The Sheep Of His Pasture

May 2023 — Grace & Truth Magazine


The Sheep Of His Pasture

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom. — Isaiah 40:11 KJV

Sheep are passive creatures and can do little for themselves, much like believers in the work of their salvation. Believers do not in themselves have more knowledge of the saving way than sheep, and so they cannot walk unless they are taught and led. “Teach me, O L ORD ” (Ps. 119:33), “lead me in Thy truth” (25:5). Like a blind man holding out his hand to his guide, so they say, “Lead me, O L ORD , in Thy righteousness” (5:8). Leading implies some willingness, but we must be drawn; for Jesus, the Shepherd, said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father … draw him” (Jn. 6:44). There is a word of special grace which is more than “teaching,” “leading,” “drawing”; it is “leaning.” “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” (Song 8:5). Yet, there is another word, and that is “bearing.” When the good Shepherd has found the lost sheep, “He layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Lk. 15:5).

Sheep are the most dependent creatures in the world, for all their happiness is in the goodness, care and wisdom of their shepherd. Wolves, lions and leopards need none to watch over them. But like the tender sheep, which must be supported, Christ bears them in His bosom.

Sheep are docile creatures. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jn. 10:27). How does the lamb know its mother among a thousand of a flock? God-given instinct teaches it. The instinct of grace knows the voice of the Beloved among many voices (Song 2:8). To the new believer there is in Christ’s words some character, some sound of heaven that is completely different than the voice of the world.

Sheep are simple, and impulses often lead them. Therefore, they are straying creatures (Isa. 53:6; Ps. 119:176; 1 Pet. 2:25). A mouthful of green grass may draw the sheep into a trap or the teeth of lions and wolves. Likewise, imaginations and urges are often the guide of weak believers, rather than faith. Little do we naturally care what we shall be in His presence. Dreams for today cannot see past time or see beyond death. Hopes of gain in the world are sometimes thought of as being good, but what seems good often deceives us, with death being the end of it (Prov. 14:12).

A lamb is one of the lowliest and meekest creatures, and it has a bed beside the heart and in the bosom of Christ: “He shall … carry them in His bosom” (Isa. 40:11). “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper” (Ps. 72:12). The Lord “giveth more grace … God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble” (Jas. 4:6). Grace upon grace is for the humble (Jn. 1:16). God “shall save the humble” (Job 22:29), hear their desire (Ps. 10:17), revive their spirit (Isa. 57:15), beautify them with salvation (Ps. 149:4), honor them (Prov. 15:33), guide and teach them in His way (Ps. 25:9), “increase their joy in the LORD” (Isa. 29:19) and bless and give them a sure inheritance (Mt. 5:5). None can extol grace as can the humble soul: “Not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10)! Grace is mercy given freely, and the promise is made to the humble. In judgment of self-importance, everyone is to esteem another better than himself (Phil. 2:3).

Humility is a soul being at its proper level, no higher than God has set it: I do not “exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Ps. 131:1). The proud closes off and covers all his domain and more, but the humble soul leaves an opening to grace. Christ is near a cast-down mourner in His presence, “to give unto them beauty for ashes … the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:3). The Savior’s hand can from heaven lift a saddened, humbled soul dwelling on earth.

On the night in which our Lord was betrayed, He ordained the supper for you (1 Cor. 11:23-26). In death He had more thought for you than He had for Himself. In the garden, on the cross, in the grave, His silly, lost sheep were always on His mind. His love has a divine memory. He has graven you upon the palms of His hands, and when He looks at His hands He says, “I cannot forget My sheep” (see Isa. 49:16).

What do you think of His love? Consider His feet, which went up and down upon the earth to seek His Father’s lost sheep, pierced with nails. Consider His eyes, that were often lifted up to heaven to God in prayer, wearied with tears. Consider His head pierced with thorns. Consider His face, fairer than the sun, all maimed, and the hair pulled out of His cheeks. He took on Himself deep shame and gave you great glory. He took the curse and gave you blessing, He took death and gave you life.

“Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know” (Jn. 14:4). In His death and blood He made a way into God’s presence. He went in a hard way Himself, through God’s curse and painful sufferings, and now He pleads with you not to follow Him that way. Instead, believe in Him, love one another, and be faithful to Christ.

“Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost …” (17:12). As the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) He shall give an account of all His lambs and tell His Father that these are all His sheep. He alone can say, “My feet, My hands and My side were pierced to gather them. Now I have a grip on My sheep, and here they are.”

Extracts adapted from a sermon by Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), as published in Outline Of Sound Words.

When blood from a victim must flow, This Shepherd, by pity, was led To stand between us and the foe, And willingly died in our stead.
Our song then forever shall be Of the Shepherd who gave Himself thus: No subject’s so glorious as He, No theme so affecting to us. —Thomas Kelly (1769–1854)