Our Shepherd

God With Us  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  16:34
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My shepherd being Yahweh, I don’t lack;
he enables me to lie down in grassy pastures.
He leads me to settled water;
he turns my life back.
He guides me in faithful tracks
for the sake of his name.
Even when I walk in a deathly dark ravine.
I’m not afraid of bad fortune,
Because you’re with me;
your club and your cane — they comfort me.
David put his pen down and remembered....
The sun was setting behind the hills. David had been tracking the lost sheep all day. He was tired and thirsty, but he knew he had to quicken his pace, because as the shadows grew so did the danger. This ravine was a perfect ambush spot for a lion, wolf or bear. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he sensed death in the air. Then he heard it: First, the cry of the sheep and then the unmistakable roar of the lion!
Running towards the sound, David disregarded all safety, soon he saw the lost sheep and between them—was the lion! The lion was a huge male; David’s lips grew dry and his heart pounded with a rush of adrenaline and fright. David tried to calm himself and said a quick prayer, “Yahweh, you are my Shepherd, give me courage and strength that I might overcome my enemy.”
The lion had now caught one of the lambs and it bleated in panic. Without thinking, David shouted out a word of comfort to the frightened animal, “Do not fear, I am here!”
Now the lion was aware of his presence and quickly turned around. Tightening his grip on his shepherd’s cane, David swung at the beast with all his might. The blow was so hard that the lion dropped the lamb. Before he could recover David dropped his cane and took his club. Closing the distance between them, David stuck the lion repeatedly with his club. The lion attempted to escape, but David caught him by his mane and delivered the death blow.
At this point David could not help but smile, for he remembered the day he recounted this story before a doubtful King Saul. On that day, Yahweh gave him victory over the giant Goliath.
Picking up his pen again, David said to himself, “where was I? Oh, yes...”
You spread a table before me
in front of my adversaries.
You’ve enriched my head with oil;
my cup fills me up.
Yes, goodness and commitment pursue me
all the days of my life.
I shall go back to Yahweh’s house
for long days.
For 39 chapters the prophet Isaiah had preached warning and judgement to his generation, but now at chapter 40 there is an abrupt change. No longer does Isaiah preach judgement, but comfort. No longer does he preach to his generation, but to generations in the future. First to the generation in captivity in Babylon 150 years in the future, but ultimately to the generation still in exile at the time of Christ’s first Advent. For the prophets had made it clear that the exile would not end until remnant from all twelve tribes of Israel were brought back in faith into God’s Kingdom. Nehemiah and Ezra had begun the task, but it would not be until Pentecost that Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit would complete the task.
What was this Word that God gave the prophet to give to future generations? First it was...

A Word of Comfort

Isaiah 40 opens with these well-known words, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
The English word “comfort” has literally lost the force of its original meaning. If you look the word “comfort” up in a dictionary you will learn that it is one of those words that came into the English language from Latin: com-fortis, meaning “with strength.” To comfort someone is to give them strength and hope in a difficult situation. The people Isaiah was prophetically speaking to were discouraged by long years of exile. The mournful tone of the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” captures perfectly the mood of the people of Israel between the Babylonian Exile and the First Advent of Christ:
O Come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Much to the annoyance of the Jewish religious establishment, when Christ came, He spoke a Word of Comfort to repentant sinners, not judgement. To the repentant Zacchaeus, Jesus spoke these words of comfort, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
Jesus still speaks these words of comfort to lost and wounded who find themselves in the jaws of sin and Satan. As our Good Shepherd, Jesus does not only speak a Word of Comfort, but also...

A Promise of Aid

Having given a word of comfort, Isaiah now prophetically hears another voice:
Isaiah 40:3–5 ESV
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In these words, God is saying to His people in the words of the word of the Marvin Gaye hit song:
There ain’t no mountain high enough.
There ain’t no valley low enough.
There ain’t no River Wide enough.
To keep me from getting to you.
Jesus, as the Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep and His Father gave His only begotten Son. We hear those words so often, I fear we take them for granted. Jesus gave it all that he might deliver us. This is the true meaning of Christmas! This is the greatest gift that has ever been given!
God is not done yet. There is a third voice that cries out:
Isaiah 40:6–8 ESV
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
This voice gives us...

An Assurance of Salvation

In the eyes of the exiles, first the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks and finally the Romans were overwhelmingly powerful oppressors. One of the exiles in Babylon was the prophet Daniel, one night he had a vision in a dream and he saw these four kingdoms as four terrifying beasts: Babylon was represented as a lion with eagle’s wings, Persia was represented as a great bear, Greece was represented as leopard with four wings and four heads and finally Rome was the most terrifying and strong—an unnatural beast with iron teeth, giant feet that stamped what the teeth did not devour, crowned with mighty horns!
As mighty as these terrifying and powerful these beasts were, the word of Isaiah is “All flesh is grass…but the word of our God will stand forever.”
This is a word we still need to hear. The world, our sinful flesh and the Devil are mighty enemies. Left to ourselves we are helpless lambs in the jaws of a lion, but we need not fear nor despair, because Jesus our Good Shepherd has sprung to our rescue. By His death, resurrection and ascension He has secured an eternal salvation. In the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t just offer the possibility of salvation, He offers salvation itself! Hear again the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading:
John 10:14–18 ESV
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 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.”
On the cross, Jesus secured the salvation of His sheep, we don’t have to add anything to be saved, we simply lay hold of what Christ has already accomplished!
What a gloriously great Good Shepherd we have. A Shepherd that...
Speaks a Word of Comfort,
Gives a Promise of Aid
and
Provides an Assurance of Salvation!
Let us pray.
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