“I am the Good Shepherd ... and I lay down My life for the sheep.” John 10:11, 15.
(HLv 323.1)
Jesus found access to His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. In a beautiful pastoral picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this. Recalling the Saviour’s lesson, the disciples would see Christ in each faithful shepherd, themselves in each helpless, dependent flock.
(HLv 323.2)
The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold because he dared to bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off a soul whom the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In this they had shown themselves unworthy of their trust as shepherds of the flock. Now Jesus pointed to Himself as the real keeper of the Lord’s flock.
(HLv 323.3)
“He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” When the Pharisees reasoned in their hearts as to the meaning, Jesus told them plainly, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
(HLv 323.4)
Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all His children from earliest times have found entrance. Shadowed in symbols, manifest in the revelation of the prophets, unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples and in miracles, they have beheld “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. Ceremonies and systems have been devised by which men hope to receive justification and peace with God. But all who interpose something to take the place of Christ, to enter the fold in some other way, are thieves and robbers.
(HLv 323.5)
The priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees, destroyed the living pastures and defiled the wellsprings of the water of life. Inspiration describes these false shepherds: “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.” Ezekiel 34:4, RSV.
(HLv 324.1)
Every heathen nation has had its great teachers and religious systems offering some other means of redemption than Christ, turning the eyes away from the Father’s face, and filling men’s hearts with fear. Millions are bound down under false religions, bereft of hope or joy here, and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. The gospel of the grace of God alone can uplift the soul. The love of God manifested in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of the soul as nothing else can. Whoever turns men away from Christ is turning them away from the source of true development, defrauding them of the hope and glory of life. He is a thief and a robber.
(HLv 324.2)
In the East the shepherd’s care for his flock was untiring and incessant. Marauders or beasts of prey lay in wait to plunder the flocks. The shepherd watched his charge at the peril of his own life. Jacob, who kept the flocks of Laban, said, “By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.” Genesis 31:40, RSV. While guarding his father’s sheep, the boy David, singlehanded, rescued the stolen lamb from the lion and the bear.
(HLv 324.3)
A strong and tender attachment unites the shepherd to the objects of his care. Every sheep has its name and responds at the shepherd’s call. So does the divine Shepherd know His flock that are scattered throughout the world. Jesus says, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” Isaiah 43:1. Jesus knows us individually and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows the very house in which we live. He has at times given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His sheep.
(HLv 325.1)
Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only one for whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart. He came to draw all men unto Himself. He knows who gladly hear His call, and are ready to come under His pastoral care. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
(HLv 325.2)
The Eastern shepherd does not drive his sheep. He depends not upon force or fear; but going before, he calls them. So does the Saviour-Shepherd with His sheep. He declares, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3.
(HLv 325.3)
It is not fear of punishment or hope of everlasting reward that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour’s matchless love revealed from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary’s cross, and the sight of Him attracts, softens, and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.
(HLv 325.4)
The shepherd goes before his sheep, himself first encountering the perils. So does Jesus with His people. The way to heaven is consecrated by the Saviour’s footprints.
(HLv 325.5)
Though now He shares the throne of the universe, Jesus has lost none of His compassion. Today the hand that was pierced is reached forth to bless His people in the world. “And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight than the whole world. He will never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them fast.
(HLv 326.1)
Our never-failing Helper does not leave us alone to struggle with temptation and be finally crushed with burdens and sorrow. Though now He is hidden from mortal sight, the ear of faith can hear His voice saying, Fear not; I am with you. I have endured your sorrows, experienced your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears; I also have wept. The griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear, I know. You are not forsaken. Though your pain touch no responsive cord in any heart on earth, look to Me and live. See Isaiah 54:10.
(HLv 326.2)
Because we are the gift of His Father and the reward of His work, Jesus loves us as His children. He loves you. Heaven itself can bestow nothing greater, nothing better. Therefore trust.
(HLv 326.3)
Jesus thought about the souls all over the earth who were misled by false shepherds, scattered among wolves, and He said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” RSV.
(HLv 326.4)
“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again... . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” As a member of the human family Jesus was mortal; as God He was the fountain of life for the world. He could have withstood the advances of death, but voluntarily He laid down His life that He might bring life and immortality to light. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:5, 6.
(HLv 326.5)