23.1 A Shepherd's Heart
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The next two sessions, “The Rooms In-Between” and “Led by the Spirit,” are about the practical outworking of the mystery of God – God manifest in the flesh. That is, we will explore practical outward ministry in the context of Christian Community.
In this session, then, we want to continue setting out how the ninth ruling verse of the Bible, the manifestation of the sons of God, works as the end-point of the great contention of God set forth in the beginning. And how it works inside of the local Church as Community.
The FIRST outward appearance of true substance, the appearance of God Himself, is Christians loving one another.
The Pattern of Mystery. God’s pattern of mystery begins in the garden with the accusation of the serpent against God, that His Word is not true. Nonetheless, even though the contest was between Word and Accusation, the decider was Adam. Adam chose accusation because by it he could manipulate and control the people in his life. Adam was disgusted with Eve, and, in holding Eve in contempt, he chose the accusation of his face against her face.
Let’s take that a step further, for we are getting right at the heart of the issue. In fact, could this be the primary issue, inside the strong forehead of the man? – “I will control what this disgusting other thinks about me by controlling her.”
A Change of Title. I have just returned from another trip up to the Christian Community in Upsala, Canada, this time for my son’s graduation from high school. We were able to visit, then, with different brethren there and on the return trip. I had wanted to write this session before I left, but I did not have time. For that reason, the proof and witness of Christ was the topic I held in my heart, and thus, as usual, everything God was teaching me was for this next lesson.
While I was sitting in the graduation service, God gave me a new way of seeing, a way of seeing I have never known before. And in that moment, the title of this lesson changed to the heart of a Shepherd – “A Shepherd’s Heart.” Here alone is the proof of Christ.
A New Way of Seeing. Then, the Lord proceeded to place before my eyes four different brothers and sisters over the next several days, brethren for whom I had one reason or another to think poorly. Under the shadow of my own human dislike, I practiced the Mercy Seat until I saw the same individuals, no longer through my own eyes, but through the eyes of the Shepherd.
This lesson, then, is to share with you that new way of seeing. It is never the others who change, but our own eyes. And thus I am speaking entirely of the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, the removal of Adam’s beast skin from off my eyes, so that I might see all others through Jesus’ eyes in an entirely different way. But first we must place “the proof of Christ.”
The Judge. The manifestation of the sons of God – better translated as the removal of the cover from off the sons of God, or even further, the removal of the beast skin from off the eyes of the sons of God so that they now see as Jesus sees, through His eyes alone, is the culmination of the courtroom trial begun in Eden.
Here are the Bible statements regarding the verdict issued in that 6000-year-long trial in which God stands accused as a liar. – And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them (Revelation 20:4) – Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged {when You are accused}” (Romans 3:4).
The serpent was the accuser, but Adam was the judge.
Calling God a Liar. I now understand perfectly and precisely this entire issue, an issue which I have sought to understand since I began writing these letters. Almost all preachers I have ever heard have preached the gospel of the serpent at the congregation, calling God a liar and seeing her with contempt. And I can show you simply and clearly how that is so every single time. What Paul called “the manifestation of the sons of God” is the final piece of evidence as well as the verdict given in this trial of God accused of lying by His creation. Another term for this final evidence and verdict is “Jesus proven faithful and true.”
Faithful and True. Let’s set forth the verses of this proof of Christ.
These things says the “Let it be [as God says],” the faithful and true Witness, the source {and consummation} of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14 – JSV). – I saw heaven having been opened, and look, a white horse and the Sitting upon it, called Faithful and True, and inside of righteousness He judges and wages war (Revelation 19:11-12a – JSV). We understand the meaning of “waging war” inside the trial of God accused of lying – Jesus as God’s defense attorney. – Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true” (Revelation 22:6a).
Placing the Judge. Our problem has been this. Even though we are calling God true by faith, yet we have seen this entire trial still through the eyes of the accuser and not through the eyes of the Shepherd.
You and I stand in the place of Adam in this great indictment against God. And for that reason, in order for us to know the incredible place and meaning of possessing “a Shepherd’s Heart,” we must know Adam’s exact place and role as judge. It was Adam alone who gave the verdict of “GUILTY as charged” against Father. And thus we see that the most terrible words in all the Bible have become ever more horrific to our understanding. – Adam was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14).
Adam’s Verdict. Adam saw everything with perfect clarity. Adam knew God; Adam saw the Lamb upon the cross and he saw the serpent in the tree and he knew both exactly as they are. Adam saw all the centuries of consequence coming out from the judgment he must make. He saw a universe of life and he saw a universe of death. – Adam was NOT deceived. Adam alone gave the verdict – God lied to me about me!
And so we see that Eve was just an ephemeral excuse, a pretend excuse in Adam’s mind; it was God, and what God LOOKS LIKE that disgusted Adam.
The Easiest Trick. The lie of the serpent works because it is so simple; it is the easiest trick of psychology and the same thing works every single time (one ring to rule them all). Take anything God says, anything at all, and say to another – “You can do that; you can be like that.” – “You shall be like God –”.
And when the woman hears those words as if they are God’s words to her, ONLY one thing will ever come to her mind. “Oh, then, obviously, right now, I am NOT what God looks like. I am NOT God’s appearance in creation, even though God SAYS that I am.”
But you can be – IF you subscribe to my particular scheme of self-improvement. (And it is entirely your fault that you are not like Jesus, you who are so contemptible to me).
Judging God False. Every single individual human being, you and I included, stand always in Adam’s place as JUDGE, as the judge giving the verdict for or against God. And all other humans in each of our lives stand in the place of Eve to us. Eve is God’s appearance to us. We imagine ourselves to be accusing Eve, but we are not. It is God alone whom we find guilty as charged – this disgusting person is not YOU, Jesus.
Whatever you do [say, think, or feel] to the least of these My brethren, you ARE doing it to Me. In every moment of interaction with you, as I make judgments regarding you, I am judging God false or true.
In the Hard Press. Now, we dare not imagine in our fantasy that we would chose to “see Jesus alone.” Our real verdict comes ONLY in the hard press of forehead against forehead, contention against contention, contempt against contempt.
I cringe whenever I hear someone proclaim, in innocent but misguided sincerity, “Oh, when we get into Christian community, we are just going to ‘love one another.’” I cringe because I KNOW that when push comes to shove, this same person will certainly hold me in the deepest of contempt. And inside that deepest of contempt for God (we ARE as He is), we stand as the JUDGE.
Giving My Verdict. In that graduation service, God gave me a wondrously new set of eyes, the eyes of the Shepherd. Then, in the days following, He placed four differing individuals before my same eyes, individuals for whom I naturally hold, or would hold some disdain. In each of those instances, I gave my verdict, neither easily nor immediately, but entirely through the Mercy Seat – “God, You are beautiful to me, just as You are, appearing now to me as this one.”
We cannot know the Church unless we know this great issue of judgment against God, of finding God guilty of all charges against Him. But we will continue that topic in the next lesson. Here we want to discover, just a bit more clearly, what it really means to see as Jesus sees, out from a Shepherd’s heart.
Carried by the Shepherd. There was a practice among shepherds of ancient times, wandering with their sheep through trackless wastes, a practice meant to keep rambunctious male lambs safe. You see, some male lambs especially liked to go exploring on their own. Soon they would be lost where lions and bears prowl. The shepherd knew that a lesser hurt is far better than being ripped to shreds by a bear. And so the shepherd would take the wayward lamb, and gently break its front leg so that it could not walk. Then, the shepherd would bind the break and place that lamb upon his shoulders, carrying it in a way through which it could not go itself. Being carried by the shepherd changed the heart of that lamb, and it never wanted to stray again.
My Heart Is Bound. And such has been the story of my life. How many times I have run in this direction and that (and I am a persistent explorer) only to find my strength crippling beneath of me, landing me flat on my face in the dirt. And how many times I have known my Shepherd to carry me upon His shoulders through a way I could not go.
It is this One who carries me to whom my heart is bound forever.
Some who have never sheparded imagine such a practice to be “cruel.” To be carried by Jesus with my own “strength” broken is the only place I ever want to be, the comfort and strength of my heart.
Growing up into Him. Here is where God mixes metaphors. That lamb, broken of his own strength and carried by the Shepherd, does not grow up to be a “ram” in God’s metaphor. The lamb, carried by Jesus, grows up to be the Shepherd through him. – May grow up in all things into Him (Ephesians 4:15).
As I looked upon that congregation at my son’s graduation, I saw a precious people who were lost in a theology that teaches them that they are on their own, far away from God, that Jesus does not carry them. They draw as near to the Holiest as they can while never entering in. And I could see in their words and upon their faces that they were frightened deep down inside.
It Is Not Their Fault. Of course, being humans, that core of inner fear is always masked over by the boasting of “correct theology” and membership in the “right group.” But the eyes of the Shepherd see through the outward bravado to the lost and frightened heart inside.
You see, here is a fact of reality I have begun to face. It’s not their fault. God is not known. God has not yet revealed Himself as He is. Christians do not know God, and in not knowing God as He is, they are easily persuaded by the words of the serpent – “You are NOT like God, but you could be with my formula of self-improvement (seek the will of God and not your own, etc., etc.). These words sound “right,” but the end is only death.
It is not their fault. No human can know a God who is not known.
Seeing Fright and Treasure. And so the heart of the Shepherd knows the impossibility in which these precious brethren are caught, and sees the fear of their hearts – and so the Lord taught me to see on this trip. But if that is all I saw, when I looked at you, I would be entirely pretentious, as if “I above” were looking down on poor you.
You see, the Shepherd KNOWS something the sheep do not know. The Shepherd knows that they are NOT lost at all. The Shepherd is Jesus, and He is very good at His job.
And so, even while I see beyond your outer religiosity (and you through mine as well) to the frightened and lost heart of a lamb inside, in the same seeing, I also see Jesus as He is through you, value and wealth beyond measure.
To the Extent. To the extent that I know that I am carried by Jesus, to that same extent I know that Jesus through me carries you. And to the extent that I know that my Father values me as His supreme treasure, to that same extent I value all of the facets of ability and giftings, humor and wisdom, tears and concerns that are your personal expression of Father to me.
I am not the kind of person that people feel comfortable around, that makes others feel safe and strong. I am not a giving person. I am incapable of leading you forward in wisdom and strength. Even on the trip home, my Shepherd crippled my strength through something I ate. When I thought to “lead,” all I did was stumble and even offend.
Seeing God True. When I teach you these things, it’s not because I am an “expert” in them. I teach them because I know they are true.
There is only one Shepherd’s Heart, the Heart of Jesus Himself. And when the cover is removed from our eyes, the unveiling of the sons of God, the Heart of Jesus inside of us is the only heart we know.
It’s not that everyone now sees that we are “the sons of God.” It’s that we now see with Father’s eyes, through a Shepherd who carries all. And so even this great “manifestation of the sons of God” is quite the opposite of anything I have ever heard expressed.
God, You speak the truth. These precious brethren look exactly like You towards me.