“THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD”
Psalm 23.-Nov.
15.
JEHOVAH is my Shepherd, is the Prophet’s sen-timent, and our Lord’s explanation
of the mat-ter further is that the great Shepherd’s Son has been given full
charge of the sheep. (John 10:1-16.) Not all mankind, however, are sheep, or
have the Shepherd’s care. In the present time only those who have heard the
Shepherd’s voice and responded to his call to become his sheep are of his
flock, and his word on the subject is that it is a little flock, to whom it
will be the Father’s good pleasure eventu-ally to give the Kingdom in
joint-heirship with his Son, their “Chief Shepherd.” Then will come the time
referred to by our Lord when “other sheep” will be found. The entire Millennial
age, with all the forces and blessings of the heavenly kingdom, will be devoted
to the finding of the other sheep. Our Lord’s words are,-“Other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold [not of the little flock of this Gospel age]; them
also I must bring [in due time to a knowledge of the Truth and to the full
privileges of sheep], and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John
10:16.) Eventually all of God’s creatures on various planes of being shall be
recog-nized as one family of God, as it is written of our Lord, “In whom the
whole family of God both in heaven and in earth are named.” (Eph. 3:15.) And
again, “He shall gather together in one all things in Christ both in heaven and
on earth.” (Eph. 1:10.) However, though it may be interesting and helpful and
profitable to understand something of our great Shepherd’s generous plans for
the future, our inter-est centers chiefly in the little flock of the present
time, to which alone this lesson refers in many of its particulars.
Professor George Adam Smith gives the following interesting description of
the difference be-tween the shepherds of sheep in olden times in Pal-estine and
the care of sheep as is known to us of the present day. This is an important
point to be remembered, as it was the eastern shepherd who illustrated our
heavenly Shepherd’s care for his little flock. Prof. Smith says:-
“An Eastern pasture is very different from the narrow meadows and dyked
hillsides with which we are familiar at home. It is vast and often practically
boundless; it has to be extensive, for the greater part of it is barren-in fact
the Hebrew word for desert and for pasture is the same. The most of it consists
of dry, stony soil, out of which, for the great part of the year the sun has
sucked all life. In this monot-ony the breaks are few, and consist of paths
more or less fitful, gorges or thickets where wild beasts lurk, and oases of
pleasant grass and water. Now in such a landscape of mirage, illusive paths,
lurk-ing terrors, and infrequent herbage, it is evident that the person and
character of the shepherd must mean a great deal more to the sheep than it
means to sheep with us. With us a flock of sheep without a shepherd is a
common experience: every day we may see them left to themselves in a secure
field or scattered over a side hill, with a far-traveling wire fence to keep
them from straying. But I do not remember ever to have seen in the East a
flock of sheep without a shepherd.”
Doubtless as the Prophet David penned this Psalm, his mind went back to
his father’s flock and to his own experience as its shepherd, concerning which
we incidentally have the mention that while protecting it he slew a lion and a
bear. Under heavenly inspiration the prophet pictures the Almighty One as the
great caretaker watching over and protecting from harm all whom he recognizes
as his “sheep.” Nothing can be farther from the sentiment of this prophecy and
illustration than the growing prevalent sentiment which recognizes Jehovah God
as the shepherd and father of all mankind, and which is frequently voiced in
the words, “Fatherhood of God, and brotherhood of man.” This view ignores man’s
will and also ignores the Lord’s Word, which declares that there are goats and
wolves as well as sheep; that while some have become children of God, it is
through faith and “adoption,” and that many from the divine standpoint, so far
from being recognized as children of God, are referred to as “of your father,
the devil, for his works you do.” (John 8:44.) Originally our race, represented
by father Adam in sinless perfec-tion, was recognized as related to Jehovah,
but the breaking of this relationship by man’s willful diso-bedience and
departure from God is clearly recog-nized in the Scripture, so that none are
recognized as sons of God today unless they have been begotten again, begotten
from above. Nor is it our hope that any in the future will be recognized as
sons of God or as sheep of the Lord’s fold except as they shall heart-ily
renounce sin, and, being granted knowledge of di-vine grace, shall heartily
accept the same and “follow on to know the Lord.”
Applying the psalm to the little flock, all of its provisions fit most
minutely. Because the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want. Those who are
proper sheep will submit their wills to the shepherd’s will and trust wholly to
his guidance, and so doing are relieved of that anxious craving so common to
the children of the world and which is never satisfied, but the more it gets
the more it wants. The Lord’s sheep appreciate the heavenly things more than
the earthly, and their wants in this respect are more than supplied when they
accept by faith the divine assurance that
“No good thing will He withhold
From sheep which stray not from His fold.”
They have given up every earthly interest in exchange for the heavenly, and,
realizing their own in-sufficiency and lack of judgment, they are trusting to
the Lord to grant them such experiences, leadings, trials, difficulties,
blessings, etc., in this present life as will be for their highest good, and as
would work out for them a share of the glorious things of the future to which
they have been called. The wants of this class are not of the kind after which
the Gen-tiles seek, and for which they are anxious and strive. They in their
hearts rejoice in the sentiment ex-pressed by the poet. “Jesus has satisfied,
Jesus is mine.” Matt. 6:32.
Although the experiences of the Lord’s sheep include many trials in the
parched wilderness of sin, yet he graciously gives them restful experiences in
oases of divine favor. These are not always accom-panied with immunities from
trial, as the world would view the matter, but certainly are seasons of rest
and refreshment-to such an extent that the Lord’s sheep may truthfully say that
they have “the peace of God which passeth all understanding” rul-ing in their
hearts. notwithstanding outward trials, difficulties, perplexities and
adversities. Which of the Lord’s sheep has not found such green pasturage of
spiritual refreshment in his private devotions and studies of divine things?
which of them has not experienced similar refreshment and rest and nourish-ment
from the Master’s provision that his sheep shall not forsake the assembling of
themselves together as the manner of some is-for the study of the Word, for
prayer, for testimonies of the Lord’s goodness and mercy? All these
opportunities and privileges, whether personally experienced or whether they
are yet only in the mind through the medium of the printed page, are provisions
made for the sheep by the great Shepherd. Those sheep which find no enjoyment
in such privileges and blessings and refreshments have reason to question their
faithful-ness in following the lead of the Shepherd. And those sheep which,
finding such opportunities, decline to use them, thus give evidence of lack of
harmony with the Shepherd’s gracious intentions and wisdom.
The “still waters” are contrasted with the rushing torrent of the mountain
slope-still, not in the sense of stagnancy, but rather smooth flowing. At the latter
only could the sheep receive proper refreshment. So applying the thought to
the little flock, we find that the great Shepherd leads us away from the
strifes of worldly ambition, from greatness and power and riches and honors
highly esteemed amongst men, but does not lead us to stagnancy-rather to
spiritual ambitions which bring with them a restfulness and refreshment of soul
obtainable from no other source. The streams of truth and grace are living,
but comparatively quiet, waters. As the Prophet intimates, these are not to be
found by the sheep alone; to find them requires the leading of the Spirit. Let
us give diligence to his voice, remembering his Word-that his sheep hear his
voice and follow him. Let us discriminate, discern his voice, with its
truthful accent, so different from the voice of error. Strangers true sheep
will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers. They do not like its
money ring, or its worldly am-bition ring, or its priestcraft tone, or its
contradic-tion of the spirit of the divine message and method.
“He restoreth my soul.” The prophet does not refer to a restoration of
body or of physical health, but a restoration of soul, being. Some of the
Lord’s most precious saints have been weary and faint and troubled-even the
dear Redeemer fainted under his cross, and was neither kept whole or made whole
miraculously on the occasion. The application of the Prophet’s words to the
Christian experience would make these experiences, called restoring of soul or
being, to correspond with our justification to life. All our lives were
forfeited under the divine sentence, and by faith a complete restitution or
res-toration of soul is granted to the believer, that he might have something
to offer in sacrifice to the Lord, “holy, acceptable” (Rom. 12:1), and that in
this sacrifice service he may walk in the footsteps of the great Shepherd who
lay down his life for the sheep. Thus are the true sheep led in right paths,
in proper paths, advantageous to their spiritual de-velopment, though
frequently trying and difficult to them according to the flesh. This favor and
bless-ing and opportunity comes to them not for their own sakes or worthiness
but through the Lord’s grace-“for his name’s sake.”
The whole world is walking in the valley of the shadow of death. Mountain
tops of life, of affec-tion, were left by the race six thousand years ago, when
Father Adam fell from his harmony with God to the plane of sin and death. The
valley of sin carries with it the shadow of death, the penalty of sin. In the
broad road the whole human family still walks: and even though the Shepherd
leads his flock upward, and in the reverse direction from the course of the
world, nevertheless, according to the flesh, they are still in the world, in this
valley of the shadow of death. However, the true sheep, hearing the voice of
the good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, have learned to be neither
careless and indifferent as are some, nor to be in fear and doubt and
perplexity as are the majority. These on the contrary fear no evil. They
realize indeed that the penalty of sin is upon the race, but they realize also
that divine love has provided a redemption. They realize that the whole world
is going down to sheol, to hades, but that God has made provision that the good
Shepherd shall deliver his little flock from the power of the grave in the
First Resurrection, and that subsequently all that are in their graves shall
hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come forth to a full, fair, reasonable,
proper judgment-the testing respecting their willingness to be his sheep and to
follow him and to attain everlasting life through him. The sheep of the little flock fear no evil because of the Lord’s favor,
because he is with them, on their side, and has shown his favor in the
redemption price already paid. He is with them, too, in his word of
promise-his assurance that death shall not mean extinction of life, but merely,
until the resurrection, an undisturbed sleep in Jesus. What wonder that these
can walk through the valley of the shadow of death singing and making mel-ody
in their hearts to the Lord, calling upon their souls with all that is within
them to praise and laud and magnify his great and holy name, who loved us and
bought us with his precious blood, and has called us to joint-heirship with our
dear Redeemer.
“His rod and his staff, they comfort me.” As the Shepherd’s crook
was used to assist the sheep out of difficulties, to defend it from its too
powerful enemies and to chasten it when inattentive, and as all of these uses
of the rod were for the sheep’s interest and welfare, so with the Lord’s
lit-tle flock and their Shepherd and his rod of help, de-fense and
chastisement. The true sheep learn to love the providences of the Shepherd and
are comforted- by them. Knowing the Shepherd’s power and his watchful care,
they realize that all things are working together for good to them because they
are his sheep. Why should they not be comforted, strengthened, encouraged?
The Psalm diverges here and leaves the figure of the sheep and the
Shepherd, adopting instead the illustration of a mighty lord who spreads a
sump-tuous feast for his humbler friend. In olden times an active hospitality
meant much, and for a nobleman to receive one as his guest meant
responsi-bility for his safety; and so the thought is that we, as the Lord’s
people, are accepted of him, counted as friends, are made to sit down to a
bountiful feast, secure from the enmity of those who would in-jure us-secure
from the great Adversary and all the wicked spirits in high places mentioned by
the Apostle (Eph. 6:12)-secure so long as we are under the care of our great
friend, our heavenly Father. The bounties of our table may indeed in-clude some
earthly good things, better or worse than those of the natural average man; but
all of these, whatever they may be, accepted with joy and thanksgiving, are
appreciated by those who recog-nize them as part and parcel of the bounties of
the Friend above all others.
All religious people make more or less claim to spiritual food, and the
various parts and factions of Christendom especially boast that they have much
advantage every way, and that their tables are spread with divine truth,
promises; etc., food from which they claim to receive their strength. But what
a variety of these tables there are and how different are the viands,
doctrinally. The food on most of them seems to have been spoiled in the
preparation. Some of it is sad, some of it is sour, and much of it is musty.
For the most part it originated in “the dark ages,” and the dear friends who
sit down to these tables find that they have little appetite for such food, and
we do not blame them. Rather, we would attract their attention to the
generous, boun-tiful supply of divine Truth which the Lord himself is
dispensing to the household of faith, “things new and old,” but all of them
pure, sweet, delicious, grand. This table is open to all those who love the
Lord with all their heart, mind, soul and strength-better than they love houses
or lands, parents or children, husband or wife, lodge or society or sec-tarian
system or self.
Is it strange that those so highly favored of the Lord and recognized as
his guests and fed at his table should be hated by enemies? It would seem strange
to us if it were not for the assurance of the Master himself, that whosoever
will live godly will suffer persecution in this present time, and for the
illustration of this in the Master’s own experience, that it was the
professedly godly, influential, great and nominally religious that persecuted
him to death. We are not surprised, then, to find that our table is spread in
the midst of enemies that now surround us on every hand.
The anointing of the head of the guest with oil was a part of the hospitality
of olden times. The antitype of this with us is the outpouring of the holy
Spirit upon all this class-this little flock, the body of Christ, of which he
is the Head, Chief, the Shep-herd, the Leader.
The fullness of the cup, running over, has a
double signification. It is a cup of joy and a cup of sorrow, and in both
respects it overflows. He who would partake of the joys of the Lord must also
partake of his cup of suffering; we must suffer with him if we would reign with
him. But we count the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be
compared with the glories that shall be revealed in us, and hence we are
enabled to rejoice in tribulation, so that as the tribulations will overflow
the re-joicing likewise overflows, and with the Apostle we can say, Rejoice,
and again I say rejoice!
The goodness and mercy which we anticipate beyond the veil has its
beginning here already and is thus to be appreciated. Whoever knows nothing of
the joys of the Lord in the present time will evidently not be prepared for the
joys of the Lord in the Kingdom, whatever blessings and joys he may attain to
under the administration of the Kingdom during the Millennial age. There is
then joy and rejoicing granted to the Lord’s faithful ones, not a momentary
matter connected with their first ac-ceptance of the Lord and their
consecration of themselves to him. The goodness and mercy of the Lord is not
to be looked back to as a thing of the remote past, but is to be recognized and
appreciated as a thing of the present. Day by day God’s good-ness and mercy
follow us, refresh us, strengthen us, bless us.
The highest hope to which we dare aspire is that of
final union with our great Shepherd, our heavenly Father, and the good Shepherd
his Son, in the heavenly state, in our Father’s house on high, one mansion or
plane of which is intended for the little flock, separate and distinct from the
mansion or plane provided for the restitution class of the Mil-lennial age.
The end of all our highest ambitions will be attained, and far more than
realized, when we shall be like our Lord, see him as he is, and share his glory
in the Father’s house.