Advent: Shepherd of Peace

Advent: Week 2, Day 4

Light two purple candles
Read: Micah 5:4-5; 7:14; Isaiah 40:9&11

"And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God.
And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth. This One will be [our] peace." (Micah 5:4-5)

“Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance,
which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago.” (Micah 7:14)

"You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
He gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:9, 11)

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The motif of Jesus as shepherd will be explored later, but one aspect of His first coming was to be a shepherd of peace. The most famous shepherding passage, Psalm 23, begins, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." A shepherd played many roles in the ancient world. Among these roles was that of peacemaker. When a storm or predator caused the sheep to tremble and panic, the shepherd had to be the one to calm the sheep. He was the peacemaker. He led his sheep in peace and sought peaceful settings in which to place his sheep. Psalm 23 says the Lord leads His sheep by peaceful waters and is by their side through the darkest valleys. His rod and staff comfort them.

In John 10, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know Me." Jesus came as the shepherd of peace, just as the Old Testament writers predicted. He came to bring peace between God and man and, as a result, between man and man. As we will study later this week, the angels first appeared not to kings or the village leaders of Bethlehem, but to humble shepherds. They announced that peace had come, in the form of a little infant, to those on whom God's favor rested. How ironic.

Be God's.