Read What the Word Says about The Lord as Our Shepherd
and His Divine Providence
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The Old Testament
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Psalm 23:1-3
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The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
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Psalm 37:23-25
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The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with his hand.
I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
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| Psalm 119:176 |
I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek Your servant,
For I do not forget Your commandments.
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| Isaiah 40:11 |
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
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| Ezekiel 34:11, 12, 14, 16, 31 |
For thus says the Lord God: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day….I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel….I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick….You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord God.
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The New Testament
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Luke 15: 4, 5
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"What man of You, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
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John 10: 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 27-28
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I am the door of the sheep…. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture…. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own…. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd…. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
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The Heavenly Doctrines
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The Lord is my shepherd…(Psalm 23:1).
He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm…(Isaiah 40:11).
You are My flock, the flock of My pasture…(Ezekiel 34:31).
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own (John 10:14).
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| Apocalypse Explained 701:19 |
…[T]he Lord is called "shepherd," because He will feed them with Divine truth, and thereby lead to the good of love, and thus to Himself . |
| Arcana Coelestia 343 |
He who leads and teaches is called a "shepherd" and those who are led and taught are called the "flock". |
| Apocalypse Explained 375 |
…[H]e who trusts in the Lord is led into all the goods and truths of heaven, and overflows with the enjoyments thereof; "my shepherd" means the Lord; "the pastures of the tender herb" signify the knowledges of truth and good; "the waters of rest" signify the truths of heaven therefrom; "table" signifies spiritual nourishment; "to make fat the head with oil" signifies wisdom which is from good; "my cup will overflow" signifies intelligence which is from truths…. |
| True Christian Religion 122 |
The Lord's rescue of the spiritual world, and His forthcoming rescue by this means of the church from complete damnation can be illustrated by a comparison with…a shepherd, who, like Samson or David, snatches his sheep from the jaws of a lion or bear, drives away the wild beasts that come out of the forests to raid the meadows, and pursues them to the furthest reaches, finally driving them into lakes or deserts; and then he comes back to his sheep and pastures them safely, and gives them drink from springs of limpid water. |
| Apocalypse Explained 1174:2,3 |
…[H]e is led by the Lord, and he takes no step into which and from which the Lord does not lead….[T]he Lord leads him as if by the hand, permitting and withholding as far as a person is willing to follow in freedom. But if a person looks to the Lord…he is brought by continual steps out of hell up towards heaven and into heaven. This the Lord does without the person knowing it, because if a person knew it he would disturb the continuity of that process by leading himself. It is enough for a person to learn truths from the Word, and by means of truths to know what good is, and from truths and goods what evils and falsities are, in order that he may be affected by truths and goods, and not be affected by falsities and evils.…This must be revealed, because it is not known that the Divine providence is continual, and enters into the most minute things of a person's life, and because it is not known how this can be.
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I AM THE DOOR
I am the door of the sheep….(John 10:7).
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| Apocalypse Revealed 176 |
Since the Lord alone leads a person to heaven, and opens the door, therefore He calls Himself "the way" and also "the door". |
| Arcana Coelestia 8906 |
'Entering by the door into the sheepfold' doing so through the Lord, for the Lord is 'the door', as He Himself says. 'The sheep' are those who have charity and consequently faith, and they enter the fold through the Lord when they acknowledge that He is the source of everything composing faith and charity; for then these flow in from Him. |
| Divine Providence 287 |
…[E]verything a person thinks and wills, and consequently says and does, is from influx. If it is good it is from influx out of heaven, and if evil from influx out of hell; or what is the same, that good is from influx from the Lord, and evil from man's proprium. |
| see Divine Providence 281:3 |
A love of evil which does not make itself apparent is like an enemy in ambush. Being in freedom to think and to will evil while also learning spiritual truths, helps a person learn how to guard or shut the door against these evils. If he acknowledges God and implores His help, he can be healed by the Lord. |
| Divine Providence 210:2 |
If…you wish to be led by the Divine Providence use prudence as a servant….Prudence itself appears to a person as his own; and it is believed to be his own so long as he keeps shut up within him the deadliest enemy of God and the Divine Providence, the love of self. This dwells in the interiors of every person from birth; if you do not recognize it, for it does not wish to be recognized, it dwells securely, and guards the door lest a person should open it, and it should thus be cast out by the Lord. A person opens this door by shunning, as of himself evils as sins, with the acknowledgment that he does so from the Lord. This is the prudence with which the Divine Providence acts as one". |
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THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE
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| Divine Providence 332 |
The operation of the Divine Providence for the salvation of a person begins at his birth and continues right on to the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity.
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| Arcana Coelestia 6485 |
…[P]eople who attribute everything to their own prudence are like those who wander in dark forests and do not know the way out; and if they find it they attribute their success either to their own prudence or to fortune….[A]ll things which happen by chance are the work of Providence and that Providence acts silently and secretly, for very many reasons. |
| Arcana Coelestia 9188:8 |
People are taught by the Lord when they read the Word not for any selfish or worldly reason but for goodness and truth's own sake; for they are enlightened then. But when they read it for a selfish or worldly reason they are blind. |
| Divine Providence 208 |
Those who acknowledge God and His Divine Providence are like the angels of heaven, who regard with aversion being led of themselves, and who love to be led by the Lord; and a sign that they are led by the Lord is that they love the neighbor. On the other hand, those who acknowledge nature and man's own prudence are like spirits of hell, who regard with aversion being led by the Lord and who love to be led of themselves.
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| New Jerusalem and the Heavenly Doctrines 276 |
Fortune…is the operation of the Divine Providence in the ultimate of order, according to the quality of a person's state; and this may serve as a confirmation that the Divine Providence is in the most minute singulars of all things. |
| Divine Providence 187 |
It is granted that a person can see the Divine Providence in the back and not in the face; and this in a spiritual state and not in a natural state. |
| Divine Providence 186 |
The Lord "leads a person as silently as an imperceptible stream or favoring current bears a vessel along".
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| Arcana Coelestia 6303 |
…[W]hen the Lord is with someone, He leads him and makes provision so that all that happens, whether sad or joyful, may bring him what is good. This is Divine Providence.
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| Arcana Coelestia 8455 |
…[P]eace has in it confidence in the Lord, that He directs all things, and provides all things, and that He leads to a good end….
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