Viewing scripture along this third and final horizon allows us to go back and read Ezekiel 34 from this side of the cross. What Ezekiel and those of his time saw only in shadow we see in more full light: that Jesus is the Messiah, the true shepherd of God’s sheep. With the words “I am the good shepherd” Jesus resolves the dilemma of how both God and David can tend the lambs. There is only “one shepherd,” and that is Christ, the individual in whom reside both divinity and humanity. He is the God-man, and that is why He is the true shepherd.
In the canonical horizon of scripture we see the beautiful picture of God’s redemptive plan revealed. The true shepherd was not meant to redeem Israel from physical captivity and enslavement, but from spiritual bondage to sin and death. This the shepherd does by laying down His life for the sheep. Ezekiel 34 with its description of restoration, redemption, security, and the covenant of peace points us to the cross of Christ where all these promises find fulfillment. The prophet Ezekiel declares that God will “make with [the sheep] a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.” The question we must ask is how, how will God make this covenant of peace with them?
Covenants were made with the shedding of blood and in them God binds Himself to do something for man. What more beautiful picture do we have of God binding Himself to man, and a covenant being made with the shedding of blood than at the cross? It is at the cross, where the true shepherd laid down His life for the sheep, that we see a covenant of peace established. Here is the fulfillment of what Ezekiel says, “They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid” (v. 28). And it is echoed in Jesus’ own sentiments in John 10. There He says:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (vv. 27-30)
As Ezekiel predicted so Jesus promises: security for the sheep within the folds of God. No wild beast, foreign nation, or scheme of man and Satan can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
Does Ezekiel 34 make you rejoice friends? Do you see in the text the future promise of our restoration, our salvation, our peace and security? This is a text that was intended to give great comfort to a people in physical slavery, to remind them of the hope to come in the messiah. It was a text that pointed toward the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies that had been declared throughout Israel’s history at different times. But God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, included this text in our Bibles so that we would see His plan to redeem us from of old.
God has had a plan to bring sheep who are not of Israel into His folds for a long time, indeed before the foundations of the world even. And all throughout history He has been revealing that plan. As we read Ezekiel 34 we see that nothing would deter God from seeing His plan to full fruition. Let us pause for a moment, then, and consider what astounding grace is displayed here. God inspired chapter 34 of Ezekiel to emphasize the surety of His plan to redeem a sinful, wretched, and offensive people like us. How amazing that we should be called the sheep of God at all, let alone that God should give us this chapter to show how throughout history He was bringing all this to completion in the death of His Son. Let Ezekiel 34 take root in your heart and compel you to rejoice friends.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 