This is a prophecy about Jesus Christ, his birth, life, death, and resurrection, and the purpose for which he gave his life up for us on that cross. Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning, and he is God, our creator God, and he is the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God the Father sent him to the earth in the form of a human being so that he could be our sacrificial lamb to die for the sins of the entire world.
“He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3 ESV
When Jesus Christ lived on this earth, or more particularly during his last three years of ministry on the earth, he was despised and rejected primarily by the Jewish rulers in the temple of God and the teachers of the Scriptures and the Scribes, chief priests, Sadducees and Pharisees. His brothers hated him, too, as did some of the Jews who were not rulers in the temple, I would assume. For not too many of them actually followed Jesus with their lives.
“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5 ESV
Now Jesus Christ came to the earth in order to save us out of our lives of living in sin and for self, and to bring us into new lives in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So, he who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross so that when he died our sins died with him so that we can now die to sin and live to righteousness in the power of God, by the grace of God, as a result of God-given and God-persuaded faith in Christ.
But he rose from the dead on the third day, just as he said he would, and he appeared to many people, including to his remaining disciples, over a period of 40 days, before he ascended back to heaven to be with God the Father. But then he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell the lives and hearts of his followers and to teach them/us all things, and to encourage and empower and equip and train us in the things of God and in righteous living.
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 ESV
When we are born into this world we are born with sin natures in the image of Adam, although we are created in the likeness of God. We are all sinners by natural birth, and we are all separate from God, and we all fall short of attaining God’s divine approval and acceptance in our sinful flesh. And that is why Jesus died on that cross so that our self-life could be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him.
Now by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ we can all be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Now, by faith in Jesus Christ, and in his power and strength, we can walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit, by the Spirit.
For Jesus died on that cross and was resurrected from the dead that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. He died to free us from our slavery to sin so we would now walk in holiness and in righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, and no longer in sin. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so we would honor him.
[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Co 5:15,21; Romans 6:1-23; 1 Co 6:19-20; Titus 2:11-14]
But we all have a choice to reject him or to accept him, to deny him or to embrace him, to follow him or to follow our flesh. But Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father. For many will profess his name but they will deny him by their actions. And he said that to come after him means we deny self, die daily to sin, and we follow him in obedience.
For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and live to his righteousness, then we will have eternal life in him, but only if we continue in him in walks of faith and obedience and in righteous and holy living, and if we do not return to making sin our practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
https://vimeo.com/114938263
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