Some of the most tender scriptures about the Lord refer to him as a Shepherd. Not in the sense of Ezekiel’s neglectful and ravenous false shepherds, but in the sense of the kindest of sheepherders. Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”[i]
Jesus is prophesying how he would give his life for us his sheep. This seems like an extreme act for a human to give his life for a sheep. But shepherds were well known to defend their flocks from ravenous predators at the risk of their own life. David, the young lowly sheepherder, said to Saul the King:
“Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.”
Ezekiel condemns the ancient shepherd leaders of Israel for doing the opposite of Jesus and David:
“You drink their milk and use their wool to make your clothes. Then you butcher the best ones for food. But you don’t take care of the flock!”[ii]
Jesus likewise condemned them:
“All who came before Me [as false messiahs and self-appointed leaders] are thieves and robbers, but the [true] sheep did not hear them.”[iii]
Jehovah who is none other than the premortal Jesus Christ said how He would personally gather the sheep driven away by false teachers:
“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.”[iv]
Jesus said the same thing in Jerusalem:
“the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.”[v]
These are the latter days of Ezekiel’s prophesy where the Lord God of Israel, Jesus Christ himself, is gathering his sheep by his gentle voice into the safety of the sheepfold. We need to be humble and turn from Babylon and turn to Him, to hear His voice and follow Him. He gave his life for us, the wandering sheep so vulnerable to ravenous wolves, bears and lions.
[i] John 10:11 KJV
[ii] Ezekiel 34:3 Contemporary English Version
[iii] John 10:8 Amplified Bible
[iv] Ezekiel 34:11-12 KJV
[v] John 10:3-4 KJV
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