(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.
(2 Peter 3:9) "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance."
There is a parallel between 2 Peter 3:9 and Luke 15:4. In the verse 9 of 2 Peter 3, the
Lord says that He does not want any of us to perish but that we repent of our sins. In the
forth verse of Luke 15, the man having the sheep goes after that which is lost. It does
mean that, that man does not want the lost one to perish.
What will happen is that when he will find the one which is lost, it would bring order and
unity because the sheep will be with its shepherd. When God created Adam. Adam was
spending time with God. There was unity. But when Adam and Eve sinned, sin entered
the world and it separated them and us from a Holy God. But when Christ died on the
cross and rose from the dead, He brought back unity between God and man.
*****
E. IMAGE OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST REVEALED
(Luke 15:5) “And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing."
Five is the number of grace. In the fifth verse, we understand that the lost sheep is found
and the man lays it on his shoulders. There is a picture of the cross in this verse, when
Jesus carried the cross on his shoulders when He was crucified and rose from the dead,
meaning that He took the sins of the lost and of the whole world on His shoulders.
*****
F. THE CROSS BRINGS ORDER, UNITY AND RECONCILIATION
F.i. (Colossians 1:20) "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by
him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things
in earth, or things in heaven."
(Luke 15:6) “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."
When the lost sheep was found, it brought unity and reconciliation between
him and the Shepherd. Now the lost sheep represents the sinner and the
Shepherd, Jesus, hence the lost sheep found implies that the sinner was found
and was united and reconciled to God.
F.ii. (Luke 15:7) “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."
Since the number 7 represents spiritual completion and perfection, the verse 7
here reveals that there is joy when a sinner repents, thus conveying that
repentance of the sinner is the achievement of perfect spiritual completion.
*****
G. CONCLUDING NOTE
G.i. So we can conclude from the above study that works, no matter how good they
are, and self-righteousness will leave us in the wilderness, whereas when we
acknowledge that we are lost, Jesus will come to our rescue and save us.
G.ii. Therefore, the main lesson of this parable is that we are not saved by works
but by grace. Jesus used this parable to explain to the Pharisees and scribes
that in fact they could never save themselves through observance of the law,
but that they had to acknowledge their sins as the Publicans and sinners in
order to be saved.
*****
H. NOTES
All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version