Thursday

Related Verses
John 10:11, 16
11 I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.

1 Pet. 2:25
25 For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Col. 1:27-29
27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
28 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ;
29 For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.

Acts 20:28
28 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.

Rev. 7:16-17
16 They will not hunger any more, neither will they thirst any more, neither will the sun beat upon them, nor any heat;
17 For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Related Reading
The Gospel of John tells us not only that the Lord is the life (11:25; 14:6) but also that the Lord is the good Shepherd who came that we might have life and have it abundantly (10:10-11). 

Furthermore, the Gospel of John tells us that the Lord as the good Shepherd would lay down His life to form the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers into one flock under the shepherding of Himself as the one Shepherd (10:14-16). 

As the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and the great Shepherd of God’s flock (Heb. 13:20), He will shepherd us for eternity as the Lamb of God and guide us to springs of waters of life for us to have eternal satisfaction, without thirst or hunger (Rev. 7:16-17). By this He accomplishes a great part of God’s organic salvation. 

We all were regenerated and are under the shepherding of the Lord as the good Shepherd. Thus, we partake of God’s life and are nourished and grow unto maturity in it (Eph. 4:13b; Col. 1:28), manifesting the function of God’s life in us for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy and the achievement of God’s eternal purpose. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” pp. 397-398) 

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In John 10:16 the Lord said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” This means that Christ was the Shepherd flocking the divided Jewish and Gentile sheep together to be one flock…The proper shepherding work is to flock people together. 

Christ is the Chief Shepherd, shepherding His flock through the elders of the churches (1 Pet. 5:4). All the elders are subordinate shepherds. Christ as the Head is the Chief Shepherd…When we shepherd, it should be Christ shepherding through us…All the elders have to learn to shepherd the churches not by themselves in the old creation but by Christ as the shepherding Chief in resurrection. 

Christ is the great Shepherd through whom God, based upon His redeeming blood of the eternal covenant, perfects the sheep of God, the churches, in every good work for the doing of His will, doing in us that which is well pleasing in His sight (Heb. 13:20-21). 

Christ shepherds the sheep led astray and returned to Him, overseeing their inward condition as the Overseer of their souls (1 Pet. 2:25). This should be a part of His inward comforting of the believers. 

When the Lord’s shepherding goes deeper in us, it reaches our soul to take care of our inward condition for the doing of the will of God in us. Christ as the Shepherd of our soul oversees the inward situation of our soul, which is composed of our mind, emotion, and will. We need Him to perfect our mind, adjust our emotion, and correct our will. 

Christ became the Spirit of reality as the second Comforter (John 14:16-17a; 15:26). The first Comforter was Christ in the flesh, and the second Comforter is Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of reality. 

Christ comforts us inwardly to constitute the divine organism, the incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated and transformed elect (14:17b-20). As the second Comforter, Christ is the Spirit of reality who comes not only to be with us but also to be in us, the redeemed ones of God (v. 17). Then the Son in whom we believe is in the Father and we are in Him and He is in us (v. 20). These four ins show the Triune God incorporated with His redeemed and transformed people to be one entity. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 106-107) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 6