Ezekiel 34: Old Words, Good Shepherd

"And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and

he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd." Ezekiel 34:23

Why do we read the Old Testament? After all, isn't it "old" and "unneeded"? We've been given the New Testament that speaks clearly of Christ and his work, so why do we need something that's "old"?

Well, the last time I checked, "old" was not a synonym with "unneeded" and "useless." (And if you beg to differ, I encourage you to consider calling your 77-year-old grandma "useless." I don't think you'll be receiving Christmas money from her for the next 8 years.) In fact, there are many reasons why the Old Testament is very needed and very useful. For one, let us realize that the God of the Old Testament is the exact same God we see in the New Testament. Yet besides this, we find within scripture itself many reasons to read the Old Testament. We don't have time to look at them all this morning, but we will look at the one that Jesus points out in Luke 24, that is, that the Old Testament points us to Christ.

In Ezekiel 34, we find a great chapter speaking of God as the shepherd of Israel. Although Israel's "shepherds" (that is, their priests who were supposed to be their leaders in the ways of God) were failing miserably at their jobs (see the first six verses of Ezekiel 34), God promised to provide where they had lacked. Whereas Israel's shepherds led her sheep astray and lost, God promised to "search for my sheep and will seek them out." In other words, God promised to go out and find those sheep who were his, and call them unto himself. Hhhhmmm, perhaps this sounds familiar?

Furthermore, not only would God find his sheep, but he would feed his sheep: "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the week. . . .I will feed them in justice." What God means here by feeding his sheep "in justice" points to how God would provide for the sheep who were afflicted. Although the priests of Israel would take advantage of the sheep, God would be just to the outcast and the weak, providing for their every need.

Yet, the imagery of God as Israel's shepherd does not stop here. God states furthermore that he would "set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd" (Ez. 34:23). Woah, woah, woah, what's going on here? First of all, last time I checked, David's dead. Secondly, God just said that he would be Israel's shepherd, but now he's saying that he'll put another shepherd over them...how does that make sense? Well, the answer is simple when we realize how this one verse points us directly to Christ. Christ was the "son of David" who would himself be Israel's "good Shepherd" (cf. John 10). Since God and Christ are one (which was Jesus' very point in John 10, interestingly enough), for Christ to be Israel's shepherd was for God to be Israel's shepherd. Thus, the entirety of Ezekiel 34 points us to Christ.

What we must realize in our study of the New Testament is that oftentimes there are Old Testament foreshadowings that are easily missed. May I suggest that you have heard many sermons on John 10, perhaps never being pointed back to Ezekiel 34? I can almost guarantee to you that the Jews listening to Jesus' words in John 10 were thinking of nothing but Ezekiel 34, yet so often we miss these connections. However, if we were committed to studying the Old Testament, these connections would be all the more clear to us, and we would be even more motivated in our Bible study to find the wisdom of God in fulfilling his sovereign plans in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Thus, this morning I have two applications. Firstly, take great comfort in knowing that God, in Christ, is your Good Shepherd. He will both find you (as he already has in salvation) and feed you (that is, with the truth of his word). If we have a Good Shepherd looking out for us, who is willing to give his life for us, whom shall we fear? Secondly, read your Old Testament. Remember: the Old Testament was the only Bible that Jesus had, and the Bible that Jesus self-proclaimed pointed to himself (go read Luke 24). Thus to call it "old" and "useless" is to forsake the inerrancy and infallibility of God's Word. Read the Old Testament, dive into it, and never let it go, and God your Good Shepherd will feed you thoroughly with its truths, I promise.