SHEPHERD KING

He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord.
Micah 5:4

When Christ appeared as a man, not everyone recognized Him. Actually, very few people apparently “had eyes to see” the glorious King.You see, His glory was not an outward Glory, He was clothed in humility. He was born of a virgin in a barn, He was raised by an average family in an average town. He was inconspicuous, only those who were granted a revelation from the Father could recognize Him. As Luther used to say, “He is a king, but not that kind of king”. His kingdom was not of this world, He came to establish the kingdom of heaven. His power was clothed in human weakness, His sovereignty was covered by His dependency on His earthly mother and Heavenly Father. His authority over all things was cloaked in His submission to the Father’s plan. He was among His own people and most couldn’t even recognize Him. Here is was Spurgeon said about this incredible Shepherd-King.

“Christ’s reign in his Church is that of a shepherd-king. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; he commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.
His reign is practical in its character. It is said, He shall stand and feed. The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for his people. He does not sit down upon the throne in empty state, or hold a scepter without wielding it in government. No, he stands and feeds. The expression feed, in the original, is like an analogous one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed.”

The first shepherd-king, David, caught a glimpse of the coming One in his timeless Shepherd’s Psalm. David learned a lot about the Good Shepherd as he cared for his father’s sheep as a child. He fed them, led them, protected them, and cared for them. He saw in his own actions toward his dependent sheep the love and care of the Heavenly Shepherd as He watched over His flock. Our Shepherd leads us, feeds us, corrects, and protects us. The Good Shepherd laid His life down for His flock. That was the very center of this whole mystery. The Creator entered into His own creation as one of us, He became a man. That is what made Him so hard to recognize. There was nothing, naturally speaking, that made Him stand out. He seemed quite average, He was the representative of the average man. But that is where average ended. He died in weakness, He was raised by the power of God. He was crucified in humility, He was raised in Glory. Today, there is still a Shepherd Who is King, He is seated at the Father’s right hand ruling the universe with the word of His power.