Lesson
#1
The Old Testament:
And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said,
Behold, [here] I [am]. And he said,
Take now thy son, your only [son] Isaac, whom thou love, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took
two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the
burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told
him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass;
and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering, and laid [it] upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand,
and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and
he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but
where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering: so they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built
an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And
Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him
out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here [am] I. And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad,
neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fear God, seeing
thou hast not withheld thy son, your only [son] from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked,
and behold behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham
went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of
his son. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is said [to] this day, In the mount of the LORD
it shall be seen. And the angel of the
LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself
have I sworn, says the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast
not withheld thy son, your only [son]: That in blessing I will bless thee, and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the
sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his
enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed my voice. (Gen
22:1-18)
The Psalm:
[[A Psalm of David.]] The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23)
The Gospel:
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other
way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear
his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he
goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but
will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they
understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the door:
by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture. The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have [it] more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the
sheep. But he that is an hireling, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves
the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees, because he is an
hireling, and cares not for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so know I the
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one
shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father.
(John 10:1-18)
Description of the Shepherd Window
· Top Icon: IHS – the first three Greek letters of Jesus’ name.
· Main Window: Christ is in red surrounded by a human-shaped blue shadow. He is holding a shepherd’s crook and a lamb. His halo has a cross embedded in it. Fig leaves are in the background. Two sheep are in front of Jesus, one looking at Jesus, the other content or looking away. Jesus is standing in what looks like a garden of flowers.
· Bottom Icon: Ram in thorns relating to Abraham’s almost sacrifice of Isaac.
The shepherd window illustrates two different but related stories in Judaic/Christian theology. The idea of the sacrificial lamb, symbolized in the bottom icon, is as old as Abraham and Isaac. Some feel this idea is even older, even dating back to the animal killed by God in order to clothe the suddenly naked Adam and Eve. Following this event through almost every chapter in the OT is a line of animal sacrifice for humanity’s sin. In most cases, it was a lamb, sheep, goat or ram with a few birds and cattle thrown in.
The other story illustrated by the Shepherd Window is that of divine shepherding. In many parables and scriptural references, God or Jesus is seen as the shepherd who comes to seek and save his sheep, i.e. us. In a strange paradox, sheep are sacrificed for the sins of humanity, whereas the divine shepherd is on a quest for lost sheep. Go figure.
In the Shepherd Window (as in most of the BPUMC windows), Jesus is dressed in red. Red has historically symbolized blood and is a stark visual reference to the blood covenant God has with humanity. Instead of choosing the Nativity Window to start this series, I chose the Shepherd Window because the sacrificial lamb is the foundation of everything that God did through his son Jesus. Thus, if you trace the route of the windows from the Shepherd Window to the Nativity Window to the Ascension Window to the grand vision of the Isaiah “Rose Window,” it forms a cross.
According to many, God’s covenant to redeem humanity started in the garden with the fall of Adam and Eve. They did something wrong and God decided to punish them. Instead of totally kicking or wiping them out, God instituted a plan of redemption perhaps starting with the animal killed to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. A striking verse in Genesis details some of God’s mysterious goals for the future. And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal (Gen 3:15). Theologically speaking, this verse is referred to as the protoevangel, i.e. – the gospel before the gospel. In other words, Jesus so effectively won over evil, Satan only bruised Jesus’ heal whereas Jesus dealt a crushing blow to Satan’s head.
Through Adam’s children, apparently the sacrifice of animals was passed on through the generations. For example, Abel’s offering to God of a lamb was accepted; Cain’s of grain was not. The result of ‘doing right' in this case lead to Abel’s untimely death at the hands of a jealous brother (Gen 4:1-13).
Also, on Noah’s ark, several groups of animals were brought on board in more than twos (Gen 7:2). The idea usually presented as an explanation is that Noah needed “clean” animals for sacrifice (Gen 8:20).
Continuing to Abraham, God finally found a man who could listen to God and more so, would do what he said. In a strange ‘face to face’ meeting with God, several animals, including a lamb, are sacrificed and split in two and laid out on the ground. God then caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham and strangely had a smoking furnace and burning lamp pass through the pieces, confirming a stronger covenant (Gen 14: 9:18). Proponents of the blood covenant theology point out that every succeeding covenant made between God and man got stronger and stronger.
God’s most demanding covenant with Abraham, requiring him to sacrifice his only son, must have been a hard one to swallow. Even so, Abraham proceeded to do exactly what God requested of him. By dissecting the story, there are a few rather revealing thoughts to consider. Consider the OT text above.
When Abraham and his entourage got to the mountain that God told Abraham about [many think this was the actual temple mount in Jerusalem], Abraham told his companions to stay behind and said to them the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. You have to ask why he said they would both come back. Did this mean that Abraham figured he would chicken out? Perhaps. However, others contend that Abraham was strong enough in his faith based on previous covenants and promises with God regarding Isaac that even if Isaac were to be sacrificed, that God would somehow fix it so the original promises would still come to pass (Heb 11:17-19).
In the story, Isaac takes the supply sack and he and his father head off up the mountain. On the way, Isaac asks, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? In one of the great wordings of the KJV bible, Abraham responds, God will provide himself a burnt offering. Now you have to wonder what was going through Abraham’s mind for this statement to come from his lips. It is tantalizing to wonder if those conversations face to face with God ended up with God sharing some details of the future with Abraham.
At any rate, Abraham is prevented at the last second from slitting his son’s neck by an angel of the Lord. The angel tells Abraham that he passed the test and that God knew he was a man of his word. The scripture goes on to suggest that his very act was as if it had actually happened. At this point, Abraham noticed a ram stuck in the thorn bushes. I’m sure Isaac was delighted, to say the least!
To quote proponents of the blood covenant again, there is a belief that God could only do so much in the earth from a ‘legal’ standpoint. The idea goes like this: God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens are his but the earth was given to the children of men who via sin gave it to Satan (Psa 115:16). The scripture most quoted to prove this is Jesus’ last temptation in the wilderness where Satan offered the whole earth and the kingdoms in it to Jesus if he would simply bow down (Mat 4:8-10). In other words, how could this be a valid temptation if Satan couldn’t offer such? Also, there is apparently some sort of heavenly legal thing going on in that demons on occasion questioned Jesus’ right to do what he did while on earth. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? (Mat 8:29).
So, to continue this train of thought, a blood covenant with God gave everything man had to God and everything God had to man. Thus, for God to ‘legally’ sacrifice his son for humanity, a representative of humanity had to offer his son.
As an interesting aside to this, Pharaoh and his people lost their first sons due to their hardened hearts by refusing to sacrifice a lamb and place its blood on their doorposts in order to have God’s curse ‘passover’ their families.
To bring this idea back to shepherding, consider, For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out (Ezek 34:11). Here God is saying that he himself will come seek his sheep. Combine this with many scriptures about Jesus being the shepherd who seeks that one lost sheep and even laying his life down for it and the Shepherd Window suddenly tells a grand story.
Consider that John the Baptist declared, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Also consider that last supper where Jesus said, After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me (1 Cor 11:25). In a very real way, based on the scriptures set before as a foundation, Jesus becomes not just an animal sacrifice that ‘covered’ the sins of humanity, but a human sacrifice which could ‘take’ away the sins of humanity as quoted above.
Another very interesting point to consider is if Abraham almost sacrificed his son on the Jerusalem mountain and found a ram in a thorn bush, could this thorn bush be the ancestor plant of that same thorn bush used to make the crown of thorns for Jesus’ head? It is fascinating to think that both critical sacrifices securing the redemption of humanity may have happened on the same hill!
To close this out, Jesus is also described as the good shepherd of the sheep. He leads them into his kingdom because they know his voice. Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t appear to hear this voice and doesn’t make it. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Shepherd Jesus rewards the sheep who did good things to the least of humanity. These guys got to come into heaven, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the earth. The goats, however, got to go to a place not even prepared for them. They got to go be with the devil and his angels in a special place prepared for their likes (Mat 25:31-46).
Summary
In the background of the Shepherd Window is a blue figure, which I feel, represents God’s omniscience surrounding Jesus and his sheep. Jesus is holding a shepherd’s crook representing his quest for us along with a single sheep – that one lost lamb.
There are also two sheep in front of Jesus. One is looking at Jesus while the other looks away. I envision the sheep looking away as a sheep that didn’t make it OR one so content he had the life of bliss exemplified by the 23rd Psalm. My wife, Maria, sees the three sheep representing the various stages of Christian life. Early on, we are found and held in the arms of the Savior. As we mature, we keep our eyes on him. As mature believers, we have the confidence to look toward our calling knowing he’ll never leave us nor forsake us.
The top symbol of the window is “IHS” which are the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek [ihsouV]. To me, this boldly declares the Christian position that Jesus is the Lamb of God as well as God the shepherd who came to seek that one lost sheep. That he is possibly standing in the Garden of Eden with fig leaves behind him along with flowers at his feet adds the dimension of God’s planning this from the very first sin as described above in the protoevangel.
I know it might be a contrite saying to some, but the Baptists are fond of saying that even if you personally were the only person that could have received redemption, Jesus would have even died for you.
In loving memory of Ada Cleere Graves
