Topic: The Real Shepherd
Take some time and read through Ezekiel 34. Notice how God is speaking to the shepherds of Israel and then highlight the promise of a coming shepherd.
Understand that God isn’t talking to literal shepherds here. He’s talking to the leaders of the day—in this context, the political leaders, but we can also see this as a judgment against religious leaders. God saw his people struggling under the weight of sin and the law, while the leaders were getting fat off the flock. At the time Ezekiel was writing, the people were in exile. They had been taken from the promised land because their kings had failed to lead them with righteousness and justice.
God’s heart broke for his people. He looks at the leaders and says in verse 4, “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”
Three times in verses 5-6 he says, “My sheep were scattered.” They had been betrayed by their kings. They had been broken under the law. Kings couldn’t save them. The law couldn’t save them. We lit the candle of desperation this morning to remind us that God’s people were in a desperate situation.
So desperate times call for desperate measures. And in verses 11-16 of Ezekiel 34, God begins to spell out exactly what He will do. As you listen for this, listen for what God says He will do because he cares for the sheep: “I will search for them Myself…I will feed them…I will lead them to rest…”
Verse 23 is a promise of a new shepherd. God has someone in mind, someone who is completely different from the selfish leaders they knew. And we know that this shepherd is Jesus, the Son of God. God is bringing a whole new world into existence. As a result, He says once more, “They shall know that I am the Lord.” (v.27) And he concludes with the words, “You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the Lord God.” (v.32)
This is the language of promise. This is the language of hope. This is the language of salvation. God is bringing something new to replace the old. He will save his people. And God will do it with a new kind of King, one that comes through David’s line, one who would be true to God, and one who would be a true shepherd. The True Shepherd. We know now that the true shepherd he was talking about was Jesus, the Messiah, not an earthly ruler, but a heavenly one. In John 10, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.”
Some of you are looking for a shepherd to open the gate to you. You feel lost. You have strayed. You have been hurt. You are ready to enter in, to become part of the flock of Jesus, to experience his safety, his healing, his protection. If you have not yet made that decision, you can do that here today. Jesus is the real Shepherd!
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem