THURSDAY, MARCH 15
“Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I Am He. So, if you seek Me, let these men go.’ This was to fulfill the word that He had spoken: ‘Of those whom you gave Me I have lost not one.’”
John 18:8-9 (ESV)
CLOSE TO THE TRUTH: HIS PROPHECY
A man pulled up to a red light and saw a truck towing a trailer with many sheep inside. The man rolled down his window and yelled to the truck driver, “You shepherds don’t move your sheep around like you used to.” To which the truck driver replied, “I’m not a shepherd; I’m a butcher.”
Jesus is the Great Shepherd and His job is to take care of His sheep. When Jesus told His captors to let the other disciples go, He was fulfilling prophecy. Jesus’ arrest in the garden was not a surprise party. He knew they were coming and He knew what was about to happen. The disciples that were genuinely His were ultimately safe and secure. By giving His life, Jesus in that moment and in death was assuring the eternal security of His followers.
Revelation 13:8 reminds us that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our sins was God’s plan from the beginning of time. Everything was happening exactly how He said it would. And because God is faithful to keep His Word in the past we can trust Him with our present and our future.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”(Philippians 1:6) What are some areas of your spiritual life where you would like to see God work on? Thank God for being a Good Shepherd, thank Him for the work He has already done in you and for the work He will continue to do in you.
