Have you ever heard of The Great Declaration?

Posted on June 9, 2026 by tdillmuth

For centuries, Christians did not view Matthew 28:16-20 as “The Great Commission.” Instead, it was seen as a revelation of who Christ is and as an invitation for us to join his work. This passage could be renamed “The Great Declaration,” since through his declaration, he reveals who he is.

What does this Scripture passage reveal about Jesus Christ?

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16–20)

First, it reminds us of who Christ is as Emmanuel, “God with us”. The very beginning and end of Matthew contain this same promise about who Christ is. Being with us is not only something that Christ does; it is who he is. It is his character. In Greek, the word “always” means “the whole of every day”. In the details of every day, Christ is with us.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

In more than one hundred verses in the Old Testament, God promises to be with us. But, in the Old Testament, the Lord was present through various mediators, such as Moses, the tabernacle, the temple, etc.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. (1 Kings 8:10–11)

In the beginning of John, in the Greek, it says that Jesus “tabernacled” or “pitched his tent” among us. In the Old Testament, it says that God dwelled in the tabernacle. But in the New Testament, Jesus “tabernacled” among us. In the Old Testament, God’s glory was shrouded by the cloud. But now God’s glory is fully visible to us in Jesus Christ.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

In the New Testament, Jesus describes himself as the temple, and since we are being built together in Christ, we also have a part in God’s temple. This very real temple is being built with living stones, and the Bible says we are those living stones. We are God’s house. The presence of God now dwells in us.

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5)

This Old Testament promise of God’s presence has been specifically and completely fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This promise is given to us through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The promise of his direct, unmediated presence.

Jesus not only gave the disciples the promise of his presence, but also the promise of his power in Matthew 28:16-20. He told them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. We know from John 3:35 that it was given to him by the Father.

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. (John 3:35)

This is confusing because we know that Jesus has always been God. So has Jesus not already had all power and authority? In fact, John 1 tells us that the Word is God and that all things were created by the Word. So why must power and authority be given to Jesus?

Because, as we read in John 1:14, the Son took on flesh.

Jesus has two natures. He has human nature and divine nature. There have been many issues throughout church history understanding this. Some cults have said that Jesus has a kind of “third nature” or that the two natures are separate. But, in Christ, Jesus’ two natures are inseparable.

In the Father’s exalting Jesus, God’s original plan for humanity, that humanity would reign as God’s image on earth, is fulfilled. Not only is Jesus’ divine nature exalted, but his human nature is as well. As the “Son of Man” he is given all dominion.

In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

Now that we understand Christ’s character, we can properly understand what he commanded us to do.

In Matthew 28:19-20, in English there seem to be four commands “go, make disciples, baptize, and teach”. But, in Greek, there is properly only one command, “make disciples”. The other verbs in this passage modify the verb “make disciples”. We don’t have to come up with our own plan of how to make disciples. We don’t need larger churches, outreach events or humanitarian aid projects. We only make disciples through the word (“teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”) and the sacrament (“baptizing them”).

Because Jesus uses many words interchangeably, instead of “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”, he could just as easily have said, “teaching them to abide in my word” or “teaching them to believe in my word”. The main point is to have firm faith in all that he taught.

Jesus also says that we make disciples by baptizing. Disciples are not made by having them come forward during an altar call. Disciples are not made by praying the “sinner’s prayer”. According to scripture, disciples are made through baptism, through which we die and are raised with Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.

It may seem like we should first get saved and then get baptized so we can publicly declare our faith. But that is not how the Bible describes baptism at all. Baptism is a gift of God. It is not something that we do, it is something which God does to us.

A person once said that making disciples is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We are beggars who bring other beggars to Christ for Christ to work, not for us to work.

In Matthew 28, everything seems upside-down. The Jewish elders and Roman guards conspired to lie about what happened to Jesus’ body. The disciples even doubt Jesus as they are looking at him. In the midst of all this, Jesus declares his absolute authority in front of only eleven people. It is quite an anti-climactic moment.

But remember, this has always been the way that Jesus has worked. He doesn’t work according to the ways and standards of this world. His ways are totally different from our ways.

In John 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. But the story starts out much differently than we would think. It starts with Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; (John 13:3)

We would think that Jesus would take all power and use it to humiliate his enemies and stop them from crucifying him. But, instead, he washed the feet of the disciples who would later betray and deny him.

On the cross, we see the true power and authority of Jesus on display. And, on an obscure mountain before the disciples who had just failed miserably, we see the same power and authority of Jesus on display.

This upside-down work of Jesus is the same with making disciples. We think that if we had enough money, power, and freedom, we could make disciples better. But God always works through his word, which may seem weak and inefficient to us. But Jesus says that is what is powerful and effective.

Christ’s presence is not dependent on how you feel. You don’t have to feel good or happy. You can’t use your emotions to determine whether God is with you or not. The Bible tells us that God’s presence is a gift which is given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. His name is Emmanuel.

Through his death, resurrection, and ascension, we are given the gift of unmediated access to God himself.

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If your gospel omits Jesus’ ascension, it’s not the gospel

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Pastor Foley

If your Easter is a single day of the year, your Easter is too short. And if Jesus’ ascension is not part of your gospel, it is not the gospel.

Jesus’s ascension to heaven as depicted by John Singleton Copley (1775)

The teaching of the Lord Jesus is not “On the cross, the Father transferred our sins to Jesus and poured out his wrath on Jesus and forsook him. Then the Father’s wrath was satisfied, so, if we believe in Jesus, we can go to heaven when we die.”

If this is what you believe, there is no need for the burial, resurrection, ascension, or any other part of the gospel beyond the three hours of Jesus’ time on the cross. If this is what you believe, what you believe is not the gospel.

Sin is a broken relationship with God, not an invoice for which God demands payment or punishment. When Israelites brought an animal to offer to the Lord, they weren’t transferring their sins to the animal so that it would be killed instead of them. They were acknowledging their guilt in breaking the relationship with God. They offered the animal as a sign of their repentance. The person making the offering could not enter God’s presence because of their sin. That was why the animal was slain outside the temple, and then the blood was brought into the temple and sprinkled on the altar as their offering. Why was the blood the offering?

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (Leviticus 17:11)

The Father never turned away from the Son. Even when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he is quoting a passage of scripture the way rabbis do in abbreviating it by quoting the beginning of the passage.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? (Psalm 22:1)

Jesus wants us to read the entire Psalm. And, when we do, we get a picture of what is being accomplished on the cross.

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. (Psalm 22:24)

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, (Psalm 22:27)

This is why Jesus says, in John 12:32:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)

When Jesus says “lifted up”, he doesn’t only mean lifted up on the cross. He means lifted all the way up—lifted up on the cross, then lifted out of death, and then lifted into heaven.

Jesus is slain outside the city just as the animals were slain outside the temple in the sacrificial system. In the sacrificial system, the blood is brought inside the temple and sprinkled on the altar. In the same way, Jesus ascends to the highest heaven to offer his blood in the heavenly temple. It is on the day of Jesus’ ascension, when he offers his blood, that the Father gives us repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

It isn’t that God was demonstrating his wrath for us on the cross. Scripture says that God was demonstrating his own love for us through Christ on the cross. God’s wrath will be poured out at the end of the age by Christ himself on those who have rejected God’s offer of repentance in Christ Jesus.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

When Christ’s wrath is poured out, you will know it because you will see it. It will destroy the whole of creation.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9)

The Father never forsakes the Son. Everyone else forsook Jesus when he was on the cross. But the Father did not.

“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. (John 16:32)

Always remember that the persons of the Trinity always act jointly. On the cross, the Son is revealing the patience, love, and mercy of the Father.

Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19)

We can see a good picture of the joint ministry of the Father and the Son in John 17. We are used to thinking of the ascension narrative as appearing only in Luke and Acts. But in John 17, Jesus prays about his coming ascension.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. (John 17:1)

The Father glorifies the Son by revealing himself through the Son on the cross, raising him from the dead, having him ascend, receiving the sacrifice of his blood, and having the Son sit at his right hand, ruling and reigning over all.

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

“Eternal life” does not mean “going to heaven when you die.” That is a false gospel. Eternal life is not about where we live. It is about who lives in us and who we live with. We are seated with Christ in heaven from the moment we are baptized.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:6)

But our stay in heaven is temporary because we go wherever Jesus goes. So, when Jesus comes at the end of the age, we will come with him.

In John 3:16, Jesus does not say, “Whoever believes that I died for their sins will go to heaven”. He says, “Whoever believes in me will have eternal life”. At our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, the Father and Son come to live in us forever. That, says Jesus, is eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

The reason why Jesus says, “It is finished” before dying on the cross is because, at that moment, Jesus completed all the work God gave him to do on earth. But that doesn’t mean his offering is finished. His work on earth is completed on the cross, but his offering for our sins is made in heaven at his ascension.

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

Amazingly, Jesus prays that the Father would glorify him “now” in John 17:5 before he went to the cross.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17:5)

The reason he does this is because, for Jesus, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension are all part of the same “hour”.

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. (John 17:6–8)

Jesus says that his words and teachings come from the Father. At our Baptism, the Holy Spirit is given to us to remind us of his words and teachings and to reveal them to us fully. Just as the Son only says what the Father says, the Holy Spirit only says what Jesus says.

The Father and Son dwell through the Holy Spirit in the one who holds to the words and teachings of Jesus.

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. (John 17:9–10)

It is quite amazing the glory comes to Jesus through us, his disciples. Christ is glorified when we only relate to God and one another according to the teachings of Christ.

We may know that Jesus is interceding for us in heaven. But you may not know what he is praying for. What would there be to intercede for if the Father has already given us the forgiveness of sins? He intercedes for us the same way he did in John 17.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:11)

You may think, “There are very many churches and denominations. All Christians are not ‘one’ like Jesus prayed, so the Father must not have answered Jesus’ prayer yet.”

But that is not true. Jesus says that when we believe in him, he and the Father come to live in us through the Holy Spirit. That’s not a metaphor. They really and truly live in us. And their living in us is what unites us with each other as the body of Christ across all times and places. Churches and denominations may be divided, and there may be some sheep who are pastors’ sheep or denominational sheep rather than the Lord’s sheep. But all who belong to the Lord are in fact one because the one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—lives in us. How do we experience that oneness? By leaving behind all that does not come from the words and teachings of Jesus as taught to us by the Holy Spirit.

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“I Am the Door”

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Pastor Foley

The 2nd century Christian writer Hegesippus gives one of the earliest detailed traditions about James the Just—Jesus’ brother. He wrote that the religious leaders brought James to the pinnacle of the temple during Passover and asked him to publicly deny Jesus or face death. The way they sought to make him deny Jesus was by asking him, “What is the door of Jesus?”

This question has to do with what Jesus claimed about himself in John 10:1-10.

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:1–10)

An illustration depicting Hegesippos, printed using woodcut techniques in the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493.

Here, Jesus claimed to be the “gate” or the “door”. In fact, John 10:6 tells us that even the people who heard it did not understand such that Jesus had to repeat it twice.

What does it mean when Jesus says, “I am the door”? Many preachers assume that when he says “door”, he is just using a general spiritual or religious metaphor to express that he is the only valid way by which we can have salvation and a restored relationship with God.

Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11–12)

While it is true that Jesus is the only name by which we may be saved, we can tell that Jesus is not just making a general claim about salvation because of what Jesus says at the beginning of his discourse in John 10. Jesus says:

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)

This scripture is not a scripture about salvation addressed to the sheep. It is a scripture addressed to the religious leaders who claim to be shepherds of Israel but whom Jesus says are thieves and robbers.

Which of them are thieves and robbers? According to Jesus, everyone who came before him!

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. (John 10:8)

This claim is so potentially offensive that Bible commentators try to correct Jesus at this point by saying, “No, Jesus is only talking about the bad people. Other leaders like Samuel and David were good shepherds.  Or maybe he is talking about the religious leaders who kicked the blind man out of the synagogue in John 9”.

But, if Jesus meant to say any of those things, he would have said it. Instead, he said “all”. “All” means “all”. Jesus is never careless with his speech. He knows exactly what he is saying, and he always says what he means. The reason we and other people don’t understand what Jesus is saying is not because Jesus was unclear. In fact, it is because Jesus was too clear, and we simply have trouble believing that he means what he says.

In fact, Jesus’ secondary claim is also outrageous, that “the sheep have not listened to them”. Note that Jesus didn’t say, “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, and the sheep were misled by them”. He said that the sheep have not listened to them.

Who are the sheep? They are those who only listen to the voice of the shepherd and run away from all other voices.

Who is the shepherd? First, we must see what Jesus says about what the shepherd does. According to Jesus, the shepherd is the one who enters by the gate. The gatekeeper hears his voice, opens the door, and the shepherd leads the sheep out.

Then who is the door? Jesus is the door.

Again, this scripture is not just about salvation. It’s about sheep who are going in and out by the door between the sheep pen and the pasture. This is the normal daily life of sheep: Going in and coming out.

Whoever enters by the door, who is Jesus, will be saved. But this is not a one-time gathering into the sheep pen. Jesus says that “they will come in and go out, and find pasture”. This means that the sheep pass through Jesus daily, every day of their lives. This parable is about Jesus as the daily door.

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (John 10:3)

The doorkeeper hears the shepherd’s voice and opens the door. Who is the doorkeeper? The doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit.

Here, in John 10, we see the relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit in daily life in the form of a parable. But later Jesus reveals the relationship openly to his disciples.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16–17)

Only the doorkeeper opens the door. Only the Holy Spirit opens Christ to the sheep. And the Holy Spirit opens only Christ to the sheep. Irenaeus described the Son and the Holy Spirit as the Father’s two hands.

We may be interested in whether the sheep pen is heaven, Israel, or the church, or something else. But, if Jesus doesn’t highlight something, we shouldn’t highlight it. If we are highlighting something that Jesus does not, it means that we are not focusing on what Jesus wants us to focus on, and we risk distorting his parable. Jesus wants us to focus on the door, the doorkeeper, the sheep, the thieves and robbers, and the shepherd. It is not important where the sheep are located, but what they are going through (the door), who opens it (the doorkeeper), and whose voice they hear (the shepherd’s).

Now we come to the central question: Who is the shepherd? According to Jesus, everyone who came before him is not the shepherd, but a thief and a robber. Instead, Jesus says:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

When we hear this, we may say, “But what about Jacob, Moses, or David? Surely they were good shepherds!”

But Jacob, Moses, and David never call themselves shepherds. And the Lord never called Jacob or Moses shepherds (we will come back to David).

Jacob called God his shepherd, not himself.

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, (Genesis 48:15)

Moses is also not called a shepherd. He is called a servant in God’s house while God is called the shepherd.

You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalm 77:20)

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. (Hebrews 3:5)

As for David, David called the Lord his shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Psalm 23:1)

David was called a shepherd in Psalm 78.

from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (Psalm 78:71–72)

But this is only inasmuch as he foreshadows Jesus. In fact, in 2 Samuel 12:1-7, using a parable, Nathan calls David a sheep-stealer.

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

There is only one flock and one shepherd, who is Jesus.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. (Matthew 23:8–10)

This is extremely important because, as Jesus said in John 10, the Holy Spirit opens only to Christ.

These days in church we often call pastors or even small group leaders “shepherd” or “under-shepherd”. Sometimes, in the New Testament, people are encouraged to “shepherd” the flock of Christ, or are even called “pastor”. But the apostles always held up Christ as the shepherd or “chief shepherd” and called themselves servants and slaves of Christ. Even in 1 Peter 5:2, what is translated “be shepherds” is actually in the Greek a call to “shepherd”–shepherd here, in other words, is a verb, not a noun.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; (1 Peter 5:2)

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Peter 5:4)

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:11–12)

How can Jesus be both the shepherd and the door? Because Jesus is both the teacher and the content of the teaching. And the sheep only respond to his voice. This means that church leaders are only authorized to pass on Christ’s teaching, not to create or deliver their own teaching, or the teaching of anyone else.

Christ never delegates his shepherding responsibilities to pastors or church leaders. For us, to shepherd means to point the sheep back to Christ, his words, and his teachings. We are meant to be more like sheep-dogs than shepherds.

In John 21, Jesus told Peter, “feed my sheep”. Feed them what? As he had told Peter and the other disciples earlier:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53)

What we feed the sheep is Christ.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t open the door to those who believe that they are authorized to speak on behalf of Jesus or speak in his name. This means that we are either passing on Christ’s teaching or we are thieves and robbers who are trying to reach the sheep by a means other than the door.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t open the door to “Christian teachings” about “Christian things” by ordained pastors “in the name of Christ”. The only thing we are authorized to administer to the sheep is Christ.

We understand that we are to lead people to Christ for their salvation. But, after that, because of our fallen nature, our teachings tend to lead people from Christ’s words to our own words. We even wrongly think that is what preaching is: moving from Christ’s words to our own stories, explanations, and opinions instead of leading the sheep more deeply into Christ’s words. In this way, Jesus becomes less like the one whom we feed to the sheep and more like a mascot or an inspiration, the one whose authority we claim, or merely the way we end our prayers. And, instead of Christ, we end up feeding ourselves to the sheep through our stories, experiences, thoughts, teachings, and doctrines.

Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t warn the sheep against us in John 10. He simply says that his sheep will not listen to any Christ-less interpretations. Jesus says his sheep will run away from anyone other than him. This means that our churches are filled with sheep, but they are not his sheep. They are our own sheep. They respond to the sound of our voice.

Why are there so many Christians who are not in churches? Because they will only listen to Jesus’ voice.

It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. (John 6:45)

Pastors may not be able to tell the difference between their teaching and his teaching. But, according to Jesus, his sheep can always tell the difference.

Jesus says he leads his sheep in and out. He even leads them out of the church. Look around. You can see it happening today. Don’t blame the sheep for that. Jesus doesn’t. Jesus knows that his sheep will follow him all the way to the cross. They just need to hear his voice.

Hegesippus wrote that the religious leaders said to James:

We entreat you, restrain the people, for they are gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all who have come here for the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in you. For we and all the people testify to you that you are just and show partiality to none.

Persuade, therefore, the people not to be led astray concerning Jesus; for all the people and we also have confidence in you.

Take your stand, then, on the pinnacle of the temple, that from that lofty position you may be clearly seen, and your words may be plainly audible to all the people; for all the tribes have come together on account of the Passover, with some of the Gentiles also.

James answered:

Why do you ask me concerning Jesus the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the Great Power, and will come on the clouds of heaven.

Hegesippus continues:

And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” then again the scribes and Pharisees said to one another, “We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid and not believe him.”

And they cried out, saying, “Oh! oh! the Just himself is in error.”

And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, “Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us; therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.”

So they went up and threw down the Just. And they said to one another, “Let us stone James the Just.” And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall.

But he turned and knelt down and said, “I beseech you, Lord God and Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

And while they were thus stoning him, one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, a son of the Rechabites, to whom testimony is borne by Jeremiah the prophet, cried out, saying, “Stop! What are you doing? The Just is praying for you.”

And one of them, a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the Just on the head.

And thus he suffered martyrdom.

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