Christ Knows His Own
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Jesus knows those who are his. "I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me." John 10:14. He can call every one of the flock by name. The officers of a church may be deceived in many cases of those who apply for admission to membership; but no putting on of "sheep's clothing" can mislead the omniscient Shepherd. There is a wide-spread religious interest in the land—but among the many thousands who profess conversion, it is not possible that Christ himself can be deceived as to a solitary case. Not only does he read every heart to the bottom; it is by the operation of his divine Spirit that every soul is regenerated.
Not everyone who enters an inquiry-room finds Christ; and not everyone who attends a "meeting of converts" is genuinely converted. Those who begin to lead a new life—have got the new heart; those who follow the Shepherd—have entered into the flock. There is a solemn warning in this fact. There is a precious comfort in it, too; for the Savior knows perfectly well whom he is saving. Not only does Jesus Christ know exactly who have come into his true flock—but he knows all about every one of them—their strong points and their weak points, their besetting sins and their new experiences of grace just beginning to sprout in their hearts. When we are sick, we send for the old family physician; he is best acquainted with our constitutions. It is half the battle in family government, for the parent to understand thoroughly the characteristics of a child. Here is one gentle boy who can be led by a cotton thread; and there is another who snaps the cords of restraint as Samson broke the seven green withes. Some parents pay dearly for their ignorance or willful blindness to the real character of their children. That was a wise as well as a loving mother who said, "I don't find it so hard to bring children up—as I do to take them down, when they need it."
Our blessed Master, in his family discipline, commits no mistakes. When he takes an immortal soul under his loving care and into his training-school, he understands the character of each his pupils. Christ detects and exposes the self-seeking ambition of certain disciples, by setting a little child in the midst of them to teach them humility and unselfishness. In his raw inexperience, Simon Peter bragged loudly of his loyalty: but the Master takes him down by the startling announcement, "Before the rooster crows—you shall deny me thrice!" Jesus discovered the splendid natural qualities in Saul of Tarsus which converting grace could mold into a leadership of the churches; and what a tremendous schooling he gave him before he graduated! The same Great Shepherd has a place of usefulness in his flock for humble Tryphena and Tryphosa, for Tertius with his pen and for Dorcas with her needle. Jesus knows just what is in each of us, and just how much can be got out of us.
This makes him, not a hard, exacting Master—but the most forbearing and considerate of employers and guardians. He never lays on weak shoulders, the loads which only stalwarts can carry. All the while, too, how sweetly come the encouraging words, "I am with you always; my grace is sufficient for you; as your days—so your strength shall be." He calls us not slaves; he calls us friends.
How perfectly acquainted he is, too, with all our weaknesses! He knows our frame; he remembers we are but dust. Here is great encouragement for penitent sinners. Those poor fellows who drift from their pubs into the Mission House, find there a pitying Shepherd who welcomes the most wretched outcast who has been bedraggled in the mire of sin. Up at the other end of the scale, Christ is equally conscious of the intellectual doubts and difficulties with which some Christians of skeptical temperaments have to contend. He quenches no smoking flax; he breaks no bruised reeds.
The secret sorrow which I dare not breathe to the most intimate friend, I can freely unbosom to my Savior. Ah, how well he knows every thorn which pricks my foot, and every wound which trickles its silent drops from my bleeding soul! This is a wondrous encouragement to prayer. For my Physician never will administer the wrong medicine, and I am sure he never will refuse to hear my pull at "the night-bell" in the hour of sudden distress.
The fact of Christ's perfect knowledge of all our needs and requirements, throws great light on some dark providences. It explains some mysteries—why one of us is put up and another is put down; why one is prospered and another is impoverished; why one seems to run before the breeze and another is buffeted with contrary winds.
Dear, loving Master! He knows what is for our good. Let him probe to the bottom if the wound requires it. He knows what is in me; yes, and what ought to come out of me, if I would attain to full health and robustness of spirit. Far better the probe and thepruning-knife than to be cast out as useless cumberers of his fold. If it is a joy to know whom we have believed it is equally a joy that "he knows those who are his."
There is a bond of reciprocal knowledge and affection between the Redeemer and his redeemed ones. Christ even compares it to the unity between the everlasting Father and the Son; for as the Father knows the Son—so does the Shepherd know his flock! This is an overwhelming thought; and it points onward to an intimacy of everlasting love in heaven.
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