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| Event 1 - Final Signs |
| A Parable Explained: The Lost Sheep |
Key Text
"Then drew near unto him all
the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners,
and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not
leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost,
until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." Luke
15:1-7 |
The wide-spreading tablelands on the east of Jordan afforded abundant
pasturage for flocks, and through the gorges and over the wooded
hills had wandered
many a lost sheep, to be searched for and brought back by the shepherd's care.
In the company about Jesus there were shepherds, and also men
who had money invested in flocks and herds. Christ did not at
this time remind His hearers of the words of Scripture. He appealed
to the witness of their own experience and all could appreciate
His illustration: "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if
he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the
wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?"
These souls whom you despise, said Jesus speaking to the Pharisees
and scribes, are the property of
God. By creation and by redemption they are His, and they are of value in His
sight. As the shepherd loves his sheep, and cannot rest if even one be missing,
so, in an infinitely higher degree, does God love every outcast soul. Men may
deny the claim of His love, they may wander from Him, they may choose another
master; yet they are God's, and He longs to recover His own. He says, "As
a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that
are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of
all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Eze.
34:12.
In the parable the shepherd goes out to search for one sheep--the
very least that can be numbered. So if there had been but one lost soul,
Christ would have died for that one.
The sheep that has strayed
from the fold is the most helpless of all creatures. It must be sought for
by the shepherd, for it cannot find its way back. So with the soul that
has wandered away from God; he is as helpless as the lost sheep, and unless
divine love had come to his rescue he could never find his way to God.
The
shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing does not look carelessly
upon the flock that is safely housed, and say, "I have ninety and nine,
and it will cost me too much trouble to go in search of the straying one.
Let him come back, and I will open the door of the sheepfold, and let him
in." No; no sooner does the sheep go astray than the shepherd is filled
with grief and anxiety. He counts and recounts the flock. When he is sure
that one sheep is lost, he slumbers not. He leaves the ninety and nine within
the fold, and goes in search of the straying sheep. The darker and more
tempestuous the night and the more perilous the way, the greater is the
shepherd's anxiety and the more earnest his search. He makes every effort
to find that one lost sheep.
With what relief he hears in the distance its
first faint cry. Following the sound, he climbs the steepest heights, he
goes to the very edge of the precipice, at the risk of his own life. Thus
he searches, while the cry, growing fainter, tells him that his sheep is
ready to die. At last his effort is rewarded; the lost is found. Then he
does not scold it because it has caused him so much trouble. He does not
drive it with a whip. He does not even try to lead it home. In his joy he
takes the trembling creature upon his shoulders; if it is bruised and wounded,
he gathers it in his arms, pressing it close to his bosom, that the warmth
of his own heart may give it life. With gratitude that his search has not
been in vain, he bears it back to the fold.
Thank God, He has
presented to our imagination no picture of a sorrowful shepherd returning
without the sheep. The parable does not speak of failure but of success
and joy in the recovery. Here is the divine guarantee that not even one
of the straying sheep of God's fold is overlooked, not one is left unsuccored.
Every one that will submit to be ransomed, Christ will rescue from the pit
of corruption and from the briers of sin.
Desponding soul, take
courage, even though you have done wickedly. Do not think that perhaps God
will pardon your transgressions and permit you to come into His presence.
God has made the first advance. While you were in rebellion against Him,
He went forth to seek you. With the tender heart of the shepherd He left
the ninety and nine and went out into the wilderness to find that which
was lost. The soul, bruised and wounded and ready to perish, He encircles
in His arms of love and joyfully bears it to the fold of safety.
It was
taught by the Jews that before God's love is extended to the sinner, he
must first repent. In their view, repentance is a work by which men earn
the favor of Heaven. And it was this thought that led the Pharisees to exclaim
in astonishment and anger. "This man receiveth sinners." According to their ideas He should permit none to approach Him but those who had repented. But in the parable of the lost sheep, Christ teaches that salvation does not come through our seeking after God but through God's seeking after us. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way." Rom.
3:11, 12. We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals
to us His love in order that we may repent.
Key Text
"I am the good shepherd: the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
And 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
10:11,16 |
When the straying sheep is at
last brought home, the shepherd's gratitude finds expression in melodious
songs of rejoicing. He calls upon his friends and neighbors, saying unto
them, "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." So when
a wanderer is found by the great Shepherd of the sheep, heaven and earth
unite in thanksgiving and rejoicing.
"Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." You
Pharisees, said Christ, regard yourselves as the favorites of heaven. You
think yourselves secure in your own righteousness. Know, then, that if you
need no repentance, My mission is not to you. These poor souls who feel
their poverty and sinfulness, are the very ones whom I have come to rescue.
Angels of heaven are interested in these lost ones whom you despise. You
complain and sneer when one of these souls joins himself to Me; but know
that angels rejoice, and the song of triumph rings through the courts above.
The rabbis had a saying that there is rejoicing in heaven when one who has
sinned against God is destroyed; but Jesus taught that to God the work of
destruction is a strange work. That in which all heaven delights is the
restoration of God's own image in the souls whom He has made.
When one who
has wandered far in sin seeks to return to God, he will encounter criticism
and distrust. There are those who will doubt whether his repentance is genuine,
or will whisper, "He has no stability; I do not believe that he will hold out." These
persons are doing not the work of God but the work of Satan, who is the
accuser of the brethren. Through their criticisms the wicked one hopes to
discourage that soul, and to drive him still farther from hope and from
God. Let the repenting sinner contemplate the rejoicing in heaven over the
return of the one that was lost. Let him rest in the love of God and in
no case be disheartened by the scorn and suspicion of the Pharisees.
The
rabbis understood Christ's parable as applying to the publicans and sinners;
but it has also a wider meaning. By the lost sheep Christ represents not
only the individual sinner but the one world that has apostatized and has
been ruined by sin. This world is but an atom in the vast dominions over
which God presides, yet this little fallen world--the one lost sheep--is
more precious in His sight than are the ninety and nine that went not astray
from the fold. Christ, the loved Commander in the heavenly courts, stooped
from His high estate, laid aside the glory that He had with the Father,
in order to save the one lost world. For this He left the sinless worlds
on high, the ninety and nine that loved Him, and came to this earth, to
be "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities." (Isa.
53:5.) God gave Himself in His Son that He might have the joy of receiving
back the sheep that was lost. Learn
More about the Good Shepherd |
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A Parable Explained: