The Christian is a sheep and belongs to a flock

Reading Ezec.34

Sheep & A Flock. The language and imagery is common in both the OT and the NT when speaking of God’s people and as early as the book of Genesis the Lord God is described as having been a shepherd to the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac.

David, the King of Israel referred to God’s people as being his “flock”

Eg. David in 2Sam.24:17 “Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

And the Psalms repeatedly use this sort of language.

Ps.74:1 “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?”

Ps.77:20 “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Ps.78:52 “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.”

Ps.79:13 “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.”

Ps.95:7 “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Ps.119:176 “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.”

Isaiah in the 53^rd chapter employs the same imagery: Is.53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray;         we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Way back in Nu.26:16-17 Moses had pleaded with the Lord in prayer using such language. He was heard receiving a favourable answer: “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

Yet the leaders failed time after time eg. 1Ki.22:17 “And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.”’ These are the words of Micaiah the prophet to Ahab King of Israel and Jehoshaphat King of Judah when these two formed an unholy alliance to fight against their common Syrian enemy.

Jeremiah recorded the disastrous effet of godless leaders uon the flock of God in Jer.23:1-2 ““Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD.”

Such behaviour put the flock in danger and the Lord was not indifferent!

Lost                    Jer.50:6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.

Hunted              Jer.50:17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.”

Hungry/unfed and uncared for:

Ezec.34:2-5 ““Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 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, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.”

§  Judgment to fall upon the poor/wicked shepherds who instead or serving God’s flock served themselves and destroyed his people: Ezc.34:10 “Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.”

§  God promises to perform the task a shepherd himself :

                                    I.             He will seek the lost

                                  II.             He will rescue them

                                III.             He will provide for them

Ezec.34:11-16 ““For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek 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 places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.  I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 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 the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

§  God promises to judge and to discipline his own people as some have lived only thinking of themselves and have not cared for others. Ezec.34:17-20 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? “Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.”

§  The chapter ends with God speaking of appointing another as shepherd: Ezec.34:23-24 “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.”

We have here the beginning of the idea that The shepherd, the Good Shepherd, will in some way be both divine and distinct from God. In the OT this remained something of a mystery even though the prophet Zechariah was to take up the theme and develop it further. Not until the coming of Christ did it become clear that God himself in his nature was plural – Father, Son and Spirit. Thus it is clear that the shepherd can at the same time be divine and distinct from the Father!

And indeed in turning to the NT the term shepherd is applied to Jesus and the terms flock, sheep etc. are regularly used of Jesus’ disciples. We’ll return to consider Jesus as the Good Shepherd this evening.

Other references in the NT speak of how church leaders are to function in relation to the church:

Acts 20:28-30 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Notice that as Paul addressed the elders of the Ephesian church he speaks to the same type of dangers experienced by the flock of God in the OT.

1Pe.5:1-4 “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Peter picks up on the same concerns expressed in the OT that the shepherd should not be self-serving.

To learn more about the Christian's Shepherd follow the link - The Good Shepherd