Matthew 18:12

How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which goeth astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP

Christ spoke this parable twice, evidently for a different purpose on each occasion. In this instance, it stands for the infinite love and solicitude the Lord has for the very least of his human children; but in Luke's account of it, it appears to have been spoken as an argument against the Pharisees who would go to a lot of trouble for a lost animal but had no regard for a lost man. The parables are the same, but they are spoken with significant variations (Luke 15:3-7).

In the Scriptures, goats are used to represent sinners, and sheep represent Christians. The lost sheep, therefore, represents a child of God who has become a backslider, who is separated from the fold, and from the Shepherd.

Note these facts about a lost sheep: (1) It is absolutely defenseless, having no weapon of any kind, no gift of speed in flight, no cunning, no means of deception, its very cries being only a signal for the enemy to close in for the kill. Let every backslider behold here his helplessness apart from Christ. (2) The sheep has no sense of direction. A carrier pigeon would surely be able to return to its nest; a dog might find its way home, but a sheep? Never! (3) A lost sheep is surrounded by enemies, even the elemental forces of nature being hostile and often fatal to him when separated from the fold.

The parable suggests the earthly mission of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who left the joys of heaven to wander amid the bleak scenes of earth to recover lost and sinful people. It also has an application to the church, or flock of God, in that the true place for every sheep is in the fold. There is no safety for the sheep separated from the Shepherd and the fold.

The rejoicing of the Shepherd is stressed in this case; but in Luke's account, the rejoicing in heaven is emphasized.

Matthew 18:11 omitted in the English Revised Version (1885), appeared in many of the ancient versions and certainly bears some relevance in this context: "For the Son of man came to save that which was lost."

ANALOGIES IN THE PARABLE

The man with one hundred sheep is God.

The ninety-nine sheep are the faithful ones.

The one that went astray is the backslider.

The seeking for the lost is God's search for the unsaved.

The rejoicing represents God's pleasure over those who repent.

The fold (not mentioned, but implied) is the church, or fellowship with God.

The mountains stand for the dangers to backsliders.