Participants: William Shea
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000377
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00:30 My name is William Shea.
00:31 I'm a retired Seminary Professor. 00:34 Welcome to Faith Chapel. 00:35 Our topic today is the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23. 00:39 Let us pray as we begin. Loving Heavenly Father, 00:43 we thank you for Your promise to be our Good Shepherd. 00:48 We thank you for the way in which You provide for us. 00:51 We thank you for the way in which You protect us, 00:54 and we ask You now to lead us in Your thoughts in this Psalm, 00:58 in Jesus name, amen. 01:03 David had plenty of experience as Shepherd. 01:07 In fact, there is an extra Psalm we can call it Psalm 151, 01:12 which is a meditation by David, when he was out among the sheep. 01:19 It didn't make it into the Canonical Bible, 01:22 but it's known in several scrolls. 01:24 And it's a very beautiful text, 01:26 but here we have David's experience with the sheep. 01:30 And he uses the sheep as a symbol or a metaphor for us. 01:35 He gives us three brief word pictures, 01:38 the first one is of sheep, the second one is of the sheep, 01:42 but the third one is not of sheep 01:44 and we'll see what that turns 01:45 to when we come to the end of the Psalm. 01:49 The text is known very well and we'll read the text 01:52 from the screen now. You all know it, 01:55 and so you can read along with me. 01:57 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 02:00 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 02:04 he leadeth me beside the still waters. 02:07 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me 02:10 in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 02:15 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 02:18 I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; 02:22 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 02:25 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: 02:30 thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. 02:34 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 02:37 all the days of my life. 02:39 And I will dwell in the house of The Lord for ever." 02:43 I might begin by telling you my story with Psalm 23. 02:48 I grew up in Southern California in a not very religious home. 02:53 My father was an agnostic; my mother was an Episcopalian, 02:57 which meant we went to church at least two, 02:59 two Sundays per year. But somehow or another 03:03 my parents decided that I should go to YMCA Camp, 03:07 when I was about 10 years of age? 03:09 So, I went off from the bus had a very enjoyable time 03:13 in the mountains of Southern California. 03:15 And one of things we did at that camp was to earn merit batches. 03:20 And the merit batches were little squares of leather 03:22 with a thong that you put around your neck. 03:25 And the way I could earn one of these merit batches 03:28 was to memorize Psalm 23. So, I memorized Psalm 23 03:33 and earn my, recited it and earned my merit batch. 03:36 But at that time Psalm 23 didn't mean anything to me, 03:40 it just meant an assignment to memorize. 03:43 It wasn't until 6 or 7 years later 03:46 that I really met the Good Shepherd of the Psalm. 03:49 When he, I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. 03:53 So, the first picture that we have at the Psalm 03:57 is that of the Shepherd providing for the sheep. 04:00 The Good Shepherd as provider. Well, what a sheep need? 04:05 Their needs are fairly simple and the first one 04:07 we point out is green pastures. 04:10 Now, you need to understand a little bit 04:14 about the climate in the Middle East, 04:16 or more specifically in Israel. 04:19 The rainy season starts in November 04:22 that's when all the school children go back to school. 04:25 And the rainy season ends late March or early April 04:28 and after that there's basically no rain at all. 04:33 Now, by the end of the rainy season 04:35 all of the hills of Israel are green because of the watering 04:39 and the growth of the grass, but when the summer heat 04:44 comes on it all turns brown. So, some tourists go to 04:48 the Middle East at Passover time, 04:50 which is the spring time. And then they can see 04:53 the green hills of Israel. But most tourists 04:56 from North America go there during summer time, 04:59 when the summer heat has already come on 05:01 and the hills are browned out. 05:03 Now, at the beginning of the dry season, 05:07 late March, early April, any Shepherd, 05:11 a bad Shepherd or a dump Shepherd could find grass. 05:15 You just let the sheep out and there is the grass, 05:17 but the Good Shepherd knows from studying 05:21 what happens to the grass. 05:23 He knows where the grass will be, 05:26 when the time is the driest. And so, they had a circuit 05:31 and they would take the sheep down near the low lands first 05:34 and then little-by-little as the summer heat came on 05:37 they would bring the sheep farther-and-farther up the hills 05:39 until they ended in the central mountain range, 05:42 where Hebron is, where Jacob lived 05:45 or Jerusalem which is about 3000 feet of elevation. 05:49 So, there was this process. In fact, we find an interesting 05:52 Biblical illustration of this you may remember 05:55 the story of Jacob and Joseph and his brothers. 05:59 The brothers were pasturing their sheep at Dothan; 06:04 Jacob was living in Hebron, 06:05 that's at least 75 miles probably more. 06:09 And he send Joseph off to see his brothers. 06:12 Why were the brothers so far away from home? 06:14 Because they were making this circuit that the pastures made, 06:18 the Shepherds made. And so, this was the way 06:24 that the Good Shepherd would get the maximum amount 06:27 of green grass for the sheep, because he knew just exactly 06:31 where to get the grass. 06:33 The dump Shepherd or the bad Shepherd 06:35 he didn't care he just let the sheep out 06:37 and then the sheep would go hungry in summer time 06:40 when the hills were all brown, 06:42 because he had not made preparation. 06:45 Well, something else the sheep need of course is water. 06:48 It's difficult to live very long with out water 06:53 you can only live 7 or 8 minutes without water, 06:55 or without oxygen, at least your brain will live that long. 06:58 Now water you can go for a couple of days 07:01 or perhaps a little more, but especially in a very 07:04 hot climate it's very difficult. And it has an interesting 07:08 descriptive word here, still waters, why still waters? 07:13 Well, I mentioned the climate and when the rains come. 07:17 Now, the central mountain range of Israel 07:21 has a number of valleys and these valleys 07:24 do not have any running water during the dry season. 07:28 But, when the rains start, these valleys as they're called, 07:31 flow with water and that's dangerous for the sheep, 07:35 because then you get flash floods in these valleys 07:38 and the sheep can be carried away 07:41 and killed by the flash floods. 07:43 In fact, there is at least one case 07:44 where tourists were trapped by a flash flood and killed. 07:49 So, you don't want to put the sheep 07:52 near the rapidly rushing waters because that's dangerous. 07:55 You want to put the sheep near the still waters, 07:58 the calm waters and that's the best place 08:01 to take in that refreshing water that is so necessary 08:05 in the Middle Eastern heat. They say the one thing that 08:09 an Arab Bedouin will not do is deprive a visitor of water 08:14 in the desert. Well, then we come to the third thing 08:19 that a sheep needs and a sheep needs guidance, 08:21 so I'm told and I don't know this to be true for sure. 08:25 That sheep are not very intelligent creatures, 08:28 they need somebody to guide them, 08:29 they need somebody to put them on the right trial. 08:32 Now, there is an interesting play on words here. 08:35 It says, "He guides me in the paths of righteousness 08:38 for his name's sake." Now, that word righteousness 08:43 can also be translated right, 08:45 you see when it applies to sheep, it's the right path. 08:48 You don't get off the path to the right 08:50 or get off to the path to the left, 08:52 but when it applies to humans 08:54 as we apply this metaphor for sheep, 08:56 it's paths of righteousness, right living, living for God, 09:01 obedience to our Heavenly Father. 09:03 Receiving he Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us 09:07 in the way that is best for us. 09:10 And it says for his name sake. Now, you may remember 09:15 the story of Moses in the wilderness. 09:17 God became very upset with the people 09:19 when they were down in the camp at the foot of Mount Sinai. 09:22 And they were worshiping the golden calf 09:24 when he had just brought them out of Egypt, 09:27 what a strange conduct they entered into there. 09:31 And so, God says to Moses, now look, 09:34 let's just leave these people alone I'll take you 09:37 and start over and make a new people with you. 09:41 And Moses argument is, Lord, don't do that 09:44 because then the people will know for the sake of Your name 09:48 and Your honor and Your glory. 09:50 The people will say that You led them out here 09:52 in the wilderness to die. When I know and you know, 09:56 that it was in your mercy and graciousness 09:59 that you led them here. 10:00 Led them out of the house of bondage, 10:02 led them out of the house of slavery. 10:04 So, it was for the sake of the honor of God's name 10:07 that Moses accepted to continue to lead this troublesome people 10:12 in the wilderness. And so, here too God's name 10:15 needs to be honored by the paths we walk in. 10:18 We can demonstrate to the world what kind of sheep we are, 10:22 by the conduct of our lives, by the way we reflect Jesus. 10:29 Well, we come to the middle passage. 10:32 And again he's talking about sheep, 10:35 and it says that we need the Good Shepherd 10:37 to lead us through troublous times. 10:40 Now, in the Middle East the valleys, 10:43 which we're talking about the valley 10:45 of the shadow of death could be dangerous places. 10:48 When the caravans came up through the valleys, 10:50 the thieves and robbers would post themselves 10:53 on the sides of the valleys, and as the caravan came along 10:57 they would come down and fight with or steal from the caravan 11:02 as they pass through the valleys on up into the mountains. 11:06 We have a vivid illustration of that in modern Israel, 11:09 in the war of 1947, early 1948 there was only a narrow quarter 11:15 between coastal Israel and Jerusalem. 11:19 And so, the whole supply line for Jerusalem went up 11:23 through this one valley, but it was dangerous going 11:27 because the gunners of the enemy 11:29 would fire down on those convoys. 11:32 And so, when you go there today you will see some half tracks, 11:36 which were used for supply vehicles, 11:39 armored half tracks that are left by the side of the roads, 11:42 some of them in a burn out condition 11:45 as a national monument for what their soldiers 11:49 did to supply Jerusalem. This is a vivid illustration 11:52 of how dangerous valleys can be, but God says, 11:56 when we go through the valley of the shadow of death, 11:59 He will be with us and his rod and his staff will comfort us. 12:05 Now, it's little curious isn't it? 12:07 That we have two instruments not one. 12:10 The rod was just a plain rod which was used fending off 12:13 wild animals or even human enemies. 12:17 The staff is the staff with the Shepherd's crook 12:20 as you know and that was used for guiding the sheep. 12:22 So, here we have protection from enemies 12:26 and guiding the sheep in the right way. 12:29 Well, I'm sure you've had some experiences 12:31 in which you've been through the valley of the shadow of death. 12:34 I've had several, I'll just recite one or two. 12:39 My wife and I were driving from the South Bend, Indiana Airport 12:43 back into Michigan. We came to the town of Barium Springs, 12:47 this is December of 1966 and as we're approaching 12:52 the bridge there is a kind of sharp curve from the bridge, 12:55 a Semi, which was riding empty came across the bridge 13:00 and you know, the signs would say bridge 13:02 for you freezes first. As he made the turn 13:05 he flipped his trailer in front of us, 13:08 we were driving in a Volkswagen Squareback 13:11 and we went underneath his trailer 13:13 and he dragged us at least a 100 yards down the road 13:16 before he realized what had happened. 13:20 Well, it took 45 minutes to get our car out 13:22 from underneath the Semi, and it took the jaws of a life 13:26 to open the doors so that they can get us out. 13:29 I was not badly injured, I had a dislocated hip 13:33 which has since been replaced because of that accident, 13:37 but my wife had a ruptured spleen 13:40 and by the time they got her to the hospital, 13:42 she had no blood pressure. 13:46 Now, it's interesting to see how the Lord works things out 13:49 because two cars behind us was the wife of the doctor 13:54 on the university campus where I taught. 13:56 She immediately went to a phone in town, 13:58 called her husband and said there's been a bad accident 14:00 at the bridge, you better come. 14:04 What happened was the ambulance driver wanted to 14:07 take us to the nearest hospital, 14:09 which was just 2 or 3 miles away, 14:11 rather poorly equipped County Hospital 14:14 which had no blood bank. My wife, meanwhile 14:18 was bleeding out from this ruptured spleen, 14:21 but he insisted and argued with the ambulance driver 14:24 and had him take us to a more distant hospital. 14:27 And that more distant hospital they did have a well 14:30 equipped blood bank and she was able to survive 14:33 and still living today. So, God went with us 14:36 through that horrendous experience, 14:39 I don't know too many people who have come out 14:42 from underneath a Semi in a wrecked car and still lived, 14:46 but God was gracious to us and preserved us through that, 14:50 as we went through that particular valley 14:52 of the shadow of death. One other brief experience, 14:55 I was teaching in Peru and when I finished my teaching course 14:59 I flew from there to teach in Brazil. 15:02 And the flight in Brazil went to first of all to Rio 15:06 and then it went from Rio to Sao Paulo. 15:09 The flight from Rio to Sao Paulo was in a rain storm 15:12 and as the pilot brought the plane down to land in Sao Paulo, 15:16 I was sitting in a window seat and I looked out and it was 15:21 rather rough as we came down and I looked out 15:24 and as I looked out, I saw the runway over there, 15:27 we were not on the runway at all. 15:29 Fortunately, the pilot he could see his air 15:32 in this big rain storm and pulled the plane up 15:35 we went back to Rio and sat there for 2 hours 15:37 to the rain storm had passed on. 15:39 And then we flew in very safely, 15:42 but had he tried to make the landing, 15:43 I'm sure the results would have been fairly disastrous. 15:47 Well, the Lord is good and the Lord preserves 15:51 and the Lord can be with you even as you go through 15:55 those valleys of the shadow of death. 15:57 And whether we survive or not we know that 16:01 the Good Shepherd is with us through those experiences. 16:06 Well, we come to the third picture 16:09 and as I mentioned the third picture 16:11 is not a picture of sheep. Why not? 16:14 Because what happens with the sheep at the end of the season, 16:18 after they've been out in the fields, 16:20 after they've been through that cycle of searching for grass. 16:24 When they're brought home, they were put, 16:26 they were put in the sheepfold, 16:28 in the Middle East and you can still see this 16:30 in some places today. The sheepfold is underneath 16:33 the house it's like a cave underneath that house. 16:36 And so, you have the house up above 16:38 and kind of a cave underneath and the livestock are kept 16:41 in that cave underneath. But, that expression does not 16:47 express closely enough the relationship 16:51 between God and his human sheep here. 16:55 And so, when you come home from the fields, 16:58 the sheep go into the sheep end, but you, 17:01 as the precious human sheep of God are taken into the house. 17:06 Not only are you taken into the house, 17:09 but you're taken into a banquet room, 17:13 and there he spreads before you all the beautiful 17:16 delicacies that could celebrate the return. 17:20 And so, we think a little bit about the Prodigal Son 17:23 in the parable of the Prodigal Son. 17:25 When the Prodigal Son came home, 17:27 the father was so happy to have them home 17:30 that he spread every good thing before him, 17:32 he made a feast and of course the other son was jealous. 17:36 But the feast which was served and spread out 17:39 before the Prodigal Son is a representation 17:42 of the kind of feast which God will give to us 17:47 when He brings us, finally brings us home. 17:50 Now, it says that he'll anoint our heads with oil 17:56 and he'll serve this feast or this banquet before us 18:01 in the presence of our enemies. 18:03 Now, there is an interesting story going on here 18:07 and it's your enemies will look and see how God has exalted 18:12 you with this wonderful blessing. 18:16 There's an interesting story. 18:18 Well, there is a Christian writer who says, 18:22 God is performing acts of redemption so marvelous, 18:28 that even Satan and his hosts stands back in amazement 18:33 to see the transformations that are taking place 18:36 in the lives of human beings. This Psalm we often think of 18:41 as a wisdom Psalm. And it is you know, 18:45 we've different categories or classifications of Psalms 18:49 and this is a wisdom Psalm, because it shows us 18:52 the wisdom of how God leads us, 18:55 how God provides for us and how God protects us. 18:59 But there is another story to it and that is reuse of the Psalm. 19:04 It's used in another place, 19:07 we don't often think of Psalm 23, 19:10 the Good Shepherd Psalm as a prophetic text, 19:14 but it is used in a prophetic context 19:16 in a very interesting place. And for that I'd liked to go 19:19 with you to the book of Revelation Chapter 7. 19:22 Now, Revelation Chapter 7, the first half of the chapter 19:28 deals with the ceiling of the 144,000. 19:32 And then starting with verse 9, we've another scene 19:36 in which John looks into heaven and he sees a great multitude 19:39 around the throne, and they are crying 19:42 with the loud voice salvation to our God who sits on the throne 19:45 and to the Lamb. And the angels were standing by 19:48 and they're worshiping God and the 24 elders were there. 19:51 And then as John looks at this great crowd 19:56 one of the angels talked to him and the angel says, 19:59 who are these? Where do they come from? 20:02 And John says, I don't know who they are. 20:06 And the angel says to him, these are the ones 20:09 who come out of great tribulation 20:11 and they've washed their robes and made them white 20:13 in the blood of the Lamb. Now, begins the use of Psalm 23. 20:18 "For this reason they are before the throne of God 20:22 and they serve Him day and night in His temple 20:26 and he who sits on the throne 20:28 will spread His tabernacle over them." 20:32 Think of the sheep out on those hot fields, 20:35 how they would have liked to have had shade, 20:38 and God provides that shade and more. 20:41 They will hunger no longer nor thirst anymore, 20:45 do you remember what it says that that the Good Shepherd 20:48 will provide for the sheep? He provides green grass, 20:52 he provides pasture, he provides for their hunger 20:56 and he provides the still waters, 20:58 he provides for their thirst. Nor will the sun be down on them 21:03 nor any heat, for the lamb in the center of the throne 21:09 will be their what? Their Shepherd 21:12 and will guide them to springs of the water of life 21:18 and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." 21:21 Now, the interesting thing about this scene is, 21:24 who the Shepherd is? After all this is in heaven 21:28 and you might think of the Shepherd there being a great 21:31 and mighty being like the, a leading angel 21:35 and so when you turned to look and see who the Shepherd is, 21:39 instead you see a little lamb. The lamb is the Shepherd, 21:45 you can see the paradox. The lamb is the Shepherd, 21:48 the lamb who died on the Cross of Calvary, 21:50 for the saints, who now are in heaven, 21:54 who are now having the full 21:55 and complete experience of Psalm 23; 21:59 they see that little Lamb as the Shepherd. 22:03 The Book of Revelation is sometimes called 22:06 the Book of the Lamb; the title of Lamb is used 22:09 for Jesus in this, in this book 26 times. 22:14 And here there's an interesting connection 22:16 between the Lamb and the Shepherd. 22:19 Well, we've looked at what the Good Shepherd 22:22 can do for the sheep in the first stanza of this poem. 22:26 We've looked at the protection that the Good Shepherd 22:28 can offer in the second stanza of this poem 22:31 and we look at the abundant provision 22:34 that the Good Shepherd makes when he brings the sheep home. 22:40 And so, we look forward to the great festival banquet 22:43 which will occur when Jesus comes 22:46 and Jesus will bring the saints to the living waters of heaven 22:51 just as it says here. The springs of the water life. 22:55 You see it's not the, the dangerous rapid water's, 22:58 it's not even the still waters of Israel, 23:02 it's the water of life. And so, when we think 23:06 of the water of life we think of Jesus 23:09 when He entered the temple. 23:11 He entered the temple on the day of the Feast of Tabernacles 23:15 and the Feast of Tabernacles 23:16 part of its celebration involved water, 23:18 because it celebrated the time when God 23:22 in the wilderness provided water miraculously, 23:24 when Moses spoke to the rock and when Moses struck the rock. 23:28 And then Jesus says, in John 7:37. 23:33 "In the last day, that great day of the feast, 23:36 Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, 23:40 let him come unto me and drink. 23:43 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, 23:46 out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." 23:51 You see our responsibility is not just to accept 23:54 the water of life, which we obviously 23:57 do that as the first stage. But we have a responsibility 24:00 in turn to give it to others. So, Jesus goes directly 24:05 from the first stage where He supplies the water, 24:08 to the second stage where we supply the water to others. 24:12 We've had the case of this fashion model, 24:15 who supplied the living water of Jesus to this poor drugged man 24:20 and it turned his life around and changed his life, 24:23 so that he came into harmony with the Lord Jesus. 24:26 So much so that he could become a choir member 24:29 in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. 24:30 Well, we have that obligation too. 24:33 We're not only to experience the Good Shepherd as our provider. 24:38 We're not only to experience the Good Shepherd as our protector. 24:42 And not only to experience him as our great leader 24:45 and provider of the great feast at the last day, 24:48 but we are to experience Him as the one who provides 24:53 the living water that we may give it to others. 24:56 It's our responsibility and God will bless us as we do it. |
Revised 2014-12-17