The Shepherd Savior

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
Against the Man who is My Companion,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
–Zechariah 13:7

When Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden, a flaming sword guarded the garden (see Genesis 3:24). Ablaze with the jealous wrath and judgment of God, it would consume anyone who would sinfully approach the tree of life to receive eternal life in their sinful state. 

God would not have that, so He set a plan in motion a plan that included extinguishing that flaming sword of judgment in the soul of His one and only Son, The Shepherd. It was the Lord’s will to make The Shepherd’s life, body, and soul an offering for our sin. 

This opened the fountain to us (see Zechariah 13:1). The Good Shepherd took the sword of the Lord for us and for our sin. A fountain was opened to cleanse the sin and uncleanness of those who return to Him in repentance. 

We’ll sing of the Shepherd that died,
That died for the sake of the flock;
His love to the utmost was tried,
But firmly endured as a rock.

When blood from a victim must flow,
This shepherd by pity was led
To stand between us and the foe,
And willingly died in our stead.

Our song, then, forever shall be
Of the Shepherd who gave Himself thus;
No subject’s so glorious as He,
No theme so affecting to us.

–Thomas Kelly (“We'll sing of the Shepherd that died”)