Christmas 2021: The Shepherd that Walks Through the Valley

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, KJV)

“[The wise men] told [King Herod], “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”” (Matthew 2: 5-6, ESV)

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2: 13-15, ESV) 

Up until now, Psalm 23 has painted pleasant, calming, peaceful images of belonging to Jesus. This week, things take a turn into some darker, more treacherous territory. Suddenly, we go from green, rolling, lush pastures and still, glassy, crystal water to the valley of the shadow of death; a place that conjures up a picture of a dark, rocky, unforgiving canyon that imposes on all sides.

We all know this valley. We’ve all been here before, in fact, some might argue that all of life is a walk through the valley of the shadow of death. That could be true, since all of life is lived in the inevitable shadow of death, felt more keenly on some days than others. 

The beauty of this intimidating picture is two-fold: first, we don’t walk through the valley of death, as it’s only a shadow of death, and second, we don’t walk through it alone. In truth, this verse is used a lot at funerals, but it’s for the living as much as for the dying.

To me, Charles Spurgeon says it best. "Death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Someone has said that when there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there is… let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us."

You see, the valley we must walk through is only the shadow of death. Why? Because Christ already took on death, faced it down, and defeated the reality of it in our place. If it were not for God, we’d be walking through the valley of death. We’d live life on the road to hell and eternal suffering because of our sin. But because Jesus chose to be born, walk and live amongst us, face the cross, cover our sins with His blood, and conquer death, we don’t have to walk in the fear of what death means. 

Why? Because under Jesus’ blood, death has lost its sting! When we live under the blood of Christ, we live without fear of what comes after death, because Jesus Himself is what comes after! So through that lens, the valley of the shadow of death loses a little bit of its terror when we realize that the valley is certainly only full of shadow, not of death itself.

And even if we are afraid of just shadows– don’t worry, it happens– the psalm says we shall not fear even then, because the Shepherd is with us. The point is this: whether you are afraid of this valley or not, if we know who our Shepherd is, His presence alone is enough to dispel that fear. As Christians, we are not guaranteed that evil disappears once we have Jesus, but once we do have Him, we don’t have to fear that evil. Besides, the valley is not our destination anyway. The psalms says “though I walk THROUGH,” meaning there is another destination that is on the other side of this valley, which the Shepherd is leading us to. 

There’s still so much more there, but let’s switch gears to the Christmas story. Jesus is born and three magi show up in Judea from the east. They start asking around for the newborn King of the Jews, which angers the king of Judea at the time, Herod. Trying to trick them, Herod asks the wise men to come back and tell him where Jesus is once they find him, pretending that He wants to worship Jesus but secretly planning to kill the child once found and eliminate the threat against his throne.

The wise men find Jesus, but decide to take a different route home to circumvent Herod. Once the wise men departed, Joseph has a dream where God tells him to leave Israel and go to Egypt until Herod dies to keep Jess safe, which fulfilled the prophecy, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

You see, God never makes us walk where He Himself hasn’t already walked. Jesus, even at age two when the wise men showed up on His doorstep with gifts, was already walking through the valley of the shadow of death. If Herod had found Him, he surely would have killed Him out of his own fear. But God, in His all-knowing love, knew that and made a contingency plan long before Herod was ever king. 

Otherwise, how would there have already been an Old Testament prophecy that placed God’s son as being called out of Egypt? 

Guys, God is constantly working everything together for His good. Herod posed a threat, but God was still in control. We may walk through a dark, shadowy valley full of the threat of death, but God is still in control. He is walking with us, correcting us with His rod and comforting us with His staff. He is the Shepherd that gives us the strength to face our dangerous valleys, and leads us through to the other side. He did it for His son, Jesus, and He is doing it for you.

And just in case there was any doubt as to Jesus’ role in all of God’s planning, read our second key verse again. Do you see it? At the very end of the prophecy the wise men recite to Herod, we see that it was already prophesied long ago that God ordained a ruler to be born in Bethlehem who will SHEPHERD His PEOPLE.

And that Shepherd came to us as a baby, the least intimidating of all creatures. And still, as a mere baby, He was able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and defeat evil. Even still, as a child, He was Lord of all; our mighty Shepherd  who was born to dispel fear and rattle death itself.