What God Finds Intolerable

I myself will tend my sheep . . . says the Sovereign LORD.   Ezekiel 34:15

God found the situation among his people intolerable, so he determined to do something about it. In effect, God said, “I will be prophet, priest, and king to my people. I will personally bring the truth to them, care for them, protect them, and lead them in right paths. I’ll be the shepherd to the sheep.” It must have been hard for Ezekiel to understand how God could do that.

When Jesus Christ came into the world, he saw that instead of bringing people into the joy of knowing God, the religious shepherds were imposing unnecessary burdens on them. So Jesus “had compassion on [the people] because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Christ gave an uncompromising assessment of the “shepherds” of God’s people: “All who came before me were thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). In other words, the shepherds were using the flock of God for their own advantage. Then Jesus identified himself as the shepherd of Ezekiel 34: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The Good Shepherd gives the sheep everything they need. He feeds the sheep with God’s truth. Perhaps you’ve wondered how to grow in the Christian life or how you can be sustained in the difficulties you’re facing. Christ will sustain you, and as you walk with him, you’ll grow more than you ever thought you could.

The Good Shepherd came to seek and save lost sheep (see Luke 19:10). He is the kind of shepherd who will leave his sheep in the pen in order to find one who is lost, “and when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders” (15:5). He doesn’t wait for them to come to him; Christ goes out, finds people who are lost, and brings them back to God. Christ leads the sheep, protecting them from enemies: “My sheep . . . will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me” (John 10:27-28). He will guard you by all means, and when death comes, he’ll bring you into everlasting life.

For further reading, see John 10