HAVE you heard a lion roar? The other day I was listening to one of these kings of beasts. He planted his great forefeet upon the floor of his cage, stretched out his neck, and, having filled his chest with air, he sounded out a loud, high cry, which, as he slowly drew his lips together, grew gradually deeper and deeper, louder and louder. Several times did he row thus, till my chest trembled and ached with the majestic sound. His last two utterances were, I think, more full toned and deeper than the rest. Then he made a sort of moaning, sighing sound, and so his cries died away.
As his voice shook my chest, I thought of this text of Scripture, “Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour.”
But the lion’s voice in his own hunting ground is quite another thing. There, as he utters his deep sighs, or thunders out his terrible music, men and animals quail. They hear but see him not; for he prowls near them, almost invisible, ready to carry off his prey to his den.
Long, long ago, in Palestine, a young shepherd was keeping his father’s flock. To be a shepherd there, was to be in constant danger and risk of death, for lions and beasts of prey were always watching for the helpless sheep. The sheepfold of those lands was not, as we see in the south and midland counties of England, an enclosure of wooden hurdles; nor was it such as we meet with on the northern moors or in Scotland, where, placed in a hollow on the hill-side, the fold is built of stones and earth to afford shelter from the snow-storm; but the Eastern sheepfold was, and is, a strongly walled place, the thick and high sides of which thieves could not break through nor lions leap over.
We may imagine that night after night a lion bad lurked about the fold where the young shepherd David, the son of Jesse, tended the flock; and close had the foe, no doubt, often come to the high stone walls, and lain outside them as still as a stone, so that in the dim hours of the night even the practiced eye of the shepherd might mistake the couching monster for a rock or a mound of earth! When the lion approached the fold, the flock trembled, and the good shepherd David watched.
God says in His Word, “All we like sheep have gone astray”; and a lamb, some way or other, escaped from David’s care and wandered away. Once more the lion came! His keen eye saw the helpless wanderer, and in a moment the lamb was in his giant mouth! Did the young shepherd hear the lamb bleat? Did he see the foe draw near? How it was we are not told; but away he went to the rescue.
Ah! he was loving, brave, and strong. He knew that in attempting to save the lamb he might lose his own life; but the flock was dear to his heart; his father’s sheep, his choicest care, and he pursued. Had he a sling with him? Did he cast a stone at the lion’s head, as he pierced Goliath’s temples? We know not. However, he tells us that he went out after the lion, “and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth!” Then, as the fierce beast, robbed of his prey, turned against him, David smote and slew him.
A moment before, the lamb had been in the lion’s jaws; but, by the shepherd’s love and strength, the terrified, helpless thing was “delivered out of his mouth.”
In our picture we have drawn the shepherd having thrown aside his long flowing robe the more readily to follow the enemy, and as wearing only his under and closely fitting garment. Upon his shoulder he supports the lamb, or kid, as the margin of the Bible reads; at his feet lies the lion, dead. Can you, as you look well at the picture, read the lesson of this Bible story? If one were to be drawn of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Satan the roaring lion, and you, dear little reader, would you be placed upon the Good Shepherd’s shoulder? Safe, safe forever, there? Delivered from the lion’s mouth? Would the picture be true of you?
You are either in the lion’s mouth, or upon the Shepherd’s shoulder. Either lost, or saved. Either being dragged away to destruction, or being carried home to glory. Which is it? You cannot save yourself any more than the lost lamb could get out of the lion’s mouth. Are you so bold that you will dare to go on unsaved? “The lion hath roared, who will not fear?” Alas! Many foolish and proud children know not their danger.
For all who love the Lord Jesus, the strength of Satan is no more. Jesus has through His death upon the cross taken away the power of the enemy over His sheep and lambs.
Satan is as powerless to rob you from the hand of Jesus as the dead lion at David’s feet was to devour the saved lamb. The lamb’s fears were gone when it was upon its shepherd’s shoulder; so are the fears of poor trembling sinners chased away, when they believe the love of Jesus in seeking, and His power in saving, them. The victory is the Shepherd’s. The safety yours who believe. Has not God said of Him, “He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom”? Oh! place of rest and peace―the strong arm and loving bosom of Jesus!
Dear boys and girls, do not turn aside from the Good Shepherd, who gave “His life for the sheep,” who died to deliver, who bled to save, Satan has no power to destroy the sheep and lambs of Jesus’ flock. None shall pluck them out of His hand, No! like the Lion dead at the feet of the shepherd, so lies Satan without strength at the once wounded feet of Jesus.
Remember, we are speaking to stray lambs, for you all have gone astray, you all have sinned, and wandered from God. Oh! it is well to feel your danger and your lost state, I once read of a great traveler who was in a lion’s mouth, and the lion shook him as a cat shakes a mouse, but did not crunch his bones. It was a narrow escape; but the strange thing the traveler told us was, that while he was in the lion’s mouth he felt no pain! There seemed to be some power in the shake the lion gave him which prevented the man from calling out or feeling suffering! Ah! how like the case of poor sinners in The Lion’s mouth! They do not feel how dreadful it is to be there. They do not seem terrified. But there will be an end of this sleepy state someday. When the traveler was saved he told us what a deliverance he had had, and we tell you of many boys and girls who have been delivered, and as they look back at their former danger they tremble, while they weep for joy because Jesus has them safe upon His shoulder. And they tell us, as we tell you, that unless Jesus had gone after them and saved them they would never, never have been saved at all. Oh! believe the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep, and who keeps safe forever all who trust in Him.
Look once more at the picture, and again ask yourself, “Am I safe, like the lamb upon the Shepherd’s shoulder?”