And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Christ goes before His people as an Eastern shepherd goes before his flock, not driving with force but calling in His own distinct voice and leading them out to pasture, while they press close and follow because they know Him. He is the true Shepherd who knows each one by name as if alone in the world, who left His Father's glories to seek wandering sheep ready to perish, and who first meets every peril of the way and consecrates it by His footprints, giving His life so that none who stay with Him can be plucked from His hand. Knowing His voice is personal living acquaintance learned through Scripture, providence, and the Holy Spirit, by which even the unlearned distinguish Him from strangers and false shepherds and stand firm when apostasy and deception sweep around them. His sheep follow not from fear of punishment or hope of reward but because His matchless love from manger to cross awakens love, so they obey His word, keep His commandments, and walk step by step in His example. Their only safety is to trust that living leadership in every entanglement and difficulty, refusing the stranger's voice and human judgment as guide, and listening for His direction rather than giving way to doubt and unbelief.
Shepherd Imagery and Setting
The verse belongs to the use of shepherd and sheep as a familiar, everyday illustration of immortal truth, simple yet profound, so that seeing shepherds and sheep afterward brings the lesson back to mind. It gathers spiritual teaching from nature and from the surroundings of daily life and from facts of experience familiar to the hearers, revealing openness to the influences of nature and delight in such illustrations. Its lesson interests every mind and appeals to every heart, and the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen instead of remaining a mere round of toil bereft of higher thoughts. It gives a pattern for teaching children to see in nature an expression of the love and wisdom of God, to link the thought of God with bird and flower and tree, to make all things seen interpreters of the unseen, and to make all the events of life a means of divine teaching. Ordinary experiences of shepherd and sheep thus carry spiritual lessons drawn from daily life.
The picture is that of an Eastern shepherd who does not drive with force or fear but goes before and calls, and the sheep know his voice and obey the call. No whip or dog is needed, for large flocks of hundreds and even thousands follow the earthly shepherd, understanding where he desires them to go and answering a peculiar sound of his mouth and a distinctive call, pressing close together and following, and when one strays it answers and presses back. So Jesus goes before, calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out, drawing them with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, as He led His people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and He compels none to follow Him. His attitude is wholly one of invitation: He does not drive His flock but goes before and leads them. His disciples do not follow Him from fear of punishment or hope of everlasting reward, but because beholding His matchless love revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary attracts, softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so they hear His voice and follow Him.
When He putteth forth His own sheep, He as the true shepherd leads His own sheep out and goes ahead of them, and they follow because they recognize His voice. He knows His sheep personally, calls each of His own by name and leads them out one by one, and He is their shepherd and guide. He leads His sheep from the fold to pasture, leads all who will accept Him into green pastures, and gives His life for them as the true Shepherd. Even people whom others judge unqualified may be among the ones He chooses for a special work. Those who follow Him are to say by word and example, Follow me as I follow Christ, making plain the restoration God requires and teaching reform, with work for the sick pointing to Jesus the Restorer who forgives sins and heals all manner of diseases.
Christ is both the door and the Shepherd. He is the only door into God's fold, and those who enter through Him are brought into His grace, while leaders who try to take His place are false shepherds, not rightful guides of the flock. He enters in by Himself, and through His own sacrifice He becomes the Shepherd of the sheep, putting forth His own sheep and going before them while the sheep follow Him because they know His voice, calling His own sheep by name and leading them out.
Christ the True Shepherd
The verse presents Christ as the true Shepherd of the Lord's flock in contrast to unworthy shepherds, for He gathers and cares for His people while leaders who cast out one drawn to Him show themselves unworthy. It belongs to His picture of His relation to those who believe in Him, in which He is the Shepherd and believers are His dependent flock, whom He knows and for whom He gives His life. He knows each person in His flock by name and cares for each one individually wherever they live, as though that person were the only one in the world. The Shepherd knows them by name and calls them to follow Him along the pathway of truth.
His going before them reveals His work in coming as healing, as a missionary in every sense of the word. He puts forth His own sheep and leads them out, going before them Himself while they follow Him because they know His voice. As a shepherd goes before his sheep, He Himself first meets the perils of the way, and the way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. The path may be steep and rugged, but He has traveled it already, His feet pressing down the cruel thorns to make it easier, and every burden believers are called to bear He Himself has borne. Though He has ascended to the presence of God and shares the throne of the universe, He has lost none of His compassionate nature, the same tender sympathizing heart is still open to all human woe, and the pierced hand is still reached out to bless His people in the world. The soul given to Him is more precious than the whole world, He would have passed through the agony of Calvary for one to be saved, He never abandons one for whom He died but holds fast His followers unless they choose to leave Him, so they shall never perish and none can pluck them out of His hand.
After the fall He saw His sheep in pitiable condition exposed to sure destruction and left the honors and glories of His Father's house to become a Shepherd to save the miserable wandering sheep ready to perish. His winning voice calls them to His fold as a safe and sure retreat from robbers, a shelter from scorching heat, and a protection from chilling blasts. His care is continually exercised for their good, strengthening the weak, nourishing the suffering, and gathering the lambs in His arms and carrying them in His bosom. He goes before His disciples by living on earth, overcoming Satan and every temptation so they may overcome, and dying to save them. Though now in heaven, He guards and keeps every sheep who follows Him, and the great enemy cannot take one away.
Knowing the Shepherd's Voice
Knowing His voice is learned through experience as personal acquaintance and living experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, with Jesus formed within as the hope of glory. Those who so know Him distinguish His voice from a stranger's or a false shepherd's and will not be overcome or borne down even in widespread apostasy. The most subtle reasoning and assaults of Satan cannot move them from their knowledge of the truth, and even the illiterate who cannot show in argument wherein an adversary is wrong bear testimony with evidence in their own heart and without doubt or fear that they have the truth. Those who merely profess the truth without this acquaintance cannot distinguish His voice from a stranger's and will be overcome, so nominal Christianity is the danger most to be feared.
God's voice is revealed in Scripture, in His providential workings, and through appeals of the Holy Spirit that shape the character, and people must not let self-will and an unsanctified heart confuse their discernment. Those who seek God's glory and strive to do His will can distinguish His voice from voices that would draw them away from the truth. Those who are truly sons and daughters of God not only hear His voice but recognize it above all others, appreciate the words of Christ, and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error. That truth received into the heart refreshes the soul and fills it with gladness and transforms the character.
Distinguishing the Shepherd's voice from a stranger's is necessary for working together with God and requires diligent, thoughtful, prayerful study of Scripture. Searching Scripture helps distinguish His way from false Christian character by following Christ's leading rather than personal inclinations or inherited tendencies. Making that distinction requires a sound, solid experience grounded in the pillars of faith, a foundation storm and tempest cannot move, with more perfect study and understanding of the Bible and growth in Christian graces. It calls for a Christian experience and a healthful, sound mind, especially for leading a church composed of strange elements.
The voice of the True Shepherd speaks through God's servants when they bring light and warn against deception, and shepherds of the flock especially must recognize it and distinguish it from a stranger's voice. That voice is heard when truth is poured forth from lips touched with a live coal from off the altar under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, carrying a heaven-inspired message that holds hearers with fixed attention and makes even unbelievers feel its power. Its hearers should recognize the voice of the true Shepherd in a message borne to God's people, rather than mistake it for an uncertain or false voice.
Following in Loving Obedience
The sheep follow because they know the Shepherd personally and He knows them, and their following grows out of familiarity, love and trust in His voice rather than fear of punishment or hope of reward. Beholding His matchless love revealed through His whole pilgrimage on earth from Bethlehem's manger to Calvary's cross attracts, softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so that hearing His voice they follow. He does not drive with force or fear but goes before and calls, drawing with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, as He led His people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and He compels none to follow. Those who so know and love His voice follow Him on earth in willing, loving and confident obedience, not fretfully or capriciously, and turning from the voice of strangers they remain faithful and do not heed accusations meant to plant doubt and unbelief.
Following Him means practicing the truth and obeying the Word, for He is the Truth and the Life. Those who are truly sons and daughters of God not only hear His voice but recognize it above all others, appreciate His words, and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error, and that truth received into the heart refreshes the soul, fills it with gladness and transforms the character. Such following is confident, truthful, willing obedience, not fretful or changeable conduct, lived by His example in keeping His commandments here on earth, not only when convenient or personally advantageous. It includes choosing to suffer for His sake and trusting Him through suffering, and by bringing the will into conformity with His they reveal Him. Those who follow Him in this life will follow the Lamb in heaven, while oppression and coercion are not the work of His followers but show allegiance to another leader.
A person's only safety is in being led entirely by the heavenly Shepherd, following Him in recognition of His voice. Those who follow Him understand the thoughts of heaven, do not walk in darkness, and obey the true Shepherd. Those who follow Him step by step hear and recognize His voice, in contrast to false teachers who lead people away from His path.
They must follow Him rather than a stranger, looking to Him for wisdom and counsel and depending on Him rather than treating human judgment as guide or depending on human leaders who may lead into strange pastures. Managers who stay in living connection with God will listen to His voice rather than a stranger's, and responsible people are called to recognize His voice and follow it. His voice is heard through the light and truth God sends, so failing to recognize it means refusing that leading and losing its blessings.
He leads all who will accept Him, and He leads them into green pastures. His voice guides even wanderers, calling them to walk in the right way, and the lost sheep's return to the fold is presented as following Him. Those who follow Him are to say by word and example, Follow me as I follow Christ, making plain to men and women the restoration God requires in them and teaching them how to engage in reform, with work for the sick pointing them to Jesus the Restorer who forgives sins and heals all manner of diseases.
Strangers and False Shepherds
Unworthy shepherds reveal themselves when they cast out one who is drawn to Christ, when they exercise authority yet leave the people unfed, or when they enter gently as a lamb while secretly taking trained workers to draw people away, for such conduct is spiritually blind thievery and robbery rather than faithful shepherding, and instruction is to be given humbly in keeping with God's word. The true Shepherd gathers and cares for His own flock, while those leaders stand exposed as unfaithful to that trust. Their friendly appearance conceals an effort to lead others away from the fold.
Spiritual blindness causes the church to lose the sound of the True Shepherd, to fail to distinguish His voice from a stranger's, and to follow a stranger who leads away from Christ's fold, so that a misled church cannot reliably discern truth from deception. Those who cannot distinguish the voices are easily misled. They need to humble themselves, sincerely repent, and review that chapter of experience. Recognition of His voice is shown by following Him.
Failure to tell the True Shepherd's voice from a stranger's is blindness worked by the enemy even among men connected with God's institutions. When things of an earthly nature interpose between the soul and heaven, there is no right conception of the character of God and His matchless love is not perceived, and faith and love die out of the heart leaving minds confused. Such ones wrap their souls in garments of unbelief and walk in the sparks of their own kindling. They show a spirit of iron without Christ's sympathy and love and tenderness, an unfeeling heartlessness satanic in character. They must study the message God has given lest they be swept away by overwhelming delusions.
Cherishing and obeying the light helps discern the Shepherd's voice, while neglecting given light brings spiritual darkness and weakens that discernment. Neglecting the light and repeatedly violating conscience makes a person less able to distinguish that voice from a stranger's, and rejecting reproof can close the way the Lord's counsel and warnings are heard. By listening to strange voices and neglecting warnings, reproofs, and instruction, those who do not follow Christ's example end up following another leader and lose the ability to distinguish the True Shepherd's voice. This leaves the person vulnerable to Satan's deceptions. Ministers especially must recognize His voice rather than a stranger's, and those who keep far from Jesus or far from God may lose discernment altogether. Safety lies in following the Lord's way rather than one's own.
Hearts filled with envy, suspicion, and pride cannot distinguish His voice from a stranger's. The Jewish leaders' resistance to truth illustrates the danger of rejecting God's warnings and choosing tradition instead of His word, leaving people unprepared for the perils of the last days. Receiving His light and discerning that voice would have kept brethren from resisting truth about Christ's righteousness and from speaking in ways that stirred sympathy and made the congregation think they were divided and hostile.
The Word gives abundant cautions that false prophets will come with heresies and if possible will deceive the very elect, which the church should use to distinguish the false from the genuine. Those misled have failed to distinguish the true Shepherd's voice from a stranger's voice and have been easily led astray. Those who do not know God's voice listen to a stranger and receive from a human agent what is supposed to be truth, including self-exalting claims to be ordained and sent and to have received the Holy Spirit. Because God's people are on trial for eternal life they must know the true voice, refuse the stranger, receive true testimonies, and accept no delusive sentiments. Those led by feelings and impressions are led into fanaticism, and those whose hearts and lives are not united with truth and God's work mistake a stranger's voice for the True Shepherd's, are led onto another path, and may draw others away.
Following Him along the pathway of truth means refusing to reason about the errors the enemy presents, receiving the Lord's testimony, reading His word with a teachable heart, refusing to put Scripture on error's side to maintain falsehood, and believing the sent message that reveals danger. Letting the author of error get between the soul and the Word stamps the mind with his impress. Putting on the gospel shoes makes it possible to walk in truth behind the Shepherd who knows His sheep by name and calls them to follow Him rather than following error.
Those who turn from strangers' voices remain faithful to Him because they know and love His voice. Because they trust Christ they refuse to heed accusations meant to plant doubt and unbelief and to sow doubt and dissension among them. His followers must distinguish His truthful voice from the voices of the world and the deceiver, not led by passing excitement but remaining under His abiding influence and following step by step. This stands in contrast to false teachers who lead people away from His path. Those who listened to a stranger instead failed to discern His voice and were led away from the light God was giving.
Trust and Daily Guidance
His voice guides and guards His people from rebellion and apostasy. When things become entangled and hard to adjust and difficulties hard to resolve, when the church faces confusion, His people are to trust His living leadership and power rather than human wisdom. They are not to give way to doubt, discouragement, loss of heart and courage and faith, or to talk unbelief that spreads like a deadly malady, and as long as they hope and trust in God they cannot fall.
Experienced men who have learned His voice are to obey His directions without mixing them with their own temperaments, ideas, or preferences. They know their guidance comes from God, and those who follow the Lord are led in safe paths. Because such a guarding Shepherd goes before to lead the way, His followers refuse a spirit of strife for mastery and desire to be first. They refuse to murmur like peevish children, and instead show quiet loving confidence and cheerful constancy. Though this world is not their heaven, with God's love in the heart they learn to meet difficulties in faith and humble trust and move forward, and as they seek the Lord in earnest faith Christ's grace is imparted to them.
The faithful shepherd's care models Christ's under-shepherds and teachers. They are to lead and protect those entrusted to them, especially the helpless and vulnerable, and to guard sheep and lambs. They are lovingly to seek out anyone who strays until restored to the fold rather than abandoning them to perish. The verse applies to children and youth as sheep and lambs whom the great Shepherd calls to hear His voice and become His followers.
People newly embraced as sheep and lambs being put forth and called to the fold must not be left without a gathering place. As soon as a company leaves the churches a humble, simple, neat meetinghouse must be prepared where they can assemble to worship and give character to accepted truths. The image of a sheep outside the fold shows the Shepherd opening the door to welcome back one like Fannie, calling for receiving her and giving another chance even without evidence of marked change rather than closing the door of hope. When persecution comes, Christ's true sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and gather to Him.
Christ goes before His people as an Eastern shepherd goes before his flock, not driving with force but calling in His own distinct voice and leading them out to pasture, while they press close and follow because they know Him. He is the true Shepherd who knows each one by name as if alone in the world, who left His Father's glories to seek wandering sheep ready to perish, and who first meets every peril of the way and consecrates it by His footprints, giving His life so that none who stay with Him can be plucked from His hand. Knowing His voice is personal living acquaintance learned through Scripture, providence, and the Holy Spirit, by which even the unlearned distinguish Him from strangers and false shepherds and stand firm when apostasy and deception sweep around them. His sheep follow not from fear of punishment or hope of reward but because His matchless love from manger to cross awakens love, so they obey His word, keep His commandments, and walk step by step in His example. Their only safety is to trust that living leadership in every entanglement and difficulty, refusing the stranger's voice and human judgment as guide, and listening for His direction rather than giving way to doubt and unbelief.
Shepherd Imagery and Setting
The verse belongs to the use of shepherd and sheep as a familiar, everyday illustration of immortal truth, simple yet profound, so that seeing shepherds and sheep afterward brings the lesson back to mind. It gathers spiritual teaching from nature and from the surroundings of daily life and from facts of experience familiar to the hearers, revealing openness to the influences of nature and delight in such illustrations. Its lesson interests every mind and appeals to every heart, and the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen instead of remaining a mere round of toil bereft of higher thoughts. It gives a pattern for teaching children to see in nature an expression of the love and wisdom of God, to link the thought of God with bird and flower and tree, to make all things seen interpreters of the unseen, and to make all the events of life a means of divine teaching. Ordinary experiences of shepherd and sheep thus carry spiritual lessons drawn from daily life.
The picture is that of an Eastern shepherd who does not drive with force or fear but goes before and calls, and the sheep know his voice and obey the call. No whip or dog is needed, for large flocks of hundreds and even thousands follow the earthly shepherd, understanding where he desires them to go and answering a peculiar sound of his mouth and a distinctive call, pressing close together and following, and when one strays it answers and presses back. So Jesus goes before, calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out, drawing them with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, as He led His people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and He compels none to follow Him. His attitude is wholly one of invitation: He does not drive His flock but goes before and leads them. His disciples do not follow Him from fear of punishment or hope of everlasting reward, but because beholding His matchless love revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary attracts, softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so they hear His voice and follow Him.
When He putteth forth His own sheep, He as the true shepherd leads His own sheep out and goes ahead of them, and they follow because they recognize His voice. He knows His sheep personally, calls each of His own by name and leads them out one by one, and He is their shepherd and guide. He leads His sheep from the fold to pasture, leads all who will accept Him into green pastures, and gives His life for them as the true Shepherd. Even people whom others judge unqualified may be among the ones He chooses for a special work. Those who follow Him are to say by word and example, Follow me as I follow Christ, making plain the restoration God requires and teaching reform, with work for the sick pointing to Jesus the Restorer who forgives sins and heals all manner of diseases.
Christ is both the door and the Shepherd. He is the only door into God's fold, and those who enter through Him are brought into His grace, while leaders who try to take His place are false shepherds, not rightful guides of the flock. He enters in by Himself, and through His own sacrifice He becomes the Shepherd of the sheep, putting forth His own sheep and going before them while the sheep follow Him because they know His voice, calling His own sheep by name and leading them out.
Christ the True Shepherd
The verse presents Christ as the true Shepherd of the Lord's flock in contrast to unworthy shepherds, for He gathers and cares for His people while leaders who cast out one drawn to Him show themselves unworthy. It belongs to His picture of His relation to those who believe in Him, in which He is the Shepherd and believers are His dependent flock, whom He knows and for whom He gives His life. He knows each person in His flock by name and cares for each one individually wherever they live, as though that person were the only one in the world. The Shepherd knows them by name and calls them to follow Him along the pathway of truth.
His going before them reveals His work in coming as healing, as a missionary in every sense of the word. He puts forth His own sheep and leads them out, going before them Himself while they follow Him because they know His voice. As a shepherd goes before his sheep, He Himself first meets the perils of the way, and the way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. The path may be steep and rugged, but He has traveled it already, His feet pressing down the cruel thorns to make it easier, and every burden believers are called to bear He Himself has borne. Though He has ascended to the presence of God and shares the throne of the universe, He has lost none of His compassionate nature, the same tender sympathizing heart is still open to all human woe, and the pierced hand is still reached out to bless His people in the world. The soul given to Him is more precious than the whole world, He would have passed through the agony of Calvary for one to be saved, He never abandons one for whom He died but holds fast His followers unless they choose to leave Him, so they shall never perish and none can pluck them out of His hand.
After the fall He saw His sheep in pitiable condition exposed to sure destruction and left the honors and glories of His Father's house to become a Shepherd to save the miserable wandering sheep ready to perish. His winning voice calls them to His fold as a safe and sure retreat from robbers, a shelter from scorching heat, and a protection from chilling blasts. His care is continually exercised for their good, strengthening the weak, nourishing the suffering, and gathering the lambs in His arms and carrying them in His bosom. He goes before His disciples by living on earth, overcoming Satan and every temptation so they may overcome, and dying to save them. Though now in heaven, He guards and keeps every sheep who follows Him, and the great enemy cannot take one away.
Knowing the Shepherd's Voice
Knowing His voice is learned through experience as personal acquaintance and living experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, with Jesus formed within as the hope of glory. Those who so know Him distinguish His voice from a stranger's or a false shepherd's and will not be overcome or borne down even in widespread apostasy. The most subtle reasoning and assaults of Satan cannot move them from their knowledge of the truth, and even the illiterate who cannot show in argument wherein an adversary is wrong bear testimony with evidence in their own heart and without doubt or fear that they have the truth. Those who merely profess the truth without this acquaintance cannot distinguish His voice from a stranger's and will be overcome, so nominal Christianity is the danger most to be feared.
God's voice is revealed in Scripture, in His providential workings, and through appeals of the Holy Spirit that shape the character, and people must not let self-will and an unsanctified heart confuse their discernment. Those who seek God's glory and strive to do His will can distinguish His voice from voices that would draw them away from the truth. Those who are truly sons and daughters of God not only hear His voice but recognize it above all others, appreciate the words of Christ, and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error. That truth received into the heart refreshes the soul and fills it with gladness and transforms the character.
Distinguishing the Shepherd's voice from a stranger's is necessary for working together with God and requires diligent, thoughtful, prayerful study of Scripture. Searching Scripture helps distinguish His way from false Christian character by following Christ's leading rather than personal inclinations or inherited tendencies. Making that distinction requires a sound, solid experience grounded in the pillars of faith, a foundation storm and tempest cannot move, with more perfect study and understanding of the Bible and growth in Christian graces. It calls for a Christian experience and a healthful, sound mind, especially for leading a church composed of strange elements.
The voice of the True Shepherd speaks through God's servants when they bring light and warn against deception, and shepherds of the flock especially must recognize it and distinguish it from a stranger's voice. That voice is heard when truth is poured forth from lips touched with a live coal from off the altar under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, carrying a heaven-inspired message that holds hearers with fixed attention and makes even unbelievers feel its power. Its hearers should recognize the voice of the true Shepherd in a message borne to God's people, rather than mistake it for an uncertain or false voice.
Following in Loving Obedience
The sheep follow because they know the Shepherd personally and He knows them, and their following grows out of familiarity, love and trust in His voice rather than fear of punishment or hope of reward. Beholding His matchless love revealed through His whole pilgrimage on earth from Bethlehem's manger to Calvary's cross attracts, softens and subdues the soul and awakens love in the heart, so that hearing His voice they follow. He does not drive with force or fear but goes before and calls, drawing with everlasting love and loving-kindness, with cords of a man and bands of love, as He led His people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and He compels none to follow. Those who so know and love His voice follow Him on earth in willing, loving and confident obedience, not fretfully or capriciously, and turning from the voice of strangers they remain faithful and do not heed accusations meant to plant doubt and unbelief.
Following Him means practicing the truth and obeying the Word, for He is the Truth and the Life. Those who are truly sons and daughters of God not only hear His voice but recognize it above all others, appreciate His words, and distinguish the truth as it is in Jesus from all error, and that truth received into the heart refreshes the soul, fills it with gladness and transforms the character. Such following is confident, truthful, willing obedience, not fretful or changeable conduct, lived by His example in keeping His commandments here on earth, not only when convenient or personally advantageous. It includes choosing to suffer for His sake and trusting Him through suffering, and by bringing the will into conformity with His they reveal Him. Those who follow Him in this life will follow the Lamb in heaven, while oppression and coercion are not the work of His followers but show allegiance to another leader.
A person's only safety is in being led entirely by the heavenly Shepherd, following Him in recognition of His voice. Those who follow Him understand the thoughts of heaven, do not walk in darkness, and obey the true Shepherd. Those who follow Him step by step hear and recognize His voice, in contrast to false teachers who lead people away from His path.
They must follow Him rather than a stranger, looking to Him for wisdom and counsel and depending on Him rather than treating human judgment as guide or depending on human leaders who may lead into strange pastures. Managers who stay in living connection with God will listen to His voice rather than a stranger's, and responsible people are called to recognize His voice and follow it. His voice is heard through the light and truth God sends, so failing to recognize it means refusing that leading and losing its blessings.
He leads all who will accept Him, and He leads them into green pastures. His voice guides even wanderers, calling them to walk in the right way, and the lost sheep's return to the fold is presented as following Him. Those who follow Him are to say by word and example, Follow me as I follow Christ, making plain to men and women the restoration God requires in them and teaching them how to engage in reform, with work for the sick pointing them to Jesus the Restorer who forgives sins and heals all manner of diseases.
Strangers and False Shepherds
Unworthy shepherds reveal themselves when they cast out one who is drawn to Christ, when they exercise authority yet leave the people unfed, or when they enter gently as a lamb while secretly taking trained workers to draw people away, for such conduct is spiritually blind thievery and robbery rather than faithful shepherding, and instruction is to be given humbly in keeping with God's word. The true Shepherd gathers and cares for His own flock, while those leaders stand exposed as unfaithful to that trust. Their friendly appearance conceals an effort to lead others away from the fold.
Spiritual blindness causes the church to lose the sound of the True Shepherd, to fail to distinguish His voice from a stranger's, and to follow a stranger who leads away from Christ's fold, so that a misled church cannot reliably discern truth from deception. Those who cannot distinguish the voices are easily misled. They need to humble themselves, sincerely repent, and review that chapter of experience. Recognition of His voice is shown by following Him.
Failure to tell the True Shepherd's voice from a stranger's is blindness worked by the enemy even among men connected with God's institutions. When things of an earthly nature interpose between the soul and heaven, there is no right conception of the character of God and His matchless love is not perceived, and faith and love die out of the heart leaving minds confused. Such ones wrap their souls in garments of unbelief and walk in the sparks of their own kindling. They show a spirit of iron without Christ's sympathy and love and tenderness, an unfeeling heartlessness satanic in character. They must study the message God has given lest they be swept away by overwhelming delusions.
Cherishing and obeying the light helps discern the Shepherd's voice, while neglecting given light brings spiritual darkness and weakens that discernment. Neglecting the light and repeatedly violating conscience makes a person less able to distinguish that voice from a stranger's, and rejecting reproof can close the way the Lord's counsel and warnings are heard. By listening to strange voices and neglecting warnings, reproofs, and instruction, those who do not follow Christ's example end up following another leader and lose the ability to distinguish the True Shepherd's voice. This leaves the person vulnerable to Satan's deceptions. Ministers especially must recognize His voice rather than a stranger's, and those who keep far from Jesus or far from God may lose discernment altogether. Safety lies in following the Lord's way rather than one's own.
Hearts filled with envy, suspicion, and pride cannot distinguish His voice from a stranger's. The Jewish leaders' resistance to truth illustrates the danger of rejecting God's warnings and choosing tradition instead of His word, leaving people unprepared for the perils of the last days. Receiving His light and discerning that voice would have kept brethren from resisting truth about Christ's righteousness and from speaking in ways that stirred sympathy and made the congregation think they were divided and hostile.
The Word gives abundant cautions that false prophets will come with heresies and if possible will deceive the very elect, which the church should use to distinguish the false from the genuine. Those misled have failed to distinguish the true Shepherd's voice from a stranger's voice and have been easily led astray. Those who do not know God's voice listen to a stranger and receive from a human agent what is supposed to be truth, including self-exalting claims to be ordained and sent and to have received the Holy Spirit. Because God's people are on trial for eternal life they must know the true voice, refuse the stranger, receive true testimonies, and accept no delusive sentiments. Those led by feelings and impressions are led into fanaticism, and those whose hearts and lives are not united with truth and God's work mistake a stranger's voice for the True Shepherd's, are led onto another path, and may draw others away.
Following Him along the pathway of truth means refusing to reason about the errors the enemy presents, receiving the Lord's testimony, reading His word with a teachable heart, refusing to put Scripture on error's side to maintain falsehood, and believing the sent message that reveals danger. Letting the author of error get between the soul and the Word stamps the mind with his impress. Putting on the gospel shoes makes it possible to walk in truth behind the Shepherd who knows His sheep by name and calls them to follow Him rather than following error.
Those who turn from strangers' voices remain faithful to Him because they know and love His voice. Because they trust Christ they refuse to heed accusations meant to plant doubt and unbelief and to sow doubt and dissension among them. His followers must distinguish His truthful voice from the voices of the world and the deceiver, not led by passing excitement but remaining under His abiding influence and following step by step. This stands in contrast to false teachers who lead people away from His path. Those who listened to a stranger instead failed to discern His voice and were led away from the light God was giving.
Trust and Daily Guidance
His voice guides and guards His people from rebellion and apostasy. When things become entangled and hard to adjust and difficulties hard to resolve, when the church faces confusion, His people are to trust His living leadership and power rather than human wisdom. They are not to give way to doubt, discouragement, loss of heart and courage and faith, or to talk unbelief that spreads like a deadly malady, and as long as they hope and trust in God they cannot fall.
Experienced men who have learned His voice are to obey His directions without mixing them with their own temperaments, ideas, or preferences. They know their guidance comes from God, and those who follow the Lord are led in safe paths. Because such a guarding Shepherd goes before to lead the way, His followers refuse a spirit of strife for mastery and desire to be first. They refuse to murmur like peevish children, and instead show quiet loving confidence and cheerful constancy. Though this world is not their heaven, with God's love in the heart they learn to meet difficulties in faith and humble trust and move forward, and as they seek the Lord in earnest faith Christ's grace is imparted to them.
The faithful shepherd's care models Christ's under-shepherds and teachers. They are to lead and protect those entrusted to them, especially the helpless and vulnerable, and to guard sheep and lambs. They are lovingly to seek out anyone who strays until restored to the fold rather than abandoning them to perish. The verse applies to children and youth as sheep and lambs whom the great Shepherd calls to hear His voice and become His followers.
People newly embraced as sheep and lambs being put forth and called to the fold must not be left without a gathering place. As soon as a company leaves the churches a humble, simple, neat meetinghouse must be prepared where they can assemble to worship and give character to accepted truths. The image of a sheep outside the fold shows the Shepherd opening the door to welcome back one like Fannie, calling for receiving her and giving another chance even without evidence of marked change rather than closing the door of hope. When persecution comes, Christ's true sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and gather to Him.