Saint John 21:15
See, Christ is the Shepherd. He was going away, and He was leaving the commission of His Sheep, which any shepherd feeds, which is His Flock, His Church...See?
Brother Branham, what did Jesus mean in Saint John 21:15 through 17 when he asked Peter if he loved Him and told him to feed His lamb, then He said, “Feed My sheep!” and in the 17th verse he said again, “Feed My sheep!”?
80 Well, that is merely this. See, Christ is the Shepherd. He was going away, and He was leaving the commission of His Sheep, which any shepherd feeds, which is His Flock, His Church…See? He was leading or leaving the commission with these disciples to continue to feed the flock, the–to be a shepherd, feed the sheep.
81 In other words like this, if–if you look out here…Here this morning, that’s what I’m doing. Now, sheep will only grow as you give them sheep food. Now, if you’d fry up a big hamburger and give it to a sheep, he couldn’t grow on that, ’cause, see, he don’t–that’s not sheep food. See? And–and if I would fry up or be a–have a nice T-bone steak fixed up, and give it over to a sheep, it–it’s not sheep food. He just couldn’t eat it, that’s all, because he’s a sheep.
But sheep like sheep food. Well then, when you’re to feed the Flock of God, don’t feed them on some man-made theology; feed them on the Word; that’s where the sheep grow from. Feed the Word!
82 Be a shepherd, a true shepherd. “Feed My sheep.” Lamb’s is the little ones, of course, and sheep is the adult. So both young and old, feed the flock of God! See? And feed them with the Word! The Word (you see?) is the Truth!
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Is that right? So then, if man is to live and they are the flock of God, this–the church, then they are to thrive upon the Word and Manna of God. This is His Manna!
83 In the–the Bible, we just come through it over there in the–in the–in the Church Ages. Jesus is the hidden Manna; Christ is the church’s Manna. What is manna? Manna in the Old Testament was that what come down from Heaven fresh every night to sustain the church in its journey. Is that right? Now, in the New Testament what is the hidden Manna?
“A little while and the world seeth Me no more (hidden); yet ye shall see Me, for I’ll be with you, even in you to the end of the world.” And Christ is that hidden Manna that comes from God out of Heaven afresh every day–every day.
84 We can’t say, “Well, two weeks ago I had a great experience of God.” What about right now? See? Every day, fresh, a new blessing, a new something coming from God, the hidden Manna coming down from God out of Heaven, Christ. And we feast upon this Manna which is Christ, and He sustains us through the journey till we reach the–the land on the other side.
85 Now, that’s what He meant by, “Feed My sheep.” We’d get on that, we’d never get to the rest of the questions, ’cause that’s a good one for me. I like that, when I talk of Christ being the Manna and the Food for the sheep.
86 Feed them Christ from His Word. See? Take the Word of Christ just exactly the way it’s wrote here and give it out to the sheep. No matter what anybody else says, “Oh, they need a hamburger!” Don’t you believe it. Here’s what they need, right here!
This is It. See? Give them This! This is sheep Food. That’s what makes them grow. The Holy Spirit, this is His Word, His commission. The Word is a Seed. The seed brings forth a plant; the plant we eat. Now, this is what brings forth the plant that the Holy Spirit thrives upon, is the Church. It feeds…
It–It–It feeds upon the Church, the Holy Spirit does, rejoicing in the presence of God, because that the people is believing His Word and letting Him work through them, giving them the very things that God promised them that they would do. And God sees His Church growing, therefore the sheep’s being fed, and the Holy Spirit’s being glorified. See? That’s it. “Feed My sheep!” All right.
Now, if that’s not all, why, you let me know a little later.
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, ……….” lovest thou me more than these”………..? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, ……….” lovest thou me …. …. …..”? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Do you see the difference? I see Jesus ask the first question and Peter answers with the answer to the second question and NOT The first. The two questions are not the same but the answer is the same to both questions. Jesus then asked Peter the answer to the second question do you love me but Peter has already answered. Why did Peter NOT answer the first question? Do you love me more than these ///// and do you love me. Two questions one answer to the second and last question and no answer at all to the first question at all.
Why did Jesus ask do you love me MORE THAN THESE? Why did Peter dodge the question and not answer the question Jesus asked? Jesus asked two different questions. He got one answer 3 times.
There is a reason and it is a huge revelation why Jesus asked “MORE THAN THESE”. “More than these”, is a huge story in itself. “More than these”, was the whole reason for Jesus to ask to begin with.
Why did Jesus ask Peter such a question and what was the message of it? Why did Peter answer two questions with the same answer when Jesus asked two different questions? Notice the question asked of Brother Branham was not the question do you love me more than these. The question was……. what does it mean Jesus said to feed my sheep. The real and the revealing question Jesus asked and Peter did not answer is do you love me more than these.
This will make no good sense at all to you. Jesus was telling us something about Peter but in order to see it, you first have to know and believe that Peter falsely accused Judas. There is no doubt Judas was the betrayer of the LORD but Peter did not accuse Judas of that. What need is there Judas be accused by Peter that he betrayed Jesus? None at all. Peter accuses JUdas that he was the 1 of the 12 who was a devil. This is not the TRUTH and Peter is acting on his own and trying to do Jesus as service but our Father has already selected Paul to replace the lost son of perdition. Did Peter know? LOLOLOL. No he didn’t. He did not even wait to receive power as he was told by the word of GOD to do. You still do not know why Jesus asked such of Peter “do you love me more than these” The answer helps to reveal the TRUE son of perdition. IT is so plain and obvious it seems impossible we did not see it already. Reply to this post. Show me!. Know this ahead of time that the accusation of Judas is 100% the opinion of Peter and it is NOT the inspired word of GOD.