Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 23:4 (emphasis added)

“The people of Israel had not had good shepherds: As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep” (Ezekiel 34:8). Things had gone south. They were scattered. Broken. A lost people. But they had not lost God. God had not lost them. We may seem to be lost, alone, scattered, broken, overwhelmed, and falling apart. But the Lord God hasn’t moved. He hasn’t stopped thinking of us. He has the guidance and care of us foremost in His mind. He wants you fed (spiritually and physically). He wants you unafraid. Not dismayed or anxious. And He doesn’t want any one missing or lacking from the flock.

How can He fulfil this? In the previous verse (vs 3) God promised to gather the remnant of His flock out of where they had been driven. Jesus made the same promise in Matthew 24:31: “He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” God promises to set up shepherds for His people. The implication, according to Hebrew scholars, is that He was shifting them from hereditary succession and moving back to a model of appointing the leader most capable of leading the people. It also alludes to Jesus: “When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away” (1 Peter 5:4). Peter should know. He was told by Jesus: “tend my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

The idea of tending and feeding a flock of sheep by a shepherd is simple. A good shepherd’s care extends to individual members of a flock, not just the big picture. No sheep is left alone. No sheep is unfed. No sheep is allowed to get sick and remain unattended. No sheep is left to wander. No sheep is left to go missing. No sheep avoids care. No sheep is ignored. No sheep is lost. No sheep is unloved. They are guided every step of the way, going and coming. “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out” (John 10:3 and again in John 17:12).

As we read on in this passage things turn from the literal situation of Israel and the promises the Lord is making to His people. We enter prophetic territory where the words have double meaning. As He does, Jesus enters the picture. ““Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). Jesus IS the Chief Shepherd. But He is so much more than that. To those on this side of the cross, we have a much more intimate relationship with Him. To us, He is LIFE itself.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you” (John 15:1-7).

There is no righteousness here among us as humanity (Romans 3:9-18 — one among MANY verses that show us this). There is no righteousness in creation. From the closest tree to the farthest star. We are all fallen. Lost. Withered. “For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23, abridged). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Jesus was it. The ONLY human who was ever righteous. And that’s because He wasn’t born of Adam (as ancestor father) but the Lord God Almighty was His father. Jeremiah was given a glimpse of Jesus and told us that He would be our righteousness. That He would be our Saviour. Our Branch. The one in whom — by faith — we need to dwell.

“For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith”” (Romans 1:16-17). “Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord”” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). That’s pretty clear. And it’s pretty great, because it comes freely (John 4:10 & Romans 6:23).

That means you don’t have to work for it. You don’t have to tick all the boxes of things not to do. You don’t have to examine every corner of your life, mind, home, and surroundings for things that will tick God off and remove them. You don’t have to do ANYTHING but believe. This is the key point of the Good News: The price of sin is pain and will FREELY be credited to your account with no effort on your part beyond belief and confession. Isn’t that amazing? Almost as if the love God has for us is really, real love. Apostle Paul and King David talk about how real it really is:

“For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin”” (Romans 4:3-8, Genesis 15:6, and Psalm 32:1-2).

The thing about believing in truth — weirdly enough — is that it’s true. It is worthy of being believed. You have to admit, we do and have believed in some pretty stupid things throughout the course of history: a flat earth, phrenology, martian canals, bell bottoms. As our knowledge grew, we left these theories debunked and behind us. But truth can be believed. Because it is TRUTH. It doesn’t have to conform to facts because facts will conform to it as our knowledge expands. That makes the Gospel the most scientifically provable thing in the universe. You can take any individual and if they honestly and truly apply Hebrews 11:6 then they will know that He is real: “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.” If He is real as revealed by Hebrews 11:6 (by faith), then He is true. If He is true, then John 3:16 is true. And if Jesus asked and was granted permission by His Father to come and die for our sins, then our sins are forgiven. If we accept it, we gain His righteousness by Grace.

In Jesus, attached firmly to the Branch, we are safe. We are secure. We have sustenance. We have everything that is part of the nature of Jesus flowing through us by the sacrifice of the cross and through Holy Spirit. We can come to the Father with our heads held high. Clean. Pure. Covered by Jesus. Co-heirs and fellow sons and daughters of the Father. That is the basis of our assurance. The eager expectation by which we look heavenward. Abide in Me, and I’ll abide in you. Remember: Not one word of God’s promises fail. Not one word. He promised from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Believe Him. Enter His Grace. He puts it on all of us through the cross and by His Word in the last verse of the bible: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.”

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Jeremiah 23:9-11

The Lord wants us to know Him. The primary way that we get to know Him is the Word of God. How do we know He loves us? He’s broken-hearted when we get taught wrong. He gets sick when the words of man block His Word. That is why it is vital for us to enter the Word on a daily basis. Fifteen minutes a day. An hour. Whatever we can manage to start. If you’re actively reading. Engaging with the text. Asking God questions. Then that time will expand. You’ll want more. It will help you clean up. To search out those things in your life, mind, home, and surroundings that don’t align with the Will of the Lord and remove them. Not because you have to. Not to earn something. But because you want to. Because they are impediments to true freedom. True blessing. True happiness. Don’t wait. Start today. And be faithful. It will be worth it. The Word always is.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.