On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep was born at the University of Edinburg. She was the first animal cloned from the cell of an adult mammal.
Dolly’s existence was announced to the public on February 22, 1997. The event gained much attention in the media; A commercial with Scottish scientists playing with sheep was aired on TV, and a special report in Time magazine featured Dolly the sheep. Science featured Dolly as the breakthrough of the year. Even though Dolly was not the first animal cloned, she received media attention because she was the first cloned from an adult cell.
The psalmist wrote,” know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture“.
You did not make yourself, God did.
The pasture is His, you’re just grazing in it.
Phillip Keller, author of the book A Shepherd takes a look at Psalm 23, writes,”…the lot of any sheep, depends on the character of the man who owns it.” As a follower of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we know that he gave his life for the sheep. That’s the kind of character our Shepherd has.
He died so that we could live.
Keller, himself a Shepherd, tells of a stubborn Ewe he owned who would constantly escape the pasture, tearing through fences. When she began teaching her lambs to do the same, Keller, the Shepherd, had to make a decision. For the good of the flock, he slaughtered that Ewe.
Solomon wrote, “He, that being often reproved (and hardens) his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy”.
But the Good Shepherd, Jesus said, “… God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”. His will is to “have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”.
“… the sheep follow Him (Jesus): for they know his voice.”
Can you hear his voice? He is calling you into his pastures green; Into a joyful life on earth and an eternity of peace with Him. Forever.
