Good Shepherd
6 min read
15 Moses said to the LORD, 16 “May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
Numbers 27:15-17
God’s ways are mysterious and wonderful. I can’t help but think that whenever God answers our prayers, He is not only meeting our immediate needs but also accomplishing His sovereign plan of salvation for the world in Christ Jesus at the same time.
And so God answered Moses not only by providing Joshua as his protege and successor, but also in taking steps to pave the path for the coming of Jesus. And maybe it’s no small coincidence that Joshua and Jesus come from the same name that means “God saves” or “God is salvation.”
Of course, Joshua did not provide the salvation that neither the Israelites needed nor that the world needs. That salvation was to come in Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd.
But even with the salvation that we have in Christ, there is work to be done, just as there was work to be done under Joshua to take possession of the promised land.
The author of Hebrews wrote -
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
— Hebrews 4:8-11
The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is Christ’s mandate to take possession of the promised land—that is, to fill the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families, the church.
Taking possession of the promised land is never easy. But we can always be sure that Christ will “go out and come in” before us and lead us out and bring us in, too. It is when we follow Christ into the promised land that we find rest.
Father, thank You for this GCC family and Canvas community. We know that You have established us by the blood of our Lord Jesus. Open our eyes, open our ears, and open our hearts that we might follow Christ into the promised land and live in the blessings of Your covenant promises. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
