Scripture Meditation: Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 13:7-9; John 10:1-18
The next hint about the Promised Messiah comes from the prophet Ezekiel. I want to encourage you to spend some time reading Ezekiel 34.
The Lord had set over his people shepherds to watch over His people’s spiritual needs. They were to do all the things that good shepherds do in caring for the flock: feed and water them through the Word of God, protect them from those who would harm them and take them away from the God who loves them, bind up their wounds and put ointment on them to heal them through the Word from the wounds that are incurred from living in a sin-cursed world. They were given the honorable task by the Lord to take care of His people on His behalf. But instead of caring for them, these shepherds robbed from the sheep. The sheep were starving under their care. At the hands of these bad shepherds, the sheep were wounded and broken. They were scattered and abused and had no protection. Always in Scripture we see that the LORD is in His heaven and He is not ignorant and unfeeling to the plight of His people. He sees, He hears, He knows and He acts. In the midst of this horrible abuse of His people, the Lord says “I Myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 34:15) And then in verse 23 He says, “I will set up over them one Shepherd, My Servant David, and He shall feed them; He shall feed them and be their Shepherd.”
When Jesus comes on the scene many years later and says, “I am the good Shepherd. I know my own and my sheep know me...the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” those who were well versed in the Old Testament Scriptures would have been stunned into silence. Ringing in their heads would have been the words of the prophet Ezekiel. They would have known exactly what Jesus was claiming. He was claiming to be God Himself who had come to Shepherd the sheep. And unlike the shepherds that had been entrusted with the care of the flock of God, many of whom were the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was the Good Shepherd. He came to feed the starving sheep from the food of the Word of God. He came to offer them living water that leads to eternal life. He came to bring them rest for their weary souls. And He came to bind up the wounds that have been brought us by the curse and consequences of sin and heal them by laying down His life on the cross, for it is by His wounds we are healed!
If the Lord truly is YOUR Shepherd, you will not want for anything!
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