Shepherd Stories: Hey shepherd, are you there?
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14 [NIV])
I know the voice of my sheep. It was a cool and rainy Monday night when my two sheep started to yell at me. Olive and Deena sheep were making quite the racquet outside, so I went to check it out. When they saw me they baahed (Yelled at me) even louder. They were not sounding any alarm, they were not scared or running from anything, but they were looking towards our little apple and cherry orchard. Again, they baahed at me as if to say, “Hey Shepherd, take a look at your orchard.” So, I did. Yes, I communicate with my animals and they talk to me. There in our little orchard were seven young mule deer. Six little females and a one-year-old buck grazing in our yard and trying to pick leaves from our fruit trees. My sheep had told me that we had company. My sheep just wanted me to know we had company.
What a wonderful life it is to have such beauty and peace at our home. Over the years we have had baby deer born in our orchard, some of whom stayed around for a long time. About five years ago, two little bucks which I named Apple and Cherry were born in our apple and cherry orchard and as little fawns they got used to me doing my yard work. They were not afraid of me, and I was kind to them. They are wild animals and I let them be wild, but they knew no fear from me. Two years ago, I went down to feed my sheep and unbeknownst to me Apple and Cherry had come for a visit. After feeding my sheep I turned around, Apple and Cherry were standing side by side about ten feet from me both with little antlers sprouting from their heads. They had come to say hello as far as I could tell. We have had several wonderful wild deer who felt no fear in our yard and will stay and leave their fawns while they go off to graze. Last year we had some neighbors over and as we sat in the front yard two little fawns raced right by us playing and chasing each other. We were a bit astonished and smiled a bit as they came running back through in the opposite direction. The little fawns had no fear of us. My home is a safe sanctuary for the wild deer in our area.
If only the world was a place of safety and sanctuary for all. A time is coming when peace and safety will be over all the earth. A time is coming when the world will experience even more than I experience with the deer in our yard. A time is coming when Jesus will rule over His Kingdom here on earth. My yard is a kind of sanctuary for the critters who pass thorough. I can sit outside and enjoy a beautiful sunset over the snow-capped Bitterroot Mountains while deer and our sheep quietly graze. If only the entire world was like this.
Someday, Jesus will return and change this word from the evil war and sin filled society we live in to a place of wonder, beauty and peace. It is called the Kingdom of God and Jesus will reign over all the earth bringing the love and kindness we all need and want.
The kingdom of God was first in the mind of Jesus as He began to preach His gospel. “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Is His kingdom first in our mind?
Perched on a hilltop Jesus stood and gave the world’s greatest sermon which included a section on how to pray. Notice how He starts the prayer, “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come…” (Matt. 6:9b) [NKJV]). God first and He immediately prays for the kingdom to come. How does Jesus end the model prayer? “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (v 13). From beginning to end, Jesus emphasized His coming beautiful kingdom. We should do what Jesus did.
What will His kingdom be like it be like? Will it be like my yard with the wild yet somewhat friendly deer? I love that my sheep yelled out to me to come and see our visitors. The fun part happened as soon as I came outside, the sheep quieted down. They had delivered their message and went right back to graze in the field.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.”
(Isa. 11:6-9).
I long for the day when all will be at peace. I long for the day when the world will no longer kill my sheep. I long for the day when Jesus reigns with His rod of iron and brings peace to this war-torn world.
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2 Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5 For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.”
(Micah 4:1-6).
“And in this mountain
The Lord of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
(Isaiah 25: 6-9).
He will return to save this world from itself. “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.” (Isa. 32:1). Wait, there is more. What will it be like in the kingdom Jesus proclaimed from the beginning to the end of His earthly ministry?
“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
And make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
(Isaiah 35).
God is great. He will bring to this earth His loving kingdom. A place where the deer can feel peace in your yard. A place where your sheep will call out to their shepherd. A place where peace and safety will be the norm of the day. A place where murder, death and war cease. The place Jesus spoke of as He walked this earth. The Kingdom of God.
Mike Wallace
