Sheep

“We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise!”

Psalm 100:3–4

David loved God so much that he believed the animal was honored if it was chosen to be slain and offered in sacrifice on God’s altar.  He once wrote, “The sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God” (Ps. 84:3).

In our beginning verse, David said we are God’s sheep, and he then invites us to joyfully enter God’s courts . . . where sheep were slaughtered and offered on the brass altar that stood in there.  David would have been thrilled at Paul’s exhortation to the saints in Rome: “I entreat you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1).

The gates are open; the fire is burning on the altar for sacrifice that stands in the LORD’s courtyard.  Who among His sheep today will receive David’s exhortation?  Who will follow Jesus’ example and pass through the gate with thanksgiving toward the altar, and enter as a joyful lamb into God’s court?