The Shepherd and the Sheep

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” —Psalm 23:1

OUR Heavenly Father has, in his wisdom, in many instances in the Scriptures illustrated his thoughts with word pictures which are full of meaning in order that we, his children, might better understand his care and protection. For example, in Psalm 91:2 we read, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” Actually these expressions “refuge” and “fortress” are not merely words. They are illustrations which carry a message of assurance.

A fortress is a place of protection, and immediately we realize that in our God we have a place of protection, a refuge into which none of our enemies can enter. It is an impregnable fortress, a veritable “Gibraltar,” within which we are secure as long as we abide under the shadow of the Almighty. How wonderful are these word pictures of the Bible, and how they emphasize the power of our Heavenly Father which he uses for our protection!

In the twenty-third Psalm we have another of these word pictures. Here the Lord is pictured as a Shepherd, and we as the sheep of his pasture. Immediately as we think of the Lord as our Shepherd, we see him walking beside us as we journey along in the “narrow way.” We see him with a shepherd’s crook in his hand, and we know that through his providences he is directing our paths lest we go astray.

When comparing himself to a Shepherd, the Lord gave us a very apt illustration, an illustration of the care that he gives to his people; a care which is solicitous of our welfare; a care that is concerned with our spiritual interests; a care that is patient toward us because of our faults and inexperience; and a care that is untiring in its love and in its sympathy and understanding of us. As we look back we know that we have needed the Shepherd’s care. And as we enter into the new year and look forward to its experiences, we are cognizant of the fact that we also will need the Shepherd’s care.

The Lord, in calling us his sheep, gave us another very appropriate word picture, an emblem of the characteristics that he would like to see manifested in us—meekness, docility, obedience to the Shepherd’s voice, unfaltering loyalty. They are all Christ-like qualities.

We are not able within the limits of our own strength as Christians to compete with the world and the things of the world. We are not qualified to compete with the wayward “goats,” the roaring “lions,” the vicious “bears,” and the subtle “serpents,” which we encounter in this world.

The Master said: “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of “wolves.” (Matt. 10:16) We know that we are not qualified to compete with the “wolves,” yet we realize that we have no reason to be afraid. We know that we need not fear because, the Lord is our Shepherd, and that we are under the Shepherd’s care.

All things are of the Father and by the Son; so Jesus is our “Good Shepherd.” We know that our Lord Jesus loves us. We even know how much he loves us. The record is clear—he laid down his life for the sheep. He loves us enough to die for us.

And there is a phrase in The Parable of the Sheepfold which is significant. It is the one that says: “He calleth his own sheep by name.” (John 10:3) This means, brethren, that he knows our names; that he is interested in us not merely as a flock, but also as individual sheep.

There are flowers which bloom in the desert unseen by anyone that are just as beautiful and just as fragrant as those that grow with other flowers in a garden. So, also, whether you are in the wilderness apart from the other sheep, or not, you know that the Shepherd is there to care. The isolated sheep are tended with just as much care and just as much devotion as are the sheep that dwell in the green pastures of Christian fellowship.

He guides and protects and guards his flock. Another text declares: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.” (Isa. 40:11) This is a promise which should remain with us constantly. As we drive around in our cars, or as we do our housework, we can still get strength from the realization that “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.” And we also know that “he … neither slumbers nor sleeps.”—Ps. 121:4

The Lord is our Shepherd,
    Our Guardian, our guide,
Whatever we need,
    He will kindly provide.

To the sheep of his pasture,
    His mercies abound,
With care and protection
    His flock he’ll surround.

The story is told that the shepherds of the East, in Bible times and now, ofttimes at night during the colder part of the year will bring their flocks to a central park and put them in a sheepcote for the night. A sheepcote, or an enclosure, sometimes is made only of bramble bushes, and is designed to keep out the marauding or destructive animals.

Throughout the night there may be several flocks of sheep mingling together in this enclosure. In the morning the shepherds come. When the porter, or watchman, opens the gate, each of the shepherds waiting at the edge of the mingled flock, gives his own peculiar call, calling many of the sheep by their own names. Then each shepherd starts toward the pasture, knowing that his own sheep will follow him. And there they go, one here, one there, jumping over the others, each trying to get into his respective line. First there is a thin line, and then a larger group, as each follows his own shepherd in the direction he goes to the pasture he has chosen.

It is said that even now this scene is enacted by the shepherds as it was in the days of our Lord. Against this background, possibly we are able the better to understand the words of the Master when he said: “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”—John 10:4,5

Brethren, the voice of the Lord is the voice of truth. The Lord said that false shepherds would come, and there is no doubt that false shepherds call to the sheep. Some of them call with a message that the majority of mankind are going to eternal torment, that they will suffer the pangs of eternal fire. That does not sound much like the Christian message. That doesn’t sound much like “peace on earth, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14) That does not sound much like “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”—Luke 2:10,11

Has it not often occurred to you that there is something wrong when people will preach glad tidings one Sunday a year, and the rest of the year preach a different Gospel? Oh that we could grasp the Christian message to the extent that we would realize it is the message of the kingdom, and that it is a message, not to preach one Sunday a year, but that it is the message of hope and cheer and comfort that we should give to the world every day of the year!

And another “stranger” calls, and he says the way of salvation is far removed from the idea of a child being born in a manger, or of a man being crucified on a cross. The message of salvation, says this “stranger,” has nothing to do with one man being the Savior of the world, that the atoning blood of one man has no efficacy. Salvation, he says, is through a process of evolution. It is the fittest who survive. Faith has nothing to do with it. There is no original sin. There never was a fall from adamic perfection. There was no need for a Christ to come as the Savior of the world.

And how unlike the false theory of evolution—which we now find entering into the theological seminaries, into the pulpit, and into the thoughts of millions of people in the world today—is the comforting message, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” (Isa. 9:6,7) We hear the message of the kingdom in those words.

This is our message to the world: it is the message of the kingdom. It is the message which, in its fulfillment, is to extend that kingdom from sea to sea and from the rivers even unto the ends of the earth. Yes! we hear his voice, and as we hear it, we realize that “Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine.”

But the sheep which he is now calling to pasture, caring for, calling by name—those of us who know his voice—are, after all, but a “little flock.” We are few, but this “little flock” does not constitute the only sheep in the Lord’s great kingdom. No, the Master said, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”—John 10:16

This text of Scripture has puzzled many. Who are the “other sheep”? The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats identifies these other sheep. It tells us that in the millennial age there will be another flock of sheep separated from the goats. This will be a flock of sheep to whom the Lord will say: “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”—Matt. 25:34

After the “little flock” is complete and gathered to the heavenly fold, then the “other sheep,” the willing and the obedient of the millennial age, yea “all the families of the earth,” will be delivered from the power of death into the kingdom of God. And they shall hear his voice, and “there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.”

In Ephesians 3:15 Paul wrote, “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” One family in heaven and in earth. One family, one fold, one Shepherd, and it is in this same vein that the same Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1:10, “In the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” Hallelujah, what a Savior!

In Matthew the 18th chapter, and beginning with the 11th verse we read: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, cloth he not leave the ninety and nine, … and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”

The “ninety and nine” represent the various others of God’s creation—the angels, the archangels, the cherubim, the seraphim, the heavenly hosts. The sheep that was lost, the sheep that left the fold, the sheep that went astray, represents the human race, which became estranged from God. The Shepherd is Jesus, who left the ninety and nine—the heavenly courts, the heavenly hosts—and came down to the earth as the babe in Bethlehem’s manger.

And he says that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. At Calvary our Lord Jesus purchased the right to find that lost sheep, and to restore him again to the fold of God. And, at the end of his thousand-year kingdom the human race, which was lost and estranged from God, again will have been brought into the sheep-fold. Those who now hear his voice become a part of the family of God in heaven, united with all the other heavenly hosts, while the world of humanity will be the earthly phase of the family. Certainly, when this has been accomplished, there will be rejoicing in heaven, for the Shepherd will have found the lost “sheep” and restored it to the fold.

Then will God’s will be done in earth even as it is in heaven. Then will be fulfilled the promise of “glad tidings of great joy” to all people, because there was “born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

At the time of Jesus’ birth, the angels sang, but in the fulfillment of this kingdom story that runs from one end of the Scriptures to the other, not only the angels, but also men will sing. Yea, all of the created beings who have been found worthy of eternal life will sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” because “they shall call his name Emmanuel [meaning God with us],” “for he shall save his people from their sins.”—Matt. 1:23,21

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