The Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 

John 10:11 

Christ is The Good Shepherd. Having thus identified Himself, he goes on in the rest of the passage and explains what it means. He was saying that the proof of His being the good shepherd was to give His life for the sheep. Here is the epitome of love and the meaning of Christ’s mission to give life more abundantly. He would make a full sacrifice of Himself in order that His sheep might live abundantly. He went on later to say, ‘I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.’ There is no life more abundant than eternal life, secure in the arms of the Good Shepherd. Christ had a wide vision of those whom He would redeem. He spoke of the ‘other sheep,’ who were ‘not of this fold’ that is, not of Israel and said, ‘them also I must bring.’ Revelation reveals that this would be, ‘a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.’ It is for all these that Christ, The Good Shepherd, would give His life down to the shedding of His Own blood. In the sacrifice of Christ, we see the epitome of the outpouring of love. 

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the Good Shepherd. 
We praise and thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf,  
to give us abundant life. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning