(1) His office as Priest is included as described in John 10 --
As our High Priest, Christ gave His own life as a sacrifice for our sins and brought forth
an everlasting righteousness of infinite value whereby God could be just to justify the ungodly.
This shows us the greatness of both the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as in the
fulfillment of His priestly office He was both a lamb and a shepherd. He was the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of His people, the lamb led
to the slaughter. He Himself was the sacrifice who had our sins imputed to Him and who bore
our sins in His own body on the cross. As our sacrifice and our Shepherd, He satisfied law and
justice on our behalf and arose again for our justification.
(2) His office as our Prophet is also included and described in John 10:16,27
As our Shepherd, Christ calls us, reveals His Word to us by His Spirit, and brings us into
the fold. This is the effectual calling of the Gospel, the new birth, regeneration and conversion,
whereby all of the lost sheep are found and come to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works.
Then, as a Shepherd feeds His sheep, Christ continually feeds us with His Word. This is what a
true prophet, preacher, or pastor does. As Christ is our Shepherd to feed us with His Word, His
preachers are undershepherds to feed God's people with His Word. In the Old Testament false
preachers are represented as false shepherds, and God says He will replace them with His
shepherds to feed the people of God (Jer. 23:1-6). These are all undershepherds of Christ our
great Shepherd and Prophet.
(3) His office as King is also included and described in John 10 --
Christ our Great Shepherd is all-powerful. He has power to give eternal life (cf. John
17:1-4). The sheep follow Him as subjects follow a king. He brings us into the kingdom, into the
fold, and He guides, rules, and leads His us. And in the day of Judgment He "shall separate (His
disciples from the world) one from another, as a shepherd divideth <his> sheep from the
goats" (Matt. 25:32). These are all the acts of a shepherd and a sovereign king. Christ is the
shepherd and bishop of our souls --
This is wonderfully illustrated in Psalms 22, 23, and 24. These are all Messianic Psalms.
Psalm 22 begins with a cry of anguish and goes on with a cry for help, full of trust, and ends with
thanksgiving and the establishment of the kingdom of God that springs out of the suffering of the
one speaking (Ps. 22:1). Who is this suffering servant? It is not David of Israel. It is a Psalm of
David, but here King David is speaking prophetically of the coming Messiah of whom King David
was a type. David's enemies never parted his garments (Ps. 22:18). David could never have
expected any deliverance of his to be the cause of the conversion of all nations to God as
described in Psalm 22:27. In the New Testament this Psalm is quoted as speaking of Christ, the
Messiah, and in describing the events of His crucifixion. So Psalm 22 describes His priestly
accomplishments to establish a righteousness for His people. This is the foundation of Christ's
office of Prophet and King, and the ground of our salvation.
Psalm 23 describes Him as our Shepherd, and Psalm 24 describes Him as our King. We
looked at Psalm 24 in the lesson on "Christ Our King," so let us now consider Psalm 23.
Based upon what Christ accomplished as my Great High Priest, I can say with confidence,
If Christ is my Shepherd I will not lack anything I need for complete salvation and final
glory in Heaven. In Him I am completely pardoned from the guilt and defilement of all sin,
completely accepted, fit and qualified for the presence and favor of God, and completely entitled
to the whole inheritance of grace. I am "complete in Him" (Col. 2:10). He is the Lord my
"Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).
As my Shepherd Christ causes me to enter into God's rest (Heb. 4:1). I have seen God's
glory revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and I am confident that He will save me based on His
righteousness alone. As I see the glory and value of Christ's Person, His blood and righteousness,
I cease trying to establish a righteousness of my own and lie down in the comfort of His grace.
As my Shepherd Christ leads me to His Word (still waters) that my heart may be established with
the absolute certainties of His grace, that I might see from God's testimony how my salvation is
sure and certain based on the righteousness of my Shepherd.
As my Shepherd Christ continually restores and preserves me. He renews me by His Spirit
and His Word. He leads me and guides me by His Word and commandments "for His name's
sake," i.e., He continually motivates me to obedience and worship, not legally by threats of
punishment and hell, but graciously in the spirit of liberty and adoption. He motivates me by
continually assuring me of the certainty of my final glory based on His righteousness alone.
There is a natural fear of death that we all have in that we know that man was not created
to die. Death is the result of sin. But the fear of death that is removed here is the fear that comes
from a sense of guilt and condemnation. Christ removes this fear by removing the guilt and
defilement of sin that keeps us under condemnation (Heb. 2:14-15). So as our Shepherd, He
removes this fear of death, which is the fear of condemnation. He removes it by purifying our
hearts by faith in Him according to God's testimony as we see that "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). He removes this legal fear of death by showing us that no one "shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Rom. 8:32). He assures us of all
this based on the merits of Christ's obedience and death, His righteousness alone (Rom. 8:34).
As our Shepherd, Christ abundantly blesses us with all spiritual blessings even against all
the obstacles that would cause us to fall and even when we suffer from our enemies here on earth.
The prepared table represents the fact that all the blessings of eternal life are already ours in Christ
(Eph. 1:3; Rom. 8:32). Sinners are commanded to receive the whole of salvation, even unto final
glory, based on the righteousness of Christ. Sinners are forbidden to bring any of their own
works and provisions with them. In fact, to do so is to dishonor both the Father and the Son.
Christ has finished all righteousness for us and provided all that we need for salvation. All who
are in Him have enemies from within and from without. As far as from within, our sins can no
longer bring us under God's wrath because we have suffered the full penalty due unto them, not
in our own persons and not by our own personal suffering, but in the Person and the suffering of
our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid our debt to God's law and justice in full. As
far as from without, nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:35-39). Christ anointing our heads with oil is symbolic of the
fact that in Him, by His blood, all spiritual healing and health is found. Not only does He save us
by bringing us into the fold, He also keeps us, sustains, and strengthens us by His Word. "My
cup runneth over" refers to the abundance of grace that comes from our Shepherd. "Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20).
As our Shepherd, Christ continually renews our minds with the absolute certainties of His
grace and the fact that all things work together for our eternal good. We can be assured that we
will be glorified with Him forever because our Great Shepherd has fulfilled all the conditions of
the covenant of grace for us. And when He returns for His Church to glorify us all together, He
will come as the "chief Shepherd," and we will receive "a crown of glory that fadeth not
away" (1 Pet. 5:4). This is a clear testimony of the blessed fact that all of Christ's sheep are to
have comfort, peace, and assurance of their eternal salvation based on His righteousness alone
(Heb. 3:6,14). All who come unto God the Father, the Judge of all, pleading the merits of
Christ's blood and righteousness shall be saved, and they may be assured that God's goodness
and mercy will follow them all the days of the their life. They are as assured for heaven as if they
were already there based on the merits of and by the power of their Great Shepherd.
As we have seen in John 10, the Great Shepherd shall not lose even one of His sheep.
Consider the parable in Luke 15:3-7 --
It is God's will that none of His elect, none of Christ's sheep, perish, but that all come to repentance. Christ will not rest until they all are in the fold. If He should lose even one of them, God could not be glorified, Christ could not be exalted, and sinners could not be saved. If He could lose even one of them, then His blood, His death, His righteousness, does not make the difference between saved and lost, heaven and hell. It must lie with something the sinner does or is enabled to do. This would reduce salvation to a system of works and condemn the whole human race. Remember, Christ said of His sheep, "them I MUST bring" (John 10:16). He redeemed all of His sheep, and He will find them. He will make them His own (Ps. 100:3). He is our Great Shepherd.
|
|