Pastor's Corner

The process of shearing sheep (usually yearly) doesn’t hurt the sheep but they don’t like it. They are put in a variety of uncomfortable positions and appear much different (seemingly humiliated) afterwards. Sometimes sheep are purposely deprived of food and water so that they are too weak to struggle against the process. Most often they are silent.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Like a sheep, He was willingly shorn of all His rights, even to the point of death. “He was oppressed and afflicted yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” Isaiah 53:7. He submitted to this “shearing” of His dignity and rights for you and me. He humbled Himself to the death of the cross.

He is the substitute lamb who died for our sins. Yet God had more in mind for His Son! Three days later Jesus Christ rose from the dead! The angel at the tomb said “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him” Mk. 16:6. “In His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Pe. 1:3.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, we have a living hope that defies the darkness of this world, death, and the grave. Through Jesus Christ we have received the “new birth” of salvation and the living hope He gives us each day.