FOR THE WORKERS: THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEPHERDS

THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEPHERDS - AUDIO

 

In Genesis we read the account of Jacob that worked for Rachel 7 years only to find on the wedding night that it was Leah given to him.  He then had to work another 7 years to fulfill Rachel’s week.  From out of these two woman are birthed Israel and Judah.  Israel, not the country, but the chosen ones and Judah from which we get the name Jew.  These are the ten southern tribes scattered right through the earth and the two northern tribes now in the country Israel.  You will have to excuse me for not going into all the details of who is really a Jew or the Zionist etc…this is not what this post is about and discussing that would deviate from what the Most High wants to say to us. 

These two woman, Leah and Rachel, bore the chosen people of the Most High, of which Jacob is a type and shadow of Yeshua who will come for His bride as depict in this scripture.  This is also why Paul’s message was that the two shall become one and why there is no more Jew or Gentile in Yeshua.  There are many ways that Father describes His people.  We find for example in my previous post, "Precious Gemstones" , in which He refers to His children as precious gems.  Also we read that we are trees, or a wheat, barley or grape harvests.  We are also called fish, being fishers of men.  I am sure there are many more.  But for this devotional the focus is sheep.  The Gentiles are the lost sheep and Judah the sheep that went astray.  Yeshua mentions this in Matthew 18.

Matthew 18: 11 - 14

¹¹ For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

¹² How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

¹³ And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

¹⁴ Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

I had a dream a few years ago that illustrates this parable Yeshua told.  I was in an open field doing shopping.  There were no walls.  This is obviously a time during the tribulation when money is still available.  The next moment a tsunami came from the left side of me.  I saw a great amount of people running for their lives and also dying in these enormous waves.  The next moment my friend was standing next to me being highly pregnant.  She is not pregnant and her husband died just before this dream.  She was dressed in white.  The next moment her husband was standing next to us.  His name is Alex and it means Kinsman Redeemer.  Reminds you of anyone?  Anyway, as we were standing there another tsunami came from the right.  I told them we better get to higher ground.  We were running and Alex took out a compass looking for the best place to go in order to be safe.  He told us to turn onto a road that led to a very high steep hill.  My friend had great difficulty to go up being pregnant and I was helping her.  When we got to the top, we had a code to go into a place already prepared for us.  A place of rest because there were beds all around.  Then Alex told me that he was going down again, because there may be others that are struggling and he needs to go and help them.

End of dream. 

In this dream my friend resembles the left behind church that the workers will help to reach Mount Zion.  They are the lost sheep, the 99.  Alex, the Kinsman Redeemer goes back down for the sheep that went astray, Judah or the 1.  The tsunamis speak of two time periods of destruction, just like Jacob had to work two sets of weeks. 

Here in both Yeshua’s parable and the dream He gave me, we see His heart for the lost and those that went astray.  We read in John 10 the following…

 John 10: 11

 ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

 Both Leah and Rachel had servants.  Leah’s handmaid was Zilpah and Rachel’s handmaid was Bilhah.  These two woman were actually the half-sisters of Leah and Rachel. 

Genesis 30: 9

⁹ When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.

Genesis 35: 22

²² And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

As you can see that both these woman, Zilpah and Bilhah, played a very important role in the forming of the tribes of Israel and Judah.  They were not only midwives, but also given in marriage.  We cannot ignore who they are.   Could it be that being given in marriage and being concubines, they serve as a type and shadow of the workers that will bring in the lost sheep, the Left behind or 99, and the one that strayed, which would be Judah?  They were given in marriage only later, but were responsible to bear children for Jacob. 

The reason why I am mentioning these woman is because the two things they have in common is Jacob, who is a type and shadow of Yeshua coming for His bride, and the bearing of children.  The whole of the Word of God is about the Sons and Daughters of God. I have also recently given a word from Father saying that He is about to release the midwives, which is the workers, or servants.  Just like in the dream He gave me to assist with the birth of the 99 sheep, whom my pregnant friend resembled. 

You will also remember that Father gave me a word called, “Bring My Little Ones Home”.  This word was about the children that are being used as sex slaves and those being trafficked.  Since then He has confirmed to me that this will be my assignment in this time to come.  To be a mother for little ones, not just physically, but also spiritually.  When I thought about it, I realized that in essence the workers that will go out will all be missionaries.  That is what missionaries are.  They are sent ones.  Sent to proclaim the gospel of the Good News, and to make disciples.  This is in fact to mother and father children all over the world wherever He may send us.  Just like He sent His Son to bring many sons and daughters to the Most High, so the Most High will now send many sons and daughters to find the lost sheep and those that went astray.  The reality is that some will be sheep and some will be lambs.  In John 21 Yeshua tells Peter to feed His lambs and then He tells him to feed His sheep.  The lambs according to the Strong’s Concordance refers to those who are weak and drinking milk, and that has to be carried.  This to be carried is not just in protection, but it denotes using the strong arm to sow.  They also refer to little ones, not just in stature but also in quatity. A small group. These are the remnant of Judah that will flee into the desert. The sheep refers to those who are older and are well stricken, which speaks of tribulation.  Peter's ministry was to the Jews, the Lambs. Paul's ministry was again to the Gentiles, the lost sheep. Paul is a type and shadow of Christ. This is why Yeshua said that He has come for the lost sheep of Israel. The reality is that there will be newborns, those who will be redeemed for the first time, and there will be His children that were left behind during the tribulation, due to not being ready for His return. This is true both physically and spiritually.  I know that it is a controversial subject concerning children being taken first, but as far as I can see, only the children of the redeemed are sanctified up to a certain age.   To try and figure out what this age is, is in my opinion futile because He alone knows, considering all circumstances, who are to be held accountable for not choosing Him at a certain time.  We cannot be the judge of that.  However, the reality is that there will still be children here during the tribulation as people will even eat their children and we also have promises from the Lord of how He will care for those with young during this time.

Right through the Word we find from the Old Testament to the New Testament references to shepherds that the Lord God has given over His people.  All these shepherds given by Him stands under the Good Shepherd, Yeshua.  Yeshua tells us in John 10 not only that His sheep knows His voice, but He lets us know that He is not as a hireling that runs away the moment there is danger, but like the Kinsman Redeemer in my dream, He goes back to lay down His life.

John 10: 15 - 18

¹⁵ As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶ And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

¹⁷ Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

¹⁸ No man taketh 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 commandment have I received of my Father.

He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth.  In response to the Father as to whom He will send, Yeshua agreed with the Father as to the cost.  Not only the cost in leaving His heavenly abode and the union He enjoyed with the Father, but also the power given from the Father to lay His life down or take it up.  Yeshua made His choice.  He would lay His life down.  He is the Patterned Son, our Forerunner and the Good Shepherd who laid His life down for His sheep.   As the Good Shepherd He has prepared the shepherds that He will send out to feed His sheep, those left behind.  This means that they themselves have been through a great deal to prepare them for the time ahead.  The word feed has many meanings, but the most relevant meaning is to shepherd.  Right through the Word in the different context used, feed means to shepherd.  To the shepherds sent out a flock will be given that we will have to tend to and just like the Good Shepherd, we will be given power to either take up our lives or lay it down.  This is different to laying your life down in holiness.  Here Yeshua was making it clear that He meant His physical life. 

Isaiah 40: 11

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.

Many of us in bravado say, “Yes Lord, I will lay my life down for You”.  But you will note that the issue is not whether you will lay your life down for Him.  This is the prerequisite for being a chosen Shepherd.  The question is, “Will you lay your life down for your flock?”  Quite a different story,  For Him we are willing to do anything, but for the rebellious, angry, persecuting ones who rejected Him and will in turn reject us and persecute us as we are warned that brother will turn against brother and children against their Father.  To this we are reminded that whilst we were the enemies of God, He died for us.  Not the friends and Lovers of God, but His enemies.  Yeshua said that the servant, think Zilpah and Bilhah, are not greater than their master.  He said that just as He was persecuted, so will we. 

I had a horrible argument with my daughter the other day that just left me so angry.  It was not my best moment, but I now, like all the other times, know that it was divinely allowed for His glory.  I asked Him who I am to be angry with.  With my daughter for what she did, for my reaction to her, for the enemy and how he came to bring destruction, or at Him for allowing it?  Gently, yet sternly He turned me to face the wheat field I was standing at.  Within this field, one who is not sown in, there was all manner of plants growing.  Apart from wheat, there were about three different kinds of plants of what I could see.  He said to me, “Such is the world that I love.  I love the whole world, not just the wheat”.  By this He was saying that He loves the lost and not just those that are living lukewarm lives.  And then He said to me, “The question is not to whom you need to be angry at.  The question is, “What is My will?” Right then He showed me a vision of Him on the cross looking down on, not to His beloved disciples, but those who mocked, jeered at, spat at him and maliciously persecuted him.  To them He said in that moment of extreme agony and complete devastation, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do”.   It is not just that He died for them, but how He died for them.  With love.  What kind of love is this that dies for the ones that crucifies Him?  The same love that caused Richard Wurmbrandt after being beaten under His feet with rods for years, causing it to become a pulp, confronted by the prison guard with the words, “Why do you still pray?  Don’t you realize by now after all these years that no one is coming for you?  That your God is not going to save you?”  To which Richard replied standing on his knees, “I was not praying for me, I was praying for you”.  It is that love that transcends human understanding.  This is also why Father told me a few years back that I do not know what I am asking by wanting to be filled with that kind of love.  To which He replied, “No one has greater love than he who lays his life down for his friends”.  This is the love of the Good Shepherd that will be vital in the time to come.  The love of a mother and father that will lay their life down for their own.  Do we not have rebellious children in the natural?  Do we not love those who have not received Him as their Messiah within our households? 

John 3: 16 – 17

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

As I mentioned before, there will be lambs and sheep.  The lambs being the newly born and the sheep who have had a relationship with the Good Shepherd that we will have to feed.  In the natural there will be babies and young children and there will be grown men and woman.  The shepherds sent out for this time, will come for the lost and those that were left-behind as the Luke warm Church.  In scripture prophetically, the book of Luke refers to the Bride of Christ, Mark refers to the left-behind Church and Matthew to Judah.  It is from the company of Luke that He will send out His missionaries, those who will assist with Christ, of which Paul is also a type and shadow.  Luke was not one of the original 12 Apostles, a Gentile and a physician, accompanying Paul on his missionary journeys.  A dear friend of mine brought this to my attention that being a physician holds hands with the midwives being sent out.  He was one of the 70 sent out by Yeshua and also significant is that he wrote the book of Acts, which is the type and shadow of the time we are to enter in very soon.  Luke died as a martyr, reportedly hanging from an Olive tree…the wild olive being grafted into the Olive Tree of God.

I do not suppose that when it was time for the Apostles to lay their lives down that they struggled.  I suspect that just like Yeshua, they had a Gethsemané moment where the decision was made before the act.  That they, just like Him, even though knowing all His life that He would die on the cross, was still confronted in Gethsemané with a choice.  To drink the cup of suffering.  If He in that moment endured such agony in the garden, who are we take this choice lightly.  The Apostles all died as martyrs except John.  They laid their lives down remembering the precious words of Yeshua.

John 12: 23 - 26

²³ And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

²⁵ He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

²⁶ If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Why did Yeshua die?  To bring forth much fruit, which is to say, souls.  To bring many sons and daughters unto the Father.  For this very reason the Apostles laid their lives down too.  For love is the fulfillment of the law.  Not only that we love the Lord God with all our heart, mind and strength, but also that we love our neighbor as ourselves.  This is exactly what Yeshua did here on earth.  He came to fulfill the law by how He lived in loving the Father and by how He died for the lost.  I am reminded that the same words spoken in verse 23 was also spoken by Yeshua the moment Judas got up from the table to betray Him the night they shared the Passover meal. I might add here too that this was after He washed their feet and served them. 

John 13: 30 - 32

³⁰ He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

³¹ Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

³² If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.

In both these examples, His death is His glorification and in His death, the Father is glorified.  Why would the Father be glorified in His own Son’s death?  Because it brings us right back to John 3: 16.  The expression of His love is the death of His Son.  Just like He sent the Good Shepherd, He will send His shepherds in this end time.  Just like He sent His Son, so He will send His sons and daughters.  Paul says in Hebrews of Yeshua…

Hebrews 1: 3

³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

When you read this scripture carefully, the verse is saying that Yeshua is the brightness of the Most High’s glory and the express image of His person, WHEN he had by himself purged our sins…

In Romans 8 we read that the whole of creation is groaning and waiting in anticipation of the manifestation of the Sons and Daughters of the Most High.  I now realize that as His Sons and Daughters to be the manifestation of His glory is not just the removal of this flesh, but in actual fact, just like the Patterned Son, the laying down of our lives, thereby showing the world the love of the Father, which is His glory and the express image of His person.  For God is love.  This is also why Paul ends Romans 8 with the following words…

Romans 8: 35 – 39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As I was talking over the calling Father showed me for this time, I had a very real fear, knowing my weakness and frailty, that I may disappoint Him.  I realized that He was giving me the responsibility to mother children that will have gone through some terrible things and times, and that my daughter has been His provision for me in this time to prepare me.  My prayer was, “Lord, what if in my weakness when pushed too far, I hurt them with a quick answer, or biting retort? What if I fail you Father!  I do not want to bring you chipped or scratched gemstones!”  His words to me was, “It is not your ability you need to look at, but rather it is about your ability to yield to Me to love them through you.”  To this I replied, “But Father, what if I fail you in that too?”  And He ever so gently said, “I am able to keep you in all things.”  At this Father led me to Psalm 23.  Our beloved Psalm that so adequately describes how He looks after His sheep.  How He has looked after me in all my life.  Every single verse a testimony of how He looks after us.  He impressed it upon my heart that this is still how He will keep His Sons and Daughters as He has always done.  But even more so He impressed upon my heart that so am I as the shepherd of the lambs to do for those He will give me.  Every single verse applies to how we as the sent shepherds are to feed the lambs or sheep as He told Peter in John 21.  Peter, do you love Me?  Then feed My sheep.  I am reminded that love is not a feeling only.  It is an act and the greatest expression of love is to lay your life down. 

I would like to read a quote from Amy Carmichael's authobiography.  She was a missionary in India who saved a thousand children sold as temple prostitutes to the Hindu gods.  Father gave her a word in a time of prayer when she was crying out for wisdom to Him as to how to look after these precious lambs.

"These children are dear to Me.  Be a mother to them, and more than a mother.  Watch over them tenderly, be just and kind.  If thy heart is not large enough to embrace them, I will enlarge it after the pattern of My own.  If these young children are docile and obedient, bless Me for it, if they are froward, call upon Me for help; if they weary thee, I will be thy consolation; if thou sink under thy burden, I will be thy Reward."

These words are followed in her book by a picture that she painted of the Shepherd, reaching for a lamb while a vulture hovers overhead.

This makes also complete sense why Peter had the following to say to the elders, which were the shepherds of the church in his epistles.

 1 Peter 5: 1 - 4

¹The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

² Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

³ Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.

⁴ And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

 

At that I want to encourage you all that many of you have older children and family members that are not ready for His return.  You have prayed many years now and have cried so much before Him for their salvation.  Yes, they do have a choice and will be held accountable.  But He will not abandon them. He is sending His shepherds, His Sons and Daughters as an answer to your prayers.  

Psalm 126: 5 - 6

⁵ They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

⁶ He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Father showed me when I prayed for my daughter that these tears that are in the shape of seed, are actually seed that are sown and there will be a great harvest.  He says that our walls are continually before Him.  As watchman of our homes we have stood upon the family walls of our lives and we have not only cried out to them that the time is at hand, but we have cried out to Him for their salvation.  He is about to send out His shepherds, His midwives, His Sons and Daughters for a world that is lost and that has forsaken Him.  Once again the Father will be glorified, not only in the life they live, not only in the death they will die, but in bringing many sons and daughters home.  This life on earth has been all preparation to bring His beloved children back home.  I suspect that not only will mothers and fathers be sent out in this time, but also those who are of lesser maturity in the spirit with regard to their growth.  These too will be sent out as they in their willingness to abandon all have had not reached yet that point in the process of sanctification, but will lay their lives down in service to the Most High.  He knows the desire of those who long to go out and be sent.  I believe John is addressing these various states of maturity.

1 John 2: 13 - 14

¹³ I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

¹⁴ I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Genesis 33 is a type and shadow of the end of the age where Jacob returns to his homeland meeting Esau halfway.  We read the following…

 Genesis 33: 1 - 2

1And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.

² And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

⁵ And Esau lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.

⁶ Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

⁷ And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

⁸ And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

In Isaiah 49 we read of how He comforts Israel with the knowledge that He will look after her children.

Isaiah 49: 13 – 23

¹³ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

¹⁴ But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

¹⁵ Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

¹⁶ Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

¹⁷ Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

¹⁸ Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

¹⁹ For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

²⁰ The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

²¹ Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

²² Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

²³ And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

And then in Isaiah 61 we once again here the purpose of this call and the baptism of His Spirit again on those He will send out in this time, just as in the days of the Apostles in the book of Acts. Just like He poured out His Spirit on His Son to Sheperd His flock and to also die for them, so once again He will pour His Spirit on His Sons and Daughters again. 

Isaiah 61

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

³ To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

⁴ And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

⁵ And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

⁶ But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

⁷ For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

⁸ For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹ And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.