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sermon: An Intimate Expanding Relationship

Mark Schindler
Given 16-Sep-21; Sermon #1617A; 44 minutes

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I would like to begin this sermon today with the title of the sermon. This is not something I typically do, but because it is the SPS of this message and I hope it will help us immediately get focused on what I consider the most vital takeaway from today—a more individually personal and deep appreciation for Jesus Christ, who is everything to the whole of creation and each of us very, very personally. The title of this message is "An Intimate, Expanding, Profound Relationship."

As we start, I want to give you a short definition of each word in the title of the sermon, so I leave no doubt in your minds what we will be looking at in this short split sermon. These are very simple definitions from the World Wide Web, but together they very much point to the message.

Intimate: marked by close acquaintance, association, familiarity, innermost, essential, thoroughly acquainted through study or experience.

Expanding: grow vigorously, boom, flourish, thrive. In keeping with this season and order of God's holy days and our personal walk with our conversion, I would like us to use the word boom. Although that word indicates vigorous growth, please consider that word in an almost an onomatopoetic sense. The vigorous growth booming in a way similar to what David Grabbe described ten days ago on the Feast of Trumpets regarding the explosive shout when God was present among His people.

Profound: of the greatest intensity, complete, deep, intense, thoughtful.

Relationship: simply, connection.

With this in mind, please turn with me to Leviticus 16 (we were just there with Richard), just so we can do as Richard did and rehearse the events of the Day of Atonement as pictured in this chapter. We are remembering that Jesus Christ is everything to the whole creation and each one of us individually. As we keep the holy days throughout the year, that all, every one of them point to Him and the work that He is doing.

Please keep in mind our own personal work within the chaos of the world around us to complete the task that we have been given by God within this chaos. As John pointed out on the Feast of Trumpets, that work is to grow in the essential booming experience of God with us, to the most intensively complete connection with Jesus Christ in every aspect of word and attitude. Please keep that word attitude in your thoughts. It is critical to all the work we have been given the privilege to do now, with Jesus Christ leading the way.

Now we will pick up right at the beginning of chapter 16, a verse that Richard did not start with, and I hope you already spent a great deal of time there. And as we have seen with Richard, we know how important this chapter is.

Leviticus 16:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died.

The chapter begins with attitude. Regardless of what Nadab and Abihu did, it was done carelessly without a deep appreciation for what they were doing and who it was that actually was giving them the instructions and the privilege to carry out this task. God's booming presence was not a reality to them, as it must be to us, or else we will suffer the same consequences for our actions but with far more severe penalty. Keep in mind the apostle Peter's admonition.

I Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ''Be holy, for I am holy."

I Peter 2:1-5 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

I Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into the His marvelous light; who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy.

I Peter 2:21-25 For to this, you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.

I Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

With these words from Peter (who you will be seeing a bit more later on in this sermon as an important part of this message), go with me back now to Leviticus 16 and we are going to rehearse a few of those verses that Richard already went over, because they are very important to us today.

Leviticus 16:3-10 "Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body, he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat [the goat of reconciliation]. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness."

Leviticus 16:15 "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, and do with the blood as he had done with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat."

Leviticus 16:18-22 "And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar and all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.

Aaron shall lay hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all the transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable [or fit] man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness."

Leviticus 16:29-31 "This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day the priest shall make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls."

Leviticus 16:34 "This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year." And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.

I have skipped over a number of the significant pieces of this chapter that are rich with those things that point us to the reality of Jesus Christ and all the work that He has done, and continues to do, within His office as High Priest, to bring us into unity with Him and with the Father. I assume that most of you have spent a great deal of time leading up to this day, especially in the last ten days since the Feast of Trumpets, digging into this vital chapter of Leviticus. But I want to focus our attention mainly on the two goats, as well as verse 21 and the suitable man who led the goat bearing the sins into the wilderness.

I would like to make something very clear at this point in the sermon. A couple of years ago, as Richard said, when I first had the opportunity to preview David Grabbe's study into the subject shortly before Atonement that year, I skeptically approached the subject, as most have done. But the more I tried to dig into it and let God's Word speak for itself, the more it became obvious to me that the fruit of this was that everything pointed to Jesus Christ and all the work that only He can do. That year, and every year since, Atonement has been such an expanding source of joy and encouragement. It helped me see Him as everything to us and without Him and the intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, we can do nothing.

I know our teaching on the second goat is not one that is very well accepted outside the church, and by many personally. But over the years, personally, I found nothing from God's Word that denies this wonderful teaching and the end result of the fruit of it is that it is all about Christ.

With this sermon today, I hope to give you just one more thing to consider within our belief that the second goat does represent another important aspect of the work that only Jesus Christ can do and does. There are two points that we are going to consider: the suitable man, verse 21, and two, the other possibly ignored but important question of why a goat. Again, please understand my purpose today is not to try to convince anyone of anything, but to possibly help us see this day more personally in our own journey through this life with an intimate, expanding, thoughtfully complete relationship with Jesus Christ, so we can walk as He walks.

Regarding the man that is pointed to in Leviticus 16:21, the word "suitable" is from the Hebrew word itti. It is #6261 in Strong's and the word is nowhere else in the Bible. It is translated as suitable or ready to stand, and simply means, according to one word study I saw, "an adjective meaning fit, ready to stand. It refers to someone prepared and waiting to perform a task." Since it is only used here, I want us to consider the two words in conjunction with it: hand and man. It was by his hand, and the word for hand in the Hebrew is yawd, Strong's #3027. That refers to an open hand of a man that metaphorically implies strength.

The word man is the Hebrew word ish and it simply means a man. But it is important to understand it is specifically referring to a male as opposed to a female. My point here is not to specifically identify this man. I think in his series of articles on the two goats of Leviticus 16, David clearly establishes that this was a particular man and what he represented is a type of all responsible for leading Jesus Christ to His crucifixion. The point I want us to hold on to is that this particular man, who served as a type for all of us, was very personally prepared by God for the task at hand.

In Deuteronomy 29, we have a very important takeaway principle to keep our focus clear. Consider in Exodus God proclaimed He hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Deuteronomy 29:2-4 [Moses tells Israel at the end of their wilderness journey] "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land—the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day."

Those were his words to physical Israel.

Then following a succinct summary of the things God had done, which they may have seen with minds that could barely begin to understand what God was doing apart from what they saw, God ends the chapter in verse 29 with a very definitive statement.

Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Brethren, the point is that we are not always going to have anywhere near an absolute understanding of what is going on around us. However, God is always going to give us whatever we need to do the words of His law. And with the incredible gift He has given to His elect through His Holy Spirit, we are not only seeing to do the words according to the letter, but according to the Spirit of the law.

These holy days are more clearly showing us that Jesus Christ is everything to us so we can appreciate Him, His mind, His character, and the work; and also to live the Word of God as He does.

Now with all this, let us turn our attention to the goats and another view of why the Atonement goat is so important to us other than what is most obvious. Please turn with me to Matthew 25. We will be reading something which kind of is a question to us.

Matthew 25:31-34 "When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'

Then, after giving His reasons for such a tremendous reward, we are told in verse 40,

Matthew 25:40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it for one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'

Then again, following His perfect judicial reasoning, we read in verse 45,

Matthew 25:45-46 "Then He will answer them saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me,' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Brethren, despite what we see here, and the goat is a type of one who is eternally rejected, it is not the goat itself that was being rejected, but it was the goat as a type of one who allows carnal nature to turn his natural proclivities in the wrong direction. Jesus Christ should be in our mind's eye, just as much as a goat in type as He is the innocent lamb who takes away the sins of the world. You know, God gives us a very early indication of this thing in Exodus.

Exodus 12:1-5 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth of this month every man shall take to himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.'

"From the goats," brethren. Right here, often overlooked, one of those things that God places into His Word almost as an afterthought. However, with God, there is no afterthought. Just as He carefully and specifically prepared a man for a task, I believe He mentions goat here because we need to have an initial introduction to what Jesus Christ is beyond an innocent little lamb.

There are so many different ways that we can view God's holy days, individually and as a group, when we rehearse them every year. But the bottom line is, every one of them points to the incredible work of Jesus Christ, from before the foundation of the earth up through the time He brings the whole creation to the Father, that God may be all in all, as the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:28.

Jesus Christ is everything to us so for the last few minutes of the sermon, I would like us to consider on our own journey, pictured within these holy days, in a bit of an overview that may help us appreciate more fully what God is doing to give each of us an intimate, expanding, profound relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let us consider how we started this journey. Just as with physical Israel there in Exodus 12, we were called out of the world. It was enmity against God and we, being idolaters just like Israel, ourselves began our journey looking to the Lamb of God that was being pointed out in front of us. He very personally for us—all of us—was only seen in His capacity, probably, to free us as the innocent lamb. Perhaps He was no more to us at that time than a get-out-of-jail-free card. But God gives us a hint there in Exodus 12:5 that there is much more here than meets the eye. A goat, God's goat.

We do not have time to go into all the scriptures that clearly describe the characteristics of the goat as opposed to a lamb. But I would like to quote from a Forerunner article by Mike Ford that he wrote back in 1994 that should help us to see what the goat does. Mike wrote in the article, "Goats on the Left":

For instance, the Bible's use of goats and sheep as metaphors for Christians is beyond many of us city folk. Most of us in the church seem to be more familiar with sheep. We hear a great deal about them in sermons and their attitudes are fairly common knowledge. Christ is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep. We know many of the traits of the sheep through studies into Psalm 23 and John 10. But our mental picture of goats is usually vague. We may think they regularly eat soup cans and butt unsuspecting souls bent over to tie their shoes. [vintage Mike of course] We will see that the attributes of goats, however, should not be taken lightly.

A bit further down, Mike wrote:

What is it about goats that causes God to use them in such a negative light? Goats have many admirable qualities. They are intelligent, sensitive, playful, quick to respond to individual attention and affectionate. Sounds good, right? [then Mike says] But wait, there is more! Goats are capricious. They are impulsive and unpredictable [and at times they can turn into being], devious and contrary. When they are grazing it is not unusual to see several with their heads through the fence, straining to reach the grass that is is always greener on the other side! Folklore says that goats have slit eyes to enable them to look around corners where the grazing is better. If they are not poking their heads through fences, they may be standing on their hind legs, stretching for those tender leaves just out of reach.

Goats are never content with what they have. They are experts in opening gates and squeezing through small gaps because they hate to be confined. Fences that will handle sheep, cattle, and horses will not hold goats. They will work tirelessly to spring themselves from any situation they deem inhibiting.

Consequently goats are not very good followers. "Gregarious behavior" is a term that refers to the flocking or herding instinct, which is found strongly in sheep, cattle, or horses. Again, this quality is rather weak in goats; they prefer leading or going off on their own.

Finally, Mike writes an anecdote:

Goats also possess a stubborn streak. A friend once tried to move a goat in a certain direction. He grabbed it by the horns and pushed and pulled and tugged. No matter how or what direction he tried to move the goat, it resisted. He could not budge it one inch. Then, when he let it go, it just trotted off—in the direction that it wanted to go.

After years of personal acquaintance with Jesus Christ through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and the booming growth that should resonate in a clearer picture of Him, we should recognize Jesus Christ as not just an innocent lamb, but the complete picture of those goats, but without the bad qualities of animal instinct—only the qualities Mike succinctly described, used rightly and to perfection.

Remember I told you as we were leaving I Peter to keep Peter in your thoughts because he would be coming back later on in the sermon? So please turn with me now to Luke 22. Here we see Jesus Christ in the very last gathering before His crucifixion with those who had been closest to Him for the last three and a half years of His personal life as God with them, physically with them, instructing them along the way. We are going to begin our overview here because I want us to see a striking characteristic of all those called now to the Father and His Son, and especially the apostle Peter's part in it.

Luke 22:24-34 Now, there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as One who serves. But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." And He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."

Please turn with me now to a few scriptures that we are going to read without any commentary.

Matthew 14:25-31 Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out with fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."

And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. When he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Matthew 16:21-23 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

Matthew 26:48-54 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him." Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. But Jesus said, "Friend, why have you come?" Then they came and they laid hands on Jesus and took Him.

And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him [directly to him], "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the scripture be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?"

John 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter [I just want to see exactly who this was], having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off the right ear. The servant's name was Malchus, So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

Are not these some of the very qualities of Mike Ford's "Goats on the Left"—pushing to the edge, recalcitrant, impetuously pushing to the front? However, under the direction of God's Holy Spirit and in his own personal journey within an intimate, booming, complete relationship with Jesus Christ, Peter too became the powerfully meek goat.

Brethren, I am sure you noticed, I purposely gave both accounts of Peter's impetuous charge to the front of the line with a sword, because with our own difficult struggle within this chaotic world, our own carnal-minded goat traits are pushing to bust through. And I wanted you to see what Jesus Christ said directly to Peter and by extension to us.

In Matthew 26, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot pray to My Father, and He will provide for Me more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the scripture be fulfilled that it must happen thus?"

If we are focusing on Jesus Christ and in all the work that He is doing, we should be patiently struggling. So we should be patiently subjugating our own carnal-minded goat tendencies as we learn to be just like Him. This may seem to be a bit off track from Matthew 26, but it is critical for all those that God has called now to be sons waiting for His return. Please turn with me to Revelation 13 where we see the contentious power of the beast and what Christ always expects from His like-minded goats that will be behaving at His return.

Revelation 13:7-10 It was granted to him to make war with the saints to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear [that is you and me], let him hear. He who leads into captivity; shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.

There is a little bit of a twist here to these words than we saw with Jesus Christ's admonition to Peter, but it is something we still need to keep in mind. In the New Living Translation that verse is translated, "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword." And then it says, "This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful."

Brethren, we are all goats. Like the unconverted Peter, we want to charge impetuously ahead when we should be following Jesus Christ and what He did. Learning to be just like Him, we patiently, faithfully, and learning to be what is expected from His goats. I recommend that you listen to John Ritenbaugh's Bible study on Acts 4, because in it you should have noticed that God has embedded the perfect contrasting example of the carnally driven leadership goats and the Holy Spirit-filled Peter who was learning to use his leadership goat qualities the way Christ did.

I would now like us to turn to John 21. This is just some of the food for thought I want to give to you for the end of the sermon on this Day of Atonement. The inspired gospel of John is written from the perspective of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Word of God, as we know. It ends in John 21, verse 25 with the John's incredible statement as he writes, "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Yet we know that God has carefully given us what we need out of all that information to keep us on the right track, to build a very personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As I said, this is just food for thought. But I find it curious that the very last chapter of the four gospels and what has been revealed to those who now have access to the intimate, expanding, complete relationship with Christ has to do with Peter and his very personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In John 21:1-3, 7-8 we read a very carefully-minded Peter was again leading the pack, but in the wrong direction. He was taking them fishing until he was pointed back in the right direction by Jesus Christ. And they dropped everything and he impetuously led the charge back to Him when it was pointed out that He was on the shore. Of course we are all very familiar with the rest of the chapter and Christ's charge to Peter that if he really loved Him, he would keep his focus where it belonged to do just as Christ had done with His own leadership skills: to carefully tend his sheep just as He would.

I would like to make a note here that in verses 15 through 18 we have often looked at that as Christ asking Peter about, do you really love Me? That set of verses is what is called an epomy. It is a rhetorical term for frequent repetition of a phrase or question. E. W. Bullinger writes about this phrase. "Peter's threefold repetition: Jesus Christ dwells upon these verses to assure him that his threefold denial had not cut him off, and that though he failed, the prayer of His own prayer, Jesus Christ's own prayer, the great Advocate was heard and answered, and that from that time forth he had a job to do."

John 21:15-18 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; You know I love You." ["I am charging ahead for you."] He said to him, "Feed My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes Lord; You know I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish."

That last verse that I would like us to consider while thinking about the meekness of Jesus Christ Himself, allowing Himself to be led where He would rather not go Himself and completely bring us back to the Father. Christ inspired John to use the last chapter of the Gospels to help us see what He expects from each and every one of us He has called to leadership positions ahead. He wants each and every one of us to be just like Him, using the innate leadership qualities of the goat, meekly and righteously through a lifetime of an intimate, booming, and complete relationship with Him, so we too can be just like Him by the end of our days, as Mike Ford and Charles Whitaker.

With meekly doing whatever it takes for the glory of God, "Most assuredly," Jesus Christ will say, "I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you were wished as a wild-eyed goat, but when you are old you, as a different kind of goat, as God's goat, a meek goat, will go where you did not go, to fulfill all your responsibilities on your tasks before God." Then He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, [Jesus Christ] said to him, "Follow Me."

MS/aws/drm

The Bereans "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10-11). This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God.