10/1990 - The Great Shepherd - III. - The Shepherd Who is the King of Glory

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle" (Psalm 24:1,7-8).

The Great Shepherd is a multifaceted Shepherd. There is in the Psalms of David a marvelous trilogy—22,23,24. These embody, in a prophetic sense, the three facets of the Great Shepherd. Psalm 22 is the Good Shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep; Psalm 23 is the Caring Shepherd, who nourishes the sheep; and Psalm 24 depicts the Great Shepherd who is also the Lord of glory. These Psalms should all be read together (see author’s book, "David, The Man of The Heart").

David was the shepherd who became a king. He wrote eloquently of these roles. Jesus was the Shepherd who also became the King of Glory entering into the gates of eternity which He had occupied with God in the ages past. He did not come as the King who was also a shepherd. He came as the Shepherd who was also a king. He knew the humiliation of the human—created of God unto glory and fallen into a state of wretchedness through the entrance of Satan and of evil. Despite the efforts of Satan to thwart the purposes of God and ravage the creation, the ultimate end of all things is the Glory of God. Jesus was glorified; the people of God will be glorified; the very creation of God itself will be glorified. Satan will not prevail. The fulfillment of God’s purposes on the earth will be so magnificent as to totally outweigh all the ages of agony that have overwhelmed the people of God throughout human history. It seems now so impossible—so unlikely—that God can make anything glorious out of this chaotic earthly realm. But it is God’s Word—believe it.

We have sought on occasion to define the word glory. Perhaps it is really not possible for the human mind. Whatever glory is, it is whatever God is and whatever His eternal purposes are and it is the unutterable and indefinable majesty of the universe He has created. And we who are His children not only shall participate in this glory, but do now participate in it inasmuch as we are partakers of His Divine nature.

It is vital to realize in the pursuit of glory, that the seed planted in this tiny speck on the earth which is in turn a tiny speck in the universe, has within it the seed of the Holy Spirit, which bursts the bounds of the earthly cocoon and shares with God His nature and glory now. This is the answer to the age old question of how a minute particle in the universe could ever seriously consider itself to be in communion with the Eternal and Infinite Creator.

In the majestic Psalm 24—Christ is portrayed as entering into His eternal glory. He has gone through the ordeal of His earthly sojourn; He has suffered the agonies of the human existence; He has known the humiliation of the human odyssey; He has known the crushing impact of the sin of the world laid upon Him; He has suffered the agonies of the cross; He has been raised by the power of God, having successfully completed His mission; and now He enters the gates of glory.

The Lord is my Shepherd . . . David uses the name Yahweh. Yahweh means "The Eternally Existent One." The reason the word "Lord" here appears in place of it, is that the Rabbis never wanted to pronounce the name Yahweh lest they be profaning it. Therefore they said always Lord—Adonai—to guard against it. When the later transcribers added vowel points, they put in the vowels of Adonai so that one would remember not to pronounce Yahweh. The King James is quite correct in using "Lord," although it really was a substitute for Yahweh. The revised version used the vowels of Adonai with the consonants of Yahweh and came up with a hybrid—Jehovah—which really does not do justice to the concept. The glory of God in part rests in His eternal nature.

The earth is the Lord’s . . . David uses here the same name—Yahweh. The same Eternally Existent One that governs the universe is also the Shepherd. And the Shepherd, who nourishes His people is also the Master of the universe. The surgeon who is the specialist in the human physiognomy is also able to be the most gentle and sensitive in his dealings with it. It is obvious that the One who has fashioned the human frame and guides and governs the universe around it, is most capable of being the gentle Shepherd who nourishes His creatures.

Yahweh is the preincarnate name for Christ. When the Pharisees encountered Jesus and chided him for His youth, He responded by saying, "Before Abraham was, I am." He used there the Greek equivalent of the word Yahweh. He declared thereby His eternal existence.

Who is this King of Glory? The answer comes back like the sound of blaring trumpets—Yahweh Strong and Mighty. The Hebrew words have to do with power and majesty—strength and heroism.

The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. And thus is the Great Shepherd, the Lamb of God who laid down His life for the sheep; the Shepherd who guides and guards and nourishes them; the King of glory who lifts us to our eternal place with God.