Saturday 17th
Hebrews 13:20-21
NIV (vv20-21) – ‘Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’
ESV (vv20-21) – ‘Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.’
We end our look at the book of Hebrews today, we have spent 56 days in this epistle, at the start I said that with all that is contained in this book, it is a book that is all about Jesus. We have seen him as the one through whom God has spoken, we see him as the one who is greater and better than anyone and everything, we have seen him as the one who is our Saviour, our great high priest and our great example, we have seen him as the one who is coming again. Here in these closing verses we have a blessing or a benediction that ‘the God of peace will equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight’ and it is all through Jesus Christ, the one who has been raised from the dead and who is the great shepherd of the sheep. The book ends with Jesus, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
It’s all about Jesus, we are what we are because of who he was and is and because of what he has done and is doing, because of him our past has been dealt with and our future has been secured, because of him we have been brought near to God, because of him we have an eternal hope.
I love the phrase ‘who is the great shepherd of the sheep’,in John 10 Jesus called himself the ‘good shepherd’, Peter in his epistle calls him the ‘chief shepherd’ here in Hebrews he is the ‘great shepherd’ so we end this look at Hebrews with a reminder that this Jesus whom the writer has been expounding on so much is the Lord who is our Shepherd. The other day I watched the first of the programmes on television called ‘Springtime on the Farm’, I am always fascinated with these programmes, they bring up so many great memories of growing up on the farm, but more so they give a little snapshot of what our great shepherd is like as he cares for us the flock, the sheep that are in his pasture, he is a caring shepherd, a comforting shepherd, a constant shepherd, a compassionate shepherd, as a shepherd he is our companion, unchanging in his nature toward us, he is faithful and true, he is ever present among us, he is all that we could ever wish for or hope for.
I want to end these devotions from this epistle with the words of a song, may this be our continuing desire.
This is the last weekend devotion, I am going to be making a change and will only be sending out the devotions from a Monday to a Friday.
Jesus, the very thought of thee
with sweetness fills the breast;
but sweeter far thy face to see,
and in thy presence rest.
O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
to those who fall, how kind thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah, this
nor tongue nor pen can show;
the love of Jesus, what it is,
none but his loved ones know.
Jesus, our only joy be thou,
as thou our prize wilt be;
Jesus, be thou our glory now,
and through eternity.