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12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. ~ Matthew 18:12-14
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 18. The Bible begins with the fact that God created everything and then Lucifer ruined it. It seems senseless but there is much more to the story than we understand. We have all wrestled with the questions. We have asked, "If God is so powerful and all good, why did He let sin happen in the first place?" We've asked, "If God is truly omnipotent, why didn’t He stop the efforts of the enemy?" In response we could say, "God could have created us as robots to choose His will all the time. But, where is the heart in that?" God created us with a free will that enables us to love Him or to reject Him. Along with the freedom to love Him, God had to give us the freedom to choose not to love Him, otherwise there is no love involved from our standpoint.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?"
The Lord Jesus utilized a very familiar illustration to make His point, the illustration of a shepherd seeking his lost sheep. This story was very familiar to His audience. The idea of God as our shepherd is not a unique theme in the Scriptures. The Old Testament has at least 16 passages in which God is called "shepherd." Throughout the Bible God has sought the lost and He rejoices when a lost sinner recognizes his need for His salvation. God, by nature, is loving and holy. This is what sets Him apart from all other manufactured gods of this world. He, by nature, rejoices when we come to the end of ourselves and we cry out to Him for help. God, the Good Shepherd, sent His Son into this world to redeem us who were wooed by the Holy Spirit to believe that His death on the cross paid the penalty for that which separated us from Him.
While sheep are mentioned over 400 times in the Bible, God is likened to a shepherd over 100 times. Sheep very easily go astray, and that is why we needed a shepherd. The religious leaders of Israel had no problem seeing the tax-collectors and the sinners as "lost sheep," but they themselves would not embrace that metaphor to describe themselves! Even though, Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, made it clear that all of mankind are like sheep who have been duped and have gone astray from God.
In biblical culture, the shepherd was always held responsible for each sheep. In fact, if one went missing, the shepherd had to pay for it unless he could prove that it was killed by a predator. This explains why the shepherd has always acknowledged his need to leave the flock with the other shepherds and ardently search for the wayward sheep. For the shepherd, failure to find the lost sheep meant money out of his own pocket, plus the disgrace of being known as a shepherd who failed to protect his sheep.
The Lord Jesus likened Himself as the Shepherd who ardently seeks out the defenseless one lost sheep. This is what He did the day you and I were found. The Lord Jesus has always cared as much for the one lost sheep as He does for the many sheep that are already safe. When the sheep wander off, they are in danger of being accosted by predators, in danger of falling off the cliffs, in danger of exhaustion and dehydration. In fact, when sheep become afraid, they get very nervous and fearful. They become so despondent and discouraged, they lie down and die if not found by the shepherd. By leaving the ninety-nine sheep, the shepherd provides proof that each animal is dear to Him.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray."
In Isaiah 53 we are reminded that all mankind are sheep that have gone astray. Isaiah spoke of how we like those silly animals are prone to wander but he gave the solution for the wandering. God's solution for the sheep going astray was the cross of the Lord Jesus. The illustration used by the Lord Jesus revealed that when the shepherd finds the seventy pound lone lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders and returns it to its home. The belly of the sheep is put against the back of the shepherd’s neck. The shepherd would then take the four legs, pull them around his neck and take a cord and tie the feet together. The shepherd would rejoice as he walked all the way back home. The whole village waited, wondering if the shepherd would find the lost sheep. If the shepherd found the sheep, the whole town would rejoice. This is a picture of what goes on in heaven when a broken one is found by the Savior. Every time it happens, heaven throws a grand party because the lost has been found.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
The Lord Jesus began today's passage with the word "if" which expresses uncertainty. "If" renders the outcome of the Shepherd’s search far from certain. This merely underscores the fact that there is the permissive will of God and the decreed will of God. In this passage we are presented with both. It is not God's decreed will than any perish but some because of His permissive will, do. They do because they reject the will of God. It must be this way, otherwise the human heart is not engaged in the process and we are but robots. Granted, we were dead in our sins and trespasses and we were dead to God. And, had He not moved on us to believe, we would still be dead in our sinful wretchedness. So, we could have rejected Him, made possible by His permissive will.
The word "perish" is used to describe those whose lives have been ruined by believing the lie of the enemy. Since God has this kind of a heart, we must not despise these the little ones who have been duped by the devil whether they are young in age or old. The purpose the Lord Jesus had in mind that day when He told this story was to highlight the joy of God over the return of the wayward. If we have entered into a personal relationship with God, we will long to see the wayward return to the Father. In fact, we will enter the process of pursuing the wayward. This is so because He daily seeks to inculcate His heart into our hearts. We will have His heart for the lost because He has a heart for the lost.
