The Good Shepherd

I was incredibly blessed last night in my daily Through-the-Bible reading to get a new glimpse of Jesus and His glory.  I was reading from Ezekiel 34 and John 10, and I don't know if the people who designed the reading plan intended this, but both passages overlap marvelously.

In Ezekiel 34, we get a stunning picture of the grace of God and His plan of future redemption in Christ.  This is especially amazing, coming after 33 straight chapters of judgment.  At the beginning of chapter 34, God condemns the shepherds of Israel (their spiritual leaders), saying "The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought."  But then a few verses later, the tone shifts dramatically:

"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will see them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered... I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak... 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.  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.  I am the LORD; I have spoken."

What a prophecy!  We see its fulfillment in John 10: 

So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me where thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Praise God for that!  He Himself will be the shepherd, and lay down His life for His sheep that He will seek out and bring in and bind up and heal.