JESUS AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD in the Old Testament

In Matthew 9:36 we read that Jesus had compassion on the multitudes because they were lost like sheep without a Shepherd later in John 15 we find that Jesus mission was to the lost sheep of Israel. He was and is the good shepherd. He said ‘my sheep hear my voice.’ a clear indication that there is no shepherd like him or greater than him. He is a Shepherd of shepherds and the Great Shepherd of all mankind. (John 10:11-18). The one that left the ninety and nine to find the one that was lost

What’s interesting too is the fact that The Old testament gives us the PROMISE of the Good shepherd while the New gives us the PERSON of the Good shepherd. a picture of the one to come in the flesh. The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)

Ezekiel 34:11-16. For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.

Israel needed a good Shepherd. False shepherds were dividing the flock. God’s people were sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus’s statement ‘I am the good Shepherd  in John 10:14 is a statement of his divinity. God manifested in the flesh so that we like sheep would know his person, his voice, his rod and his staff, his care and his attention. My sheep know my voice (John 10:27). He is the one who will feed them and lead them to green pastures, he is the one who cause them to life down and be healed strengthened and restored.

Both these scriptures reveal that Jesus in type and shadow, in the Old and Jesus in person and substance in the New. Evidence that is is clearly the one true deity and Gods alone. Both Old and New reveal the secret of the one true Deity and Lord. The one true God is the one true Lord, who is my Shepherd, our Shepherd.

Jesus is God.

Paul