Isaiah 40:11 - Homiletics

God the Shepherd of his people.

This favourite image is "full of figures and analogies of loving-kindness. It is almost sacramental in its depth and power." To exhaust its meaning is impossible; to draw out all that it implies is hopeless; even to make it the subject of comment may seem almost impertinent. Still, in an exegetical work, some comment must be made upon a passage at once so characteristic and so powerful; some attempt at exposition must be attached to the declaration of a truth so precious. Six things would seem, then, to be especially involved in the declaration.

I. GOD LOVES HIS FLOCK . Love is at the root of even an earthly shepherd's care for his flock, if he is a true shepherd, and not a mercenary hireling. Without love, there may be care, but it will not be tender care; there may be guardianship, but it will not be incessant, unwearied, jealous guardianship. The heavenly Shepherd loves the sheep of his flock with a deep, true, patient, and abounding love, surpassing far the utmost affection whereof man is capable, surpassing even the utmost conception that man can form of love. His flock is his own creation, his own reflected image, his own purchased possession. His desire is toward it (So Isaiah 7:10 ). He loves it with a love which "many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown" (So Isaiah 8:7 ).

II. GOD CARES FOR HIS FLOCK . It is God's care for his flock on which Isaiah especially insists both in verse 11 and Isaiah 49:9 , Isaiah 49:10 . He "gathers the lambs with his arm, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that suckle their young." He gives them "pastures in all high places," suffers "neither the heat nor sun to smite them, and leads them by the springs of water." The most tender care, the most solicitous vigilance, is implied in all that is told us of his treatment of his flock, so that we may well say, that "all love, care, providence, devotion, watchfulness, that is in earth or in heaven, in the ministry of men or of angels, is but a reflection and participation of that which is thus seen to be in him" (Manning).

III. GOD GUIDES HIS FLOCK . The Oriental shepherd goes in front of his sheep; and so God is represented as going ( Psalms 78:52 ; Isaiah 49:10 ; John 10:3 ). He points out to them the way wherein they should walk, and leads them in it. By the inner light of conscience, "which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and by the outward light of revelation, which shines on many, he directs their paths. By the secret motions and influences of his Spirit he keeps them, for the most part, in the right way, and suffers them not to depart from it.

IV. GOD GUARDS HIS FLOCK . God's flock has enemies as powerful and as dangerous as the flock of any earthly shepherd. Many a wolf in sheep's clothing seeks to devour it; one lion, at any rate, is ever walking round the fold, longing and hoping for prey. But God is always on the watch against these enemies, baffling their attacks, defecting their designs, causing them to fall into their own snares. True, he cannot effectually guard all, if they will not listen to him, will not obey his commands, will rush madly into danger. But he is a sure Defence to such as "hear his voice" and follow h-is directions. No wolf can snatch his faithful ones out of his hand; no lion can hurt them, nor any roaring beast. God guards them night and day. "He that keepeth Israel slumbers not nor sleeps."

V. GOD FEEDS HIS FLOCK . God is said to "lead his flock into green pastures" ( Psalms 23:2 ), to "feed them in a good pasture, a fat pasture" ( Ezekiel 34:14 ). Our Lord declares himself" the Bread of life" ( John 6:48 )—the "living Bread which came down from heaven," whereof "if any man eat, he shall live for ever" ( John 6:51 ). God feeds his flock upon his Word, upon his faithful promises, upon himself received sacramentally. He feeds them himself, and he commands the shepherds under him, with emphatic iteration, to feed them ( John 21:15-17 ). He gives them "angels' food" to be the sustentation and support of their souls; "bread of immortality" to be their life here and hereafter; precious manna, far beyond that which he gave to his people in the wilderness, sweet at once and satisfying. "Lord, evermore give us this bread" ( John 6:34 ).

VI. GOD SEEKS AND SAVES THE WANDERERS OF HIS FLOCK . Isaiah tells us that God "gathers the lambs with his arm" (verse 11). Our Lord, describing the good human shepherd, tells us that if he have an hundred sheep, and lose one of them, he straightway "leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and goes after that which is lost, until he find it ; and when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing' ( Luke 15:4 , Luke 15:5 ). The Son of man came "to seek and to save that which was lost" ( Matthew 18:11 ). The sheep of God's flock perpetually "go astray," turn from the right way, wander into strange paths, seek pastures that are not good; if God were not perpetually checking their inclination to stray, seeking them, recalling them, "gathering" them, bringing them back to him, there would soon be no flock left. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." If the "chief Shepherd" ( 1 Peter 5:4 ), "the great Shepherd of the sheep" ( Hebrews 13:20 ), had not cared for us and sought us and brought us home, we had been lost indeed; but now, through his great mercy, we are "returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls" ( 1 Peter 2:25 ).