Christ is our King, Advocate, Redeemer, Propitiation, Judge, Healer, Sorrow-bearer, Wisdom, Sanctification, Redemption, Prophet, High priest, Bread of Life, Water of life, Bridegroom, Strength, Keeper, Friend, Hope, Salvation, and Passover.
He is not only all these things that I have mentioned: He is also our Mediator, our Sanctifier, our Justifier; in fact, it would take volumes to tell what He desires to be to every individual soul. I once read this wonderful description of Christ. I do not know where it originally came from, but it was so fresh to my soul that I would like to give it to you:
Christ is our Way; we walk in Him.
He is our Truth; we embrace Him.
He is our Life; we live in Him
He is our Lord; we choose Him to rule over us.
He is our master; we serve Him
He is our Teacher, instructing us in the way of salvation.
He is our Prophet, pointing out the future.
He is our Priest, having atoned for us.
He is our Advocate, ever living to make intercession for us.
He is our Saviour, saving to the uttermost.
He is our Root; we grow from Him.
He is our Shepherd, leading us into green pastures.
He is our true Vine; we abide in Him
He is the fairest among ten thousand; we admire him above all others.
He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person”; we strive to reflect his likeness.
He is the upholder of all things; we rest upon Him.
He is our Wisdom; we are guided by Him.
He is our Righteousness; we cast all our imperfections upon Him.
He is our Healer, curing all our diseases.
He is our Friend, relieving us in all our necessities.
He is our Brother, cheering us in our difficulties.
Here is another beautiful excerpt from an old saint known as Gotthold:
For my part, my soul is like a hungry and thirsty child; I need His love and consolation for my refreshment.
I am a wandering and lost sheep, and I need Him as a good and faithful Shepherd.
My soul is like a frightened dove pursued by the hawk, and I need His cross to lay hold of and to wind myself about.
I am a sinner, and I need His righteousness,
I am naked and bare and I need His teaching: simple and foolish; and I need the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
In no situation, and at no time, can I do without Him.
Do I pray? He must prompt, and intercede for me.
Am I arraigned by Satan at the Divine tribunal? He must be my advocate.
Am I in affliction? He must be my Helper.
Am I persecuted by the world? He must defend me.
When I am forsaken. He must be my Support. When I am dying, He is my Life. When moldering in the grave, He will be my Resurrection.
Well then, I will rather part with all the world, and all that it contains, than with Thee, my Savior. And, God be thanked! I know that Thou too art neither able nor willing to do without me.
Thou art rich, and I am poor.
Thou hast abundance, and I am needy.
Thou hast righteousness, and I sins.
Thou hast wine and oil, and I wounds.
Thou hast cordials and refreshments, and I hunger and thirst,
Use me then, my Savior for whatever purpose, and in whatever way Thou mayest require.
Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel; fill it with Thy grace.
Here is my sinful and troubled soul, quicken and refresh it with Thy love.
Take my heart for Thine abode; my mouth to spread the glory of Thy name; my love and all my powers, for the advancement of Thy, believing people; and never suffer the steadfastness and confidence of my faith to abate—that so at all times I may be enabled from the heart to say, “Jesus needs me, and I need Him and so we suit each other.
His Sheep Hear His Voice
Christ says, “My sheep hear my voice … and they follow me” (John 10:27). A gentleman in the East heard of a shepherd who would call all his sheep to him by name. He went and asked if this was true. The shepherd took him to the pasture where they were and called one of them by some name.
One sheep looked up and answered the call, while the others went on feeding and paid no attention. In the same way, he called about a dozen of the sheep around him.
The stranger said, “How do you know one from the other? They all look perfectly alike.” “Well,” said he, “you see that sheep toes in a little; that other one has a squint; one has a little piece of wool off; another has a black spot and another has a piece out of its ear.”
The man knew all of his sheep but also their failings, for he did not have a perfect one in the whole flock. I suppose our Shepherd knows us in the same way.
Another Eastern shepherd was once telling a gentleman that his sheep knew his voice and that no stranger could deceive the. The gentleman thought he would like to put the statement to the test. So he put on the shepherd’s frock and turban, took his staff, and went to the flock.
He disguised his voice, and he tried to speak as much like the shepherd as he could, but he could not get a single sheep in the flock to follow him. He asked the shepherd if his sheep never followed a stranger. He was obliged to admit that if a sheep got sickly it would follow anyone.
So it with a good many professed Christians. When they get sickly and weak in the faith, they will follow any teacher that comes along; but when the soul is in health, a man will not be carried away by errors and heresies.
He will know whether the “voice” speaks the truth or not. He can soon tell that if he is really in communion with God. When God sends a true messenger, his words will find a ready response in the Christian heart.
Christ is Our Shepherd
In these dark times, Jesus Christ is our tender Shepherd. It is the work of the shepherd to care for the sheep, feed them, and protect them.
- I am the good shepherd (John 10:11).
- My sheep hear my voice (John 10:27).
- I lay down My life for sheep (John 10:15).
In the wonderful tenth chapter of John, Christ uses the personal pronoun no less than twenty-eight times, in declaring what He is and what He will do.
In verse 28 He says ” They shall never perish; neither shall ANY man pluck them out of my hand” – no devil or man shall be able to it. In another place, the Scripture declares, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
You may sometimes think He has not been a very tender Shepherd to you: you are passing under the rod.
It is written, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). Just because you are passing under the rod is no proof that Christ does not love you.
A story is told of a man who lost all his children. No man could ever have loved his family more; but scarlet fever took them away, one by one; and so the whole four or five, one after another, died.
The poor stricken parents went over to Great Britain, and wandered from one place to another, there and on the continent of Europe. At length, they found their way to Syria. One day they saw an Eastern shepherd come down to the brink and looked at the water, but they seemed to shrink from it, and he could not get them to respond to his call.
He then took a little lamb, and put it under one arm; he took another lamb and put it under the other arm, and thus passed into the stream. The old sheep no longer stood looking at the water. They plunged in after the shepherd, and in a few minutes the whole flock was on the other side, and they hurried away to newer and fresher pastures. The bereaved father and mother, as they looked at the scene, felt that it taught them a lesson.
They no longer murmured because the Great Shepherd had taken their lambs one by one into yonder world, and they began to look up and look forward to the time when they would follow the loved ones they had lost.
If you have loved ones gone before, remember that your shepherd is calling you to “set your affection on things above” (Colossians 3:2). Let us be faithful to Him, and follow Him, while we remain in this world. And if you have not taken Him to be your Shepherd do so this very day as we celebrate the Birth of our Wonderful and Gracious Saviour. Have a blessed and meaningful Christmas.
