The Bible says in Ezekiel 34:16, I will seek
that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind
up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will
destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
Even though human beings fail, God does not fail. Even though Christians are
not the witnesses that they ought to be, Gods truth will still march forward. Jesus
is the one who seeks lost souls anyway. He might use us, but it is His work.
Jesus stands at the hearts door and knocks. When anyone gets saved, it is
because Jesus has sought them out in their soul and touched. He might use you,
but it is Him.
Notice one sad fact about lost souls.
It says in verse 16 that the lost was driven away.
Unfortunately, when someone goes astray it is often because someone else led
them astray. It might be a bad example, or a false teacher, or just a very evil
person that leads someone astray. It is a common story in the life of almost
everyone who is away from God. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, He that is
not with me is against me; and he that gathereth
not with me scattereth abroad.
Knowing how badly others might influence you, it is best to be on your guard.
You want to have a Christian influence on others instead of them having a bad
influence on you. King David wrote in Psalms 1:1-2, Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful.[2] But his delight is in the law of
the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Davids son King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:10, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Once Jesus does save a soul, He wants
that soul to be able to grow and mature spiritually. God said at the end of
verse 16, I will feed them with judgment. Every believer needs
spiritual food: in other words teaching from the Bible. Your primary teacher is
the Lord. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Just like in seeking
souls, the Lord wants to use people to teach the truth. God gives the gift to
teach to some so that they will be equipped to teach the sound doctrine of
Gods Word to the believers. If you have a good shepherd as a pastor, the Lord
will use him to teach the Word so that Christians will be healed and
strengthened in their souls. If you do not learn from the Lord and get good
teachings, you will stay a weak and immature Christian.
There are those who think that they
are fine just the way they are. They do not need to be taught so they think.
God said, but I will destroy the fat and the
strong. If you think you are weak and needy and failing, then in one
standpoint you are in a good place because at least you know that you need to
turn to the Lord and need to hear from Him. But if you think that you are a
full grown Christian, and that you are strong enough, and that everything is
fine, then that is when you are in trouble. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 34:17-22, And as for
you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.[18] Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good
pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures?
and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your
feet?[19] And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with
your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.[20]
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold,
I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.[21]
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased
with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;[22] Therefore will
I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between
cattle and cattle. In the Old Testament Israel was considered Gods flock.
He called them in verse 17, my flock. But then God makes it very clear that as the Great
Shepherd, He has something that He is going to do with the flock. He is going
to take a close look at the cattle, and He is going to judge them. God said in
verse 20, Behold, I, even I, will judge
between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. God says that He will save the flock by getting rid of
the bad cattle. The bad ones are harming the good ones. God is doing the same
thing today with believers. Jesus wants quality, not quantity. That is why many
who seem to be in the flock will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus
will separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus said in Matthew 25:31-34, When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:[32]
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats:[33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the
goats on the left.[34] Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world:
The Bible says in Ezekiel 34:23-26, And I will
set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David;
he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.[24] And I the LORD
will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have
spoken it.[25] And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will
cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in
the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.[26] And I will make them and the
places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down
in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. This passage
is a Messianic passage, prophesying about the coming of Christ. It is a mixture
of both the first coming and the second coming. The first thing that the
Messiah is called is a shepherd. Jesis said about
Himself in John 10:11-14, I am the good
shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep.
[12] But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the
sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth:
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth
the sheep.[13] The hireling fleeth,
because he is an hireling, and careth not for the
sheep.[14] I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am
known of mine. The shepherds of the Old
Testament did not do their job. They became bad shepherds who did what they did
for money. They became hirelings. And so God sent a good Shepherd to save the
lost sheep and to feed the sheep.
In verse 23 the Messiah is called my servant
David. That is because Jesus would come in the lineage of David. Both
Mary, his mother, and Joseph, his step-father were in the lineage of David. The
first verse in the first book of the New Testament says the following: The book of
the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
The Messiah is King in the lineage of King David.
This passage has some teachings in it
that refer to the one thousand year reign of Christ that will start after the
Second Coming. For example, it says in verse 25, will cause
the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness,
and sleep in the woods. That is the same environment that will occur when the wild
animals will no longer be wild, as stated in Isaiah 11:6, The wolf
also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
shall lead them.
Once Jesus becomes your shepherd, then
and only then do you have a personal relationship with God. After saying that
Jesus will be the Shepherd, God says in verse 24, And I the
LORD will be their God. The greatest spiritual need that every human being has is to
know the Lord as Savior. Only then can you be reconciled to God and brought
into fellowship with Him. Without Jesus you are separated from God. Without
Jesus you are still in your sins. Without Jesus you will not enter into the
Kingdom of heaven.
We are blessed that God decided to
send a Shepherd. That is exactly what we all need. But that is not the only
blessing. Notice that the last phrase of verse 26 says, there shall be showers of blessing. Coming to
know Jesus as your Savior and your Shepherd will result in a multitude of
blessings that will be showered upon you both in this age of grace, in the one
thousand year reign of Christ, and in the eternal ages beyond that. All those
blessings will be because of Jesus the great shepherd. By the way, rain
symbolizes blessings from God. Each drop of rain that comes down from the sky symbolize another blessing that falls upon you from God and
from Jesus the Savior.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 34:27-31, And the tree
of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and
they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I
have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of
those that served themselves of them.[28] And they shall no more be a
prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they
shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.[29] And I will
raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with
hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any
more.[30] Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with
them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.[31] And ye my flock, the flock
of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the
Lord GOD. Verse 27 gives several of the countless benefits of being
rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ. God says, the tree of the
field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. God will bless your efforts and your work. If you want to
reach your potential, you must be connected spiritually with Jesus. If you do
your best without being spiritually in tune with Christ, you results will be
far less than if you do your best at the same time that you are in fellowship
with Christ relying on Him and depending on Him for His strength, help, and
guidance. Jesus said, I am come that you
might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
Verse 27 also says, they shall be safe in their land. There is no
safer place to be than in the arms of Christ. We are mortal, and there are many
dangers in life on this earth: disease, natural disasters, accidents, violence,
war, and more. There is no safer place than to trust in the Almighty God each
day. Jesus loves you. He will not let anything happen to you that is not a part of His plan. If the worst happens, then you
die and go to heaven. You are safe.
This wonderful promise about the future was made specifically to
the nation of Israel. God was setting them aside for just a little while (so
far for almost 2,500 years,) but God still has Israel in His plans. God wants
to make that clear. The concept of eternal security is based upon that same
characteristic that God always demonstrates: once He makes a promise, He always
keeps His promise even when man fails. One of the truths to notice about the
great future that God has planned for the future is the fact that the Gentiles
are invited to enter into those blessings. We are invited to put our faith in
Jesus. That is how we enter in. Paul wrote about this relationship between the
Gentiles and the Jews in regards to the Kingdom of God in Romans chapter 11. It
says in Romans 11:13-22, Now
if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the
riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?[13]
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I
magnify mine office:[14] If by any means I may provoke to emulation them
which are my flesh, and might save some of them.[15] For if the casting
away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them
be, but life from the dead?[16] For if the firstfruit
be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.[17]
And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree,
wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive
tree;[18] Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.[19] Thou
wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.[20] Well; because of unbelief they were
broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:[21]
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not
thee.[22] Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them
which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his
goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. If you want to be graffed into the olive branch, call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus while there is time.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2017 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved