THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP.
By W. C. Mathewson
A sheep, a lamb, so gentle, mild, and useful, is an illustration befitting the character of Christ; but how can it be said to illustrate the character of men, who are “by nature the children of wrath”? Eph. 2:3. The natural man is a stray sheep, fierce and wild. “All we like ‘sheep have gone astray.” Isa. 53:6. At the close of six thousand years of wandering, God still recognizes His sheep. O, joyful truth! There is hope. Under a good shepherd’s care we may be returned to the heavenly fold. Is there such a shepherd? Listen: “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Ps. 23:1. “I am the good Shepherd.” John 10:14. “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 young.” Isa. 40:11. Unlike earthly shepherds, Christ appreciates the needs of His flock. He is one with them. I “know My sheep.” John 10:14. He who was made in all respects like His sheep, compassed with their infirmity, can have compassion on “them that are out of the way,” and safely lead them back. Heb. 2:17; 5:2. Lost sheep we are, in a vast wilderness, far from the heavenly fold. The good Shepherd having come, is calling His sheep. He asks, “What doest thou here? Why perish with hunger? ‘Ho, every ‘one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ Come unto Me, and I will ‘feed thee in green pastures, and lead thee beside the still waters.’” We “know His voice.” Hungering for the “living bread,” thirsting for the “living water,” and longing for the “rest that ‘remaineth to the people of God,”— “O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Having laid “aside every weight, and the sin which doth so ‘easily beset us, looking unto Jesus,” our Shepherd, we begin our march to the heavenly fold. Our Shepherd does not walk behind to drive us rapidly over the rough surface of the wilderness. O, no; He is a “good Shepherd;” He “goeth before,” to “gently lead.” Are there not wolves in this wilderness?—Yes; but tho we “walk ‘through the valley of the shadow of death,” we “will fear no evil,” believing our Shepherd’s promise, “They shall never perish, neither ‘shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Can we find the way? Altho we do not always see the guiding Shepherd, His footprints are plainly visible; and we “follow in His ‘steps.” “He shall guide thee.” Now, in returning to the fold, “we walk in the light, as He is in ‘the light,’ having ‘fellowship one with another, and the blood of ‘Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’” Thus we get rid of our fierce, human nature, and receive His gentle “divine nature.” Consequently, when we shall have arrived home at last, we shall be a heavenly flock, like the Lamb of God,—gentle, obedient, and useful to the Shepherd, who, looking upon us, joyfully recognizes us as His original sheep, bestows upon us the original kingship, and being perfectly “satisfied,” does for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ‘ask or think.”