STRANGE VOICES
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand.” John 14:10, 14, 27-28
In the case of the eastern shepherd, that is literally true;
and as the next words declare, "A stranger will they not follow, for they
know not the voice of strangers." The strangeness of other voices is a
warning to the sheep; they do not know the voices, and so take no risks. How
full of value is the suggestiveness of all this in the case of those who belong
to the Lord! Israel in the time of tribulation is looking for the supposed
first coming of their Messiah nearly buy into the anti-christ having just
overcome death as Christ at His first coming and then being rejected by the
nation of Israel. There is no doubt that such do know the voice of the Lord.
They may not immediately understand what He is saying, but there is no mistaking
His voice. It is the voice of understanding, of tenderness, of strength, of
authority. Not like that of Satan. There is none other like it. It often
corrects us, runs counter to our desires, calls us to service that we dread,
and sometimes to suffering which we fain would miss. But we know when He
speaks, and then it is ours to follow, knowing that He makes no mistakes, and
that every word He utters to us, the sternest as well as the tenderest, is
love-inspired. This being so, our wisdom ever consists in refusing to follow
any strange voice. Israel has yet to learn this. We do not, cannot know others
as we know Him. Let us listen only to the Voice we know, and hearing let us
follow.
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