By looking over the things a shepherd offers his sheep, you can see that all of these can apply to sheep, and to us, as we allow God to be our Shepherd. All of them that is, except for the last one; ETERNAL LIFE. A shepherd cannot offer his sheep eternal life, but God offers that to us; to those who become His sheep.
As a child, whenever people I knew would die, I thought about eternity. Is there a heaven and a hell? How could I know for certain if I would go to heaven? Like most people I knew, I hoped there was an afterlife, but had no guarantee. A common thought among people I knew was that if there was a heaven, as long as you were as good as the next guy, you would probably wind up there. After all, if you don't murder anybody, or do anything like that, you shouldn't deserve an eternity in hell. I figured, like many others, I had a good shot of going to heaven. But I still had no guarantee.
During my last year of High School I began reading the Bible. While doing so, I saw that people in the Bible were confident of the afterlife. Job and King David both expressed a confidence that there was an afterlife. In 2 Samuel 12:23 it says, "But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me." King David had just lost his son. He knew there was nothing he could do to bring him back to life, but he did know for sure, that he would go to him. David was comforted by this truth. He knew there would be a day when he would be reunited with his son. In the writings of the New Covenant Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew) saw that people were troubled by thoughts of the afterlife so He offered this encouragement to them. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3)." He wanted them (and us) to know that there is an eternal home waiting for us, and that He personally was going there to get it ready for us. Then when it's all ready, He promised to come and get us, and personally escort us to our new home. This is wonderful news!
Yeshua offers this wonderful promise, but what must we do to receive it? I would like to first share with you a story from a Jewish prayer book." Alexander knocked at the gate of Paradise, and the guardian angel asked, "Who is there?" "Alexander," was the answer. "Who is Alexander?" came the further question. "Alexander, you know, the Alexander, Alexander the Great, Conqueror of the World." "We know him not," was the reply: "He cannot enter here. This is the gate of the Lord: only the righteous may enter" (Hertz Daily Prayer Book, p. 770)." In Psalm 23 it says, "He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." There are many different paths we can choose throughout our life. But when we let God, and specifically Yeshua, be our Shepherd, we can be certain that He will lead us to the right paths. Yeshua declared, "I am the way (path) and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)."
Why is He the path that leads to eternal life with our Heavenly Father? He died for our sins. The Bible teaches that our sins separate us from our Father in Heaven (Isaiah 59:1-2). Ancient Jewish writing teaches the same.
"... to murder a person is only to remove him from this world, but to cause him to sin is to exclude him from the World to Come as well." (Sifre Deut. 252; 120a (Everyman's Talmud by A. Cohen p. 102))
"...However true it be that repentance is possible up to the moment of death, it is considered unwise to postpone it. 'R. Eliezer said, 'Repent one day before your death.' His disciples asked him, `Does, then anybody know on which day he will die?' He replied to them, 'How much more reason is there for him to repent today, lest he be dead to-morrow; and as a consequence all his days will be spent in repentance.'" (Shab. 153a (Everyman's Talmud by A. Cohen p. 109 - 110))
Sin keeps us from the World to Come, or Heaven. When we live our lives walking down the wrong path, we have no way of being cleansed or forgiven of our sins. But Yeshua is the "right" path to the Father because He cleansed and forgave us of all our sins when He died for us. Right now He is preparing a place in Heaven for those who are walking His path; for those (sheep) who let Him lead them (as a Shepherd). David was confident that he would live in the House of the Lord forever. Are you? If you are following your Shepherd He will ultimately lead you there. Because of these promises in the Bible we do not need to fear death. It is only the beginning of a wonderful eternity with God. It is sad when someone we love dies. But we are encouraged by Yeshua's Words that He is preparing a place for us so therefore we will only be apart for awhile. Like David, we can be confident that we will see our loved ones again. |
