Christmas Eve Service

We realize today that with guests
among us, they may not have brought their Bibles. There are always
pew Bibles at the end of each pew, if you wish. And if you
would, please turn to the book of Isaiah. And if you would, to chapter
40. We come again to this section
of the book, the second division of Isaiah’s prophecy in which
good news is being proclaimed. Isaiah has introduced the Messiah,
directing God’s messengers to a new tone, an upbeat tone, a
joyful tone. With a new message, the Messiah’s
forerunner has been designated. Clear the way for our God, Isaiah
has told him. God’s word has been revealed.
The word of our God stands forever. And God’s servant has been disclosed. Here is your God. And here, in the final verse
of this opening section, Isaiah presents the Messiah as the model
shepherd. If you would, let’s take the
section in its entirety, verses one through 11, so that you’ll
have verse 11 in its context. Comfort, oh comfort my people,
says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem and
call out to her that her warfare has ended. That her iniquity
has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double
for all her sins. A voice is calling, clear the
way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway
for our God. Let every valley be lifted up
and every mountain and hill be made low. And let the rough ground
become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then
the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice
says, Call out! Then he answered, What shall
I call out? All flesh is grass, and all its
loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers,
the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely
the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Get yourself
up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up
your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it
up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here
is your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with might, with his arm ruling for him. Behold, his reward is
with him and his recompense before him. Like a shepherd, he will
tend his flock. In his arm, he will gather the
lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing
ewes. Now, the metaphor of God himself
being a shepherd is a familiar one in Scripture in the Old Testament. We have perhaps the most familiar
illustration of all of God as a shepherd in Psalm 23. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides
me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort
me. But the image of God as a shepherd
is widely used in Scripture. Psalm 77, verse 20, you led your
people like a flock. Psalm 80, verse one, O give ear,
shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. So the image
of God as a shepherd to his flock, to his people, is also a recurring
one in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah laments that the flock
of the Lord has been taken captive. In 3110 of Jeremiah, a promise
to this dispersed people, he who scattered Israel will gather
him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. The God as a
shepherd motif is a substantial metaphor in Ezekiel’s prophecy. Just one passage, Ezekiel 34,
beginning in verse 11, thus says the Lord my God, behold, I myself
will search for my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd
cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered
sheep, so I will care for my sheep and will deliver them from
all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and
gloomy day. I will feed my flock. I will
lead them to rest, declares the Lord. I will seek the lost, bring
back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. And so we have this recurring
motif, this image, this metaphor throughout scripture of God as
shepherd. We also have, as you probably
are familiar, some very instructive passages in the New Testament
that speak of shepherds and shepherding with regard to elders functioning
in the church. The shepherds of the church are,
Paul says in Ephesians 4, God’s provision to the church for her
leadership. These passages offer instruction
both to the church and to the shepherds. There’s also much
throughout the New Testament that weaves a less direct but
beautiful tapestry of instruction for shepherds, principles observed
from men engaged in caring for Christ’s church. Still, we might
come away desiring a more graphic picture, a visible example of
what a shepherd is supposed to look like. And I know of no other
single verse in Scripture than the one we consider this evening
that presents such a careful, helpful, beautiful image of a
shepherd engaged in his work. Here in Isaiah 40, this wonderful
image of a shepherd applied directly to the Messiah. Would you glance
down once again at verse 11? Like a shepherd, he will tend
his flock. In his arm, he will gather the
lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing
ewes. It’s a picture, of course, as
is this entire section of the Lord Jesus Christ And here in
this one verse, chapter 40, verse 11, Isaiah presents the Messiah
in the image of a shepherd. Three times in this short verse,
Isaiah’s words elicit the shepherding image. Just glance down at it
for a moment. He uses the word shepherd, flock,
lambs, ewes, A shepherd tending his flock, gathering his lambs,
gently leading the nursing youths. And Isaiah’s picture of the Messiah
here tells us four things about this gentle shepherd. Isaiah presents the model shepherd
here, and the first thing that we notice about our Lord Jesus
is that Jesus Christ is a faithful shepherd. like a shepherd he
will tend his flock. Isaiah presents Jesus as the
model shepherd, but this word translated as tend, in its most
basic sense it means to feed. Tending God’s flock is of special
concern to the Lord. You may recall John 21, when
Jesus sought to restore Peter to ministry, remember after his
threefold denial, Peter decided to just go fishing. Jesus comes
and he presses him to tend his sheep. And tending Christ’s flock
goes much further than simply feeding them, nourishing them. it means to care not only for
another’s nourishment, but for any of their particular needs. Under a good shepherd, any sheep
in that flock, to use Psalm 23’s language, shall not want. God
has sent his Son as Messiah into the world And because Jesus is
God, it should not surprise us that the shepherd motif is applied
to Jesus also. This idea regarding the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus, as I’m sure you know, is carried forward into
the New Testament. The first instance occurs when
the Magi were questioned by Herod. In Matthew chapter 2, Herod questioned
the Magi regarding the Messiah’s birthplace. They answer him with
a quote from Micah 5, 2. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of
you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matthew himself attributes this
representation of Christ as the heart of a shepherd. During the
course of Jesus’ earthly ministry, preaching and healing, Matthew
says that seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because
they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. As you surely know, Jesus used
the image of a shepherd of himself in John chapter 10. I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep. In his closing benediction, the
writer of Hebrews commends his readers to Christ with this amazing
language in 1320 of Hebrews. Now the God of peace, who brought
up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you with
every good thing to do his will. Jesus Christ is a good shepherd. And of course, Peter, the Lord’s
choice servant, uses the image to speak of the blessings to
be enjoyed at the Lord’s return. listen to Peter’s language, when
the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown
of glory. So God, who has appointed his
son as Messiah, he is in the nature of a shepherd over his
people. And Jesus is a true shepherd,
a good shepherd. He’s not a hireling, as Jesus
discusses in John chapter 10, one who tends to slack off in
his duties. No, Isaiah pictures him here
as faithfully tending his flock. He is about his task as a shepherd. He’s doing what he is called
to do. The Good Shepherd will be found
tirelessly watching over his flock, caring for them, helping
them, leading them, nourishing them, protecting them. He takes
care of all their needs, such as Christ, our Great Shepherd.
He gives his children everything they need. He died for our sins. He sent us the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. He bestows to us the Word of
God as we talked about this morning. He ensures for us biblical instruction. He hears our prayers. He intercedes
for us when our prayers are feeble and incomplete. He provides for
us. He cares for us. He comforts us. He gives us the
fellowship of the saints. He grants us a godly heritage. And Isaiah continues by telling
us what the shepherd is like. As Jesus is God incarnate, we
have a beautiful characterization of what God would look like as
a shepherd. Not only is Jesus Christ a faithful
shepherd, secondly, Jesus Christ is a loving shepherd. Look at
verse 11 again, the second sentence. In his arm, he will gather the
lambs and carry them in his bosom. The image here presented to us
in these words is just so much like the Jesus we know. It’s not just that he will gather
his lambs. You could do that with a shepherd’s
hook. But he gathers them into his arm, and he carries them
close to himself. In his bosom, Isaiah says, these
two actions belong together. It’s one action, to gather and
carry. This is an image to which we
can all relate. Think of a crying child. that
we scoop up, we gather, to use Isaiah’s word, we pull them close
to our chest with our arms and we carry them. We pull them close
and we carry them to bear them along on at least a portion of
the journey. This is very descriptive of our
Savior and His tender care of us like a loving parent. In keeping
with the shepherding motif, this is a little lamb that perhaps
was lost and frightened, perhaps injured or fatigued, and has
come to the end of her ability to go any further on the journey.
The loving shepherd cannot possibly abandon this little creature
simply because of her frailty. This is no hireling shepherd
who flees at trouble. This is no CEO shepherd who appoints
someone to do his bidding. This is no lazy or careless shepherd
who avoids his most important duties. This is no domineering
shepherd who dominates and brutalizes the sheep and would gladly leave
behind a sheep like this. No, this is a gentle shepherd
to whom even the weak and feeble are precious. They garner his
special care. And this good and faithful shepherd
bears with his flock’s weaknesses. He doesn’t cast them off or drive
them away. In this flock, there are no unwanted
sheep. This is the testimony of Scripture,
isn’t it? Hebrews 4.15, we do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted
in all things as we are, yet without sin. Jesus Christ knows
exactly all about your weaknesses. The Lord Jesus came, he declares,
in Luke 19, to seek and to save that which was lost. That is
his main purpose. And he came, as recorded in Mark
2, for those who need a physician, for those who are sick. Matthew
18, Jesus himself asks a near rhetorical question of his disciples. What do you think? If a man has
a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not
leave the 99 on the mountains and go and search for the one
that is straying?” Of course he does. He’s a faithful and
loving shepherd who will seek and find that wandering lamb. He will gather up those who are
hurting or sick, and he will watch and provide protection
from the vicious enemies of God’s flock. This is our Savior. And
so this caring shepherd draws the injured close and carries
them in order to protect them from ravenous wolves. If they’re
lost, he finds them. If they’re injured, he binds
them up. If they cannot run along with the flock, he carries them.
This is precisely how Jesus can testify to his father in John
18, of those whom you have given me, I lost not one. Isaiah presents the Messiah as
the model shepherd. And the model shepherd is not
only a faithful shepherd and a loving shepherd, he’s a tender
shepherd. Glance down again at verse 11,
if you would. Like a shepherd, he will tend
his flock in his arm. He will gather the lambs and
carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing
ewes. As we see Christ’s faithfulness
in tending his flock and his loving care of each member of
the fold, we’re not surprised to see his patience and wisdom
here in leading his sheep. The key words here in this final
statement are gently lead. And in the Hebrew, it’s actually
only one word. A tender shepherd might lead his sheep in a variety
of different directions. He might lead them to food, a
pasture of green grass. He might lead them to water,
a gentle stream, a still clear pond. This, remember, is said
of God’s shepherd in Psalm 23. He leads me beside quiet waters. God emphasizes this point by
using the same basic image Nine chapters later in Isaiah, Isaiah
49, 10, speaking of his people, he says to Isaiah, they will
not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike
them down, for he who has compassion on them will lead them and will
guide them to springs of water. This is our Savior. This is our
tender shepherd. He’s a tender shepherd who, knowing
the flock’s needs, might lead them to a particular place for
a specific purpose. The sheep have no idea where
they’re going, but the wise shepherd does. The same exact word, to
gently lead, is used of the Lord in the context of the Exodus.
Exodus 15, 13, in your loving kindness, you have led the people
whom you have redeemed. In your strength, you have guided
them to your holy habitation. And if you would, please glance
down once again at the passage. There’s a special group over
whom a tender shepherd would watch, the nursing ewes, those
with baby lambs, Both the ewe and her offspring would be most
delicate, most vulnerable, most easily fatigued of the entire
flock. As we saw earlier, the shepherd’s
special care of the weak or the injured, so it is with these. A nursing mother and her baby
would be easily fatigued if she were driven like hearty livestock. But even the most delicate must
be led. And this shepherd does just that,
he gently leads his flock. He knows his flock, he knows
their abilities, he knows their weaknesses, he knows their capabilities,
and he leads them accordingly. Not up a steep hillside or through
some rough and difficult terrain. It wouldn’t take any time at
all for sheep to begin to avoid a cruel shepherd. But as Christ’s
own parable in John chapter 10 says of the shepherd of the sheep,
the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by
name and leads them out. I am the good shepherd, and I
know my own, and my own know me. Christ leads his sheep by
his word, by his spirit, by his good providence, By the admonition
or counsel of a fellow believer, Christ indeed is the shepherd
and guardian of our souls. Would you humble yourself before
him?