Now let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of Micah, chapter 4. I want to, tonight, return to
the subject and theme of the message that I preached this
past Wednesday to finish up some thoughts on this message entitled,
Christ, Our Shepherd King. Christ our Shepherd King. And let me... I dealt with the
first few verses of chapter 4 last time, but I want to re-read them
and make a few comments by way of introduction. But understand
that from chapter 3 all the way to the end of chapter 5 is Micah
the prophet, the prophet of God. This is the second message that
he was given by God. to preach to the people of the
southern kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem. Chapters 1 and 2 being
the first message. So from chapter 3 to chapter
5, this is his second message. Or sometimes they refer to it
as an oracle, the second oracle. It's a word from God. Sometimes
the Bible calls it a vision. Whenever God gave his prophets
a vision, that's what it meant. He gave them a word of truth.
And in chapter 3 that we've already looked at, it's the pronouncement
of God's judgment against sin. Israel's sin, Judah's sin and
unbelief and idolatry, their wickedness that began with their
misshapen, heretical thoughts towards God, their unholy thoughts
towards God, their self-righteous religion, proud religion and
that filtered all the way down into their everyday lives in
their selfishness and in their bad treatment of the downtrodden
such as widows and orphans. And that was always a reflection.
You know how a society treats those who are downtrodden in
that way is many times a reflection upon their thoughts towards God,
sinful thoughts, idolatrous thoughts, and many times a reflection upon
their own pride and self-righteousness. And so Micah preaches God's judgment
against sin. We're sinners. You could look
at this part as ruination by the fall, ruined by the fall.
And this is the case of all men and women by nature. This is
an illustration, you might say, even a type of the whole human
race in Adam, born dead in trespasses and sins, deserving nothing but
God's wrath, what you see described in chapter 3. And it's a good
lesson to show us once again, and this was the subject and
the aim of the whole law of Moses that God gave Israel, that salvation
and redemption and recovery and restoration cannot be by deeds
of law, by works of the law. It cannot be. And so Micah pronounces
his judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem. He concludes it in verse 12.
He says, Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a
field. That beautiful place, that mountain
of the Lord or that city of God. Somebody asked me about this.
Sometimes Zion Geographically and technically, Zion and Jerusalem,
they were near each other, but they weren't the same place,
but sometimes they're used interchangeably. And he says, Zion shall be plowed
as a field. It's going to be torn to pieces,
that's what that means. Jerusalem shall become heaps,
ash heaps. The mountain of the house is
the high places of the forest. In other words, that temple that
was in Jerusalem, that grand and glorious temple of Solomon,
that was built as a monument to the glory of God, shall be
reduced to nothing more than what their high places were."
The high places being their places of idolatry. And you know that,
you see a good example of that when our Lord came on the scene
and when He went to the temple and He said, you've turned the
house of God into a den of thieves. false religion. And so he pronounces
here the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple.
And it's not long after Micah that that's going to happen.
And that city was going to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and
the Babylonian army. And the people of Judah would
be carried off in three different waves into captivity. And then
later on, that would last 70 years, and then they would be
brought back into Jerusalem to rebuild the city and rebuild
the temple, and there would be a brief time, a brief time of
revival, revival of the worship of God under a man named Zerubbabel. He's a type of Christ. Zerubbabel
the governor. Under the preaching of Nehemiah
and others. And so there was that brief time,
but even after that, later on, there was going to be a time
of darkness, and then it was all going to be destroyed again.
That's prophesied too. And so Micah begins in chapter
4. Now this is what he's doing. He begins in chapter 4 and all
the way over to the end of chapter 5, he begins to show Israel,
Judah rather, the southern king, that there's no hope in these
things of the earth. There's no salvation in an earthly
temple. an earthly priesthood, an earthly
throne, that sinners must look beyond those earthly things. Don't look to the blood of earthly
animals for the forgiveness of sins. Look to the blood of the
promised Messiah, the Lamb of God. Look to Christ. Don't look
to an earthly temple Don't look to an earthly priesthood or an
earthly kingdom. Look to Christ who has been promised,
a promise given to Abraham and a promise made even before Abraham.
Salvation is not in these earthly elements. It's not in our religious
works and efforts. It's not in the ceremonies. It's by the grace of God, in
and by the person and work of Christ. And that's proven over
there In chapter 5, just look at it in verse 2 when he speaks
about Bethlehem, Ephratah. That's Bethlehem, the city of
David. And who's going to come out of the city of David, he
says, "...but thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth." Who? The Messiah. Who is he? That is to be ruler in Israel.
Remember, it was prophesied, the scepter will not depart from
Israel until Shiloh comes, Shiloh being Christ, peace. And he says,
the one whose goings forth have been from old and from everlasting,
or the days of eternity, this is one who is God Almighty himself. This is one who is both God and
man, who come out of Bethlehem, that's his humanity. He was born
of the seed of David according to the flesh. But his goings
were from before eternity. He's God. He's God-man. So it's
all conditions, eternal salvation, righteousness, life, glory, all
of these things, they're all conditioned on this one who would
come out of Bethlehem, whose goings forth was from old, from
everlasting, the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look to that temple for
your hopes. Don't look to your connection
with Abram, look to Christ. Now that's the message of Micah. That's the message of God through
Micah. And he begins in chapter 4 to
speak of that great and glorious salvation that would come through
Christ. whom he identifies in descriptions
here, not in literal language, literal words, the literal word
Shepard King, but that's what he's describing here, Christ
the Shepard King. And I'll tell you, that's one
of the most beautiful identifications and pictures and prophecies of
Christ, the Shepard King. Let's read in verse 1 here, he
speaks, he says, but in the last days, that's the final days,
referring to the days of the New Covenant, the New Testament,
It shall come to pass. It will because God ordained
it, predestinated it, and God will bring it to pass. That the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in
the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the
hills. Here's what he's talking about is whatever's going to
be established here, it's the highest state that man can reach. And what is that? It's to be
found in Christ. It's to be found in Him. washed
in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, born of His Spirit,
the highest we can attain." Isn't that right? I know we've yet
to be glorified, but we're sure to be glorified, aren't we? And
he says, "...and people shall flow unto it." Now, who are those
people? He's talking about God's elect.
He's talking about Christ's sheep, His church. Remember we read
in Acts chapter 20 about that, the church which He redeemed
with His precious blood. talking about his people. Brother
Aaron Wiles brought, he said when he read that, he said, you
know, it says they shall flow unto it. When you think of something
flowing, you think about a stream or a body of water flowing. And
it says that this stream of people, they're going to flow unto a
mountain. You know, water doesn't normally flow uphill, does it?
So what is being described here is something that's not natural
to man. Because it's like water doesn't flow up a mountain, that's
not natural. It flows down. But this flow
is going to be unto the mountain. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the power and glory and grace of God in bringing
his people to Christ. This is new, this is new, new
earth, this is the earth, earth, this, this, being, being, born, born,
born of spirit. You, you, flow, flowing, one, one, one, one,
one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one,
one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one,
one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one,
one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one It's not of, it's not
of a will man, it's, it's not of a, it's, it's not of a will
of a meme. It's a God. It is, it's a spirit
of a regular unnatural birth. Regeneration incurred. It's a
birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's
a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's
a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's
a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a
birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's
a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's a birth, it's
a birth, it's a birth This is going to be God's people
out of the world. And they'll go to the God of
Jacob, the God who saves sinners by great crime. The God who justifies
the ungodly. The God of promise. He saves
by promise. And His promise is to save sinners
through the Lord Jesus Christ, through His blood and righteousness
alone. And he will teach us of his ways through the preaching
of the gospel. What is God's way of salvation?
Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and I am the law. No man
can un-unify the Father by me. His way is the way of gates.
It's the way of mercy. It's the way of the cross. It's
the way of justice. It's the way of righteousness
established. That's the way of God. Cried
and made sin. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God. That's His way. Man's
way is destruction. But God's way is the way of life. And we will walk in His path.
Salvation comes by God's grace and walking by God's grace. And
he says, for the law or his word shall go forth of Zion. Zion
being a picture of the church. That's what we're here for, the
pillar and ground of truth to preach the gospel. And the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem, the city of God. That's a picture
of our citizenship in the city of God, where we're God's children,
in the family of God, in the church of the living God. Verse
3, he says, he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong
nations afar off. Now what does he mean, judge
them? Now usually when we think of judgment, we think of condemnation.
But this is not that kind of judgment. Let me prove that to
you. Look what he says. He shall judge among many people,
rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall what? Beat their
swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations
shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore. Now last Wednesday night I went
into a lot of detail on that verse to show you what I believe
it's talking about. He's talking about judgment among
many people. He's talking about bringing them
the gospel. You see, that's what the gospel does. The good news
of how God saves sinners. It brings right judgment to the
people of God. Because without the gospel and
the power of the Holy Spirit, we don't know how to judge. We
don't have right judgment. As Brother Tim James said, without
the work of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel,
we're spiritually insane, literally. And so what he's talking about
is bringing judgment through the truth, how God saves sinners. And what's going to happen there
is those who are naturally enemies, he's speaking specifically of
Jew and Gentile, God's people out of the Jewish nation and
God's people out of the Gentile nations who are naturally enemies,
who naturally draw swords and fight are going to lay down their
swords, they're going to stop being warriors who are at war
with each other and they're going to become farmers together sowing
the seed of the gospel in the world. He's talking about peace
in the church here. between those who are natural
enemies because in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, bond nor
free, male nor female. We're all one in Christ and you
can go to Ephesians chapter 2, Galatians chapter 3 and so many
other passages that I believe prove that. In other words, I
know people who have studied what they believe is eschatology,
that's the study of future things, When they look at stuff like
that, they think he's talking about a future era of peace between
nations here on earth. There's nothing in scripture
that would indicate that. But there's going to be peace
among God's people. But look at verse 4. He says,
"...but they," that's those same ones now. He says, "...they shall
sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, Now that's
a symbolic reference to the kingdom as it existed under Solomon.
Remember we read in 1 Kings, if you want to read that, mark
this down if you weren't here, read that in 1 Kings chapter
4 verses 20 through 25. 1 Kings chapter 4 verses 20 through
25. That's the first time you have
this phrase. It's describing the kingdom under
Solomon. And the kingdom under Solomon, the kingdom of Israel,
it wasn't a divided kingdom. It wasn't divided until after
Solomon, into the northern and southern. Under Solomon it was
united, that's the new covenant. Under Solomon it was a time of
peace and prosperity for Israel. That's what that means. That's
a way of describing that kind of peace and prosperity. Every
man's sitting under his vine and under his fig tree. It's
a way of indicating peace and security and safety. Look at
it. It says, none shall make them
afraid. You see, remember over in 1 Kings it described how even
the nations, even the Philistines were under the rule of Solomon,
the most notorious enemies of Israel. They were brought down
to submit to the rule of Solomon. And there was peace in the land.
And so they weren't afraid of him anymore. There was security.
Well, that's a tie. You see, always remember this.
There's a greater than Solomon whom we trust. The Lord Jesus
Christ. And we don't have to be afraid
in the area of our salvation. in the area of our justification. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Satan accuses us, but his arrows
of accusation will not hit, because who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, yea, rather it's risen again. And how do we know that's
true? It's not because we feel it, because I don't always feel
that way, do you? It's not because we just thought
it up, It's not because we tell each other. Here's how we know
it. Look at verse 4. For the mouth
of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. God said it. And that settles
it. God says that if my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and I dare
not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
If I trust Him, then I don't need to be afraid. I don't need
to be ashamed. Christ is my hope. And who spoke
it? The Lord of hosts. That speaks
of God's power and God's invincibility. He cannot be defeated. Now look
at verse 5. He says, for all people will
walk everyone in the name of his God. Now who's that talking
about? That's talking about unbelievers.
And he says, and or but we will walk in the name of the Lord,
that's Jehovah, our God, forever and ever. Now there's the distinction
between believers and unbelievers. Who's the we there? That's the
people of God. That's the people who flow into the mountain. That's
the people who are gathered together, who come to the house of the
God of Jacob, who are taught of His ways, who walk in His
paths. whom God has judged among, who
beat their swords and weapons into plowshares, who sit under
the vine and the fig tree, safe in Christ." That's what it's
talking about. Resting in Christ. We will walk
in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. We'll walk
to His glory. We'll walk in His truth. We'll walk together in
Christ. Now, there may be a lot of ways
Now listen to me very carefully here. There may be a lot of ways
in which we are just flat not together. But in this way we are. We walk
in the name of the Lord our God in Christ. That's what he's saying. Now in verse 6 and 7 and 8 he
gives this analogy of the shepherd king. And I want you to look
at this. Think about it. And this will
bless you. Here he's talking about the blessings
of the new covenant in Christ. That shepherd of the sheep. And
he says in verse 6, In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble
her that halteth. Now those who halt are those
who are lame. This is a kingdom of lame people. He says, I will gather her that
is driven out. That's alienated. Outcast. And her that... Now listen to
this now. Don't miss this. And her that
I have afflicted. Now who afflicted us? God did. Do you know it's good to be afflicted
of God? And you want to know why? Now
it's not good for you to be afflicted by your enemies. It's not good
for me to be afflicted by my enemies. You know why? Because
my enemies, when they afflict me, they mean it for my destruction.
But when God afflicts his people, you know what he means it for?
For their salvation. For their good. For their healing. It's what the psalmist said,
it's good for me to be afflicted. And I might trust in the Lord
for all things. But this is what he's talking
about. He's going to assemble them like a shepherd gathering his
sheep. Assembling his sheep. And what
kind of people does he assemble? Those who are lame. Now that's
a picture of spiritual death. That's what it is. It's a picture
of those who cannot walk the right way. That's what he's saying. Remember over here he said we'll
walk in his paths? That's walking the right way.
But by nature we don't walk the right way. We're like lost sheep.
We're out there in the wilderness and a lost sheep, if that sheep
is never found, what is it? It's a dead sheep. And he says,
I'm going to assemble, I'm going to gather them together. I'm
going to bring them, I'm going to go get them. That's what...
Listen, he didn't say I'm going to give them an invitation and
beg them down an aisle. He said, I'm going to assemble
them. I'm going to go out and get them. That's what he means.
I'm going to bring them in. In that day I will assemble the
lame. Gathered together in him for redemption. And he said,
I'll gather her that is driven out. Just like Adam and Eve were
driven out of the garden and alienated from God. That entrance
was barred with a flaming sword signifying the justice and judgment
of God against our sin. There's no way to God except
justice be satisfied. We're alienated from God in our
minds and enemies by wicked works. That refers to sinners who are
trying to get their way back in to the presence and the communion
with God by their works. It can't happen. But he says,
I'll gather them. Christ the shepherd king will
gather his people that are driven out. And how's he going to do
it? He's going to afflict them. What does that speak of? Conviction. He's going to put our hip joint
out of joint like he did Jacob when he wrestled with him. He's
going to bring us down off of our high horses, out of our pride
and our self-righteousness and our idolatry and our dead works
which we're so proud of. And He's going to put us in the
dust of sin and depravity where we belong, where we are, without
even knowing it and admitting it. He's going to strip us naked
of any hope of salvation. except in that beautiful, white,
righteous robe of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to strip us. For what purpose? To clothe us
with the imputed righteousness of Christ. He's going to show
us the dirt and the filth that reaches to our heart so that
He'll wash us clean by the blood of the Lamb. He's going to make
us hungry, starving. Why? To feed us with the bread
of life. That's how He afflicts us. He's
going to make us thirsty parched, dry, like a desert, only to quench
our thirst with the water of life. You see what it is? He's
going to bring us down in our sin to show us that our only
hope of salvation is in Christ. And look at verse 7. He said,
I will make her that halted a remnant. Now this salvation is a remnant. And somebody asked me one time,
said, why doesn't God save everybody? I don't know. The only thing I can tell you
from the Scripture is this, and if you can find anything else
in the Scripture, then you come and show it to Him. Come and
show it to Him. But all I know is it seemed good
in His sight, and it's all as you read, to the praise of the
glory of His grace. And I don't know, it just says
here He's going to be a remnant. And Isaiah said that in chapter
1. In Romans chapter 11, it's called a remnant according to
the election of grace. I don't know why God does this
and why God does that. All I know is this, I want to
be part of that remnant. How about you? I want to be in
that remnant. Do you want to be in that remnant?
I do. And he said, I'm going to make
her that was lame a remnant and her that was cast off far off
a strong nation. In other words, they're not going
to be expatriates. They're going to be a strong
nation built on the foundation of Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. And he says, And the Lord shall
reign over them. That's His kingship. You see,
as a shepherd, He's going to gather the men. And as a king,
He's going to reign over them. And He's going to do it in Mount
Zion. That's His church from henceforth even forever. They'll
never be destroyed again. Now, that earthly kingdom is
going to be destroyed. That earthly temple is going
to be destroyed. That earthly priesthood is going
to be dissolved. All of those things that were
types and pictures and had their purpose for a temporary period
of time, they're going to be gone. But this will never, never
be destroyed. It'll go on forever and ever.
And then look at verse 8. Now here's another name for Christ.
You know, I always love reading the scriptures and finding different
names for Christ. Here's one I've never seen before
until I started studying Micah like this. And thou, O tower
of the flock. Christ is the tower of the flock. Let me tell you something about
this. That literally, if you looked
at it in the original Hebrew writing, It would be the name
of a literal place. It would be the Tower of Eder. That's the way we would transliterate
it in English, E-D-E-R. And that word Eder means flock.
But that was the name of a literal place. It was near Bethlehem. Some scholars, I don't know if
this is true, but some scholars say that's where the shepherds
were when the angel appeared to them on the night of Christ's
birth. But the point is this, that was
a watchtower for shepherds where they could stand in that tower
and watch over their sheep and keep them safe and not let any
harm come to them. And my friend, that's what Christ
is. Look at it. He says, O thou, O tower of the
flock, And here's another name for him, the stronghold of the
daughter of Zion. Christ is the stronghold of the
daughter of Zion. He watches over His flock and
as a stronghold, He keeps us secure and safe in the power
of His goodness and His grace and His mercy and His righteousness.
He says, "...unto thee it shall come even the first dominion."
Now, that first dominion, that's a kingdom. Dominion is a kingdom.
And there's two possible explanations of that. It could be a reference
simply to the kingdom of Christ having the preeminence. Like,
for example, Christ is called the firstborn of the brethren.
That means He has the preeminence. He's first and foremost in all
things. And so this first dominion could
be showing that out of all the kingdoms that men are impressed
with in this world, this one has the preeminence. And I like
that. I like that explanation. Because his kingdom, there's
nothing to even compare with. Look at the kingdoms of this
world that have come and gone. Many of you probably have studied
in history about empires and kingdoms and the beauty. I think about Babylon, you know,
Babylonian empire. and King Nebuchadnezzar who came
in and destroyed the temple and destroyed Jerusalem. I always
heard it when I was growing up in history classes, the hanging
gardens of Babylon. Well, where are they now? Has
anybody ever been there? You've probably been where they
say they were, but they're not there now. There's no beauty
there now, is there? But now this kingdom that he's
talking about, this first dominion, this is the preeminence, this
is the glorious beauty of an eternal kingdom that's reigned
and ruled over by an eternal king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now another explanation which
might have some significance is this is a symbolic reference
to the United Kingdom under Solomon, which was the first kingdom of
Israel, and that was destroyed because it was divided. But that
kingdom was symbolic of the New Covenant, the United Kingdom
under Christ, His Church. Either way, it has the preeminence.
Either way, it's all under the headship of Christ and signifies
our unity and our peace in Christ. Well, let me close with this.
I want you to go over to Psalm 22. I want you to see this. You know, we often read and study
and quote Psalm 23, and that's good. That's not a bad thing. Beautiful psalm. The psalm of
the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd and I
shall not want. Well, let me show you something
about this now, and many of you have heard this, I'm not telling
you anything new, but it's significant in studying this thing of Christ,
our shepherd king. Psalm 23 is actually a part of
a trilogy. Psalm 22 and Psalm 23 and Psalm
24 are all Psalms of David. David is called the shepherd
of Israel. David was a king also, David was a prophet, and he is
a type of Christ. Psalm 22 is the Psalm of the
cross. It starts out in verse 1, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ quoted from this psalm
on the cross to prove and show that he himself is the greater
son of David and the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah
who would put away the sins of his people and establish righteousness
for us. And he quote, and you can read
the whole psalm, I'm not going to read this whole psalm, but
this is the foundation of our salvation right here. Psalm 22.
It speaks of the redemptive work of Christ. It's what Daniel described
in Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 that when he finished the
transgression and made an end of sin and brought in everlasting
righteousness. This is the redemptive work of
Christ. This is when he was made sin.
Right here. Psalm 22. Christ who knew no
sin as our substitute and sin bearer and sent off that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. So this is the ground. You could say Psalm 22 describes
Christ our shepherd redeemer. Our shepherd redeemer. And let
me show you that. This describes Christ the good
shepherd. Let me just read this to you.
You won't have to turn over from this. But in John chapter 10. Now here's Christ in Psalm 22
giving his life for the sheep. And in John chapter 10 verse
11, Christ told his disciples, he said, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The good shepherd
gives his life for the sheep. Now in verse 14 of John 10, he
said, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known
of mine. You see, he's the tower of the
flock and that tower himself is built upon the foundation
of the work that he accomplished on Calvary. God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, our
shepherd redeemer. And then in Psalm 23, obviously
that's Christ our shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. But some people describe this
as Christ our prophet. He is the great prophet. He himself
is the word of God. He's the embodiment of that word,
the word incarnate. But in this, He's our shepherd
provider. He provides life for those for
whom He died. He provides guidance. He provides truth. He provides
spiritual sustenance. I shall not want means I shall
not like anything. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If I have Christ,
I have everything that I need. Everything God requires and everything
I need. I have it in Him. He, in Psalm
23, He's our shepherd protector. He's our shepherd guide. And
then in Psalm 24, that describes Christ our king. He's our shepherd
king. Based upon His work on the cross,
He himself, as God-man, was exalted to a place of lordship. Now,
as God, absolutely considered, He already was Lord. But as God-man,
He was exalted to that position. You can read about that in John
17, when He speaks of His exaltation, His glory. But here, He is the
Shepherd King. And as the Shepherd King, as
described over here in Micah, Chapter 4, as the tower of the
flock, he gathers, he assembles, he gathers his people whom he
has afflicted and he reigns over them as the shepherd king. He's the good shepherd. The good
shepherd gave his life for the sheep. He's the great shepherd. We read that in Hebrews 13, 20.
Paul wrote, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. And then Peter wrote of him in
1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 4 as the chief shepherd. He said,
and when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fades not away. That's our shepherd king and
that's his everlasting kingdom.