"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." [Lk 12:6-7]
It says in Job, that in God’s “hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” [Job 12:10] From this, we conclude God is the sole provider and sustainer of life; as The Spirit says through Paul, “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” [Acts 17:25] God alone holds every living soul. If something is alive, God is the one-and-only sustainer of that life; though many things take part in a life, yet God is the true source for all, seeing that He has invented and created all things. And it is The LORD who holds the power to kill and to make alive, to create and to destroy. For we read again regarding men and beasts in the Psalms, wherein The Psalmist says, “thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust;” and again, “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” [Psa 104:29, 1 Sam 2:6] And once more, “see now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.” [Deut 32:39-40]
Clearly, it is our great and awesome God who uniquely takes responsibility for not just the creation of life but also its continued existence. It may bring us great joy then to meditate upon the fact that we who are reading this are still alive. We yet have consciousness in our bodies; we yet have breath in our lungs; we have been granted life for another day. And why? So that we, as Revelation makes clear, might give Jesus Christ, for whom all things were created, [Col 1:16] pleasure. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they continue to exist and were created.” [Rev 4:11] Yes, “for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” [Rom 11:36] So let us rejoice that God has found it pleasing in His sight to allow us another day; He has pitied us once again, allowing His sun to rise upon our faces and bless us with its warmth; for yet another day we may feel the breeze upon our cheeks and experience the pleasures of taste, and color, and smell. Praise be to God, who has not left us alone, but who in His great and tender mercies, has blessed us with life and with the gracious revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ.
We do see that the life of man is precious; for it is written, “so God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” [Gen 1:27] But not only is the life of man precious; remember that God also has created animals, though not in His image, and upholds them as well. And we see in our verse today that even though sparrows, for example, are of little worth, yet God knows each and every one of them, and not one of them perish without His knowledge or approval. The sparrow spoken of here is most likely the common house sparrow or passer domesticus, the most common bird in Israel.[1] This is a very small and common bird, one of the most common types around the world. When we read Jesus’ words, we can understand this, as the bird did not fetch a very high price at all, being the equivalent of roughly one dollar at the price of “two farthings” per five birds. [Testament Press, LLC] If we assume a population of 1.6 billion house sparrows in the entire world and divide this by a recent figure calculating the world’s net worth, we calculate that these tiny birds encapsulate a meager 0.00038 percent of the world’s wealth.[2] But even though these birds are of little value, yet God thinks upon them and takes care for them, for Jesus says, “not one of them is forgotten before God,” and, “one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” [Mt 10:29] If we may ponder upon this fact for a little while longer, we may fill our minds with that which, as Paul says is worthy to think of, those “things [which] are lovely.” [Phil 4:8] For remember in Psalms what is written regarding our redemption price: that not one rich man upon earth has enough wealth to redeem his brother. God says, “none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:).” [Psa 49:7-8] There is no amount of gold, silver, or any other precious metal upon earth, no, not even in the universe, which would be able to satisfy the price required for our salvation. For we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ.” [1 Pe 1:18-19] The only price which is satisfactory was Jesus’ blood, a substance of such precious value that even if all the wealth of the world were continuously duplicated and supplied in payment to God, would fall vastly short.
When we remember that Christ Jesus is God’s only Son, “The Son of His Love,” [Col 1:13] and that “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand,” [Jn 3:35] we come to a startling and glorious conclusion regarding God’s character. Jesus Christ, whom The Father loves above all, shed His precious blood, a thing which is beyond price, at The Father’s will and hand. Since this is true, if God takes such thought and care for birds, who are magnificently and tremendously smaller in value compared to Christ’s blood, then how much more thought and care must He take for Christ His Son? And thus, we conclude, for us, who are found to be in Him and purchased with that blood? For John comforts us, saying, “as [Jesus] is, so are we in this world,” [1 Jn 4:17] and Jesus encourages us further, saying, “even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows;” and again, in the Psalms it is written,
“Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” [Psa 40:5]
Praise be to Jesus Christ who grants us such love and care from our Father. If The LORD takes such careful thought for insignificant fowl, how much more for us, who are redeemed by His Son’s exceedingly precious blood? This fact regarding sparrows is quite marvellous; it reveals to us God’s care for the smallest detail or individual. Let us meditate upon this truth: for if God cares for the minute sparrow, easily lost in the vast scope of creation, certainly He gives exceeding more attention to every child of His who was bought with the precious blood of His Son. Our Heavenly Father says, “every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” [Psa 50:10] And we are also told, “the earth is The LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it…” [Psa 24:1-2] Even though God owns and has created all animals, not just birds, let us meditate for a moment upon only birds. If we are conservative, and estimate a total world population of 50 billion birds, [Nat’l Geographic], house sparrows only account for three percent of them all. But let us be careful to consider that our tender and good Father does care for each individual sparrow. The impact one sparrow has on 50 billion is numerically speaking incredibly small. And if we account for all animals, the number plunges vastly further; and if we then take into account all life, such as plants, and do remember that our God guides and maintains all the heavenly bodies (for, “he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” [Isa 40:26]), we begin to realize just how supremely thoughtful and caring our God is. And if The LORD, Strong and Mighty, takes thought for just one sparrow, how much exceedingly more thought must He take for us, who are “accepted in the Beloved [Son],” [Eph 1:6] and who are “dear children.” [Eph 5:1] Surely, our God shall never forget us, and gives us surety in this manner, proclaiming, “can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” [Isa 49:15] Yes praise be to God again, for His care, His pity, His mercy, reach to the heavens, extending far beyond even the furthest star – our God cares for and loves us of a truth.
[1] Feliks, Jehudia. .“.” Encyclopaedia Judaica. . Encyclopedia.Com. 18 Mar. 2024 .” Encyclopedia.Com, Encyclopedia.com, 5 May 2018, http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/animals/vertebrate-zoology/sparrow.
[2] If 1 dollar is equivalent to 0.37 As, then one house sparrow costs 1.08 dollars. If there is a population of 1.6 billion, that is 1.7 billion dollars. If we divide by a total net worth of 454.4 trillion dollars, that is .0003807 percent.
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