All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all—John looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”—For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…”You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings…Behold, I have come to do your will”…And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all—like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away… stricken for the transgression of my people.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep—So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep…If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture”.

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Is.53:6; Jn. 1:36; Heb 10:4, 8-10; Is. 53:6-8; Jn. 10:11,7,9; I Pet. 2:25; Ps. 95:6-7 ESV

I’ve been confronted again this week with the brutal realities of the crucifixion in Lee Strobel’s concise: “The Case for Easter,” a journalistic investigation of the evidence for the Resurrection.  Such an extreme display of cruelty only underlines the extent of man’s need for a Saviour.  That He died extending forgiveness to His persecutors further demonstrates the gulf between man and God.  And yet Jesus was willing to become as we are, a lamb, to lead us back to God.  Oh what happy sheep we have reason to be!   –LS