Seeking Shepherd, Lamb of God

The dumb, careless sheep who got himself in trouble is you. Jesus is the Shepherd who came to rescue you. This painting illustrates His love for you and His mission on the earth. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. To do that, He became the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The Shepherd became the Lamb. A paradox and a mystery worthy of meditation.

God Made Embryo?

Big enough to “contain” God?

Matthew 1: Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. God made embryo. “The fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Him?” (Colossians 2:9) In a fertilized egg? The incarnation completely overturns our concepts of time and space. The Eternal One enters human time in a mortal body. The Infinite One becomes finite., even small, even tiny. Impossible, but then He said that nothing is impossible with Him and moreover that nothing is even hard for Him. A definite glimpse of God, if such a glimpse can even fit in our finite minds.

Here, we meditate not just on the Virgin Birth, but on a non-scientific fertilization/conception. The Word emanated from the Godhead via the Holy Spirit, another glimpse into the mystery of the Trinity, a contradiciton far beyond paradox. In Jesus we see synthesized the incompatible, two natures, one human, one divine, blended in “hypostatic union,” according to traditional Christian theology.

This was a union to bring forth a Second Adam, who would save the descendants of the First Adam. The sinless One who would become sin. The Good Shepherd who would become the Lamb of God. Creator Elohim would be Immanuel, “God with us.” Deliverer Yahweh would become “Yahweh shua (Yeshua-Jesus, “Yahweh saves”). He would save us from our sins.

He probably didn’t look that unusual on the outside.

Lamb of God and Shepherd

“Come, meet Me at the Mercy Seat!”

While reading in Hebrews this morning, I re-encountered one of many divine mysteries and paradoxes. Jesus “ever lives to make intercession for us.” He prays in the heavenly tabernacle (of which the tabernacle in the wilderness was a copy). He is the Great High Priest AND the sacrifice, having offered His own blood on the altar, only once-for-all sins, once-for-all time. AND Jesus referred to His body as the temple.

Both the Lamb and the Shepherd

John tell us He is the “lamb of God” AND He later calls Himself “the Good Shepherd” AND “the gate for the sheep.” Because of His ability to fill multiple roles, I can walk through the veil and enter the throne of Grace with confidence to find mercy and help in time of need. I don’t have to understand grace fully to receive it.