The Bible is one true story that tells of God’s presence among his people. A biblical theological approach to God’s revelation helps the reader to see the pervasive themes in Scripture and how these develop in the relationship between the Lord and his people. The Lord has revealed himself through a variety of linguistic expressions such as husband, king, warrior and shepherd. In this article, we will look at image of the shepherd in the Bible.
Although shepherding is a foreign concept to most people living in post-industrial Finland (and most of the other Nordic countries), understanding it as one of the key concepts of the Lord’s presence is vital. Shepherding is one of the most significant themes throughout the Bible by which the Lord makes his presence known among his people.
The Lord is a shepherd
One of the central characters of the Old Testament, Jacob, associates walking before the face of God to the Lord’s shepherding. He has “shepherded me from my birth to this day” (Genesis 48:15). Psalm 23, in turn, is one of the most famous and beloved passages in the Bible. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” sums up the relationship between the Lord and his people. The Lord is the shepherd. In him is the very purpose of human existence: to give us deep satisfaction and refreshment in the midst of difficulties and respites alike. The Lord’s shepherding also leads his people to humble themselves before him, just as Psalm 95 reminds us: “Come, let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” (v. 6–7)
The Lord primarily shepherds his sheep through mediators
The Lord shepherded his people, the descendants of Abraham, through Moses: “You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Ps. 77:20). His care and guidance of his people occurs through his word and concretely through his provision of just the right amount of manna and water at the right time. Moses served as the leader of the people, as an intermediary of the Lord’s shepherding.
Likewise, King David was chosen as a shepherd of sheep to take good care of God’s people. Indeed, within biblical theology kingship as a theme connects directly to shepherding through David’s position as king and shepherd. A good king’s fundamental duty is to serve and shepherd his people and bring them under the Lord’s kingship.
Bad shepherds as deceivers
Israel’s appointed shepherds and kings did not all work for the good of the people by bringing them closer to God. On the contrary, the Lord reveals through Jeremiah and Ezekiel how these self-centred shepherds care only for themselves with little regard for their flock. They drown and scatter the sheep. They do not strengthen the weak or search for the lost. They do not care about the Lord. For that reason, the entire nation has been sent into exile away from God and his presence in the promised land. When the shepherds go astray, the whole nation is lost. For these wicked shepherds, the Lord promises punishment (Jer. 23:1–5; Ezk. 34:1–11).
The promised good shepherd-king
After the rebukes and punishment, Jeremiah and Ezekiel remind us that the Lord himself promises to seek out and care for his sheep. He will raise up a good and righteous shepherd from the tribe of David to protect His people (Jer. 23:6–8; Ezk. 34:20–31). This promised good shepherd, who will act faithfully and justly, will be called “the Lord, our Righteousness.” This shepherd-king’s kingship will restore the Lord’s presence among his people. He will bring a covenant of peace by bestowing blessing, wiping out evil, and by restoring his beautiful creation to its original state. The Lord will be their God.
Isaiah also says that Judah’s exile will end when the Lord himself comes back to be the shepherd. “He tends his flock like a shepherd, he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those who have young” (Isa. 40:11).
Jesus the Messiah as the Lord’s shepherd
All the gospel texts paint a picture of Jesus fulfilling the promises of the Lord’s presence among his people through shepherding. Jesus is the promised ruler from Bethlehem who will shepherd his people (Matt. 2:6). He has compassion on the multitudes because he sees them languishing and abandoned without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). He seeks lost sheep for his own fold (Luke 15). He calls himself the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Thus, the shepherd eventually becomes a sacrifice for his own sheep. He shepherds by sacrificing himself (John 10).
Jesus’ shepherding also includes judgment and division. In the end, not everyone is his sheep. Only those who are blessed by the Father, those called by the Shepherd’s invitation, those who hear his voice, those for whom he died, and who know him as their shepherd. To them he gives abundant life. Others he calls cursed and they will not enter his presence (Matt. 25:31–46).
Perhaps the most evocative pastoral account of Jesus is found in the Book of Revelation. The slaughtered but living “Lamb who is in the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water” (Rev. 7:17). The hunger and thirst of the sheep is quenched, and they are at last fully satisfied as they worship the slain but living Lamb, their shepherd.
Church shepherds as Jesus’ under-shepherds
After rising from the dead, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, authorised Peter to shepherd God’s people (Jn. 21:15–17). The command to “Shepherd my sheep” includes feeding the sheep. The mandate for shepherding is not limited to Peter. From the people who confessed their sins and claimed Jesus as Lord, local churches were born. The leaders of these churches, the elders, were called to shepherd. These shepherd-teachers were men tried and tested at home and in the church. They were able to show in the scriptures the life, death, and resurrection of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, as the turning point in all history. Paul also reminds us that the shepherds of the church would be met by ferocious wolves who would speak falsely and not spare the flock. “Watch therefore…” Paul warns the shepherds of Ephesus (Acts 20:31).
Jesus’ shepherding changed the family life of the shepherds in these churches (1 Tim. 3:1–7). They are commanded to teach and shepherd “God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God would have you; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” When the Chief Shepherd appeared, they too would receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet 5:1–4).
Pastoral care in practice in the local church
False shepherds use their position of authority to serve their own purposes. They forget the flock they serve and the Lord to whom they are accountable. The mission of faithful shepherds is to lead people into greater dependence, grace, and truth with the Good Shepherd and into a more loving relationship with other sheep. The shepherd is accountable for the flock to its master, the Lord. Shepherd leadership therefore requires humility before God and taking responsibility for the flock. It avoids pretence, tyranny, and the abuse of privilege, focusing instead on knowing, feeding, leading, and protecting the sheep. In this way they will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and will one day enter the fullness of his presence as part of his flock; a flock that is made up of sheep from all nations, which he purchased with his own blood.
Next, I will share seven concrete exhortations for pastors that often go against the grain of today’s individualistic thinking in the post-Christian Nordic countries:
1. Know your sheep
One of the most important roles of a shepherd is to be present. Without being present, a shepherd cannot get to know people and he remains a distant character. The shepherd needs to know his flock personally. This kind of personal knowledge requires time, building trust, listening, and hospitality.
2. Feed your sheep
Another of the shepherd’s main tasks is to teach the Word of God in all its fullness. He must have a holistic understanding of God’s history of redemption, beginning in the Old Testament and continuing to its fulfilment in Christ, as conveyed in the New Testament texts. He must understand both the necessity of the law and the gospel and the difference between these. He has a growing desire to know the scriptures in the light of Christ’s work of redemption. He must feed the sheep with grace from week to week. Only grace can change a person.
3. Lead your sheep
A shepherd leads his flock. Leadership is motivated by the welfare of the sheep, not self-interest. He is a servant leader, ready to put himself on the line for others. Leadership is not a position to dominate, but to influence people to go forward where the Lord wants them to go, trusting in the Lord’s ordained ways and his power. Therefore, the shepherd must be proactive rather than reactive in his shepherding.
Leadership becomes infinitely harder if the shepherd finds his identity in his service position rather than in the cross of Christ. Since all humans tends to think of their identity in terms of what they do, it is vital that the shepherd rests his identity on Christ.
4. Protect your sheep
The shepherd’s job is to protect and guard the sheep against false teachers. Fostering sound Christ-centred doctrine and, when necessary, applying church discipline (Matthew 18:15–20) is part of the shepherd’s responsibility in loving his sheep. The shepherd does all this not by controlling, but as one nurturing fellowship.
5. Search for more sheep
Faithful shepherds actively search for lost sheep by telling people the gospel. Shepherds in the church should actively reach out to non-believers and be light, salt, and preachers of the gospel to them.
6. Start with your own family
The pastor of a parish is a man. A man who cannot shepherd his own family in love, grace, and truth is not ready to shepherd others (1 Tim. 3:4–5). Every shepherd must see his wife and then his children as the first people he has the privilege of caring for in love. This does not mean that his family is perfect. It means that his wife and children trust in his gracious leadership as a guide to the grace of the gospel.
7. Be accountable to others
A shepherd never works alone. He is always accountable to other shepherds and the congregation for his work. He learns to seek advice from others and to put all his actions into the light (1 Tim. 5:19–20). He can and should confess his weaknesses and sins to other believers. For this very reason, the New Testament teaches that the local church has many shepherds (Titus 1:5–9; Acts 14:23). In this way, the church does not become the reflection of one man’s strengths and weaknesses.
Finnish churches—indeed all churches in the Nordics—desperately need Christ’s shepherding, which is conveyed to the churches through their appointed pastors.