Parable Of The Lost Sheep

(Luke 15:1-7) "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. {2}

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth

with them. {3} ¶And he spake this parable unto them, saying, {4} What man of you,

having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the

wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? {5} And when he hath found

it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. {6} And when he cometh home, he calleth

together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found

my sheep which was lost. {7} I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one

sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no

repentance."

*****

A. TWO CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE

A.i. The first category is the publicans and sinners. They draw near to Jesus (verse 1) and

Jesus receives them and eats with them (verse 2) not because of their works and selfrighteousness

but because of God’s grace. ["For by grace are ye saved through faith; and

that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: {9} Not of works, lest any man should boast."

(Ephesians 2:8-9)]. In other words, grace is an undeserved gift given to the people not

because of who they are or what they do, but rather because of who God is and what He

does.

A.ii. The second category is the Pharisees and scribes. They observed the Law that God gave

to the Israelites through Moses. It includes many rules of religious observance given in

the first five books of the Old Testament. Furthermore, Luke 15:2 tells us that the

Pharisees and scribes murmured. Let us now establish a parallel between Luke 15: 2 and

Numbers 14:2 in the Old Testament.

(Numbers 14:2) "And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against

Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the

land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!"

A.iii. We notice here that in both contexts, the people murmured against the ways of God.

Furthermore the parable of Luke 15 explains that 99 sheep are left in the wilderness,

wherein Numbers 14 the children of Israel were complaining because they were not left to

die in the land of Egypt but rather in the wilderness. And as we know, that generation

would eventually die in the wilderness save Caleb and Joshua who entered the promise

land (Numbers 26:65).

(Numbers 26:65) "For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the

wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and

Joshua the son of Nun."

*****

B. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THIS

The concluding note is that we observe that those who consider themselves self-righteous

by mean observation of the Law were left in the wilderness and the ones who

acknowledge there sin are the ones who got saved. So Jesus indirectly was telling the

Pharisees that their self-righteousness/ observation of the Law would lead them to the

wilderness.

*****

C. THE IMPORTANCE OF NUMERICS IN THE PARABLE

Let us go back to the parable in Luke 15.

We believe that God speaks in numerics and that different numerics have different

meanings. In verse 4, Jesus says that there are 100 sheep, 1 is lost and 99 are left in the

wilderness. And there is a reason why Jesus uses those specific numbers. In fact the more

we study the Bible the more we realize there is no such thing as an insignificant detail in

the Word of God. All information provided has an implication. We will now see the

implication of numerics in this parable.

*****

D. MEANINGS OF NUMERICS

D.i. MEANING OF NUMBER TEN

Now 100= 10² or 10x10. The number 10 is the number of the Law. It represents the

Pharisees and scribes in the first parable in Luke 15. They observed the Law that God

gave to the Israelites through Moses in the Old Testament.

D.ii. MEANING OF NUMBER NINE AND NUMBER ELEVEN

99=9x11. The number 9 means ‘fruits’ and the number 11 means ‘disorder’. So the

number 99 means that the fruits that the Pharisees bear are of disorder. We notice that

99 are left in the wilderness. We also know that Moses and the Israelites died in the

wilderness (Numbers 26:65).

D.iii. MEANING OF NUMBER ONE

One is the number for Beginnings and Unity.

In the parable, 99 sheep are left in the wilderness, so the lost sheep is in the promised

land.

Let us have a look at 2 Peter 3:9.