THE CHARACTER OF SHEEP

God always likens His people to sheep, who by nature are meek and submissive.

Psalm 79:13, "So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever."

Psalm 80:1, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock."

Psalm 95:7; 100:3, "We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand."

Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way."
(Psalm 119:176, 1 Peter 2:25.)

John 10:1-15, "He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out...he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice."

Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, and yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth."

John 1:29, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

GOD SEPARATES THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS

The people whom God calls 'goats' are those He separates from His company.

Zechariah 10.3, "I punished the goats: for the Lord of hostshath visited His flock..."

When God visits His flock, he will separate the sheep from the goats and punish the goats! The goats and the sheep are in the flock together, but only one belongs to him - the sheep. We noticed this when we visited Israel a number of times and saw the Bedouin shepherds with their little flock of goats and sheep. They both look alike and from a distance you can't tell the difference.

In the church today the goats and sheep are all in the flock together, but there will come a day when God will visit His flock and He will separate the one from the other.

Ezekiel 34:17 GNB says, "Now then, my flock, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge each of you and separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats."

Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left....and these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Wow! After realizing all this I decided that I didn't want to be part of the goat company. I didn't want to impose the goat character upon my children. Our children should be different from the children of the world, anyway. I therefore made an effort to stop using the word 'kids'. Now I find that it grates upon me when I hear it.

That's the negative. What about the positive?