the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Luke 15:4-7
The parable of the lost sheep
Read John 10:17-30
This parable is recorded to illustrate one thing: it shows us the deep, self-sacrificing love of the Lord Jesus Christ for perishing sinners. It opens the very heart of the eternal God and shows us how delightful it is to God to save sinners, because ‘He delighteth in mercy’ (Micah 7:18).
In this parable our Lord mentions three groups of sheep: the one hundred, the ninety and nine and the one lost sheep.
1. The one hundred represent all mankind in this world. All the sons of Adam, both the righteous and the wicked, belong to the Lord Jesus Christ as his creatures. All were made by him and all belong to him. And all people belong to Christ, our Mediator and King. Whether willingly or unwillingly, all are his servants, under his sovereign dominion. God the Father has given Christ power, dominion and authority over all flesh, so that he might give eternal life to all his elect (John 17:2).
2. The ninety and nine represent the self-righteous Pharisees of this world. In their own eyes they are righteous and just and need no repentance. They feel no need of a Savior. They do not want mercy and grace. So they are left to perish in the wilderness of their own ignorance. To them the Lord says, ‘The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Matthew 18:11). ‘They that are whole [in their own opinion] need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Luke 5:31-32).
3. The one lost sheep represents all of God’s elect in this world, lost and ruined in sin. Christ, our Good Shepherd, is totally consumed with seeking and saving his lost sheep. He seeks his sheep until he finds it. And when he finds his sheep, he lays it upon his shoulders and carries it safely home. In his incarnation the Shepherd came after his lost sheep. In his life he continually sought his sheep. In his death he laid the sheep upon his shoulders. In his resurrection he bore the sheep on its way. And in his ascension be brought it home rejoicing. Not one of the Shepherd’s sheep will perish. They are his responsibility. He must, and he will bring all his lost sheep safely home rejoicing.
