Jesus Christ was sent by God to search for the lost sheep. 

Ezekiel 34:11-12

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.” Ezekiel 34:11-12

It is indeed a dark and cloudy day when masses of people are scattered and separated from Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the world. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12

God could no longer depend on the Jewish leaders to bring the Israelites into obedience to His will and to the Ten Commandments. The majority of the Israelites had gone astray to follow other gods that were literally opposite of the Ten Commandments. God sent Jesus Christ to search for and seek out the Jewish people to gather them to be reconciled to the will of God. The first mission of Jesus Christ was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, “But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24

Jesus Christ gathered many of the Jewish people to reconcile them to God, as described, “And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19;9-10 Also, every one of the Twelve Apostles were Jewish. Jesus Christ was indeed searching for and seeking out God’s lost sheep among the Israelites.

Jesus spoke these words to the woman seeking His help and she was despised by the Jewish people/Israelites, “Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Matthew 15:25-26 He was saying that He was there to feed the Jewish people, not those outside of that congregation. The woman said something to Him that reflects His ministry to the whosoever, to everyone outside the Jewish people, “And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Matthew 15:27 The faith of this despised woman touched the heart of Jesus, and He granted her request, “Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” Matthew 15:28

Jesus Christ also told the Jewish people that they were not His sheep because they do not believe Him, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:26-28 We who believe in Him are those who hear His voice and we are His sheep.

Paul was a lost sheep of the house of Israel, a Jew of all Jews, and a chief Pharisee before He saw the light and received Jesus Crist as His Lord. After the Jewish people opposed His testimony about Jesus Christ, he said this, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Acts 18:6

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13 The sheep that Jesus Christ searches for and seeks out are whoever believes in Him, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

---

“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11