The Desire of Ages
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 52: The Divine Shepherd
This chapter is based on John 10:1-30.
"I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep." "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and
am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I
lay down My life for the sheep." {DA 476.1}
Again Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the
pathway of their familiar associations. He had likened the Spirit's influence
to the cool, refreshing water. He had represented Himself as the light, the
source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful pastoral
picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was
more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ's words linked it forever
with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the shepherds tending their
flocks without recalling the Saviour's lesson. They would see Christ in each
faithful shepherd. They would see themselves in each helpless and dependent
flock. {DA 476.2}
This figure the prophet Isaiah had applied to the Messiah's
mission, in the comforting words, "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get
thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift
up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of
Judah, Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a
shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom."
Isaiah 40:9-11. David had sung, "The Lord is my shepherd; [477]
I shall not want." Psalm 23:1. And the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had
declared: "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed
them." "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which
was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen
that which was sick." "And I will make with them a covenant of
peace." "And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen;
. . . but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them
afraid." Ezekiel 34:23, 16, 25, 28. {DA 476.3}
Christ applied these prophecies to Himself, and He showed
the contrast between His own character and that of the leaders in Israel. The
Pharisees had just driven one from the fold, because he dared to bear witness
to the power of Christ. They had cut off a soul whom the True Shepherd was
drawing to Himself. In this they had shown themselves ignorant of the work
committed to them, and unworthy of their trust as shepherds of the flock. Jesus
now set before them the contrast between them and the Good Shepherd, and He
pointed to Himself as the real keeper of the Lord's flock. Before doing this,
however, He speaks of Himself under another figure. {DA 477.1}
He said, "He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." The
Pharisees did not discern that these words were spoken against them. When they
reasoned in their hearts as to the meaning, Jesus told them plainly, "I am
the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and
out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." {DA
477.2}
Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all
His children, from the earliest times, have found entrance. In Jesus, as shown
in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelation of the
prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples, and in the
miracles wrought for the sons of men, they have beheld "the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and through Him they
are brought within the fold of His grace. Many have come presenting other
objects for the faith of the world; ceremonies and systems have been devised by
which men hope to receive justification and peace with God, and thus find
entrance to His fold. But the only door is Christ, and all who have interposed
something to take the place [478] of Christ, all who have tried to
enter the fold in some other way, are thieves and robbers. {DA 477.3}
The Pharisees had not entered by the door. They had climbed
into the fold by another way than Christ, and they were not fulfilling the work
of the true shepherd. The priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees,
destroyed the living pastures, and defiled the wellsprings of the water of
life. Faithfully do the words of inspiration describe those false shepherds:
"The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which
was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye
brought again that which was driven away; . . . but with force and
with cruelty have ye ruled them." Ezekiel 34:4. {DA 478.1}
In all ages, philosophers and teachers have been presenting
to the world theories by which to satisfy the soul's need. Every heathen nation
has had its great teachers and religious systems offering some other means of
redemption than Christ, turning the eyes of men away from the Father's face,
and filling their hearts with fear of Him who has given them only blessing. The
trend of their work is to rob God of that which is His own, both by creation
and by redemption. And these false teachers rob man as well. Millions of human
beings are bound down under false religions, in the bondage of slavish fear, of
stolid indifference, toiling like beasts of burden, bereft of hope or joy or
aspiration here, and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. It is the gospel
of the grace of God alone that can uplift the soul. The contemplation of the
love of God manifested in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of
the soul as nothing else can. Christ came that He might re-create the image of
God in man; and whoever turns men away from Christ is turning them away from
the source of true development; he is defrauding them of the hope and purpose
and glory of life. He is a thief and a robber. {DA 478.2}
"He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the
sheep." Christ is both the door and the shepherd. He enters in by Himself.
It is through His own sacrifice that He becomes the shepherd of the sheep.
"To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth
His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own
sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His
voice." {DA 478.3}
Of all creatures the sheep is one of the most timid and
helpless, and in the East the shepherd's care for his flock is untiring and
incessant. [479] Anciently as now there was
little security outside of the walled towns. Marauders from the roving border
tribes, or beasts of prey from their hiding places in the rocks, lay in wait to
plunder the flocks. The shepherd watched his charge, knowing that it was at the
peril of his own life. Jacob, who kept the flocks of Laban in the pasture
grounds of Haran, describing his own unwearied labor, said, "In the day
the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from
mine eyes." Genesis 31:40. And it was while guarding his father's sheep
that the boy David, single-handed, encountered the lion and the bear, and
rescued from their teeth the stolen lamb. {DA 478.4}
As the shepherd leads his flock over the rocky hills,
through forest and wild ravines, to grassy nooks by the riverside; as he
watches them on the mountains through the lonely night, shielding from robbers,
caring tenderly for the sickly and feeble, his life comes to be one with theirs.
A strong and tender attachment unites him to the objects of his care. However
large the flock, the shepherd knows every sheep. Every one has its name, and
responds to the name at the shepherd's call. {DA 479.1}
As an earthly shepherd knows his sheep, so does the divine
Shepherd know His flock that are scattered throughout the world. "Ye My
flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord
God." Jesus says, "I have called thee by thy name; thou art
Mine." "I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." Ezekiel
34:31; Isaiah 43:1; 49:16. {DA
479.2}
Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows us all by name. He knows the very house in which
we live, the name of each occupant. 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. [480] {DA 479.3}
Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only
one for whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart. The
cry for aid reaches His ear. He came to draw all men unto Himself. He bids
them, "Follow Me," and His Spirit moves upon their hearts to draw
them to come to Him. Many refuse to be drawn. Jesus knows who they are. He also
knows who gladly hear His call, and are ready to come under His pastoral care.
He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me." He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the
earth. {DA 480.1}
"He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them
out. . . . And the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice."
The Eastern shepherd does not drive his sheep. He depends not upon force or
fear; but going before, he calls them. They know his voice, and obey the call.
So does the Saviour-Shepherd with His sheep. The Scripture says, "Thou
leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Through
the prophet, Jesus declares, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." He compels none to
follow Him. "I drew them," He says, "with cords of a man, with
bands of love." Psalm 77:20; Jeremiah 31:3; Hosea 11:4. {DA 480.2}
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting
reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the
Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the
manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it
softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They
hear His voice, and they follow Him. {DA 480.3}
As the shepherd goes before his sheep, himself first
encountering the perils of the way, so does Jesus with His people. "When
He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them." The way to heaven is
consecrated by the Saviour's footprints. The path may be steep and rugged, but
Jesus has traveled that way; His feet have pressed down the cruel thorns, to
make the pathway easier for us. Every burden that we are called to bear He
Himself has borne. {DA
480.4}
Though now He has ascended to the presence of God, and
shares the throne of the universe, Jesus has lost none of His compassionate
nature. Today the same tender, sympathizing heart is open to all the woes of
humanity. Today the hand that was pierced is reached forth to bless more
abundantly His people that are in the world. "And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." [483] The
soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight than the
whole world. The Saviour would have passed through the agony of Calvary that
one might be saved in His kingdom. He will never abandon one for whom He has
died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them fast. {DA 480.5}
Through all our trials we have a never-failing Helper. He
does not leave us alone to struggle with temptation, to battle with evil, and
be finally 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 am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
forevermore." Revelation 1:18. I have endured your sorrows, experienced
your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears; I also have
wept. The griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear, I know.
Think not that you are desolate and forsaken. Though your pain touch no
responsive chord in any heart on earth, look unto Me, and live. "The
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord
that hath mercy on thee." Isaiah 54:10. {DA 483.1}
However much a shepherd may love his sheep, he loves his
sons and daughters more. Jesus is not only our shepherd; He is our
"everlasting Father." And He says, "I know Mine own, and Mine
own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father." John
10:14, 15, R. V. What a statement is this!—the only-begotten Son, He
who is in the bosom of the Father, He whom God has declared to be "the Man
that is My fellow" (Zechariah 13:7),—the communion between Him
and the eternal God is taken to represent the communion between Christ and His
children on the earth! {DA
483.2}
Because we are the gift of His Father, and the reward of His
work, Jesus loves us. He loves us as His children. Reader, He loves you. Heaven
itself can bestow nothing greater, nothing better. Therefore trust. {DA 483.3}
Jesus thought upon the souls all over the earth who were
misled by false shepherds. Those whom He longed to gather as the sheep of His
pasture were scattered among wolves, and He said, "Other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My
voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd." John 10:16, R. V. {DA 483.4}
"Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down
My life, that I might take it again." That is, My Father has so loved you,
that [484]
He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming your
substitute and surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities,
your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father. {DA 483.5}
"I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man
taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again." While as a member of the human family He
was mortal, as God He was the fountain of life for the world. He could have
withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but
voluntarily He laid down His life, that He might bring life and immortality to
light. He bore the sin of the world, endured its curse, yielded up His life as
a sacrifice, that men might not eternally die. "Surely He hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows. . . . He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on
Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:4-6. {DA 484.1}
Click here to read the next chapter:
"The Last Journey From Galilee"
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