Hi dearly beloveds,I realized that though this blog is about Jesus as our Shepherd, i've not had any post on Jesus as our Shepherd! Haha... Well ok, here it is.
I was thinking to myself, we've always known Jesus as our Good Shepherd. But what does Shepherd actually mean in its original Hebrew word?
Whipped out the E-Sword software and found out that "Shepherd" in Hebrew is "Ra'ah".
Oh yes, some background info. For every alphabet in the Hebrew language, there is a deeper meaning, a pictograph, just like the Chinese characters in the Chinese language. So the above pictographs of the individual alphabets of the word "Ra'ah", Resh-Ayin-Heh (read from right to left), has been illustrated above as Head-Eye-Grace (read from right to left).
To me, I see the intepretation as: "The Head(God/Jesus) sees you in Grace!" Hallelujah!
It's so wonderful to see how God has placed special importance in certain words for us to discover these gems. All these speak about His love for us and how much of His Grace He has extended to us via the finished work of Jesus Christ. His Grace is Eternal! We will never run out of it. But it is a daily drawing from Him. Manna is good for today only. We cannot store up yesterday's manna because it's not for today. (Exodus 16:20)
Oh yes, back to Jesus as our Good Shepherd...
Next was to look for the meaning of the word "Good" in the Greek New Testament. I find the Greek language is very expressive and has a certain depth that the English language cannot put across. So, the word "Good" in Greek is actually, "Kalos".
According to Thayer’s Definition "Kalos" means: So I see Jesus as ALL of "Kalos"! HE is beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, the Man of choice, surpassing all others and oh so precious to me.
Why then is Jesus so good? Let's look to the Gospels.
Luke 15:4-7
4 What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say to you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
In verse 4, Jesus was actually asking a rhetorical question which points to Himself. I doubt that any normal shepherd would bother and risk leaving the 99 just to look for that 1 lost sheep; which probably by a certain time would have been dead in the wilderness devoured by some wild beast.
All Jesus was saying was, "I AM that good. I will look for you even though you are that 1 lost sheep amongst the many in my fold."
The first reaction that Jesus has when He's found you is to carry you on His magnificient shoulders, after all that lost walking you did for many days or years, He wants you to REST! He'll do the walking for you. While lifting you up on His shoulders, He's rejoicing! He's super duper HAPPY, elated, ecstatically overjoyed! How awesome is that? Then in verse 6, the moment He reaches home/Heaven, He calls for a party man! To celebrate your homecoming!
Heaven is overjoyed to have one lost sheep return home as compared to 99 self-righteous persons who don't need His saving Grace.
He who is our Good Shepherd ends up as the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb on the Cross of Calvary.
The Perfect One. Sinless, Blameless, put through the punishment for us all. His shed blood has redeemed us ALL for eternity.
Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of HIS grace;
You see the word redemption in Greek is "apolutrōsis".
Which by Thayer's definition is:
1) a releasing effected by payment of ransom
1a) redemption, deliverance
1b) liberation procured by the payment of a ransom
The Blood of Jesus has bought us ALL out of Sin! We no longer have Sin in us! Our Spirit no longer carries the burden of Sin, though the flesh may still be affected and influenced by the carnal nature of this earthly realm that we live in.
Through His shed blood, we have the forgiveness of sins, ACCORDING to the riches of HIS grace. Not yours, not mine. And God's Grace is everlasting and eternal! Our Salvation from Sin and all things carnal of this world has been bought at a price. A Heavenly price that cost God His dearest. His only begotten One.
Hebrews 5:9
And being perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey/listen/hear Him,
You see, we can't lose our salvation. He IS our ETERNAL salvation! Forever! Hallelujah!
The reason I highlighted HEAR Him is that God speaks to us in the quietness of our hearts, in the solace of our loneliness; He is that voice of comfort, love, endearment and peace. He also speaks to us through our beloved friends and loved ones. Are we hearing Him in those moments? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. But praise be to God, He is ALWAYS there for you and I!
He is always there saying, "Son, I love you. No matter what, I love you. I gave my very own best for you. I'm always here even though sometimes you don't want me. I'm here, right here for you. I love you son."
Hallelujah. Praise the wonderful name of Jesus! He truly is my Good Shepherd. How about you? Do you see and embrace Jesus as your Good Shepherd?
He loves you. He wants to carry you on His shoulders. He knows you're burdened. He wants you to rest. Let Him do the walking while He sings for joy while carrying you.
God Bless all of you richly, abundantly, full of Grace, full of Favour, full of His Love.
Shalom to one & all,
Emmanuel
No comments:
Post a Comment