The Hero

The Divine Shepherd

Picture: The Divine Shepherd 3TC 309.1

This chapter is based on John 10:1-30.

“I am the good shepherd. ... And I lay down My life for the sheep.” John 10:14, 15. 3TC 309.2

Jesus found access to His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. In a beautiful picture of sheep and shepherd, He represents His relationship to those who believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this. Remembering the Savior’s lesson, the disciples would see Christ in each faithful shepherd and themselves in each helpless, dependent flock. 3TC 309.3

The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold because he dared to bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off someone whom the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In doing 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. 3TC 309.4

“He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” When the Pharisees reasoned silently about what He meant, Jesus told them plainly, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” 3TC 310.1

Christ is the door to the fold of God. From earliest times, all His children have found entrance through this door. Whether in shadowy symbols, or disclosed in the revelation of the prophets, or unveiled in the lessons Jesus gave to His disciples and in miracles, they have seen “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. People have devised ceremonies and systems by which they hope to receive justification and peace with God. But all who introduce something to take the place of Christ, to enter the fold in some other way, are thieves and robbers. 3TC 310.2

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, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.” Ezekiel 34:4. 3TC 310.3

Every heathen nation has had its great teachers and religious systems offering some other means of redemption than Christ, turning people’s eyes away from the Father’s face and filling their hearts with fear. Millions are burdened down under false religions, without hope or joy here and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. Only the gospel of God’s grace can lift up the soul. The love of God as seen in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of our being as nothing else can. Whoever turns people away from Christ is turning them away from the Source of true development, depriving them of the hope and glory of life. He is a thief and a robber. 3TC 310.4

Responsibility of a Faithful Shepherd

In the East, a shepherd’s care for the flock was untiring and constant. Raiding thieves or beasts of prey lay in wait to steal the sheep. Shepherds watched their flocks at the peril of their own lives. Jacob, who kept Laban’s flocks, said, “In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.” Genesis 31:40. While guarding his father’s sheep, the boy David singlehandedly rescued the stolen lamb from the lion and the bear. 3TC 311.1

A strong and tender attachment unites shepherds to the sheep in their care. Every sheep has its name and responds to the shepherd’s call. Likewise the divine Shepherd knows His flock that are scattered throughout the world. Jesus says, “I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1. Jesus knows us individually and can sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows the very house in which we live. At times He has 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. 3TC 311.2

Jesus knows every person as fully as if he were the only one for whom the Savior died. The distress of each one touches His heart. He came to draw all to Himself. He knows all who gladly hear His call and are ready to come under His shepherding care. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” 3TC 311.3

Why His Sheep Gladly Follow Him

Eastern shepherds do not drive their sheep. They do not depend on force or fear, but going ahead of them, they call the sheep. The Savior-Shepherd does the same with His sheep. He declares, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3. 3TC 311.4

It is not fear of punishment or hope of everlasting reward that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They see the Savior’s matchless love revealed from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary’s cross, and the sight of Him attracts, softens, and subdues them. Love awakens in their hearts. They hear His voice, and they follow Him. 3TC 312.1

The shepherd goes ahead of the sheep, encountering the perils first. So does Jesus with His people. The way to heaven is made holy by the Savior’s footprints. 3TC 312.2

Though now He shares the throne of the universe, Jesus has lost none of His compassion. Today His pierced hand reaches out to bless His people in the world. “And they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” The person who has come to Christ in faith 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 securely. 3TC 312.3

Christ Is Still Our Personal Shepherd

Our never-failing Helper does not leave us alone to struggle with temptation and finally be 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 have also wept. I know the griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear. You are not forsaken. Though your pain may touch no responsive cord in any heart on earth, look to Me and live.” See Isaiah 54:10. 3TC 312.4

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. So trust. 3TC 312.5

Jesus thought about people all over the earth who were misled by false shepherds, scattered among wolves, and He said, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” NRSV. 3TC 313.1

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may 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 death’s approach, but He laid down His life voluntarily so that He could bring life and immortality to light. 3TC 313.2

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:5, 6. 3TC 313.3