Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord summons ministers and also leading men, teachers and rulers to hear His rebuke and judgment concerning their duty to care faithfully for His flock. God calls them to answer for neglecting and wounding His flock, and He will stop them from feeding themselves at its expense and rescue His people from their power, for He still cares for His own as the purchase of His blood. Their unfaithfulness is that they feed and serve themselves without deep love to God and others, leaving the flock unfed, weakened and perishing, while they reject the binding claims of His law and truth and turn blessing into a curse. Faithful shepherds instead plainly teach God's Word and the binding claims of His law after the pattern of Christ, and they do personal pastoral labor by visiting the people in their homes and strengthening the weak until they are rooted and established. The word to the shepherds must be heard and studied by everyone claiming to believe the truth, with individual knowledge of what the Lord requires, daily conversion and watching unto prayer, so as to be prepared to meet the Lord when He comes, for the summons is urgent because all must answer in the great day of judgment according to obedience or transgression.
Call to Hear Judgment
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord is a summons to hear rebuke and judgment for failure in the duty to care faithfully for His flock. The shepherds called are ministers, and also leading men, teachers and rulers, and the unfaithful among them are those who rebel as false ministers and dishonor God by leading His flock astray. Such unconsecrated, unfaithful watchmen enter the ministry without deep love to God or to fellow men, manifest selfishness and self-indulgence, serve and feed themselves instead of feeding the flock and attending to pastoral duties, so that the people perish for want of proper instruction. They meet faithful work with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice and jealousy, and wound and tear the poor sheep and leave them bleeding and tear to pieces the flock, and a shepherd who so harms the sheep fails his duty and stands accountable and must heed the Lord's word. Faithful workers must therefore labor with intensity of feeling to save the wounded sheep and keep the honest from being deceived, following Christ the perfect pattern in plain, close, searching, practical preaching and sitting in meekness at the feet of Jesus to obtain right views of God's character so as to be able to teach others also. False shepherds who have led the flock astray must be disciplined by disappointment, hardship and affliction, and unless willing to learn meekness and lowliness from Christ they are not fitted to teach, for their example of self-righteousness will do nothing to advance the work of God.
The whole chapter is to be read carefully as a warning against acting under the power of the great deceiver. Its warning applies to God's people as a charge to avoid deception and not to act as unfaithful shepherds.
God by this word calls the shepherds to answer for neglecting and harming His flock, declaring that He will stop them from feeding themselves at the flock's expense and will rescue His people from their power. The warning falls on shepherds who claim God's promises while breaking His law and withholding saving truth from the people, who refuse to investigate Scripture fairly and reject warning about God's law and the Sabbath. It falls also on professed shepherds who feed themselves and not the flock and shut needed warning away from the higher classes by refusing their churches to anyone who would preach any doctrine different from their denomination, so that the message does not reach the very ones who need it. Yet the Lord of heaven still has care for His own, the purchase of His blood.
The summons is urgent because the shepherds must answer in the great day when every person is judged and receives according to works of obedience to the law of His kingdom or transgression to the last. They are men supposed to know the truth who are accountable to make personal, intense, earnest effort to save souls while forgiveness can still be reached, to use persuasive influence to show that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, and to exalt righteousness and truth as a life-and-death principle. Instead they treat testing truth in a tame manner as a subject every man is at liberty to regard as he pleases, act a lie so they can link up with the disobedient, and deceive those under them, so that the lost will turn on them and charge that they knew these things, did not feel the peril as they ought, and did not lay right hold of them to warn them. When watchmen so mislead His people and ignore the evidences God has given, they turn blessing into a curse and insult the Lord by letting the standard of truth of the first, second and third angels' messages trail in the dust and feeding the flock poor provender. Their candlestick will be removed out of its place unless they repent, and God will hold responsible those who leave such watchmen to mislead and who lack keen discernment to discover what kind of food is being given to the flock, so they should tremble for the safety of their own souls.
Neglect Exposed, Duty Required
Unfaithful shepherds feed and clothe themselves instead of the flock, entering pastoral work without deep love to God or to fellow men and manifesting selfishness and self-indulgence while neglecting pastoral duty, so that the people perish for lack of proper instruction. They are idle consumers and not producers, bringing no fruit to the church because they do not themselves receive grace from God to impart to others, failing to do the work they should do and falling below the high standard their knowledge of the truth requires. Ignorant of truth that works by love and purifies the soul, they turn God-given powers to their own interests and leave the flock unfed and weakened, and churches under such shepherds who refuse God's Word and commandments become backslidden.
Their neglect centers on claiming God's promises while breaking His law and withholding saving truth, refusing fair investigation of Scripture and rejecting warning concerning His law and the Sabbath. They disregard the binding claims of the law, accept only the parts of Scripture that suit them, and reject truth that requires self-denial, yet Isaiah 58 shows the way back through relieving oppression, feeding the hungry with truth, and honoring God's Sabbath. Ministers are accountable to teach God's Word and the binding claims of His law clearly rather than substituting confusing human interpretations or caring for themselves while the flock goes unfed, and souls lost through such unfaithfulness are charged to them. Instead of making personal, intense, earnest effort while forgiveness can still be reached and showing by persuasive influence that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, they treat testing truth tamely as optional for each man, act a lie to link with the disobedient, and deceive those under them, until the lost turn upon them charging that they knew these things, felt not the peril as they ought, and failed to warn. By ignoring the evidences God has given they turn blessing into a curse, insult the Lord by letting the standard of the first, second, and third angels' messages trail in the dust and feeding poor provender, and face removal of their candlestick unless they repent. They breach their trust as false shepherds when they teach that God's law is not binding, interpret Scripture in the light of transgression, and persuade people to reject truth.
They shut needed warning away from the higher classes by refusing their churches to anyone who would preach any doctrine different from their denomination, so the message does not reach the very ones who need it, yet the Lord still has care for His own, the purchase of His blood. They rebel as false ministers, meeting faithful work with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice and jealousy, wounding and tearing the poor sheep and tearing to pieces the flock, and stand accountable to God while faithful workers must labor with intensity of feeling to save the wounded and keep the honest from deception. The sheep suffer from unwise shepherds as well as false ones when ministers stand back and excuse themselves while one burden-bearer is weighed down and crushed beneath censure until God vindicates him, instead of sharing the burdens to ease him, laying thereby more burdens than all the people lay.
A gospel minister is an unfaithful shepherd if he fails to visit the people in their homes, and his work is not half done, for preaching alone cannot supply this work. This personal pastoral labor cannot be done by proxy nor shifted upon wives or another person, and ministers must educate and train themselves to know the people in their homes and visit every accessible family even if far less preaching is done. God accepts no excuse for neglecting this most essential part which binds off the work and binds the messenger to the sheep and lambs of the pasture. Through identifying personal effort he becomes a channel of light, strengthening the weak at the right time with words that comfort, strengthen and establish until they are rooted, grounded and established in the faith, while places where messengers bring truth but shun this unpleasant work are lost to the cause.
Faithful shepherds follow Christ the perfect pattern in plain, close, searching, practical preaching, sitting in meekness at the feet of Jesus to obtain right views of God's character so they can teach others also. They exalt righteousness and truth as a life-and-death principle and press home obedience to the commandments as written. Their return to faithful service, as Isaiah 58 explains, is by relieving oppression, feeding the hungry with truth, and honoring God's Sabbath.
Faithfulness requires those joined with a leading worker to tell him his mistake faithfully when he does what they know is not right, giving correcting instruction in clear lines even when he will not acknowledge his course or receive what does not harmonize with his ideas. Withholding such reproof leaves associates in darkness about his being out of the way and lets them be led astray, so light must come in clear lines, and disparaging the ministers of the gospel is action against Christ who gave them their work. Shepherds who have dishonored God and led the flock astray as leading men, teachers and rulers must be disciplined by disappointment, hardship and affliction, and unless willing to learn meekness and lowliness from Christ they are not fitted to teach, for their self-righteous example advances nothing. Unwise standing back that crushes the burden-bearer under censure instead of sharing his load likewise makes the sheep suffer.
The word to shepherds must be heard and studied by everyone claiming to believe the truth, requiring individual knowledge of what the Lord requires, watching and praying and trusting the living Word, daily conversion and character after the divine similitude, so as to be prepared to meet the Lord coming in the clouds with power and glory. No one can continue doing as he pleases and still be ready, none should place himself under the influence of one who has made a wrong choice even for relatives, but all should separate from apostasy and prepare with joy for the future life. Yet ministerial failure does not excuse those who reject God's Word for human sophistry. Those who leave misleaders in place and lack keen discernment about what food is given the flock are held responsible and should tremble for their souls. And the lost will charge their deceivers that they knew these things, did not feel the peril, and did not warn them.
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord summons ministers and also leading men, teachers and rulers to hear His rebuke and judgment concerning their duty to care faithfully for His flock. God calls them to answer for neglecting and wounding His flock, and He will stop them from feeding themselves at its expense and rescue His people from their power, for He still cares for His own as the purchase of His blood. Their unfaithfulness is that they feed and serve themselves without deep love to God and others, leaving the flock unfed, weakened and perishing, while they reject the binding claims of His law and truth and turn blessing into a curse. Faithful shepherds instead plainly teach God's Word and the binding claims of His law after the pattern of Christ, and they do personal pastoral labor by visiting the people in their homes and strengthening the weak until they are rooted and established. The word to the shepherds must be heard and studied by everyone claiming to believe the truth, with individual knowledge of what the Lord requires, daily conversion and watching unto prayer, so as to be prepared to meet the Lord when He comes, for the summons is urgent because all must answer in the great day of judgment according to obedience or transgression.
Call to Hear Judgment
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord is a summons to hear rebuke and judgment for failure in the duty to care faithfully for His flock. The shepherds called are ministers, and also leading men, teachers and rulers, and the unfaithful among them are those who rebel as false ministers and dishonor God by leading His flock astray. Such unconsecrated, unfaithful watchmen enter the ministry without deep love to God or to fellow men, manifest selfishness and self-indulgence, serve and feed themselves instead of feeding the flock and attending to pastoral duties, so that the people perish for want of proper instruction. They meet faithful work with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice and jealousy, and wound and tear the poor sheep and leave them bleeding and tear to pieces the flock, and a shepherd who so harms the sheep fails his duty and stands accountable and must heed the Lord's word. Faithful workers must therefore labor with intensity of feeling to save the wounded sheep and keep the honest from being deceived, following Christ the perfect pattern in plain, close, searching, practical preaching and sitting in meekness at the feet of Jesus to obtain right views of God's character so as to be able to teach others also. False shepherds who have led the flock astray must be disciplined by disappointment, hardship and affliction, and unless willing to learn meekness and lowliness from Christ they are not fitted to teach, for their example of self-righteousness will do nothing to advance the work of God.
The whole chapter is to be read carefully as a warning against acting under the power of the great deceiver. Its warning applies to God's people as a charge to avoid deception and not to act as unfaithful shepherds.
God by this word calls the shepherds to answer for neglecting and harming His flock, declaring that He will stop them from feeding themselves at the flock's expense and will rescue His people from their power. The warning falls on shepherds who claim God's promises while breaking His law and withholding saving truth from the people, who refuse to investigate Scripture fairly and reject warning about God's law and the Sabbath. It falls also on professed shepherds who feed themselves and not the flock and shut needed warning away from the higher classes by refusing their churches to anyone who would preach any doctrine different from their denomination, so that the message does not reach the very ones who need it. Yet the Lord of heaven still has care for His own, the purchase of His blood.
The summons is urgent because the shepherds must answer in the great day when every person is judged and receives according to works of obedience to the law of His kingdom or transgression to the last. They are men supposed to know the truth who are accountable to make personal, intense, earnest effort to save souls while forgiveness can still be reached, to use persuasive influence to show that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, and to exalt righteousness and truth as a life-and-death principle. Instead they treat testing truth in a tame manner as a subject every man is at liberty to regard as he pleases, act a lie so they can link up with the disobedient, and deceive those under them, so that the lost will turn on them and charge that they knew these things, did not feel the peril as they ought, and did not lay right hold of them to warn them. When watchmen so mislead His people and ignore the evidences God has given, they turn blessing into a curse and insult the Lord by letting the standard of truth of the first, second and third angels' messages trail in the dust and feeding the flock poor provender. Their candlestick will be removed out of its place unless they repent, and God will hold responsible those who leave such watchmen to mislead and who lack keen discernment to discover what kind of food is being given to the flock, so they should tremble for the safety of their own souls.
Neglect Exposed, Duty Required
Unfaithful shepherds feed and clothe themselves instead of the flock, entering pastoral work without deep love to God or to fellow men and manifesting selfishness and self-indulgence while neglecting pastoral duty, so that the people perish for lack of proper instruction. They are idle consumers and not producers, bringing no fruit to the church because they do not themselves receive grace from God to impart to others, failing to do the work they should do and falling below the high standard their knowledge of the truth requires. Ignorant of truth that works by love and purifies the soul, they turn God-given powers to their own interests and leave the flock unfed and weakened, and churches under such shepherds who refuse God's Word and commandments become backslidden.
Their neglect centers on claiming God's promises while breaking His law and withholding saving truth, refusing fair investigation of Scripture and rejecting warning concerning His law and the Sabbath. They disregard the binding claims of the law, accept only the parts of Scripture that suit them, and reject truth that requires self-denial, yet Isaiah 58 shows the way back through relieving oppression, feeding the hungry with truth, and honoring God's Sabbath. Ministers are accountable to teach God's Word and the binding claims of His law clearly rather than substituting confusing human interpretations or caring for themselves while the flock goes unfed, and souls lost through such unfaithfulness are charged to them. Instead of making personal, intense, earnest effort while forgiveness can still be reached and showing by persuasive influence that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, they treat testing truth tamely as optional for each man, act a lie to link with the disobedient, and deceive those under them, until the lost turn upon them charging that they knew these things, felt not the peril as they ought, and failed to warn. By ignoring the evidences God has given they turn blessing into a curse, insult the Lord by letting the standard of the first, second, and third angels' messages trail in the dust and feeding poor provender, and face removal of their candlestick unless they repent. They breach their trust as false shepherds when they teach that God's law is not binding, interpret Scripture in the light of transgression, and persuade people to reject truth.
They shut needed warning away from the higher classes by refusing their churches to anyone who would preach any doctrine different from their denomination, so the message does not reach the very ones who need it, yet the Lord still has care for His own, the purchase of His blood. They rebel as false ministers, meeting faithful work with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice and jealousy, wounding and tearing the poor sheep and tearing to pieces the flock, and stand accountable to God while faithful workers must labor with intensity of feeling to save the wounded and keep the honest from deception. The sheep suffer from unwise shepherds as well as false ones when ministers stand back and excuse themselves while one burden-bearer is weighed down and crushed beneath censure until God vindicates him, instead of sharing the burdens to ease him, laying thereby more burdens than all the people lay.
A gospel minister is an unfaithful shepherd if he fails to visit the people in their homes, and his work is not half done, for preaching alone cannot supply this work. This personal pastoral labor cannot be done by proxy nor shifted upon wives or another person, and ministers must educate and train themselves to know the people in their homes and visit every accessible family even if far less preaching is done. God accepts no excuse for neglecting this most essential part which binds off the work and binds the messenger to the sheep and lambs of the pasture. Through identifying personal effort he becomes a channel of light, strengthening the weak at the right time with words that comfort, strengthen and establish until they are rooted, grounded and established in the faith, while places where messengers bring truth but shun this unpleasant work are lost to the cause.
Faithful shepherds follow Christ the perfect pattern in plain, close, searching, practical preaching, sitting in meekness at the feet of Jesus to obtain right views of God's character so they can teach others also. They exalt righteousness and truth as a life-and-death principle and press home obedience to the commandments as written. Their return to faithful service, as Isaiah 58 explains, is by relieving oppression, feeding the hungry with truth, and honoring God's Sabbath.
Faithfulness requires those joined with a leading worker to tell him his mistake faithfully when he does what they know is not right, giving correcting instruction in clear lines even when he will not acknowledge his course or receive what does not harmonize with his ideas. Withholding such reproof leaves associates in darkness about his being out of the way and lets them be led astray, so light must come in clear lines, and disparaging the ministers of the gospel is action against Christ who gave them their work. Shepherds who have dishonored God and led the flock astray as leading men, teachers and rulers must be disciplined by disappointment, hardship and affliction, and unless willing to learn meekness and lowliness from Christ they are not fitted to teach, for their self-righteous example advances nothing. Unwise standing back that crushes the burden-bearer under censure instead of sharing his load likewise makes the sheep suffer.
The word to shepherds must be heard and studied by everyone claiming to believe the truth, requiring individual knowledge of what the Lord requires, watching and praying and trusting the living Word, daily conversion and character after the divine similitude, so as to be prepared to meet the Lord coming in the clouds with power and glory. No one can continue doing as he pleases and still be ready, none should place himself under the influence of one who has made a wrong choice even for relatives, but all should separate from apostasy and prepare with joy for the future life. Yet ministerial failure does not excuse those who reject God's Word for human sophistry. Those who leave misleaders in place and lack keen discernment about what food is given the flock are held responsible and should tremble for their souls. And the lost will charge their deceivers that they knew these things, did not feel the peril, and did not warn them.