The Prophecy of the Good Shepherd

claims and references

Jesus made many claims. He made different references to himself. Some of these claims were according to how the people perceived him. They perceived him to me a prophet so he referred to himself as a prophet. They cast aspersions on him as being a drunkard and a gluttonous man, so he referred to himself as a drunkard and a gluttonous man. The Jews presumed to take offense that Jesus, by implication, equated himself with God. The Jews rightly inferred his meaning, but they resisted his words, because as they said to him, he was just a man, so he referred to himself as a man.

There were other claims and references which were seemingly, for lack of a better term, nice, as in perfectly noncontroversial and harmless. One such reference which Jesus made about himself was, not just that he was a shepherd, but that he was the good shepherd. There was nothing noble or prestigious about being a shepherd or for anyone to liken themselves to a shepherd. Even so, this sounded good for the Jews. It was as anemic culturally as it was harmless.It sounds good for us today.

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Why I Believe Jesus came in Finality in 70 A.D.

Actually, Why I Believe Jesus came in Finality in 70 A.D., is the title which appears in Don K Preston’s four part video series. The title, Why I Believe Jesus Returned in 70 A.D, is as the videos appear in YouTube. Just to be clear both of these refer to the same video work by the author. The title of this article does not reflect my understanding of the scriptures or my convictions. The title is Preston's own title. I do not agree with and I reject the overall content of the video messages. If there is any difference between the Part 1 and Part 4 videos I am not able to see it. Those two video messages appear to be the same and even the three videos bear much repetition which does not constitute a problem in itself. I played and listened to all four videos in their entirety. The appearance of the title on this blog article reflects neither my understanding nor agreement with his message. Here are the four video links for you. I encourage you to view them yourself. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Just for the record and by way of a perspective, my understanding is that Matthew 24 relates the prophecy declared by Jesus himself to his disciples concerning his coming. I take no offense nor am I troubled by whatever label has instantly been pinned on me just now. I believe, as I have briefly done in this article and as I refer readers to my own blog article, that my explanation involving the particular elements of that prophecy (while being hardly original or unique) is a marked difference from the general double brush stroke, gloss-over given to the prophecy, namely, that it is about 1) the destruction of the temple and 2) the second coming of the Lord.

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The Day of the Lord: darkened sun, blood moon, fallen stars

In recent months I have heard a message from some brothers in Christ which is new to me. Briefly, the message is that Jesus has come already. Those who are waiting for Jesus to return are mistaken about the return of Jesus. Their wait is in vain. There is no second coming of Jesus. I have heard this message proclaimed with the glee and giddiness of a child who has just received a new toy or who just made a new discovery. This teaching purports to be the fulfillment of the word of the Lord. Clearly, there is nothing gleeful about it, but a seriously mistaken notion by some men, some brothers in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

an expression

Advocates and teachers of this message probably package their teaching under a freshly minted catchy name of which I am not aware and I am not given to throwing labels around. For the sake of reference and for working purposes I am going to use in this article the expression the day of the Lord right from the scriptures to refer to this doctrine and the elements of that doctrine. There are different variations of that expression throughout the scriptures including the coming of the day of the Lord.

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Is the virgin birth of Jesus a myth?

Christmas. It is the season to rejoice in the birth of Jesus, the Son of God in song, praise and fellowship. It is a time when some examine what they profess to be in terms of the faith. They examine their conviction to see if it is firm. They examine the testimony of their words with their deeds. In some instances some people come to terms with themselves. They realize there is a need for them to step up in order to be ready to give an account for themselves as Christians or as disciples of Jesus.

Christmas is also the season for some to mock the virgin birth of Jesus as being nothing more than a myth. One writer admonishes believers to forsake the virgin birth with these words: “Virgin birth: it’s pagan, guys. Get over it”. Do not make the mistake to assume that he rejects, at least not that it is apparent in his article, that which is pagan over that which is holy or divine. However, it is what has prompted me to write this article.

the subtlety of a mother

I feel a certain sense of futility about writing this article. Certainly, there is no ‘deep anxiety’ (Carrier). It is not pessimism, doubt or unbelief. Rather, it is because it pertains to something which every human being, simply by virtue of being alive, has experienced, namely, their birth. We say it’s a done deal. Truly, we’ve been there and although it is not an event that we remember we say we've done that. (Our mothers would probably have a something to say anyone of three different ways: YOU'VE done that? You've DONE that? You've done THAT? Mothers have a subtle but very effective way of putting in our place as in, You did nothing.)

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the Son can do nothing of Himself

Select articles:

Was Jesus ignorant?

The Father is greater than I

There are many voices. They all want to be heard. Mostly they are voices with a negative message with respect to Jesus. Their message is often nothing more than a hollow, negative assertion that “Jesus is not God.” Others will actually bring a morsel of a scripture to support their assertion such as the one which is the focus of this article.

These words spoken by Jesus that the Son can do nothing of Himself is just one example heard from those voices. Although many Christians are familiar with these words many of them have never wondered or have never seen the need to examine the meaning of these words. They fall easy prey to the message of those voices. Certainly, those who seize these words to make their assertions to deny the deity of Jesus have themselves not done anything to examine the meaning of these words. The conclusion extracted from these words is that this is an acknowledgment by Jesus of his inferiority and weakness on the level of a human being, not God, but is this the case? Here is a broader scope of the passage from John 5:19-21.

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Jesus: a gluttonous man and a drunkard

This was the disparagement, the gossip, that was spread to malign Jesus, the Son of Man. It was said that Jesus was a gluttonous man and a drunkard. This was said of Jesus in contrast to John the baptist whose life mission was in the fringe of society and in the wilderness of the river Jordan. Alas, the comparative morality of the twenty first century is not new. The populist perception of John was as one of being a truly a religious, holy and pious man. The falsehood about Jesus being a gluttonous man and a drunkard neither troubled nor fazed Jesus in the least.

Jesus was happy and confident in himself as he went about the Father’s business in and among and with sinners.

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The Only True God

The purpose of this article to examine the expression, the only true God, which appears in the scriptures. There is a similar and related expression which appears a second time in the scriptures.

The gospel according to John opens with a message that is often cited and quoted about the Word who became flesh. My own reason for citing this reference, here, is for what John reveals about the mission of the Begotten Son several verses into the first chapter, namely, that the Begotten Son came to explain God. We understand that thoughts, and then explanations, are communicated with words and through words. This is what Jesus states often in his own message. He declared that the words that He spoke were not his own words. They were the words which the Father had given him to speak, to explain God. Additionally, there are the true works that Jesus performed. The works which Jesus did were just as He saw the Father doing the same works. The words and the works is what Jesus cited for Philip and the disciples as proof that the Father dwelt in him.

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