My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27-28.
The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence. Psalm 50:1-3.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
The Bible is full of recorded conversations between Me and various people. I spoke with the first man and woman every day. You have accounts of My Words with Cain and his responses. You have records of My words to Noah and My conversations with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I tell you of My conversations with Moses and then with Joshua, and I could continue for there are many of these recorded conversations. And sometimes I would communicate by a prophet, an angel, or some other messenger (even a donkey). I spoke to those who were close to Me (like Abraham, Job, Moses, and Paul) and those who were not (like Cain, Abimelech, Gideon, and Nebuchadnezzar). But all this makes it very clear that I do talk with you and that you can hear My voice and carry on a meaningful conversation with Me. “The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence.” Psalm 50:1-3.
But now hearing from Me has a new aspect. What Job prayed for has happened. “For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, that we may go to judgment together. There is no umpire (mediator, daysman) between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both. Let Him remove His rod from me and let not dread of Him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear Him; but I am not like that in myself.” Job 9:32-35. Job wanted a mediator that understood man and understood God, who would remove judgment and the rod from Job and open the way for Job to come and speak to Me confidently without fear of his sins in the way. And I gave you exactly that in Jesus. He bore your sins and took the rod of your punishment, He is able to sympathize with your weaknesses, and He ushers you with confidence into My presence. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16.
But there is much more, for Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6. And it has to do with hearing My voice as we continue our series “How to Hear God’s Voice” with Life Lesson No. 2: “My sheep hear My voice.” For now I have not only given you a great High Priest but also your great good Shepherd. And this is the key to hearing My voice.
I spoke long ago to the patriarchs in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, but in these last days I speak to you in My Son, whom I appointed heir of all things, through whom also I made the world. And though He is the radiance of My glory and the exact representation of My nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power, you can gaze upon His face from your humanity. Hebrews 1:1-3. I have always spoken to you by My Word and in this age of grace, My Word became flesh and dwelt among you; one like you in every respect but sin. And now He is at My right hand ever making intercession for you. But more than that, when He was no longer going to walk among you in the flesh, He promised not to leave you orphans, but to come back to you.
When I raised Him from the dead as God and glorified Man in one seamless eternal life, I gave Him two offices of ministry to you, one being that I made Him your great High Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek (which was a grace covenant with Abraham and not a law covenant) and the other being that I made Him your great good Shepherd.
He is the High Priest of YOUR confession (homologia, which literally means speaking the same words He does in total agreement) which He presents to Me to perform in your life, but He is also your good Shepherd who guides you by HIS Words to you as spoken, taught, and brought to your remembrance by His Spirit in you and on you, the great and awesome Holy Spirit.
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21.
The High Priest atones for you in an eternal redemption, saves you, blesses you, intercedes for you, and offers Me the fruit of your lips that My Words declared by you may be performed in your life. And He brings you into the Holy of Holies with Him in the cloud of prayer.
The good Shepherd feeds you with His Word and sees to your physical needs (as He did on the hillside feeding the crowds with His Word, and as they heard they were healed, and then feeding them bread and fish), guides you, protects you, leads you on right paths, and equips you for every good work.
And both these offices I have bestowed on My glorified Son will be forever.
The eternal High Priest: “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:23-25.
And the eternal good Shepherd: “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:15-17.
Let us consider the good Shepherd and how it is that you hear My voice today.
Jesus gave a teaching on this and it is good to verify all by My Word. He began, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:1-10. There is so much here. First, Jesus explains to you that He is the door. He is the only way to enter into the Kingdom, and it has pleased Me to give the little flock of My Son the Kingdom. Jesus told you that you cannot enter or even see the Kingdom until you are born again by faith in Him as your Savior and Lord. And the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit for no one can say Jesus is Lord except through the Holy Spirit. And once you have entered by the way of Jesus you are saved and your spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and you are able to hear His voice and become His own sheep that He calls by name and leads you out of the slavery of sin and death to the green pastures and healing waters of My rest. It is through that door that you enter My rest, the place of grace, the place of abundant life.
And next He reveals to you the Shepherd that David sang of in Psalm 23 and I promised My prophet Ezekiel. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” John 10:11-15. Here you see that He is totally committed to serving your needs and protecting and taking care of you. He did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for you. And He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can be confident that He will reveal Himself to you so that you know Him. His own know Him. “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” John 14:21. And how does He reveal Himself to you? The same way anyone reveals their thoughts and heart to you, by their words. And Jesus is My Word to you, in revealing Himself to you, He reveals Me, for in seeing and hearing Him, you see and hear Me.
And He continues to tell you more about His ministry as your great good Shepherd, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” John 10:16. All you who were not from the line of Abraham are brought into the sheepfold of My covenant people and you will hear His voice and all become one in Him with Me. “Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:12-22. Now, through Him, by a new and living way, you have access to hearing My voice.
And Jesus told you more, the Jewish people that He walked among on earth were questioning Him as to whether He was the promised Messiah. John 10:22-24. Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:25-30.
There are insights and revelation here into hearing My voice. When you do not believe in Jesus you are saying My Word, My testimony, of Him is not true. And when you have rejected My truth you are left with a lie from the father of lies and you are still in your sins. You are dead to Me and alive to sin. And if you are dead to Me, you cannot hear from Me, no matter how loudly I call. But if by faith in Jesus and regeneration by the Spirit you have become alive to Me then you will hear My voice. So if you who are reading this have confessed Jesus as Lord and believed I raised Him from the dead, you have entered the door to the sheepfold, are one of His flock, and you do hear My voice. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The first person to refer to Me as a shepherd was himself a shepherd, and that was Jacob. And he knew what being a shepherd entailed. He went through heat and frost, sleepless nights, and hard work caring for the sheep to keep them safe and healthy. Genesis 31:38-41. And before he died after a long and satisfying life, when he blessed Joseph’s two sons in Egypt he said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.” Genesis 4:15-16. I had been his shepherd all his life. And he had an amazing life.
The next person to call Me his shepherd was David, and he too had been a shepherd. And I chose him to shepherd My people Israel. 1 Chronicles 11:2. And he wrote, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want, in verdant pastures he makes me lie down and he leads Me to restful healing waters of peace, He restores My soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:1-6.
My Son explained that He was the good Shepherd. A good shepherd looks after the sheep. He cares for them individually and calls them by name. He heals the sick and lame, He protects them from harm and evil, He takes them to good pasture and fresh water, and He goes after the lost sheep until He finds Him and carries Him home. “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.” Isaiah 40:11. He puts you in His bosom and He is in Mine, John 1:18, and deep within Christ you hear My Words, My innermost thoughts by My Spirit within.
And have you noticed that the night My Son was born, the first ones to hear of the event were shepherds out in the night looking after their sheep? Selah.
And what does it mean that He is your good Shepherd to you right now? That He is taking care of you. And His sheep hear His voice.
I love you. So how do you hear My voice? It all begins by entering the door to My rest. And that door is Jesus.