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Tag: Revelation

The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John

  • HOLY | separated

    Leviticus 11:45 & John 6:69  Roger@talkofJesus.com reading today's devotional scriptures

    Isolation

    What does a pandemic have to do with holiness?

    Observe how some react to isolation (as in #StayatHome #Pandemic etc.) and you might just wonder how any wall of separation can exist between mankind. Human beings made in the inage of God are social. We must live and work together as families, as neighbors and as citizens of nations, even the world.

    So how does separation from those crucial to our lives work?

    And who makes the rules?

    In fact we currently see several struggles between many authorities of this world, nations, states, media, social and professional organizations, international corporations, wealthy philanthropists and more.

    Of course few in this world will first ask,

    ‘What is the will of the LORD for our interactions with others?‘

    Festivals of the LORD

    Now Jews and Christians alike must ask additional relational questions of gathering to worship the Lord God. Add to the urgency of questions in the year of our Lord 2020:

    • How will I celebrate Passover?
    • How will I celebrate Easter?

    We enter a HOLY WEEK in A.D. 2020 without possibility of practical obedience to traditional scriptural worship of the Lord God.

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com
    1. We must realize that obedient worship of the Lord has changed at times. Congregational worship began with a traveling Tabernacle, pointed to an established Temple, reinstituted in a rebuilt Temple, then dispersed into an unclean world.
    2. The Messiah of Israel, the Son of Man and Son of God offered a New Covenant of worship between God our Father and the world through the Holy Spirit of God given to those who believe in Jesus the Son.
    3. Regardless of which tradition of Judaism or Christianity you came to know you likely do not completely grasp the holiness of the Lord God and without the Lord’s mercy your sin before God fails to keep you appropriately distanced from the Very Holiness of the LORD GOD.

    We might easily become sidetracked in religious discussions about festivals and traditions, but more germain to our relationship to the Lord God is a brief look at holiness.

    Holy

    קֹדֶשׁ

    Outline of Biblical Usage

    1. apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness
      1. apartness, sacredness, holiness
        1. of God
        2. of places
        3. of things
      2. set-apartness, separateness

    You likly know the first use of this word Holy from when Moses approached the LORD in a burning bush. It’s used more than a hunded times in just Exodus and Leviticus to describe detail concerning worship.

    It is used many times in reference to celebration of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.

    ‘On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.

    Exodus 12:16 NASB

    Holy

    קָדַשׁ

    sanctify (108x), hallow (25x), dedicate (10x), holy (7x), prepare (7x), consecrate (5x), appointed (1x), bid (1x), purified (1x), miscellaneous (7x).

    Outline of Biblical Usage
    to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate

    קָדַשׁ qâdash, kaw-dash’; a primitive root; to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self), wholly.

    Then Moses said to Aaron,

    “It is what the LORD spoke, saying,
    ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated H6942 as holy, H6942
    And before all the people I will be honored.’”
    So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

    Leviticus 10:3 NASB

    Do you recall from Scripture what had just taken place?

    10 וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אַ֠הֲרֹן נָדָ֨ב וַאֲבִיה֜וּא אִ֣ישׁ מַחְתָּת֗וֹ וַיִּתְּנ֤וּ בָהֵן֙ אֵ֔שׁ וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ עָלֶ֖יהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִ֜בוּ לִפְנֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ אֵ֣שׁ זָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹ֦א צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃

    2 וַתֵּ֥צֵא אֵ֛שׁ מִלִּפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה וַתֹּ֣אכַל אוֹתָ֑ם וַיָּמֻ֖תוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

    3 וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן הוּא֩ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה׀ לֵאמֹר֙ בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָעָ֖ם אֶכָּבֵ֑ד וַיִּדֹּ֖ם אַהֲרֹֽן׃

    4 וַיִּקְרָ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶל־מִֽישָׁאֵל֙ וְאֶ֣ל אֶלְצָפָ֔ן בְּנֵ֥י עֻזִּיאֵ֖ל דֹּ֣ד אַהֲרֹ֑ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם קִ֠רְב֞וּ שְׂא֤וּ אֶת־אֲחֵיכֶם֙ מֵאֵ֣ת פְּנֵי־הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁ אֶל־מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃

    5 וַֽיִּקְרְב֗וּ וַיִּשָּׂאֻם֙ בְּכֻתֳּנֹתָ֔ם אֶל־מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר מֹשֶֽׁה׃

    




    Before the Lord our God you must: consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate — precisely as the LORD instructs. Even Priest and prophet, pastor and teacher (these perhaps moreso) — all must be Holy, because the Lord our God is Holy.
    




    Holy
    




    ἅγιος
    




    Strong’s Definitions 
    ἅγιος hágios, hag’-ee-os; from ἅγος hágos (an awful thing) (compare G53, G2282); sacred 
    




    • (physically, pure, morally blameless or 
    • religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing),
    • saint.
    




    “BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ‘TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY G40 GROUND.
    Acts 7:33 Stephen, quoting Moses before the Sanhedrin
    




    Holiness does not change from the Old Testament to the New – different word, same meaning. Stephen also uses it as Jesus did to describe the Holy Spirit of the Lord God.
    




    “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy G40 Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. – Acts 7:51
    




    Outline of Biblical Usage
    




    1. most holy thing, a saint
    




    Saints & Sinners
    




    Are you Holy to the Lord — separated to the Most High from the commonness of worldly sin?
    




    Dare you enter the Holy of Holies into the Presence of Almighty God?
    




    IF NOT, hear just a bit more about the Messiah Jesus to understand about the Holiness of Holy Week.
    




    Lord Jesus
    




    Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us.
    




    Hebrews 10:
    




    

    For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, 
    




    holy, innocent, undefiled, 
    




    separated 
    




    from sinners 
    




    and 
    




    exalted above the heavens; 
    




    who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, 
    




    first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, 
    




    because this He [the Messiah] did once for all when He offered up Himself.
    




    For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, 
    




    but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, 
    




    appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
    

    




    Therefore let us keep the feast
    




    אֶרְחַץ בְּנִקָּיֹון כַּפָּי וַאֲסֹבְבָה אֶת־מִזְבַּחֲךָ יְהוָֽה׃
    




    For dogs have surrounded me;
    A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
    They pierced my hands and my feet… – Psalm 22:16
    




    

    I can count all my bones.
    




    They look, they stare at me;
    




    They divide my garments among them,
    




    And for my clothing they cast lots.
    




    the amen
    




    “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
    For You alone are holy;
    For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
    FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”
    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 15:4 NASB
    

    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Amos – Not immune from judgment
    
			
    Amos – Not immune from judgment
    
			
    

    We interrupt the Good News of John for an urgent warning from the Prophet Amos.
    




    “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
     And I will destroy it from the face of the earth     
     Amos 9:8a NASB 
    




    We are NOT IMMUNE to the #pandemic of sin!
    




    A familiar forgotten history
    




    Even though festival seasons of Passover and Easter approach, our casual celebrations may possibly be banned this year and diminished by the rulers of this world. 
    




    We know little of the first century church in this year of our Lord 2020, and struggles of the saints when Jerusalem fell not so many years after the Sacrifice and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus. 
    




    Yet during this time of Jesus and the Apostles, scripture from Amos and other Prophets of the LORD would have been familiar to some.
    




    Briefly, the historical background of the time of Amos reads something like more recent times before our most recent struggles of these last days.
    




    Prosperity before the fall
    




    • Uzziah is King of Judah (792-740 BC)
    • Jeroboam II is King of Israel (793-753 BC)
    • Both kingdoms were blessed by tremendous wealth
    • Both kingdoms had powerful military which had defeated their enemies.
    • Both kingdoms had an aristocratic class who gained great wealth, enough to loan money to their poor neighbors.
    • Both Israel and Judah believed their kingdom to be permanently blessed by the LORD as a chosen people.
    • Israel and Judah believed themselves immune to judgment by the LORD.
    




    Sound familiar?
    




    It will to many of the suppressed working poor of first world nations.
    




    Yet the LORD sent a poor shepherd of Tekoa, a hillside suburb of Jerusalem, to tell the nations why a judgment of the LORD would fall upon them. 
    




    It was a warning rejected, as we would have rejected such bad news just a short time ago when billionaires bragged of how good we have done under their affluent watch.
    




    Amos speaks for the LORD
    




    Perhaps you would like to sit still in dust and ashes, reading everything the Prophet Amos warns from the LORD – every call to repentance to a nation which has strayed far from righteousness. Here I can only list a few which may apply.
    




    Jesus, the Messiah, and John the Baptist will both echo these same indictments to broods of religious vipers. 
    




    Peter, Paul, John and the Apostles of the first century church all encourage the saints, yet reprove the unrepentant who stray from teachings of the Lord.
    




    The church witnessed judgment on Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, when the Lord struck them dead for lying to the church! 
    




    The Revelation of Christ to John warns the church. To one local church at Sardis, Christ warns though John:
    




    I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 
    Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. 
    If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
    Revelation 3:1a-3 CSB
    




    Is your church in the the year of our Lord, 2020, like that? Not alert, though your reputation of this life multiplies the flock? 
    




    If so, the warnings of the Prophet Amos and other prophets of the Old Testament may help you to return to the will of the Lord our God.
    




    Amos 1:
    




    Various Indictments & Punishments
    




    • Because they deported an entire population
    • And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
    • because he pursued his brother with the sword.
    •  He stifled his compassion,
    •  his anger tore at him continually,
    •  and he harbored his rage incessantly.
    • Because they ripped open the pregnant women… in order to enlarge their borders. 
      • (Was this a barbaric abortion to choose only the boys of their own culture?)
    




    15 “Their king will go into exile,
     He and his princes together,” says the Lord.
    




    Judgment on Judah and Israel
    




    4 Thus says the Lord:
    




    “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
     I will not turn away its punishment…
    




    • Because they rejected the law of the Lord
    • And have not kept His commandments.
    • Their lies lead them astray,
      • Lies which their fathers followed.
    




    Is your religious tradition more important than obedience to the Lord your God? A better perception of your own righteousness than the Perfect righteousness of the Messiah sacrificed for your redemption?
    




    6 Thus says the Lord,
     “For three transgressions of Israel and for four
     I will not revoke its punishment…
    




    • Because they sell the righteous for money
    • and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
    • They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
    • and obstruct the path of the needy.
    




    




    How sad the compassionless ambition of the rich who do not see the sufferings of the poor.
    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com
    




    … And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’
    




    13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place
     as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
     14 Escape will fail the swift,
     the strong one will not maintain his strength,
     and the warrior will not save his life.
    




    וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתֹֽו׃
    “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
    Deuteronomy 8:6 – Masoretic Text, NASB
    




    I’m not even certain that christians blinded by science fear the Lord our God, let alone those chosen of Jesus’ and Amos’ times who turned away from scripture.
    




    Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
    “I and the Father are one.”
    John 8:58, 10:30 NASB
    




    Authority of the Prophet’s Message
    




    Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:
    




    7 Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
    without revealing his counsel
    to his servants the prophets.
    8 A lion has roared;
    who will not fear?
    The Lord God has spoken;
    who will not prophesy? 
    




    11 Therefore, the Lord God says:
    




    An enemy will surround the land;
     he will destroy your strongholds
     and plunder your citadels.
    




    13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—
     this is the declaration of the Lord God,
     the God of Armies.
     14 I will punish the altars of Bethel
     on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
     the horns of the altar will be cut off
     and fall to the ground.
    




    Social and Spiritual Corruption 
    




    Perhaps some in this day will yet hear the indictment of our land, a warning to shepherds who lead the flock astray.
    




    • [You rich women] Who oppress the poor,
    •  Who crush the needy,
    • Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”
    




    Are these not the leadings of rich women who lead their husbands by day and discard them by the darkness of divorce? 
    




    Yet we have not listened to the Lord who places the man over his wife; also father and mother over their children and youth, raised in God’s Law. Raised as rebellious children ourselves, we do not believe God’s warnings to return to fear of His judgment. 
    




    6 I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
    in all your cities,
    a shortage of food in all your communities,
    yet you did not return to me.
    This is the Lord’s declaration. 
    




    8 Two or three cities staggered
     to another city to drink water
     but were not satisfied,
     yet you did not return to me.
     This is the Lord’s declaration.
    




    • I struck you with blight and mildew… yet you did not return to me.
    • I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
    • I killed your young men with the sword,
    




     11 I overthrew some of you
    as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were like a burning stick
    snatched from a fire,
    yet you did not return to me—
    This is the Lord’s declaration. 
    




    “Therefore thus will I do to you…
    




     Because I will do this to you,
     Prepare to meet your God…
    




    13 For behold,
    He who forms mountains,
    And creates the wind,
    Who declares to man what his thought is,
    And makes the morning darkness,
    Who treads the high places of the earth—
    The Lord God of hosts is His name. 
    




    4:13  כִּי הִנֵּה יֹוצֵר הָרִים וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ וּמַגִּיד לְאָדָם מַה־שֵּׂחֹו עֹשֵׂה שַׁחַר עֵיפָה וְדֹרֵךְ עַל־בָּמֳתֵי אָרֶץ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־צְבָאֹות שְׁמֹֽו׃ ס
    




    Martin Luther King "I have a dream" speech
    

    “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” – quoting Amos 6:24
    

    




    Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, 
    “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, 
    and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
    Revelation 17:1-2 NASB
    




    To be continued... Lord willing...
    




    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door
    
			
    The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door
    
			
    

    After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, 
    “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John – 4:1 NASB
    




    Heaven’s door
    




    Let’s not miss that the Pharisees’ debates with the Messiah question His authority from the Lord our God and Father. And Jesus’ signs and parables all point heavenward.
    




    Do you desire eternal life?
    




    It is a question of highest importance. And who may enter the gate or the door to eternal life in heaven? 
    




    How can we know? Who will unravel this great mystery of eternal life in heaven and the judgment of sins punished by a sentence to hell?
    




    Closed doors to Scripture
    




    וַיַּעֲמֹ֤ד מֹשֶׁה֙ בְּשַׁ֣עַר הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וַיֹּ֕אמֶר מִ֥י לַיהוָ֖ה אֵלָ֑י וַיֵּאָסְפ֥וּ אֵלָ֖יו כָּל־בְּנֵ֥י לֵוִֽי׃
    Exodus 32:26 WLC 
    




    Does it help you to read this Hebrew scripture about Moshe (Moses)?
    




    OR does the fact of the Hebrew language create a closed door to the Bible for you?
    




    Then read translation into English about Moshe choosing who will enter the camp of the LORD and who Moses sentences to death.
    




    Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
    Exodus 32:26 KJV
    




    Sometimes the Lord places a Moses or David or Prophet at a gate or the door to guard the integrity of His Own Righteousness. 
    




    We addressed this first by our look at the gatekeeper and watchmen. But frequently religion’s wide door or misled path will turn the faithful away from Scripture.
    




    ἔστη δὲ Μωυσῆς ἐπὶ τῆς πύλης τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ εἶπεν τίς πρὸς κύριον ἴτω πρός με συνῆλθον οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ Λευι
    et stans in porta castrorum ait si quis est Domini iungatur mihi congregatique sunt ad eum omnes filii Levi
    Exodus 32:26: Greek & Latin
    




    Get the picture?
    




    Not really, if you have received the filtered view of religious teachers’ blind teaching of faith.
    




    In fact many in Jerusalem’s crowds depended on the Pharisees or Rabbi’s to tell them what Scripture says. Even the literate often read their Empire-wide language of Greek, but not Hebrew. 
    




    So the symbols of Jesus’ parables create important universal pictures to those barred by the misleading of Israel’s shepherds of the gates and the door of worship of the Lord God our Father.
    




    Religious leaders who manipulate Scripture become barriers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a closed door to repentance by sinners.
    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com
    




    Symbolism of a gate or a door
    




    Heaven must have a gate (of sorts), like a walled city. 
    




    Not everyone gets into the heavenly Jerusalem. 
    




    The LORD must have watchmen (perhaps angels – spirit beings who serve the King as messengers and guards in the glorious heavenly city of God). 
    




    Who does Almighty God anoint to sit in the gate as the door to enter eternal life?
    




    David? Perhaps Moses? Even the great Prophet Elijah?
    




    No, none of these. 
    




    And certainly not a false prophet after Jesus claiming light from the place of darkness. Not even leaders of angels such as Gabriel or Michael. And most certainly no idolatrous intercessors of mothers, antiquated saints leaving only dust in place, or Apostles long passed.
    




    Who then sits at the door of heaven – the gate of eternal life?
    




    The door IS the very Lamb of God, the Shepherd of shepherds, the Son of Man, Christ Jesus! 
    




    To Him and no other we sinners must appeal by His mercy to enter eternal life by the grace of His Own Blood of Perfect Sacrifice.
    




    Are we blind too?
    




    Jesus the Messiah, who healed not only this blind man but others as well, clearly sheds light on the judgment for which He is sent to the world. 
    




    But as the Lord points out, some shepherds like the Pharisees really don’t see. For the prophet Isaiah had accused:
    




    And they are shepherds who have no understanding;
    They have all turned to their own way,
    Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
    




    These pharisees, rabbis of Judah confront their Messiah time after time questioning and denying His authority. They attempt to discredit Him even after another sign of Jesus. For a man born blind received his sight from Jesus.
    




    John 9: 24-25 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
    He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
    




    Most of these pharisees refused to believe in the Messiah sent to save sinners.
    




    John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
    




    40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
    




    41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
    




    Now this scene of controversy argued before the crowds of Jerusalem plays out in another parable of Jesus told against the pharisees just after the man born blind worships Jesus as Lord.
    




    John 10: 
    




    “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
    Gospel of John 10:1 NASB – Caution to believers from Christ Jesus
    




    

    2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 
    

    




    The LORD is my shepherd
    




    מִזְמֹור לְדָוִד יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָֽר׃
    




    You know the imagery of the Messiah and require no translation or interpretation of this parable connected to the sign of Jesus leading a blind man to worship Him.
    




    Suppose heaven is so easy to enter as a wall without the door of the shepherd who gathers his sheep. 
    




    Can you climb over an unguarded wall?
    




    Of course.
    




    Could just any shepherd appear to lead the sheep anywhere, even to destruction?
    




    Even in this day they often do.
    




    If heaven’s chosen sheep gathered within the walls of the holy (separated) place cannot trust their shepherd as a door, will the wolves not enter and false shepherds lead them astray? 
    




    Are the sheep not destined for the slaughter of sacrifice if the Perfect Sacrifice has not already been made?
    




    I AM the Good Shepherd – Jesus
    




    3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
    




    The Messiah, the Shepherd of heaven, gathers them to a place where He IS the door. 
    




    Then He calls to all the sheep, even by name. 
    




    The Lord knows them personally. He makes no mistakes and they know His voice rather than that of a false teacher or shepherd who would lead them into the pit of destruction.
    




    Jesus knows you. Do you know Him?
    




    4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
    




    6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
    




    Will the blind shepherds hear?
    




    Pharisees, rabbis who teach what they will, preachers who claim they can lead everybody to heaven – all these shepherds, Jesus says, are blind. 
    




    And clearly they do not see the Scripture before them, let alone share the Way, the Truth and the Life eternal of the Gospel Good News of our Savior from death, judgment and punishment.
    




    All these believe that heaven has no door or they pretend to hold the only key to the gate (if indeed heaven had a golden locked gate). 
    




    

    After Jesus’ resurrection, clearly heaven’s gate is no guarded cemetery or grand golden cathedral depicting idols offering prayers for your admittance.
    




    These false shepherds whitewash the entrance of hell with a hologram of heaven’s golden gate, through which they lead many sheep of the world to the slaughter of hell’s punishment! 
    

    




    The Good Shepherd
    




    7 So Jesus said to them again, 
    




    “Truly, truly, I say to you, 
    




    I am the door of the sheep.
    




    




    We are sheep in this world of darkness being led to the slaughter. 
    




    False teachers seek to sacrifice follower after follower into the fires of destruction! 
    




    The Messiah Jesus accuses these of the misleading the sheep. These self-appointed shepherds over our unrighteousness deceive and destroy.
    




    8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 
    




    Jesus speaks of false messiahs, kings and leaders who only claim to follow the Lord, all who “do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.” 
    




    I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
    John 10:9 NASB
    




    10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
    




    Jesus reiterates the contrast between Pharisees and false leaders of God’s people and himself, the One Shepherd of the Lord our God.
    




    The Sacrifice of the Good Shepherd
    




    I have told you once that I AM the door. 
    




    When you did not understand I told the crowds my clear meaning and purpose of coming here to lead My sheep. 
    




    Now, those with ears to hear, in addition to the clear signs before your eyes here is how you can hear the Shepherd who knows you by name.
    




    “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 
    John 10:11 NASB
    




    What does this mean? (For it has not yet happened?)
    




    Jesus gives the hearer of His voice no time to consider a wrong solution to our leading by God, but again shows the false leadership of the Pharisees who have redefined requirements for the flock to enter heaven.
    




    12 “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away…
    




    Here into Jerusalem Rome has followed other conquerors and the hired hands of Herod abandon the faith of Abraham adding new requirements to the Law of Moses.
    




    “…  then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
    




    I know My sheep
    




    Who will lead the scattered sheep sent to Babylon and Persia and again to Egypt then conquered once more by a mighty Greece? And though only a remnant returns, who will go into all the world now conquered by Rome?
    




    The shepherds have divided and run, returned and divided the flock.
    




    14 “I am the good shepherd, 
    and know my sheep, 
    and am known of mine. [KJV]

    15 “As the Father knows Me, 
    even so I know the Father; 
    and I lay down My life for the sheep. [NKJV]
    




    Now Jesus again states His relationship to God the Father as the Messiah and Savior of Israel. The Lord also clearly states fulfillment of Scripture concerning the gentiles or nations.
    




    A Savior of the Nations
    




    I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; 
    I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; 
    and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 
    The Good News of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles – John 10:16 NASB
    




    Three points here in the parable of the Good Shepherd:
    




    1. The Messiah saves some who are not Jews.
    2. Jesus will include the chosen of the nations to ‘follow Him’ as the Good Shepherd of all sheep and they too will hear His call to the promise of eternal life.
    3. Jews who follow the Messiah and Gentiles will become one flock of the faithful with Him – the Good Shepherd of Israel.
    




    Sacrifice of the Shepherd for the sins of the sheep
    




    Would a father sacrifice his own son?
    




    Abraham offered to do so, believing that the LORD would do right.
    




    Jesus makes personal reference after personal reference to God as His Father. Would God provide the Sacrifice for your sins and for mine as the Lord did for Abraham? 
    




    Why would a Righteous Father send His Perfect Son to a world of sinners?
    




    17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 
    




    “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 
    




    “This command I have received from My Father.”
    




    Jesus clearly states after His parable of the Good Shepherd that God His Father commanded Him – the Son of God and only Good Shepherd – to sacrifice His mortal life for the sheep. AND He has the authority and power or the resurrection of life itself!
    




    Controversial?
    




    Even to this day and in every time of these last days.
    




    19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
    




    21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
    




    Do you see?
    




    Does Jesus open your eyes to the Light of eternal life? Or are you blind too?
    




    What shepherd do you follow? 
    




    The One Who IS the door?
    




    Or have you heard so many who make other claims about heaven?
    




    And Jesus said, 
    “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”