“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” (John 10:14)
Journal,
In this study we will look more closely at a spiritual phenomenon that is unique to the Christian faith. It can be compared to ‘imprinting’ that takes place between children and their parents, and to the imprinting that takes place in nature.
Jesus spoke of the new covenant imprinting experience by the use of a prophetic picture. He said of true believers,
Out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
This is a picture of a believer who is deeply acquainted with the spiritual life that comes to us from our heavenly Father. The living waters accords to the revelation of Jesus and to the covenant life that we share with Him.
Nature itself calls attention to our imprint from God.
You see it everywhere. Imprinting is what causes the penguin chick, and the mother penguin to recognize one another. Even in the midst of literally hundreds of thousands of birds chirping loudly, and covering the beaches like a huge blanket, the mother penguin knows her chick.
How does the mother penguin know her chick? Imprinting. The mother penguin knows sooner than
does the chick. It is the same with our heavenly Father. He knew us, and loved us long before we had a capacity to return our love to Him.
John wrote,
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1John4:10)
Paul also wrote,
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.'” (2Tim2:19)
Did you notice that the foundation of God carries a double seal? Look closely. God knows everyone one of His people, and, His people are to stay away from wickedness.
Also keep the word ‘knows‘ those who are His in view. Later we will read of a group who claimed to do all their works in the name of Jesus, but Jesus said that He never ‘knew‘ them. The same Greek word is used in both instances. The comparison is to the false prophet who operates under in occultism. (More later.)
A closer look at the human family.
Infants imprint with the mother soon after birth and even to some extent while in her womb. What happens is that the infant begins to recognize the ‘sounds‘ of the mother, of her smell, and various other stimuli. The baby remembers her voice as she sang over him while still in the womb.
Think about it. Why does the mother adjust her voice to a special tone when speaking, or singing, or playing with the infant. Fathers do this also. This is nature. It relates to imprinting.
One of the strongest stimuli is always, ‘the voice.’
Is there any Bible for such a thing as imprinting in a spiritual sense? Jesus said,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27,28)
And again,
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” (John 10:16)
Now hear it from David, from Jeremiah, and from Paul:
[David]
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” (Psa 139:13-14 NASB)
[To Jeremiah]
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5 NASB)
[Paul]
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son…” (Gal 1:15-16 NASB)
God’s heavenly children
In the case of God’s heavenly children, imprinting is a work of the Holy Spirit. It begins
with our heavenly birth. It is through the spiritual process of imprinting that believers come to know and to recognize the voice of Jesus.
This is why Jesus said,
I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own and my own know Me.” (John 10:14)
Sometimes there is a struggle with imprinting on the side of the believer. Paul wrote the Galatian Christians, and said,
My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” (Gal 4:19)
Paul was not speaking of them being born again, again. His concern was for their inability to know and recognize the things of the Lord in their lives. The Greek word for ‘formed’ is ‘morphoo.’ It literally means ‘to form the nature of.’
This statement can be translated, “Until you become Christ like in your life and attitude.” The idea carries over as a sense of imprinting.
Generally new believers begin to imprint quickly. This is especially true when their spiritual environment is conducive to learning the voice of Jesus early on. But bad teaching can interfere to some degree with the imprinting process for new believers. This was happening with the Galatians believers. .
Paul said a similar thing to the Ephesian Christians. He said,
We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him.” (Ephesians 4:14)
Bonding with the heavenly Father
A major cause of immaturity among believers is their failure to bond properly with the heavenly Father. They become restless and unbalanced. They are easily misled. Sometimes you find them wandering from one church to another. (A pastor’s greatest job is to help believers bond with God.)
If a young believer is not under the kind of teaching that will lead him to believe deeply in his salvation and in God’s love, this believer can become fear driven. God is a loving Father. The first need of a child of God, is the need to know they are loved without conditions. This is set forth by the apostle John when he said that God loved us before we were able to love Him.
This is also why Paul instructed us to be very careful with the weak and to never put an obstacle or stumbling block in a brother’s way. We are to encourage and let each believer progress on the level where he is. He said,
To his own Master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4)
The saddest story of all.
Jesus said there would be a group standing before Him who had used His name, yet He consigned them to a state of eternal lostness.
Listen carefully:
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Mat 7:21-23 NASB)
This portion is not as difficult to understand as it may seem. Jesus is addressing false prophets. The false prophets will use the name of Jesus but it isn’t Jesus of the Bible or the God of redemption that they are representing. They were preaching ‘another’ Jesus. They are preaching a false gospel.
The apostle said that these false preachers are actually under a curse:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Gal 1:8 NASB)
To be accursed means to be devoted to destruction. Paul explains how this realm of ‘falseness’ is occultism at work. (Read my prior journal entry, ‘The Corinthian Dilemma – The Demise of a Church.’)
Follow closely:
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. …
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” (Cf. 2Co 11:3,4,13-15 NASB)
When Jesus said of the false prophet, ‘I never knew you,’ this simply means that they were never born of His Spirit. (Jesus knows all who belong to Him.) Their imprint was from the evil one.
Think about these things. The Lord will give you the understanding that you need.
In the meanwhile, here is a song that will minister to our heart…‘He Leadeth Me,’ by the Martins.
Much love to be found in Jesus.
In Christ always,
Buddy
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