John 10:1-6. The parable of the good Shepherd.

A Devotional Commentary
on the Gospels

Arranged for family devotions, for every day in the year. By Favell Lee Mortimer, 1802-1878.

The Pharisees had understood the meaning of the Lord when he spoke of blindness, but they did not understand the parable of the good shepherd. Had they known that they were represented under the figure of thieves and robbers, how great would have been their indignation! Yet such indeed they were, because they robbed God, for they destroyed the souls of his people by their false instructions. They loved to feed on the flesh, and to clothe themselves in the fleece of the sheep, but they cared not for the flock. They sought their own gain, and their own reputation, but not the glory of God.

What is meant by their climbing over the wall into the sheepfold, instead of entering by the door? The door represents Christ. The Pharisees did not come in by the door, for they did not believe in the Savior. But who is the shepherd of the sheep? How many little children could answer, "Jesus is the good Shepherd!" Some could say, "He is my shepherd." They know He is their shepherd, because they love him.

How did Jesus show he was the true shepherd? By his manner of coming in to the fold, and by his manner of going out. He did not climb over the wall, as thieves and robbers do, but entered by the door, openly declaring that he was the Son of God. "To him the porter opens." Does not the porter represent the prophets? Christ was the Shiloh of whom Jacob had spoken nearly two thousand years before, and the Lamb of God to whom John the Baptist had lately pointed.

He showed he was the Shepherd of the sheep by his manner of going out. He led his flock. He called them by their names, according to the custom of shepherds in the East; when he called them, he went before them. None but the true shepherd could lead the sheep; strangers would have been forced to drive them. It is very interesting to behold an eastern shepherd going before his sheep and leading them to their pastures. His flock know the voice of their own shepherd, and would not obey the call of any other.

Nathanael was one of the sheep of Christ. When Jesus saw him, he said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit." Thus he showed he knew him. He was like a shepherd calling his sheep by its name. Did Nathanael hear the shepherd's voice? Yes, he replied; "You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." 

The man born blind was another of Christ's sheep. When the shepherd said to him, "Do you believe on the Son of God?" he soon replied, "Lord, I believe." Have we heard the voice of the shepherd, calling us to follow him to the green pastures? None but his sheep hear that voice. They hear it sounding in the depths of their hearts, saying, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." They listen to the voice, and say to their own souls, "Return unto your rest, O my soul." They feel safe while they follow their Shepherd. Each says to Him, "Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk." (Ps. 143:8.) 

The poor helpless sheep cannot tell which is the path that leads to glory, but his shepherd can. After passing through some dark valley, the sheep says, "When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my path." (Ps. 142:3.) The further the sheep goes in the way, the more trust he feels in his shepherd; and when he comes to the edge of the last valley he is able to say, "Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." We know what lies beyond that valley—Mount Zion. It is to that fair mountain the shepherd conducts his flock.

But while other shepherds are of a different nature from the sheep they tend, the good shepherd has taken on him the nature of his flock. "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." (Rev. 7:17.) 

Having fed, and led them upon earth, he will feed and lead them in heaven. We shall never cease to require a shepherd's care. It is a delight to those who love Jesus to think that He will always be their shepherd and they his sheep.

"So she gleaned in the field until evening." Ruth 2:17

Morning and Evening

by Charles Spurgeon

"So she gleaned in the field until evening." Ruth 2:17

Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of grain, so must I go forth into the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the Word—to gather spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains are little by little—so must I be content to search for single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them. Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise unto salvation.

The gleaner keeps her eyes open—or she would have no load to carry home rejoicingly at eventide. I must be watchful in pious exercises, lest they become unprofitable to me. I fear I have lost much already—O that I may rightly estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence.

The gleaner stoops for all she finds—and so must I. Proud people criticize and object—but lowly minds glean and receive benefit. A humble heart is a great help towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving Word is not received, except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride, you are a vile robber, not to be endured for a moment.

What the gleaner gathers she holds—if she dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day's work would be but scant. She is as careful to retain as to obtain—and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head, and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I feel duly the importance of storing up the truth?

A hungry belly makes the gleaner wise; if there be no grain in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she labors under the sense of necessity, and hence her tread is nimble and her grasp is firm. I have even a greater necessity. Lord, help me to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so plenteous a reward to diligence!

Building For Eternity

By Oswald Chambers


'For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?'
Luke 14:28

Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary - the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. Men are not going to laugh at Him at last and say - "This man began to build, and was not able to finish."

The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in vv. 26, 27 and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. "If any man come to Me, and hate not...he cannot be My disciple." Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth. The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.

All that we build is going to be inspected by God. Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built on the foundation of Jesus some enterprise of our own? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein is the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus takes us over for His enterprises, His building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.

Battle for control as cult leader deteriorates

EXCERPT 

 where dozens of children, obtained through adoption scams were allegedly kept, treated cruelly and administered LSD.

The children were told she was a living God and were taught extreme Christianity and Eastern mysticism. 

Read more here..... 

THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I

By Bible Names of God


Psal 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock [that] is higher than I.

Read the rest of this heart-cry of David to the Lord and then you will know why he reached out to the "Rock That Was Higher" than himself. The lesson here is simple. We must lay hold of something or someone which is substantial and will stand the test. The burden of Israel was weighing heavily upon David, as the burden of the churches oppressed Paul [2Cor 12:28]. But all of these burdens are small when compared to those which were laid upon our "Burden-Bearer", upon Whom we can rest all our [worldly] cares, "... for He careth for us!"

Oh, Thou Rock of Ages, we come to Thee and lay our burdens down and give Thee thanks for Bearing them for us. Amen.

He went out, not knowing whither he went

By A.B. Simpson
This is true faith. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic by ship, I observed this very principle of faith. We could see no path upon the water or sign of the shore. And yet day by day the helmsman was in a path as exactly as if he had been following a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within 20 miles of land he knew where we were as surely as if he had seen it all 3,000 miles ahead. How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly lights, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shoreline or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. 

Often our steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty or even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, making our midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, yet trusting.

Whatever Cloud May Fall

By William M. Clow


"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him"

(Matt. 17:5).

Hear Him." This is the message which in some form is given to men who fear as they enter the cloud. Out of every cloud which shall fall over men, on their knowledge, or faith, or understanding of God's will, or interpretation of His ways, there comes this one word, "Hear Him." When God's being has become dim and uncertain, and the cloud of doubt so overshadows your heart that you cannot pray, hear Him who calls, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." 

When God's character seems dark and unlovely, and your heart rebels against some grim word which has been taught you by men who have not considered God's great mind, and the cloud overshadows you, hear Him who saith, "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." 

When God's providence seems estranged, and the cloud has fallen upon your daily life, and all that makes it gracious has been taken away hear Him who saith, "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

If the will of God seems hard and stern and bids you pass through a baptism, until you find the cloud upon your spirit and you lie under its fear, hear Him who saith, "I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you." 

Whatever cloud you enter, the cloud of guilty conscience, of a chilled faith, of a searching loneliness, as you fear, hear Him who has a word f or every hour. In time to come, if not while trembling under the shadow, you will learn the significance of the cloud, the fear, and the voice.