Sheep or More than Conquerors through Christ?
Romans 8:38 - Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
God loved us and wanted us to be saved. God wants for ALL people to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Christ Jesus died for the ungodly, which is all people before they get saved. Because of what Christ did for us through His death, burial and resurrection as atonement for our sins, believers are now more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. This means that regardless of our sufferings in this life, we still have the victory in Christ Jesus! We now have eternal life in Him and this can NEVER be taken away from us. In fact, we are not only saved from eternal death and given eternal life, but we are also given all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus! And these blessings can also never be taken away from us! Even our own foolish mistakes that we will sometimes make in this life after we are saved, cannot take away our salvation or our spiritual blessings! Amazing!
Romans 8:38-39
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That being said, Paul never mentions the believers in the dispensation of grace as being lost sheep or sheep at all. In fact, he says that we are NOT sheep but are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:35-37
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. [Quoting Psalm 44:23 "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever."]
37¶Nay, [in other words Paul is saying, No this is NOT who we are now in Christ! We are NOT helpless sheep begging God to save us! We were already saved the moment we believed the Gospel!] in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
The reality is that believers WILL suffer in this life, especially as we live godly. But if we know and understand sound grace doctrine, we do not have to feel defeated! It's the sound doctrine working in our inner man that reminds us of our identity in Christ and our blessings in Christ and this causes us to walk in joy and peace regardless of our sufferings!
So who are the sheep that Christ is the shepherd to and what does that mean? How is it different from us today?
The sheep are in reference to the nation of Israel. They became God's sheep when he led them out of Egypt. He then gave them food (manna from heaven) and water in the wilderness. He provided for and protected them like a Shepherd does for his sheep. Today, we are NOT given miraculous manna from heaven, nor are we protected from all physical harm. We are treated like adult sons of God, but reminded in Romans chapter 8 that God works all things together for our good and that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
During the tribulation period, Believing Israel will be God's sheep again. They will still have to go through the tribulation, but will have some miraculous interventions as well such as manna from heaven again when they have to flee into the wilderness when the anti-christ is trying destroy them. They will have to learn to rely completely on God and His word for their provision because they cannot buy or sell food (or anything else) unless they take the mark of the beast and if they take the mark, they will loose their salvation forever. It's a completely different program from our mystery grace program. There is no anti-christ today and no mark of the beast system, so believers today are to work to earn their food and other necessities.
For us, Christ is referred to as the head of the Body of Christ. He is the head and each individual person is a member of Christ's body. Together, Christ and the church the Body of Christ, we are the "one new man" that God is forming to take over the governmental positions in the heavenly places.
Colossians 1:18
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
In Israel's prophetic program, they are the sheep and Christ is their shepherd but they will eventually rule and reign with Christ on the earth. The lost sheep during Israel's program were unbelieving Jews that needed to be saved. It was NOT in reference to Gentiles, who were "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:” (Eph 2:12).
But in the dispensation of grace, the middle wall of partition is down and Jew and Gentile are on equal footing.
Ephesians 2:14-18
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off [Gentiles], and to them that were nigh [Jews].
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
So, we ought to be thankful that believers today are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus!
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