THE SHOULDER
R. S. Renton
Luke 15: 5; Exodus 28: 12; Isaiah 9: 6
We rightly associate the ‘shoulder’ with power, or the ability to sustain. Saul, according to 1
Samuel 9, had every advantage including that Samuel instructed the cook to set the shoulder and what was on it for him to eat. This should have constitutionally given him power for kingship but, alas, it did not have this effect on him. We require to continue to feed on what would give us strength which would mean that we must give increased place to the Spirit of God, so that we are maintained in spiritual power and freshness while we await the Lord’s return. The reference in Luke 15 is to the shepherd’s own shoulders, and in Exodus 28 we read that Aaron the priest bore the names of the children of Israel on his two shoulders, and in Isaiah 9 the Lord Jesus will sustain the government on His one shoulder. Scripture is always perfectly accurate and as we read it in its context, we have an increased impression of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As believers in our Lord Jesus, we are all recovered persons, and from the passage in Luke, we understand how valuable each believer is to the Lord, who is our Shepherd. He does not entrust His own to the greatest
person, angel or archangel, but He lays each one, as the sheep in the parable on His own shoulders rejoicing. How secure and protected we are as we are brought on His own shoulders, not to the field, but to the house where there is the circle of affection and supreme joy. The One who has found the lost sheep has joy and the sympathetic company who share with Him in this joy. Our part in this is to be repenting to add to the merriment, “thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”.
The passage in Exodus emphasises the greatness of the people of God in that the high priest, employs his two shoulders, typifying our Lord Jesus as He bears us up before God. The shoulder pieces allude to the place we have as of the family of God. In Hebrews we read,
“Whence also he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them. For such a high priest became us ...” (Hebrews 7: 25, 26). The expression “became us” indicates how great the persons are who are represented by that High Priest. The epistle to the Hebrews brings out the glory of Christ in His priestly service so that we are exhorted, “Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help”, Hebrews 4: 16. How could we continue in the path of the will of God without the intercessory service of our Lord Jesus who is always living to intercede for us?
The scripture in Isaiah 9 refers to what will happen in the future and fills the hearts of the saints with deepest joy and admiration for the One we love, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is at the moment despised and rejected by men, but He is about to come again and take up His kingly rights. He is now at the right hand of God in His Father’s throne, but He will soon take His own throne when the government of the world to come will be sustained on His shoulder.
How wonderful the fact that one shoulder is sufficient for this purpose! How great is
our Lord Jesus! When that time comes believers on Him shall be with Him in glory, with bodies of glory, like His body of glory. How it fills the heart with supreme joy at the prospect! “And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth”, Psalm 72: 8. Then He will fill the earth with blessing, but meantime, while we await that time, and have to live in a world which is increasing in wickedness and lawlessness, He fills our hearts with peace and joy.
May He have an increasing place in our affections as we move through this poor world, in the power of the Holy Spirit, experiencing His shepherd service to us, as conscious of the place we have on His two shoulders, until He takes His rightful place with the government on one shoulder.
Edinburgh