Let's turn to Zechariah chapter 11 tonight. Zechariah chapter 11. In a lot of prophecy that we see different time periods are mentioned. Sometimes some of the things are looking at just at the present time. Sometimes they're looking down the road maybe at the first coming of the Lord. and then looking down even further in the same passage even further down the road. That's what we're kind of looking at tonight. There's the prophecy of the shepherds. It's really basically a warning to God's shepherds. What happens if you're not not what you ought to be, but also he's prophesying against some shepherds that would come to his people and not be what they were supposed to be during the time of Messiah's first coming. And here in this chapter, we're going to see described in amazing clarity, Israel's Messiah And his rejection by the nation of Israel, and he was rejected by the nation of Israel because the shepherds had instructed it that way. And we see the corresponding judgment upon Israel that followed, and by that judgment we're talking about the judgment that fell in 70 A.D. after Jesus ascended back to the Father, and about some 30-something years after that point, that came, and so God used Zechariah here, and I want you to understand he's prophesying during the 6th century before Christ, 6th century BC, to describe the situation and background as they would be at the time of Messiah's first coming. Understand that the things that Zechariah shows us here belong to one of, really, one of the darkest periods in Israel's history. And Israel has had quite a few dark periods, haven't they? Israel have, and they still have another dark one to come. but God used Zechariah here to speak of a time in the future and it describes Israel's rejection of the Messiah and its results. Part of what Zechariah records in this chapter has been precisely fulfilled according to the Word of God, while part of it is yet to be fulfilled during the time of the false shepherd that will come, the Antichrist, and we'll, we'll see him mentioned there toward the end. Now let's first notice the prophecy related to the destruction of Jerusalem that happened in 70 A.D., and we'll begin, let's read verses 1 through 3 here, Zechariah chapter number 11, verse number 1, Says, Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are spoiled. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is come down. Notice verse three, There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds. for their glory is spoiled. A voice of the roaring of the young lions for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. History records that the doors of Lebanon opened for the approaching Roman armies. The Roman armies is the one that came in and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. They attacked her and occupied her first of all from the north. The Romans left destruction and misery behind them as they made their way through Lebanon and Bashan. And later on, Jerusalem would also fall And, and there where it says, there's the voice of the howling of the shepherds for their glory is spoiled, is pointing to the destruction of the temple. That was their glory. And the, for the leaders there in Israel, The only thing that remained was howling and lamenting. I mean, after the temple was destroyed, not one stone of the temple would remain on top of the other. And it was truly destroyed in a magnificent way. I mean, it's kind of like, how in the world could they destroy it in that manner? But they did, according to the prophecy of the Lord. Why were they given over to such destruction? The wording there in verses 1 through 3 points to not just the temple, but the entire Jewish land and its inhabitants being given over to judgment here. And why were they given over to such destruction? Well, the answer was proclaimed almost 600 years before Christ ever came the first time. through, through Zechariah. Look at the criticism in verses 4 through 6 of Israel's bad shepherds. Look at verse number 4, Thus saith the LORD my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them, and, and hold themselves not guilty. They that sell them say, blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, but lo, I will deliver the men, every one, into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. We see that Israel's leaders led the people astray. They didn't behave like shepherds. They really acted more like sheep dealers, and they were only concerned with making a profit off of God's people, using them for their purposes. They had no mercy on the flock, and basically they impoverished the flock. They, they look to, to, to fleece them financially, but they also look to, to have an advantage over them. They're described as having slaughtered the flocks without having to account for their actions. And they did what they wanted with the people and placed unbearable burdens upon them. If you remember, Jesus talked about the, those unbearable burdens that they would place upon, you know, they, they themselves would not, do what they were asking for the, the, the people of Israel to do. They were, they were shepherds without mercy who sought their own glory and wanted to be seen by the people. Now the flock of Israel there meant no more to them than sheep for the And instead of opening up heaven to them, they closed it, really. They were blind leaders of the blind. And we need only to read the words of judgment that Christ used in Matthew 23. I referred to a little bit of that this morning to know just how the leaders really were. Christ used the phrase, woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, eight times in that Matthew chapter number 23. Think about that. He, he really laid into the, the scribes and the Pharisees because they were hypocrites. They would tell the people what to do, but they themselves would not obey the Lord. But even Jeremiah saw this and, and described it, and look at Jeremiah chapter number 50. Jeremiah chapter number 50 and verse number 6 and 7. Jeremiah 50 verse number 6. This is what Jeremiah saw coming. He said, My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. All that found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, and the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers." Jeremiah also said in Jeremiah 23 in verse 1, he pronounced a woe unto the pastors there. He said, Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Ezekiel had some words to say as, as well in Ezekiel 34 verse 2. He said, the, the Lord told him, said, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do not that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" They were more concerned about taking care of their own needs and taking care of the needs of the flock of God. Now, when the Lord came to this earth the first time, there were plenty of bad shepherds. who instigated, wound up instigating his crucifixion. We know the high priest was involved, the elders, both the Pharisees and Sadducees, and also the scribes. And John 19 verse 15, they were the ones that cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate said unto them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest asked her, do we have no king? but Caesar. So they rejected the king of Israel and turned to the Roman emperor, okay? And that's significant because the Roman emperors, his troops are the one that in 70 AD came about to devastate the land and the people in a very brutal war. Now, Israel's shepherds in Jesus' day, those high priests, elders, and scribes were the ones who led the people to this catastrophe like lambs to the slaughter. So we see the criticism of, of Israel's bad shepherds, then we see the coming of Israel's good shepherd. We're talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we, we know that he is the good shepherd. Look at verse number Verse number 7 says, And I will feed the flock of the slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves, the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands, and I fed the flock. And when Jesus came, he did feed the flock. The grace of God appeared in the person of Jesus Christ as he came. And we know that verse number four. told them to feed the flock of the slaughtered, they failed to feed, but he, when, means they did not do it, he came to feed them. Now, verse number seven, the word beauty is literally, literally speaking of graciousness, and that word bands is talking about union, and we'll, that, this will be significant in just a minute, but think about it. God sent his son into this situation, In John 10, Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd. We know that's the Good Shepherd chapter, right? And Messiah came to feed the flock tended by the bad shepherds, and Messiah came to draw them to himself, to unite the divided nation with truth. And he came in complete graciousness. Did he not? And he came in love and mercy, proclaiming grace and truth. God's saving grace in the person of Jesus Christ appeared there in the person of the Messiah. Messiah also talked about his ministry. If you remember when he was just getting into, he was just opening up his public ministry, he'd been baptized, been through the wilderness, resisted the temptation there in the wilderness, and he went to his hometown in Luke chapter number 4. In Luke 4, he was given the text of Isaiah. He opened it up and he read, let me quote from Luke 4 verse 18 and 19, the words that he was speaking about himself because this prophesied of his first coming. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And that's why the Messiah came that first time, and he was involved in all of that. But, so we see the grace of, of God appeared and also we see the, the rejected shepherds rejected the Messiah. Look at verse 8 and 9 here. Verse eight and nine. So three shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not feed you, that that that dieth, let it die, and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and let the rest eat every one of the flesh of another. The high priest, the elders and the scribes were the three shepherds there who rejected the Messiah. Matthew 26 and verse 57 says that they laid hold on Jesus and led him away to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the elders were assembled. We know that he was tried there and sentenced to death by them. The expression there, and their soul also abhorred me, expresses a strong dislike to the point of vomiting. They really, you could tell, as you read the gospels, you can tell that the scribes, the Pharisees, they really they hated the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus made them sick. I mean, and the wording here is basically that, that Jesus made them sick. But the Gospels explain how the Lord rejected the elders as he spoke to them in parables, and I believe that's what that's speaking of there, and where he said, verse number nine, then said, I will not feed you. And he spoke to them in parables because they did not understand the parables. He would tell his disciples, the member of the disciples asked him, why do you speak in parables? And he said, because to them it's not given to take and understand these things, but to you it's given. And so we see that the gospels explain how the Lord rejected the elders as he spoke to them in parables. And later in 70 AD, they perished. And since then, the Jews have had no priestly shepherd. Okay? They are people without shepherds, right now. The temple, the ephod, that part, that's part of the priest's garments, and the sacrifices were all taken away from them. Alright? They don't have all that. The Hosea, listen to Hosea 3, verse 4 and 5. because this was prophesied to take place. In Hosea 3 verse 4 and 5 it says, For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a tariff. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. So there's going to come a time when they will return and they will return to the Lord and that's in the end times. But the people also perished with the shepherds. They lost their pasture, the land of Israel. The 70 AD siege that took place was so terrible that even cannibalism actually took place. And of course, you can see that mentioned there in the last part of verse number 9, let the rest eat every one of the flesh of another. Now, the staff called beauty or graciousness at this point was broken. Look at verse number 10 and 11. It says, And I took my staff, even beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day, and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord." Now, with these words, the Lord proclaimed Israel's impending judgment and revealed the possibility of Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans. The staff of graciousness was already broken before the crucifixion of Christ. He turned away from them before this and only spoke to them in parables and threatened them with judgment. Look at Matthew chapter number 23. If you compare Matthew chapter number 12 and 13 where the Lord is speaking in parables with what we're going to take a look at in Matthew 23, it would be a good thing, but I'm not going to take time to look at all the parables in Matthew chapter 12 and 13, but Matthew 23, look at verse number 37. Matthew 23 verse number 37, he's, he cries out here, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, and he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chicks under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me Henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now, Jesus already knew that the leaders of Israel had rejected him. The staff of graciousness was broken back in our text there in verse number 10 is what that's talking about. That is before the description of betrayal for the 30 pieces of silver that we find in verse 12 and 13. And the Gospels confirm this. Look at verse 12 and 13 that speaks of Christ's betrayal and crucifixion. Verse 12, And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, and the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter. a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." Now, at Christ's betrayal, And crucifixion, the staff called bands or union was broken, which in Zechariah is destroyed there in verse number 14 when he says, Then I cut asunder my other staff, even bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And that's after the betrayal took place. Now, approximately 37 years after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, the ultimate fulfilling of this broken union in Israel was consummated and the land was destroyed in 70 A.D. Now, verse 10 mentions that the covenant with the nations was declared invalid. He said there that I might break my covenant which I made with all the people The nations were limited as to what they could do by what God permitted, and that is still the case. I'm glad the Lord has his hand on the thermostat, aren't you? But he does. Christ himself predicted the lifting of the limits and Israel's demise. And Matthew 23 and verse number 38, He told them, He said, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And Luke 21 verse 20, He said, When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Now, verse 11 here that we just read, it shows us that Israel came to realize that these words of judgment applied to them. So then it was broken in that day and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was of the word of the Lord. Now, look at Matthew chapter number 21. Matthew chapter number 21, and we're going to see where that takes place at. In Matthew 21, verse number, look at verse number 33 through the end of the chapter here. And here we see the Lord Jesus Christ telling another parable, and verse 33 says, Hear another parable, There was a certain householder, he's talking about God, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and headed out to husbandmen, and went into a far country, and then the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took of his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. He's talking about the prophets there. And he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise unto them. They treated that set of prophets the same way. Verse 37, but last of all he sent unto them his son, there's the Messiah, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, They said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the Lord thereof of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They said unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits of their seasons. And then verses 42 and 43, look what Jesus said unto them. He said, Did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? The same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you. and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. I'm not giving it over to the Gentiles. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whosoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder. And notice in verse 45, when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. They finally got it. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. So, we see back in our text, we see in verses number 12 and 13, the official rejection of the Messiah. We talk about verses 12 and 13, talk about Judas' betrayal, Judas' betrayal of the Lord was foretold with these words that we just read there. The high priests wanted Jesus out of their way at all costs, whatever it took to get Jesus out of their way. And their opportunity came by means of Judas' betrayal. They paid him thirty pieces of silver. The fulfillment of this prophecy is described in Matthew 26 in verse 14 and 15. I read, he says, Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests and said unto them, What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. Now what's the significance of thirty pieces of silver? Remember that Zechariah had already proclaimed this, what happened there in Matthew 26, had already proclaimed it six centuries before Christ was even born. That's a long time before it was actually fulfilled. But the background of the 30 pieces of silver is significant. This amount of money was also designated as the amount paid for a slave who was killed by an ox. In Exodus 21 verse 32, it says, If the ox shall push a man's servant or a maid's servant, he shall be given unto their master 30 shekels of silver. Understand that the hatred and mockery the high priest had for Christ is revealed here. They hated him so much that they paid the sum of a killed slave for him. Man, that's pretty low, right? Isaiah 53 verse 3, it tells us, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. But listen, Jesus is Jehovah God from eternity. He's the I am that I am. He revealed Himself to these leaders as being Jehovah. Remember at the time when He said, I am, He was the I am, they rejected Him. In fact, they would have killed Him right there on the spot if He hadn't gotten away from them. And what was the Lord's assessment of this? Look at verse number 13 again of our text here. It says, And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that I was prized of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. We know that Judas kind of repented of what he had done after he had done the fact. And he said, well, I'm just going to return the money. And they didn't want the money. But according to Jewish tradition, a potter was one of the least esteemed workmen during Zechariah's time. And if that is the case, this detail, along with the fact that the money was thrown to the potter, makes it even clearer just how despised Christ was. The money was not to be thrown just anywhere, however, but to the potter and the house of the Lord. They brought it to the house of the Lord and cast it. He brought that money in there and cast it to them, but they wouldn't put it in the treasury because it was blood money. And they used it to buy the potter's field to bury strangers in. It would be revealed that Israel's leaders had rejected her Messiah in the most holy place. And that's where they paid the price at. It was there. And centuries later, This was fulfilled in Matthew 27 verses 3-7. I'll not take time to go read all of that, but the phrase there, to bury strangers in, what it was used for, the potter's field, is really a wonderful fact concealed in the Old Testament. The death of Christ became the salvation of the strangers. Gentiles. Amen. And this rejection on the part of the Jews resulted in Christ's death and resurrection and we Gentiles were made partakers of the gospel. Now, back to our text in verse number 14, we see the second staff also was broke after Christ's crucifixion. Verse 14, I cut asunder mine other staff, even bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel." Now, we've already seen that prior to Judas' betrayal of Christ, the staff of graciousness had been broken. And this pointed to the time when Christ was among his people and proclaimed the judgment to them. But the staff of union was broken after Christ's betrayal and after his crucifixion. Soon after Christ's ascension, the union between the Jews and the land started falling apart. History tells us that. Division and betrayal took place. Jesus had prophesied of this beforehand. Listen to two passages. Mark 13, verse 12. Jesus said, Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, the father, the son, and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put to death. He also mentioned in Matthew 24, verse 10, said, And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Well, that actually took place in 70 A.D. The Romans attacked Jerusalem, destroyed everything, and the Jews were dispersed all over the world. The union which had previously held everything together was gone. It was gone. So, that was the condition after after the destruction there of Jerusalem. They were spread in different countries. Now we see the coming of the foolish shepherd. Verse 15 through 17. Remember me mentioning that the end of this would point to the Antichrist. Look at 15, verse 15. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still, but he shall eat of the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idle shepherd. That word idle meaning good for nothing. Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock, that the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye. Arm being strength, eye being vision, no strength, no vision. His arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. So we see the coming of the foolish shepherd here, just as Jesus' end time discourse on the Mount of Olives contains a double meaning. The first fulfillment in 70 A.D. and the main fulfillment in the coming Great Tribulation, so does Zechariah 11 here. It linked the events at the time of Christ on earth to the end times. Now, Israel's situation at Christ's first coming included the rejection of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem and the raising of the land and the temple by the Romans. In verse 15, Zechariah jumps to the end times and we see the foolish shepherd's proclamation. It appears that the Lord had Zechariah play the part of a foolish shepherd. When there in verse 15 he says, And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. Now, this foolish shepherd personifies the false messiah, the antichrist, the one that's called the man of sin and the son of perdition, the one that Paul tells us about in 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. This foolish shepherd doesn't come to feed Israel, but he comes to rob her. Christ spoke of him in John 10, in verse number 10. The good shepherd spoke of this one. He said, The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But because the Jews rejected the good shepherd, so the foolish shepherd would now come in his place. The Lord also foretold this in John 5. Listen to John 5.43. The words of the Lord Jesus in John 5.43. He says, I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye shall receive. Now, we see the, the foolish shepherd's appearance there in verse number 16. Like Christ, the, the antichrist will appear in the land. In other words, talking about Israel. And it's striking that the evil shepherd does the exact opposite of that which we read a while ago that the Lord does as the good shepherd. Okay? Remember when Jesus came, how he said what his ministry was when he read the scripture out of Isaiah? There, in his hometown, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. Well, here we see in verse number, in contrast to Luke 4 verses 18 through 19 that we previously referred to, In contrast, we see verse 16, which says, which shall not visit those that be cut off. Neither shall seek the young, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Now, we know that this one is referred to in Daniel chapter 9 and verse number 27 that says, He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. For the overspreading of abominations, He shall make it desolate, even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. This is what Paul had to say about him in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse number 4. It said that this one is one who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple, showing himself that he is God. What is the end of this foolish shepherd? Verse 17 gives us the end. Woe is pronounced upon him. Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock. According to Jewish tradition, the arm, of course, is a sign of power. The right eye is a sign of intelligence or a sign of the vision. And we know from the book of Daniel that the Antichrist will appear on the scene. Look at Daniel chapter number 8 and this is the last place that I will have you turn to. Daniel chapter number 8 and verse number 23 through 25 talk about this foolish shepherd. They talk about the Antichrist. We know from the book here that he's going to appear on the scene with the utmost devilish intelligence and power. Look at verse 23. It says, And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up, and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. and through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. And he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. That seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? By peace he's going to destroy many. He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand. Of course, you can't stand against our Savior alone, can you? At that time, this chapter also applies to Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, especially earlier, verses 9 through 12. It also applies to the Antichrist at the end times. At the end of days, the Lord will return We know the Lord's going to return, make an end of the Antichrist. They're the end of the tribulation period. And He will consume him with the spirit of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of His coming. according to 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse number 8. And then he will be cast into the lake of fire. And then the Lord himself will return for Israel as the good shepherd in those days. And listen to Isaiah describe this. In Isaiah 40, verse 10 and 11, and I'll close with this. He says, Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with him." What a blessed Savior that we have. What a wonderful shepherd he will be. But woe unto the evil shepherd. Amen. I hope that as we looked at these shepherds the last couple of weeks, that you come to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the epitome of the shepherd, and the epitome of what a shepherd should be. Of course, the antichrist is going to be the exact opposite of that. Let's bow in prayer.