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Topic: Parable of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18) (02/15/24)
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TITLE: Our Good Shepherd | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lakella Davenport
02/22/24 -
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John 6: 51- “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
What Is a Shepherd in the Natural world and in the Biblical Sense?
A shepherd is an overseer, a protector and caregiver for sheep. Shepherds watch over the sheep and make sure their daily needs of food, water, shelter and protection are met. Shepherds protect the sheep from outside forces such as wolves and other animals which may naturally prey upon sheep. Likewise, biblically speaking, a shepherd is a leader, an overseer of God’s people. God’s people are metaphorically referred to as sheep in the Bible. Biblical shepherds were chosen by God to watch over his people. Jesus’ 12 disciples were shepherds over God’s people during the time that Jesus dwelt on the earth in human form.
What Do Shepherd’s in the Biblical Sense Do?
Biblical shepherds are responsible for feeding the people of the Lord God’s word, watering them with the love of Christ, making sure they produce good fruit that remains. Just like in the days of the Old and New Testament, today, God has shepherds he has chosen to lead his sheep, his people. Shepherds of today are called by many names. Today’s shepherd’s may be called Kings, Apostles, Prophets, Prophetesses, Bishops, ministers, Bible teachers, evangelists, disciples, deacons and other titles.
Why Do We Need a Shepherd?
God never intended for others besides himself to lead his people. God intended for he himself to be the good shepherd and guiding leader over his people. Because God’s people would often go astray from his word and offend the Lord by making and worshipping idols instead of him, God allowed them to have a king to rule over them like the pagan nations. In the Old Testament, in I Samuel chapter 8, the people of God were begging Samuel, the Lord’s prophet, to make them a king like the other nations to rule over them. During this time period Judges ruled over Israel. “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” (Judges 21: 25). During the days of the Judges the people of the Lord were doing whatever they wanted to do. The land was filled with unrighteousness toward God. “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them,” (I Samuel 8: 7). “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto their voice and make them a king,” (I Samuel 8: 22).
In I Samuel chapter 9 God chose Saul the son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin to reign as king over his people. Saul was the first Israelite king and he started out as a good shepherd over the Lord’s people. “And he had a son whose name was Saul a choice young man and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people,” (I Samuel 9:2).
We needed a “Good Shepherd,” to save us from our sinful natures. We needed a “Good Shepherd,” to do away with the punishment of death that came through the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. To get rid of the curses inflicted on mankind for their disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we needed one “Good Shepherd,” to take away the sin of the world. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Who Is the Good Shepherd?
The “Good Shepherd,” is Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of the Lord God (John 3:16). Jesus said in John 10 verse 11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Jesus and God are one. Jesus is God. God is our good shepherd. The “Good Shepherd promises the sheep; protection, the meeting of daily needs, forgiveness of sins, the gifting of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life, (1 John 1:9, Titus 2: 13-14, John 7:39 John 6: 51, John 3:16).
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