector. The LORD bestows favor and honor; he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, how blessed are those who trust in you!” —Psalm 84:11–12

Jesus is the good Shepherd for all believers. He leads and guides and comforts and protects all the sheep of His pasture. This title would have been particularly rich in meaning to those following our Lord in His day. His hearers would have understood completely both the comfort and instruction the term carried. Just like a good shepherd, Jesus knows all of His sheep—each one of us. He is intimately familiar with the details of each one of our lives—knowing our names, families, circumstances, and trials. He is acquainted with our history, where we live, our experiences. Nothing is a surprise—or a secret—to Him. We are ever before Him as He tenderly watches over and guides us.

A few verses later in John 10, Jesus tells us that no one can snatch us out of His hand:

“My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand.” —John 10:27–28

Jesus willingly laid down His life for His sheep. Aware that nothing but His blood could save us, He offered His body on the cross for our sins. He offers all for all. We are saved forevermore because the good shepherd died for us.

Become More

May Jesus’ death for us not be in vain. It will not profit us anything on the last day if we never heard His voice during our lifetime or followed Him. Paul tells us:

“Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God!’ God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.” —2 Corinthians 5:20–21

“Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!” —2 Corinthians 6:1–2

Further Reflections

“Like a good shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He provides for all their wants in the wilderness of this world, and leads them by the right way to a city of habitation. He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame. He guards and protects them against all their enemies, as Jacob did the flock of Laban; and of those that the father has given Him He will be found at last to have lost none.” —J.C. Ryle

“He who counts the stars and calls them by their names is in no danger of forgetting His own children.” —Charles H. Spurgeon

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