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1 Peter 2:25
25 For [gar] ye were [en] as [hos] sheep [probaton] going astray [planao]; but [alla] are [epistrepho] now [nun] returned [epistrepho] unto [epi] the Shepherd [poimen] and [kai] Bishop [episkopos] of your [humon] souls [psuche]. KJV-Interlinear
25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. NASB
The description of the human race as sheep, is appropriate. The sheep is a dumb creature, that could not find his way out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.
Sheep are in need of a shepherd, or bishop as it were. The bishop is the one who looks out for and guards the best interests of the sheep.
Without a guide, without an overseer, without someone who is wise to the ways of life, then sheep are totally at the mercy of the jungle environment. Not knowing where they are, not knowing how to find food, or drink, not knowing how to find shelter, not knowing when danger is near, in effect not knowing anything, apart from their wise shepherd, the sheep are totally lost and cannot survive.
The human race is nothing more than a flock of sheep. And despite our human intelligence, despite our human ingenuity, when viewed from heaven, humanity is not very smart at all.
Isa. 53:6
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. NASB
Therefore, not being very smart, we, humanity, need someone who is both smart, and wise, and trustworthy, to look out for our best interests.
In sin, we are hopeless and helpless, and without any good destiny. So, Christ went to the Cross in order to give us an opportunity, a potential, for a great destiny of life in heaven. And this potential once provided by God, is ours for the very small price of believing in Jesus Christ. The act of faith, or belief. takes you probably all of a second (if not less) to think, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ.’
You are a living soul. And when you were created, at the moment of your birth, your life was established forever. Your physical body is only a temporary vessel, housing your soul. When you leave this world, you will be leaving that physical body behind, until you receive your new resurrection body, which you will receive at the moment of the Rapture.
And of course this only applies to believers. All unbelievers, when they leave this world, end up in Torments, where they will wait for the Great White Throne, which will occur at the end of the Millennium, and then the Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire, is not a lake, nor a fire, but is a tremendously terrible place, where the occupants will never see each other, but will hear only their own cries of terror and horror, as they sit out all of eternity alone, and unprotected by God. They rejected God, and that wish is answered, as God leaves them to themselves, hopeless, helpless, and powerless, totally alone except for the terror that will consume them.
And that is what awaits humanity if God were not in the picture. But God had a plan. Seeing that humanity would stray, but also seeing that humanity would come back to God, if given the opportunity, God set out a plan allowing humanity a path back to life. That plan is the plan of salvation.
And if you remember the story of Lot, when Abraham tried to bargain with the Lord to spare the city if only a few believers were there, and so the city was spared until Lot and his family left, so too, in human history, you, you who have believed in Christ, are the reason that God set out a plan.
You could have been the only person who would have believed, and God would have set out His plan just for you. But fortunately there will be billions, perhaps trillions, of believers before human history is completed. So we will not be alone in heaven.
You have lived a life on a very thin thread. All of life hangs from a very thin thread.
Prior to your salvation, you were an unbeliever and destined for the Lake of Fire. If you had died prior to faith, during your adult and responsible years, then your life could have been vastly terrible, and terrible forever. But luck you. You believed in Christ and changed all of that.
Remember the economic chaos of a couple of weeks ago? What if the stock markets had all continued to crash? What if the layoffs all over the world accelerated into a frenzy? What if starvation and famine and crime took hold? What then? How would you conduct your life? How would it all be turned around?
No human being, has the power or means to control his own life let alone the world, despite what all the politicians and celebrities, and those in power believe.
Jesus Christ controls history, despite what you may believe. And God the Father, set out a plan for all of human history, which Jesus Christ executes every detail of that plan. Even the recent elections, which reveals that a little over half of the population, for the first time, has shifted to the liberal viewpoint, will not upset Gods plan.
We live in the dispensation of the Church Age. We know that at the end of our dispensation, the population of the world will be predominantly unbelieving and rebellious believers, toward truth. So sooner or later the shift to the left is going to occur.
This shift will likely occur over the space of a generation or two, or perhaps more. And since World War II, that slippage has been gradual, but shifting with ever increasing speed in these last few years, as each succeeding generation grows up with less and less doctrine guiding them.
But not too worry. Our life is not destined for this world, but for the next. Whatever transpires in the next few years or decades, God is faithful to mature believers, and God holds our lives in His very own hand. Whether we are committed to a tremendous suffering because the world is going negative, or whether God delivers us to some extent in this life, is really irrelevant.
Job was inflicted, Daniel was thrown to the lions, and many folks throughout history have been exposed to tremendous pressures, even to the point of their own death. But that is where spiritual growth comes into play.
Without doctrine, your circumstances and your fears will consume you. Similar to the Lake of Fire, but not as dramatic of course.
But with doctrine in your soul, with maximum doctrine, you will be prepared for the very worst that this world can throw at you, and you will be able to endure it.
In this world we get educations, we buy insurance, we tuck money away for a rainy day, just so we can get through life a bit easier. But in life our real savings is, or should be, Bible doctrine, which preserves us through any type of disaster or pressure, that anyone can possibly face.
Again, Job faced unbelievable disease and heartache. Daniel faced the jaws of lions. He could have ben ripped apart. Jesus went to the Cross under the most horrendous of circumstances. They all had doctrine, and they all were in fellowship, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alone we are nothing – dust, sheep. But with spiritual maturity, Christ in us, Christ saturating us, we are in effect invincible, and we don’t really have to do anything but learn and grow up in our spiritual life.
So, forewarned. You may have a charmed life ahead of you. You may have a dismal life ahead of you. God has a specific plan for your life, and even though it is in your best interest, your life is ultimately there to glorify God. And in achieving that, you will become the hero of your generation, celebrated by the angels.
That is something that you will never be able to accomplish in this world, on your own.
