2.02.08. The Good Shepherd
VIII. THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
“I lay down my 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 10:15-16.
HE relation between the shepherd and his sheep is employed frequently and freely in the Scriptures to set forth the loving care of Christ on the one hand, and the blessed privileges of Christians on the other. Several aspects of the analogy — some of them unique and peculiar — are presented in this text.
Before we proceed to deal directly with the parable, however, it will be very instructive to glance for a moment at the words which go immediately before it. Here the preface to the parable is greater than the parable itself.
Christ telLs his disciples first that he died for them, and then that he lived for them. His first intimation is, “ I lay down my life for the sheep;” and his second is, “ I have other sheep, and them also I must bring.” There is a grand reason why these two are brought together, and arranged in this order. In the plan of this wise Master Builder, the foundation is first laid, and then the superstructure is reared. It is first his satisfying atonement, and next his ingathering ministry. The estimate that should count resistance to the doctrine of the atonement the chief ingredient in the sceptical spirit of the age would not be far wide of the mark. It is free salvation through the sacrifice of the Substitute that most offends human philosophy in our day. The great Prophet himself, seeing the end from the beginning, and seeing in the end of the world that specific form of enmity to the cross, presciently supplied the antidote in his Word. He speaks first of his atoning death, and next of his ministering life. No effective ministry without a full expiation, on the sacrifice the ministry leans, as a structure on its foundation.
“ I lay down my life for the sheep.” Here, in a few simple words, is recorded the greatest fact in the course of time. Here lies the reason of the hope that is in believers. “ Behold the Lamb of Gk)d, that taketh away the sin of the world!” He who clothed himself with a human body clothes his thoughts towards us in forms which, being taken off humanity, fit humanity again. He is the Shepherd, and his people are the flock. The Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He takes their place, that they may enjoy his; he bears their guilt, that they may wear his righteousness; he endures their curse, that they may inherit his glory. “ He saved others; himself he cannot save.” Because he saved others, he could not save himself. If he had come down from the cross we could never have ascended to the crown. When sin gnaws in your conscience, and the judgment seat gleams before your eyes, here lies your help. Listen to the voice of Jesus: “ I lay down my life for the sheep.” From an accusing conscience and a condemning law hide in the suffering Redeemer, as the Hebrews hid under the sprinkled blood till the night of death passed over and salvation came with the dawn. This is the turning-point; this is the key of the position.
Around this spot the conflict of ages has raged. Christ was for this sacrifice, and the devil against it, from the beginning. When the Lord intimated to his disciples that he was about to lay down his life, Peter, or rather Satan within him, replied, “ Far be this from thee. Lord.” The cross is still to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that are saved it is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. In this his greatest plan and greatest work, God has not missed his mark. The Eternal Son has not thrown his life away; he laid down his life to save. I shall trust him that he knew what he did, and did what he meant to do.
It is his life laid down that shall support me in my depths.
Into this ark I enter when the fountains of the great deep are broken up and the flood overwhelms the world.
After the shortest and simplest announcement of his atoning death comes a description of his saving ministry, “ And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.”
1. “ This fold:” the seed of Israel — the visible Church of those times. It became Christ to fulfil all righteousness.
He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil. He was born in Bethlehem. He came in the track of the old sacrifices, and came unto his own. The faithful in Jerusalem were waiting for the Consolation of Israel; and at the appointed time the Consolation of Israel appeared. By his own personal ministry he founded the kingdom in Israel, and left to his followers the task of propagating it through the world. Some of the seed of Abraham were gathered in. The common people heard him gladly, and here and there a ruler also was subdued. At the word of Jesus, living children of Abraham’s faith sprang from those stones which then constituted the bulk of his natural offspring. The Redeemer’s soul was from time to time satisfied as he felt the parched lips of a daughter of Israel pressed to himself, the Foimtain of living water. He was filled with joy as he felt branch after branch growing into himself, the Vine, for life and fruitfulness. They got life — he gave it: both were blessed, but the Giver most. In ’* this fold” he had some of his flock gathered and sheltered and fed, even during the time of his own personal ministry.
But—
2. “ Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold."
Here the expansive love of Jesus breaks forth. He began at Jerusalem, but he did not end there. Even while his feet stand on the soil of Palestine, the longings of his heart go out to the ends of the earth. He was getting some, but he longed for more; his appetite was not satisfied. The King is still sending out relays of servants into the highways and hedges of the world to compel the poor to come in, that his table may be furnished with guests. After he has gathered into his fold a flock more numerous than the stars that stud the plains of heaven, he still cries, “ Other sheep!” “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Besides the expansive out-going of the Redeemer’s love, you may mark here its all-encompassing sovereignty: “other sheep / have,’’ He does not say, I may acquire others at some future time; he has them already. They were his in the covenant from the beginning, and he held them, every one, at that moment, in distinguishing love upon his heart. At a time when they had not learned to follow him — when they were neither born nor born again — he counts and calls them his. Ah, believing brother, thy soul lay on the Redeemer’s heart that day. Thy backsliding hurt him, but did not make him change. Thy sins wounded him, but did not provoke him to let thee go. “I am Jehovah; I change not: therefore ye seed of Jacob are not consumed.”
3. “ Them also I bring.” There is no respect of persons with GkxL Of every nation, and kindred, and tongue will be the multitude, which no man can number, who stand round the throne in white clothing. “Them also.” No poor slave will be left out because he is black, or bears the mark of lashing; no servant is pushed aside to make way for his master; no rich or powerful man who cleaved to Christ is kept out at the cry of a mob that envied him.
If any were kept back, the Lord would pause as he came across the sky like the lightning — would pause and say, as he beckoned to attending angels, “ Thefm also.” Gather up the fragments, that none of them be lost. O ye least in the kingdom of God, I have never heard that the law of gravity, God’s servant, attended to the worlds and mountains, letting the drops and atoms go because they were small! Be assured God, the master of that law, and of all laws, will not permit his little ones to slip through an opening in his love. “ Them also “ is a cheering word. I like to hold it in my hand; I like to roll it as a sweet morsel under my tongue, to taste it long and leisurely.
Lazarus, with his sores all healed now, must not glide into his old habit of lying at the door; he also must come into the palace of the great King, and there abide. The prodigal, who went far from his father, and remained long, and had nothing to recommend him when he returned, he also must come in, and come as a son to a father’s bosom, without a fear. And these, who only came to Christ when they grew old, after spending their lifetime for the world; and these, who, though they came in youth, came not till they felt the hand of death upon their hearts — come in. The Master stands and says, “ Them also.” Manasseh, Saul of Tarsus — the blood of the martyr Stephen all off his hands at last — “ them also.”
“ Them / bring!’ He sends none forward to make or find their own way. He goes before them, and bids them follow; he goes with them, and bears them through. They are not alone in trouble; for in all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. He does not permit them to cross the valley of the shadow of death alone: the High Priest goes into the midst of Jordan, and therefore they pass safely over. “ I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” He will not send any disciples to the judgment-seat to make the best of their own case; he will be there before them, and will bring them to himself.
Once more it may be, recorded, “ Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” Those guilty brothers, although they trembled at the first hint of Joseph’s power, were, after full reconciliation, glad to find that Joseph ruled the kingdom. When they were convinced of their brother’s love, they rejoiced in their brother’s regal power. Although I find upon the throne of judgment Him whom I have crucified, yet when he manifests his forgiving love, I shall rejoice with a joy unspeakable to find that all judgment has been committed into his hands. We learn (Ephesians 5:27) that when Christ has washed and sanctified his Church, he will present it to himself, without spot or wrinkle, in that day.
He brings his sheep home by going before them. He makes a way through the sea of wrath, that they may safely pass. “ I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man Cometh into the Father but by me.” When he brings them to the Father, they are welcome home. “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is -Christ that died.”
He brings them through the regeneration into the fold during their life on earth. It often takes much bringing to bring the distant nigh — the prodigal home; but all power in heaven and in earth is given to the Captain of our salvation. He will not fail nor be discouraged. To bring a drunken father home from his cups and his companions may take much power — more than weeping wife and hungry children can exert; but when the love of Christ gets hold of him by the heart, it leads him whithersoever it will. That love has laid hold of a miser, and drawn him from his gold; that love has laid hold of a sinner, whose right hand was bound indissolubly to his lust, and drawn the man to heaven, leaving his right hand behind.
“Art thou a king then?” they said to Jesus, at that unrighteous tribunal; and he condescended to tell them that they had stumbled upon the truth: “ Thou sayesi” He is a King, and acts in a kingly way: he says, “I bring;” and when his strength is put forth, the threefold chains of the devil, the world, and the flesh give way like threads.
He leads; they follow. Thy people, Lord, shall be willing in the day of thy power. At his bringing they come from east and west; at his command the north gives up, and the south keeps not back. Those that cleaved most firmly to the dust fly as doves to their windows, their wings glittering in beauty like yellow gold. That same bringing power, that rent asunder the chains of sin and liberated the soul, shall prevail to burst the gates of death, and bring the body in life and beauty from the grave. “ I am the resurrection and the life,” said Jesus, them also — the bodies of his saints, as well as the spirits — I bring with me; that where I am, they may be.
"Arise, yea, rise again thou must, After a little rest, my dust, Thee God thy Maker gives Life that for ever lives. Hallelujah!”
4. “Them also I must bring.” What a word is this!
He commands the winds and the sea, and they obey him, who then can stand over him with authority, compelling him to fulfil his task? It is the mightiest of all taskmasters, his own yearning love. It is not only that he will or may bring his other sheep home to the fold; he must bring them. He has laid this necessity upon himself in the well-ordered covenant, and the self-imposed necessity is sweet to his soul. “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” The Good Shepherd does not know how to abandon any of his flock. The whole body of the ransomed is in Scripture expressly said to be “ the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” A part of his own fulness would be wanting, if he should leave any fragment behind.
Shreds from this divine necessity of doing good drop down from the Head and beautify the life of the members, as rays from the sun glitter on the leaves of the grove or on the pebbles of the beach. These things that “ must be “— these inevitable deep necessities — are the most lovely features of the free. Here is a mother with a sick infant on her knee. The infantas eyes are open, but they see not; they roll at random — lightless, lifeless. The parched lips utter at intervals a faint, uneasy shriek. Thus has the infant lain for several days and nights. The sun has set once more upon the. scene, and the city lays itself down to rest. But that mother rests not; although her head is weary, she does not lay it down. Why? Ah! she must sit there and hold her child in the safest place, and look into those eyes that give her back now no answering look; she must sit and hold the child till she see the end. An overmastering love compels her, and will take no denial. It is a “ must” of this kind, but mightier, that binds the Good Shepherd to bring the most distant and most feeble sheep home to the fold. Can a mother forget? She may; but thy Redeemer will not forget thee, Zion! The high priest stood in the midst of Jordan till all the people passed over.