Many claim to be sheep in the fold of the great shepherd, Jesus Christ. It is astonishing to examine how many people are very religious but aren’t part of the sheep’s fold. Jesus revealed Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep, and He told that He would call His sheep, and He promised that He would keep His sheep in His loving care.
Zechariah 13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
Beloved, it is very very interesting to know that God, your loving Father in heaven is not just your God, not just your Father, but your gentle and caring shepherd, leading His saints to their desired greener pastures..
All of these were what God was for saints in both old and new testaments. See them.
Psalms 80:1. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
Isaiah 40:11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Psalms 23:1-6. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Beloved the saints and believers in Bible days benefitted so much from the shepherding ministry of God the Father by faithfully following Him in wholehearted obedience.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel and even our Lord Jesus Christ, all benefitted so much. Having God the Father as their shepherd. It is your own turn to do same, but then, you must wholeheartedly follow and obey Him, like all of these saints.
Genesis 49:22-24. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Isaiah 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?
Beloved, like God the Father a wonderful shepherd of His flock, the Lord gave Zechariah a glorious vision of another shepherd similar in everything like God the Father, who shall be smitten and slain because of His agape love for His sheep. See it.
Zechariah 13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
This was a prophecy about our Lord Jesus Christ, the smitten and slain shepherd of His sheep.
Mark 14:27: And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
John 10:11. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
See how the scriptures severally affirmed this same prophecy through others prophets, confirming that Jesus shall be smitten and slain for His beloved sheep.
Isaiah 53:4-10. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 50:5-6. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Daniel 9:24 -26. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, thatfrom the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall bewith a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Beloved, the Bible days believers reciprocated this gracious and unquantifiable sacrifice of Jesus, by following Him fully and wholeheartedly.
To enable you to benefit from Him as they did, you too, follow their good examples and Jesus as a glorious and gracious shepherd, shall benefit your life immensely now in this life and the one to come. It shall be so for you in Jesus name.
Mark 10:28-30. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Dearly beloved, the Bible refereed to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour as:
1. The good Shepherd.
John 10:14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
2. The great Shepherd
Hebrews 13:20-21. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
3. The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls,
1 Peter 2:25. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
4. The chief Shepherd.
1 Peter 5:4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
He also was the shepherd foretold to be smitten and slain.
Matthew 26:31: Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
John 16:32: Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Acts 2:22-23. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Revelation 13:8: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Dearly beloved, see how the scriptures described how our Lord was smitten and the purpose for this inestimable sacrifice.
John 1:29: ¶The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 3:14: -17. ¶And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Acts 4:26 -28. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Romans 3:24 -26. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Romans 4:25: Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 5:6 -10. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Romans 8:32: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
2 Corinthians 5:21: 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.
Galatians 3:13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Colossians 1:19 -20. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Hebrews 10:5 -10. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
1 Peter 1:18 -20. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1 Peter 2:24 -25. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 John 2:2: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 4:9: -10. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Dearly beloved, having seen it confirmed that Jesus Christ was the smitten and slain shepherd, see what you should do to reciprocate this uncommon, unequal agape sacrifice done for believers of all ages and especially you.
You must determinedly follow Him as Bible days believers did. Receive grace to do so in Jesus name.
Peter, James and John
Luke 5:10-11 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Levi
Luke 5:27-28. And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
JESUS CHRIST THE SMITTEN AND THE SLAIN SHEPHERD OF BELIEVERS OF ALL AGES AND YOU IN PARTICULAR, FOLLOW HIM.
Friend, if there is one major reason why you should do everything to partake in the dawning rapture, it is for you to enjoy Jesus Christ our Lord as sheep under a glorious shepherd king for all eternity.
Matthew 25:31-34. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Revelation 7:14-17. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Friend, the good Lord shall grant your earnest desire to be part of this forthcoming glorious event in Jesus name. He will be our Shepherd King in heaven for all eternity. Then you and I shall be His faithful sheep. To help you to be rapture ready, see what you must be doing:
1. You must hear His voice and receive eternal life from Him. You can either reach us via e-mail @ info@clcbconline.com or clcb
John 10:27-28. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
2. You must flee from false prophets and merchandise ministers:
John 10:3-5. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
3. You must follow Christ through thick and thin everywhere, undefiled :
Revelation 14:4-5 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
4. You must ensure your nam is written and not blotted out of the book of life:
Revelation 21:27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The good Lord shall abound you with grace to do all of these with ease till He comes in Jesus name.
2 Corinthians 9:8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
See you at the top in Jesus name.
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