Best of BAM: Matthew Chapter 9: The True Shepherd

Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank continues to talk about how Jesus is the true shepherd. Most assuredly, in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is contrasting himself as the Good Shepherd, with those who make merchandise out of the flock. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were false shepherds, and false shepherds and prophets mimic these Pharisees in our generation. Jesus not only contrasts himself with the false shepherds of his day but points to an abundant harvest and a paucity of laborers. Thus, Jesus is in process of training or equipping his disciples to ingather the sheaves; to become fellow harvesters with Christ, co-consummators of the kingdom of which he himself is the cornerstone. In accord with the words of our Lord, we are to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). If there are indeed more than two billion Christians alive today, imagine what just 400 million committed to discipleship could do. If each led one person into the fullness of Christ and His Church this year, the number of committed believers would double to 800 million. If this process continued, it would take less than five years to disciple all of the nearly eight billion people on the planet. That’s the power of making disciples in accord with the commission of our Lord.