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Divine Shepherd
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The priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees, destroyed the
living pastures and defiled the wellsprings of the water of life. In-
spiration 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.
Every heathen nation has had its great teachers and religious
systems offering some other means of redemption than Christ, turn-
ing 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.
Responsibility of a Faithful Shepherd
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
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boy David, singlehanded, rescued the stolen lamb from the lion and
the bear.
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.