IT was a bright calm summer day. Everything seemed joyful; and over all the lovely scene was cast that beautiful hue which makes the mountains look almost as if they were enchanted ground. A troubled mind was strangely out of character with such a spot as this, where the mountain streams sparkled in the sunlight as they danced merrily onward to the sea. Yet there was one whose heart was sad and heavy:—it was the shepherd. With his practiced eye he had discovered a sheep and lamb far away upon the mountain side on a narrow ledge of rock. It was not for the value of them he cared; but pity moved his heart—he loved the sheep.
"They must have wandered away," said the shepherd, "jumping down from rock to rock, as they were led on by tempting little tufts of green grass. It was easy enough for them to get down where they are now, but they couldn't possibly jump up again; and if they are, left there, shortly they'll starves or may be they'll jump down the precipice, and he dashed to pieces amongst the rocks below, and I can't bear to think of the poor things dying there.”
The poor man in his distress pointed out to us the sheep at a great distance off, where right above them was a perpendicular' rock, and below them an equally precipitous descent into the valley of rocks and stones beneath. The position the sheep had got themselves into by their own folly and waywardness, made us call to mind the Scripture in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.”
"How can you rescue these poor sheep that your heart is so set upon, shepherd?”
"Well, sir, there's only one way; we must go to the top of that rock yonder, and I'll tie a rope round my body, and twist the other end round a tree; then whilst one or two men hold it, they’ll lower me down to just where the sheep are.”
“But," said a friend of mine, "is it not very dangerous work?”
"Ay, It is dangerous—it's at the risk of my life. There's no one else in the valley that dares try it, for fear the rope might break. But then, you see, sir, I couldn't be happy without making the effort-only to think of the poor things dying there! Sometimes, I've known though, they won't be saved; and after my trouble, and going through all that for them, just when I'd take them up in my arms and carry them safe to the top, they jump away from me (poor foolish things), and perish amongst the rocks, down the precipice. I've known one found with every bone in its body broken.”
"And then, after you have saved them, shepherd, will they not return to the old places of danger?”
"Well, you see, sir, they might if they were left to themselves; but then, you know, I don't do that. I bring them home to the flock; and for fear they might be tempted again by the tufts of green, I shall take a box of matches in my pocket, and burn the grass. It's easy to burn now, this dry weather.”
That evening the shepherd went forth upon the mountains, leaving his comfortable little home and friends, for he could get, no rest there until the lost ones were found. As he went away on his hazardous enterprise to accomplish all that was in his heart for the poor sheep, we were left thinking of Him who speaks of Himself, John 10, as the Good Shepherd. Surrounded by the glory of heaven, the Lord left it all. He emptied Himself and came into this world to suffer and die—and all that for Us! We had gone astray like the lost sheep; but He had no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Though we had brought the judgment of God and His just wrath upon us, yet, though it was all our own fault, He was moved with compassion as He beheld us lost, perishing in our sins on the brink of that awful eternal precipice—the bottomless pit.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew it was far more truly impossible for us to get back to God than even for these poor lost sheep to return to their shepherd. Many people have tried it, and many are still trying to work their way back into God's, favor but all their efforts are useless and vain. And so the blessed Lord, seeing our utter helplessness to do anything but perish, came to seek and to save that which was lost. When there was no eye to pity, the shepherd's eye pitied; and when there was no arm to save, the shepherd's arm brought deliverance. As the Lord says in Ezek. 16, "None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee... But when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live." Notice, dear young reader; it was no hireling or stranger, but the Shepherd Himself. And as yesterday, none was found so bold or so willing as the shepherd to risk his life for the sake of the sheep, so, too, with the Lord Jesus. He, indeed, was the only one who could bring deliverance to us. And how did He do this? It was not at the mere risking of His life like this shepherd, suspended by the rope over the precipices. No; it was effected by His actually giving up His life, and dying in our stead, in substitution for us.
The sheep we have been reading of had nothing to do to save themselves, they could do nothing; their salvation was all of the shepherd from first to last. Deliverance came to them from above; and they were carried up to the top, safe and sound in the shepherd's arms. Everything depended on him. Just so in the Gospel, it all depends on Christ. Has He done the work, and has He done it for me—the poor lost one? He has satisfied God—God is glorified. The very work for our salvation was planned by God Himself. Then God must have been for me from first to last. And I believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification (Rom. 4). As the shepherd brought his sheep home rejoicing, having destroyed the dangerous tempting spots of green grass, so the Lord watches over His own, caring for them to the end. The one who saves is the one who keeps.
Dear young reader, if you are not saved by God's salvation, it is not because Christ is unwilling to save you; oh, no for He waits at this moment to be gracious. Turn not away from Him, for if you refuse Him, the only Savior, you must perish eternally. Be not like the foolish sheep that turned away from the shepherd, and falling down the precipice was dashed to pieces. Believe now on the Lord, and thou shalt be saved.
A little lamb went straying
Among the hills one day,
Leaving its faithful shepherd
Because it loved to stray;
And while the sun shone brightly,
It knew no thought of fear,
For flowers around, were blooming,
And balmy was the air.
But night came over quickly,
The hollow breezes blew-
The sun soon ceased its shining,
All dark and dismal grew;
The little lamb stood bleating,
As well indeed it might,
So far from home and shepherd,
And on so dark a night.
But ah! the faithful shepherd
Soon missed the little thing,
And onward went to seek it
And home again to bring;
He sought on hill, in valley,
And called it by its name-
He sought, nor ceased his seeking
Until he found his lamb.
For sin each lamb had ruined,
And far from God had led.
But oh! what love unbounded-
He suffered in their stead!
And now, dear little children,
The Shepherd's up on high,
Who came to seek the straying
Who all deserved to die.