The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

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The Good Shepherd

Follow The Good Shepherd’s Lead

We need to understand the care and love God and Jesus have for our souls. It’s easy to be rebellious when you don’t feel any love or concern from those who are trying to instruct you. It’s hard to trust those whom you don’t have any relationship with. What I hope to do with this study is add a sense of urgency to God’s loving call to leave Babylon. I will do this through warnings, examples of Jesus’ authority, and the fulfillment of a powerful prophecy. But first, let’s talk about life insurance!

The Good Shepherd

Jesus (The Spirit Of Prophecy)

Revelation 19:10 “I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”

The Good Shepherd

Jesus & God Call Out Their People

John 17:5-8 “Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.  (6)  I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.  (7)  Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,  (8)  for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.”

The Good Shepherd

Come Out Of Babylon! NOW!

Revelation 18:1-8 “After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory.  (2)  He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!  (3)  For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”  (4)  I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues,  (5)  for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities.  (6)  Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.  (7)  However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’  (8)  Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.”

The Good Shepherd

Separate Yourselves From Them Now!

Ephesians 5:6-12 “Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.  (7)  Therefore don’t be partakers with them.  (8)  For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,  (9)  for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,  (10)  proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.  (11)  Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.  (12)  For the things which are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.”

The Good Shepherd

The Destruction Of Babylon & The Wicked Is Coming!

Revelation 18:20-21 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”  (21)  A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all.”

The Good Shepherd

Don’t Be A Fool!

The Good Shepherd

Psalms 53:1 “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good.”

The Good Shepherd

Everyone Is Without Excuse

Romans 1:18-23  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,  (19)  because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.  (20)  For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.  (21)  Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.  (22)  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,  (23)  and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.”

The Good Shepherd

So If You Are No Fool & Agree There Is A God, Then Listen To Him.

Hebrews 11:6  “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.”

Deuteronomy 6:16-17 “You shall not tempt Jehovah your God as you tempted in Massah.  (17)  You shall carefully keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.”

Hebrews 3:7-9  “Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,  (8)  don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,  (9)  where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years.”

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

Matthew 21:28-31 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’  (29)  He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went.  (30)  He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’ m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go.  (31)  Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.”

The Good Shepherd

JESUS – The Good Shepherd

Psalms 95:7-9 “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice,  (8)  harden not your heart, as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness;  (9)  when your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My work.”  

John 10:11-16 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  (12)  He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.  (13)  The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.  (14)  I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;  (15)  even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.  (16)  I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.”

John 10:25-30 “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.  (26)  But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.  (27)  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  (28)  I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  (29)  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  (30)  I and the Father are one.”

The Good Shepherd

Deuteronomy 13:4 “You shall walk after Yahweh your God, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him.”

(Hebrews 5:9-10) “Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation, named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Good Shepherd

NOT JUST MIRACLES, BUT OBEDIENCE

John 14:12 “Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.”

The Good Shepherd

Even These Obey Jesus

The Good Shepherd

• Food Obeys

Mark 6:38-42 “He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”  (39)  He commanded them that everyone should sit down in groups on the green grass.  (40)  They sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.  (41)  He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave to his disciples to set before them, and he divided the two fish among them all.  (42)  They all ate, and were filled.”

The Good Shepherd

• The Flesh & Disease Obey

Matthew 8:1-4 “When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.  (2)  Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”  (3)  Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  (4)  Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.””

The Good Shepherd

• The Water Obeys

John 2:7-10 “Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” They filled them up to the brim.  (8)  He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.  (9)  When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom,  (10)  and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”

The Good Shepherd

• The Weather Obeys

Matthew 8:24-27  “Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.  (25)  They came to him, and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”  (26)  He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.  (27)  The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The Good Shepherd

• Evil Spirits Obey

Mark 1:23-27 “Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,  (24)  saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”  (25)  Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”  (26)  The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.  (27)  They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”

The Good Shepherd

• The Angels Obey

Matthew 26:52-53 “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.  (53)  Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?”

The Good Shepherd

• Death Obeys

John 11:38-44 “Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  (39)  Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”  (40)  Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”  (41)  So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.  (42)  I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”  (43)  When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  (44)  He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”

The Good Shepherd

• Sin Obeys

Luke 5:22-25 “But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts?  (23)  Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you;’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’  (24)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (he said to the paralyzed man), “I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house.”  (25)  Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God.”

The Good Shepherd

• Even His Own Life Obeys Him

John 10:17-18 “Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.  (18)  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

The Good Shepherd

• Creation Obeys Him

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  The same was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.”

Genesis 1:1-3 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  (2)  The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.  (3)  God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

The Good Shepherd

• Your Very Soul Needs To Obey Him

Hebrews 5:9-10  “Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,  (10)  named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Good Shepherd

Choose Today If You Will Obey Him

Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.  (15)  If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

The Good Shepherd

.The Perfect Example Of Leaving Babylon.

If you have chosen to follow and obey the Good Shepherd, then this is the perfect faith-building example of a call to flee by our Lord. He gave this to the children of God, and by their willingness to obey the warning, proved their faith in Him. In doing so, they saved their very souls. Just like if we flee spiritual Babylon, we will do the very same for ourselves.

Luke 21:20-24 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.  (21)  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein.  (22)  For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.  (23)  Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.  (24)  They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Fulfilled On August 30^th, 70 AD By Future Emperor Titus

The Good Shepherd

Josephus “The Jewish War” (6.5.1-3 289). Sixth Book Fifth Chapter 1-3 Paragraphs. (Concerning the destruction of Jerusalem)  The Five Signs!

The Good Shepherd

Hosea 9:7  “The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.”

The Good Shepherd

1. WHILE the holy house was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity, but children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives, as those that defended themselves by fighting.

The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything either greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword.

The people also that were left above were beaten back upon the enemy, and under a great consternation, and made sad moans at the calamity they were under; the multitude also that was in the city joined in this outcry with those that were upon the hill. And besides, many of those that were worn away by the famine, and their mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of the holy house, they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out into groans and outcries again: Pera (17) did also return the echo, as well as the mountains round about [the city,] and augmented the force of the entire noise.

Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them.

And now it was that the multitude of the robbers were thrust out [of the inner court of the temple by the Romans,] and had much ado to get into the outward court, and from thence into the city, while the remainder of the populace fled into the cloister of that outer court. As for the priests, some of them plucked up from the holy house the spikes (18) that were upon it, with their bases, which were made of lead, and shot them at the Romans instead of darts. But then as they gained nothing by so doing, and as the fire burst out upon them, they retired to the wall that was eight cubits broad, and there they tarried; yet did two of these of eminence among them, who might have saved themselves by going over to the Romans, or have borne up with courage, and taken their fortune with the others, throw themselves into the fire, and were burnt together with the holy house; their names were Meirus the son of Belgas, and Joseph the son of Daleus.

The Good Shepherd

The Destruction Prophecy

Mark 13:1-2 “As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”  (2)  Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.”

The Good Shepherd

2. And now the Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side, and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward. They also burnt down the treasury chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense number of garments, and other precious goods there reposited; and, to speak all in a few words, there it was that the entire riches of the Jews were heaped up together, while the rich people had there built themselves chambers [to contain such furniture].

The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple, whither the women and children, and a great mixed multitude of the people, fled, in number about six thousand. But before Caesar had determined anything about these people, or given the commanders any orders relating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage, that they set that cloister on fire; by which means it came to pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life.

A false prophet (19) was the occasion of these people’s destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such his deliverance.

The Good Shepherd

The Warning To God’s People

Amos 3:6-7 “Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?  (7)  Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.”

The Good Shepherd

3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them.

!Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread,! on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.

At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.! Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night.

Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

Besides these, a few days after that feast,! on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”

But, what is still more terrible,! there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!” This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city.

However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”

And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come.

This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, “Woe, woe to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.

The Good Shepherd

Homework: Find The Prophecy Of Destruction in Deuteronomy 28:49-68

The Good Shepherd

I believe it will be the same at the end of time. Many signs of “woe” and “warning” will be declared signs of God’s acceptance and approval. Conversely, events of destruction will be misconstrued to be anger from God against those who do not go along with the global religious system. Those who proclaim the truth will be mocked, ridiculed, and mistreated. Only the well versed, spirit-led believer and follower of Jesus will be able to walk in obedience. They will know the truth of the signs and warnings for what they are- signs of judgment to come. So, Flee Babylon NOW!

Jesus has a perfect prophetic record and is without deception or lie. On top of that, even the mundane and mindless things of creation obey His every command. How much more, we the children of God made in God’s own image, should obey Him? We are without excuse; we have no shield from the truth. We are going to be held responsible for the light of truth He has revealed to us. ACT NOW!

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd