Jesus said: “for the son of man has come to save that which was lost.“ (Matthew 18:11), and continued with the parable of the lost sheep (verse 12). So when we read about the lost sheep , we tend to focus on the sheep and the miracle of salvation – the rejoicing in heaven – when one is returned to the fold. Another translation actually puts it: “to find lost people and to save them.”

As true as this is, I think there is a bigger picture as well. The Greek word translated as “lost” means much more than just wondered off track; it means killed, ruined, destroyed. Matthew quotes Jesus as saying this in the context of children being corrupted, but when Jesus talks about coming to save the lost  in Luke’s Gospel He is referring to Zacchaeus the tax collector, who clearly was not a little child. Jesus’s statement is far more powerful and explosive than we tend to make it. I don’t think He is only talking about people who are lost to their Father’s love, but He is talking about the creation that the Father lost when Adam handed it over to Satan in the garden of Eden. He is talking about the heart of the Shepherd, not just the condition of the sheep. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but receive everlasting life,” is about lost people, but verse 17 is about the lost world: “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might him through him might be saved.“

Jesus left his Father’s side and the sheep fold of heaven, that through Him the ruined creation might be saved. Talking figuratively of Elijah, He says (Matt 17:11) that the Holy Spirit “will restore all things.” When Peter preached the gospel after healing the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, he said that heaven must receive Jesus “until the time times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken of by His holy prophets since the world began.” We can pick apart the phrase “restoration of all things“ to make it fit our theology until every Greek cypher is dust in our hands, but surely the restoration of all things means the restoration of all things. All things. Jesus came from heaven to gather the lost sheep into His arms to bring it back to the Father’s fold. Having completed the work of salvation at the cross, He and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to make it fit for heaven again. When Jesus comes for His bride all of creation will be restored: “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. … because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19,21)

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that God’s Geography isn’t the same as ours. The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a place that we travel to; it’s a dimension that our spirits move in. Jesus told us where it is in Luke 17:21 “Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” When the miraculous happens in our lives the Kingdom of God crosses dimensions and comes to us, restoring another ruined corner of creation to God’s perfection. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The Holy Spirit is longing to restore every ruined area of our lives: it’s what He has come here for. Habakkuk gave us these wonderful verses at the end of his prophesy:

“Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labour of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.” (Habakkuk 3: 17-19)

We may have been a Christian for many years and still find ourselves wandering in the midst of the devil’s ruin. Our spirits can feel a long way from the fold where they belong. When that happens we need to take our eyes off the barren fields and the empty stalls and focus them on the Good Shepherd and the abundant life of His Kingdom. Then He will come, gather us bleating in His arms, and make us ‘walk on our high hills’ again.