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Christian Education
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” [
1 John 2:1
.] O
precious, blessed truth! He does not treat one case with indifference.
His impressive parable of the good shepherd represents the re-
sponsibility of every minister and of every Christian who has accepted
a position as teacher of children and youth and a teacher of old and
young, in opening to them the Scriptures. If one strays from the fold,
he is not followed with harsh words and with a whip, but with winning
invitations to return. The ninety and nine that had not strayed do not
call for the sympathy and tender, pitying love of the shepherd. But
the shepherd follows the sheep and lambs that have caused him the
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greatest anxiety and have engrossed his sympathies. The disinterested,
faithful shepherd leaves all the rest of the sheep, and his whole heart
and soul and energies are taxed to seek the one that is lost. And then
the figure—praise God—the shepherd returns with the sheep, carrying
him in his arms, rejoicing at every step; he says, “Rejoice with me for
I have found my sheep which was lost.” [
Luke 15:6
.] I am so thankful
we have in the parable, the sheep found. And this is the very lesson the
shepherd is to learn,—success in bringing the sheep and lambs back.
There is no picture presented before our imagination of a sorrowful
shepherd returning without the sheep. And the Lord Jesus declares the
pleasure of the shepherd and his joy in finding the sheep causes plea-
sure and rejoicing in heaven among the angels. The wisdom of God,
his power and his love, are without a parallel. It is the divine guarantee
that not one, even, of the straying sheep and lambs is overlooked and
not one left unsuccored. A golden chain—the mercy and compassion
of divine power—is passed around every one of these imperiled souls.
Then shall not the human agent co-operate with God? Shall he be
sinful, failing, defective in character himself, regardless of the soul
ready to perish? Christ has linked him to his eternal throne by offering
his own life.
Zechariah’s description of Joshua, the high priest, is a striking
representation of the sinner for whom Christ is mediating that he may
be brought to repentance. Satan is standing at the right hand of the
Advocate, resisting the work of Christ, and pleading against him that
man is his property since he has chosen him as his ruler. But the
defender of man, the restorer, mightier than the mightiest, hears the
demands and claims of Satan, and answers him: “The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee:
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