Unsearchable Riches

Some of the Relationships of Christ to His People

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 4

CHRIST OUR SHEPHERD.

IT may be questioned whether this relationship of our blessed lord to His people occupies its due place in our souls. It is quite true that it is found most frequently in the Old Testament Scriptures; but it would be to suffer great loss to suppose that it was only a Jewish relationship. Indeed, John (chap. x.) expressly forbids this conclusion, for the Lord distinctly states, " 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 flock (not fold —the word is ποίμνη), and one Shepherd " (ver. 1 6). Peter, also, writing to believers of this dispensation, says, "Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (i Peter ii. 25); and again, "Feed (shepherd) the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over [God's] heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away " (1 Peter v. 2-4). St. Paul uses the same figure, when addressing the elders of the Church at Ephesus. " Take heed," he says, " therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you over seers, to feed (shepherd) the Church of God," &c. (Acts xx. 28). Christ, therefore, is the Shepherd of His people now; and they are His sheep—collectively, His flock. There is, however, this difference. To the Jews —had they received Him, He would have been a Shepherd on earth; and even in the millennium He will be the Shepherd of His earthly people. " And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd " (Ezek. xxxiv. 23; see also Jer. xxiii. 1-4). But He is our Shepherd as the One who has died, risen again, and is seated at the right hand of God. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus says, " Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep," &c. (Heb. xiii. 20). It is, therefore, from His place on high that He now shepherds His people; and hence He is termed the Chief Shepherd, because in His tender care for the sheep, being absent from them, He provides those who shall " feed the flock " under His guidance and directions. When He therefore ascended up on high, He gave some, pastors, &c. (Ephes. iv. 11); for it is through these, and such as have the place of rule, that He now exercises the functions of the Shepherd for His people.

The relationship, then, in both dispensations is expressed by the same term; but the blessings secured by it are determined by the respective positions and needs of the sheep. Hence that beautiful Twenty-third Psalm —the solace of God's people in all ages—could be adopted by saints of all dispensations. Nay, it is so worded that the Lord Himself, when on the earth as a man, could use its language, as well as the pious remnant among the Jews, and believers at the present time.

(1.) Let us, then, in the first place, consider a little the Shepherd Himself. To the Jews He said, " He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep " (John x. 2). And there He stood before them as the One who alone came in to Israel by the way appointed of God, who answered to all the conditions predicted of Him in the Scriptures—the One, there fore, to whom the door was divinely opened to give Him access to His sheep. But the people as such received Him not; and hence He became also the Door of the sheep (ver. 7). " All that ever came before Me," He says, " are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, lie 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. I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep " (John x. 8-11).

Here, then, is the great characteristic of the Good Shepherd—He giveth His life for the sheep. He is the Christ who has died; and if He died for all, then were all dead (2 Cor. v. 14). This brings in the whole secret of redemption. The sheep had gone astray—were lost, and would have perished ever lastingly, but the Good Shepherd went after that which was lost—even down into death —the death of the cross—and sought until He found. This explains to us the epithet—" Good " Shepherd. All we like sheep had gone astray, and turned every one to his own way; but the Good Shepherd offered Himself for our sins, gave His life for the sheep, and the Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. liii. 6). As the Apostle Paul reasons, seeking to extol the unprecedented character of God's love, " When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 6-8). The whole heart of Christ, as well as of God, was revealed by His death; for there was nothing in us to draw out His affection, to move Him to take our place, and to redeem us with His precious blood. " In the same night in which He was betrayed, He took bread and gave thanks "— and founded the memorial of His accomplished sacrifice. Thus side by side we behold His perfect goodness, and man's perfect evil; but the full exhibition of what man was could not hinder the manifestation of what He was. Nay, just as the light of the sun when shining on a dark thundercloud seems all the more bright and intense, so the love, grace, and goodness of Christ are magnified by the unmitigated evil which on man's part brought Him to the cross. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.

By giving His life for the sheep He acquired the title to their possession. Thereon follows another action, He giveth life to the sheep. " 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 " (John x. 10); and again, " I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish " (ver. 2 8). With this we may connect another word, " I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved," &c. (ver. 9). We add this scripture, to show the way in which Christ be stows life, that it is never apart from faith in Himself. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life " (John iii. 36). So here He is presented as the Door, and whosoever enters in by Him is saved —has eternal life. It were a fatal mistake to suppose that while He absolutely bestows life as a gift,—and indeed as a sovereign gift,—that it could ever be possessed without personal faith. For this is the appointed means of its possession —that, indeed, which characterises them as His sheep, and thus separates them from the world.

Again, it is said, "He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out " (ver. 3); also that "He knows His sheep" (vers. 14-27). He had just exemplified this in the case of the blind man. He had met him in his blindness, opened his eyes, led him out of Judaism, and made him a worshipper of Himself as the Son of God. There are also several beautiful illustrations of these characteristics of the Good Shepherd recorded in the gospel. Take one from the first chapter of this gospel. "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto Him, Whence knowest Thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee " (John i. 47, 48). From all eternity He has known His sheep; and in His own time He addresses them by name, calls them by a word of power, and His voice penetrates into their souls, and leads them out, constraining them to recognise it as that of the Good Shepherd. Just as on the morning of His resurrection when He said, "Mary," and she instantly responded, Rabboni; so now, He speaks, and the sheep hear His voice, and straightway follow Him. It is thus He has called every one of His flock, and thus that He will still gather His sheep, until the last one that is straying upon the mountains or in the deserts is brought under His shepherd care. "I know my sheep," is surely a word of rich consolation to the hearts of His own. In the wilderness still—though following His lead—and often faithless and weary, how often does the temptation come to doubt His care and love! " I know My sheep," should calm every anxiety, and dispel every fear, revealing, as it does, that His eye is ever upon us, comprehending all our case, all our needs, yea, knowing us altogether!

We have already alluded to the composite character of His flock—being now made up of Jews and Gentiles, —as He teaches in the sixteenth verse. Indeed, the whole history of the formation of the flock is there set forth—" Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: these also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd." This is the special feature of the flock during this dispensation. In the past, Israel alone was His flock; hence the Twenty-third Psalm commences, Jehovah is my Shepherd. But inasmuch as when He came unto His own, His own received Him not, He by His death broke down the wall of enclosure that separated the Jews from the Gentiles, and laid the foundation in His blood for the gathering out of both alike through faith in His name. Ever since Pentecost, therefore, He has been calling His sheep from every land, and from every clime, and they hear His voice, and they are brought, and together, whether Jews or Gentiles, they form the one flock under the one Shepherd.

Another characteristic of the Shepherd is, that He keeps His sheep in safety. "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any¹ pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them Me, is greater than all; and none can pluck them out of My Father's hand" (vers. 28, 29). He thus guarantees absolute security to His own. The wolf may catch (same word as pluck—αρπάζω) the sheep away from him who is an hireling, and not the shepherd, but none can catch, pluck, them out of His hands. What rest of heart it should give us, as we read these blessed words!

(2.) It may be profitable, if we ponder a little more in detail upon some of the characteristics of the sheep. They hear His voice (vers. 4, 16, 27). This goes back, as already explained, to the very commencement, when He calleth His own sheep by name, and is that which distinguishes them as His sheep. The Lord Himself draws the contrast. " Ye " (He said to the Jews), " ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear My voice," &c. (vers. 26, 27). We may combine with this another trait, " They know not the voice of strangers " (ver. 5). Herein lies the safety of the flock. They at once recognise the voice of the Shepherd; but though a stranger should simulate the tones of the Shepherd ever so closely, they know not his voice; i.e., they detect it as that of a stranger. This is that which is taught by the Apostle John. " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. . . . These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him" (1 John ii. 20-27). There is no need, therefore, that we should seek to be familiar with all the errors that abound on every hand in order to escape their seductions: it is enough for us that we know the voice of the Shepherd; and our safety will be in ever listening to it, becoming increasingly acquainted with it, maintaining evermore the attitude of her who sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard His word (Luke x. 39). This will be at once our preservative from danger, and the means of our safety and blessing.

Consequent upon hearing His voice, the sheep follow the Shepherd. " He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice " (vers. 4, 27). The sheep has no will but that of the Shepherd; and ceasing to follow Him it becomes a wandering sheep. " All we like sheep," says the prophet, " have gone astray, and turned every one to his own way " (Isa. liii. 6). In Eastern lands, and indeed in some parts of Europe, the shepherd ever goes before his sheep; and when he moves onward, they follow, and when he stops, they stop likewise. Our blessed Lord alludes to this in the scripture before us, and uses the custom to convey most striking instruction. For to follow the Shepherd necessitates that the eye of the sheep should be ever upon Him, that, indeed, they should ever be on the watch to ascertain when He would have them to move, and where He would have them follow. Everything is thus left in the Shepherd's hands: it is His to discern a coming danger, to provide for their sustenance, and to indicate their path. Their responsibility is to follow—to follow the Shepherd wherever He may lead—to follow Him until He shall come to receive them to Himself.

It is also said that the sheep know the Shepherd. They not only know His voice; but they also know Himself. " I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I the Father " (John x. 14, 15). This is the highest blessing of which the sheep are capable; for it implies entering into His own thoughts, ways, and desires, yea, the knowledge of Himself. It is thus that we are brought into communion with Him. We may know His voice, and be following Him, and yet be without much acquaintance with His character. To know Him, is what St. John gives as descriptive of the fathers in God's family. " I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning" (1 John ii. 13). This, therefore, is the highest and most blessed attainment which the believer can make. And the Lord desires that it should be made —and in an infinite measure —"as the Father knoweth Me, and I the Father." He knows us, and He desires that we should know Him. May He Him self lead us into an ever-increasing acquaintance with Himself, so keep Himself before our souls that we may grow daily in the knowledge of Him—of what He is, as well as what He is to us, and for us—through the power of the Holy Ghost!

(3.) It may help us still further to understand the relationship, as well as the privileges of the sheep, if we add to the foregoing considerations, the teaching of Psalm xxiii.

The Lord (Jehovah) is my Shepherd. Everything depends upon the relationship, whether we can truly adopt this language. Every one can say the Lord is a Shepherd; and hence all the significance of this statement is connected with the little word "my." To say " my " Shepherd is the language of faith: the word " my " is, therefore, the doorway into the psalm. How blessed if we can, then, adopt these words as our own, and say He is our Shepherd. And what follows? " I shall not want." We shall not want, not because we are sheep, but because He is our Shepherd. This conclusion flows, not from what we are to Him, but from what He is to us. It is very strengthening to the soul to see this clearly, for many of us are apt to begin with ourselves; and consequently, as we discover what poor, feeble, wayward creatures we are, we fall into doubts and anxieties. But when we begin with the Lord, consider what He is —what He is in Himself, as well as what He is in relationship to us, we obtain the well-grounded assurance that we " shall not want." For surely it belongs to the Shepherd to provide for the sheep. How foolish it were even in children to question their parents as to how their wants were to be met on the morrow! Much more foolish would it be on our parts—when we have such a Shepherd. Enough for our hearts surely to know that He is ours, and in that sweet confidence we can leave everything in "His hands, " who shall feed (tend) His flock like a Shepherd" (Isa. xl. 11). He is ours, and we have everything in Him; and hence the heart can rest in perfect peace—in the full assurance of His unfailing love, omnipotent power, and unwearied care.

" He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters"—or, as we have it in the margin, pastures of tender grass, and waters of quietness. He thus provides suited blessings —needed sustenance, and rest and refreshment. But even this fails to convey the richness and bounty of the provision which He makes for His flock. The pastures are— pastures of tender grass, on which the sheep feed with appetite and delight, until they are satisfied; and when they are satisfied —as with marrow and fatness —they lie down by the cool and refreshing waters of quietness. As it is said in John x.—" I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (ver. 9). What unfolding of the heart of the Shepherd—ministering thus to the need of His own, watching over them to minister to all their necessities. Happy are the sheep who are placed under such constant, loving, and faithful care!

" He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Ps. xxiii. 3). As a hymn says —  

     "If e'er I go astray,
     He doth my soul restore."

This belongs here also to His office of Shepherd. We need not say that the foundation on which He does this is His own finished work—the propitiation which He has made for our sins (i John ii. 1, 2). But in the psalm this restoration is looked at as effected by the Shepherd. The sheep wanders, goes astray, and the Shepherd goes after that which is lost, and finding, brings it safely back. Every sheep is thus under His eye, and cannot stray without His know ledge; and when any of us have strayed, we surely should have perished, if He had not followed after, and drawn us back again by the ministrations of His love.

And just as we are indebted to Him for restoration, so also for being kept and guided into right paths — paths of righteousness —paths which are according to His own will. Mark, moreover, that He so leads us "for His name's sake." It is again —it cannot be repeated too often —what He is—on account of His own name; and therefore His own glory is concerned in guiding us into these paths of righteousness. We can thus ever plead with Him on this ground; and when ever we do so, our plea is irresistible. It was so with Joshua. When the Israelites were smitten, after the sin of Achan, before the men of Ai, Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, and pleaded with God; and the whole burden of his cry was at last expressed in the one question, " And what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name? " (Joshua vii. 6-9). Rising to this height, the answer immediately came. Let it always, then, be remembered that the Lord is concerned for His own name's sake, to lead us in the path which is according to His will.

The Psalmist now waxes more bold. He has told us what Jehovah is, and what He does. This gives him confidence, and he is consequently able to say, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me " (Ps. xxiii. 4). The valley of the shadow of death is not so much passing through death, as the character of our pathway through this scene. We are passing through a judged world. Death hangs over it like a pall; and hence to the believer, who enters into God's thoughts about it, it is the valley of the shadow of death. But what is his antidote against fear? It is that " Thou art with me." This indeed is the source of all our security and blessing—the Lord is with us. And being with us, we have His rod and His staff to comfort us—His rod to direct, and His staff to support. Do we sufficiently enter into this? Is it as constantly present to our souls as it should be—that the Lord is with us? and that His rod and His staff comfort us? The scene may be never so dark and desolate, and we may be never so weak and weary, but we have boundless resources in the One who is our Shepherd—His own presence to cheer our souls, and His rod and His staff to guide in perplexity, and to support in weakness. Blessed be His name!

We have now another feature, as well as another character, of blessing. " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over " (ver. 5). It is not only that the path may lie through the valley of the shadow of death, but enemies are around. But He that is with us is all-sufficient for this difficulty. They may rage, and seek to destroy, but, says David, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." He will be the sustenance of His people, and cause their enemies to see that they are up held, sustained, and provided for, by the Lord. As the apostle writes, " He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me " (Heb. xiii. 5, 6). But we have more; " Thou anointest my head with oil "—the unction of God—the Spirit of power; and hence he adds, " My cup runneth over." Nothing is wanting; nay, he is filled to overflowing with goodness and mercy, and in such a scene as this. This is all the result of having the Lord as our Shepherd; for all flows from Him— from what He is to us in this relationship. And let it not be forgotten that this is our present portion. These are not blessings which we shall have, but blessings which we now have. How we narrow the heart of God by our unbelief! And hence our need of learning ever more of Himself, that we may understand more fully the immensity of His grace, and the riches of His provision for us, while passing through the wilderness. Surely we may say, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want! "

The conclusion is as simple as beautiful. " Surely goodness and mercy shall (not have followed, but shall) follow me all the days of my life." How do we know this? Because of what the Lord is as our Shepherd. It is confidence in Him, and the knowledge of what is suited to Him, that enables us thus to speak. And yet more—" And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." All leads up to this. Blessed as we are now, and enjoying so much because of what Christ is to us as our Shepherd, we shall enter upon larger blessings and more perfect joys, when He shall return to receive us to Himself, and we shall be for ever with Him. But we must not miss the present application of the words. The effect of grace upon the heart is to draw us ever closer to Him from whom it flows, and to pro duce in us the desire to dwell in His house for ever— yea, to dwell before Him, and in His presence, everlastingly. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire (meditate) in His temple " (Ps. xxvii. 4). The heart is thus attracted to, and absorbed in the contemplation of, the One whose beauty had been unfolded in His ways of grace and love; and hence can find no rest or satisfaction except in the presence of its Object. All—every blessing—is concentred in Him, and, therefore, the soul that knows it desires to be always with Him. Happy are they who have learnt the lesson, that they want nothing outside of Christ; that He is enough their hearts and minds to fill!

May the Lord Himself unfold more and more to us of His beauty, as well as the unspeakable character of the blessings which are ours, because by grace we have been brought into relationship with Him as our Shepherd.

"I love the Shepherd's voice:
     His watchful eyes shall keep
My pilgrim soul among
     The thousands of God's sheep.
He feeds His flock, He calls their names,
And gently leads the tender lambs."

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1) I do not insert the word "man" with our translation, for the term any will include Satan as well as man—as it was intended to do.