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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
The Best is Yet to Come
Ezekiel 34:11-31
Ezekiel series, Part 62
Introduction
Ezekiel has not been the easiest book of the Bible to study. Up until today’s lesson, most of it has been dark, depressing, gloomy and full of judgment and wrath.
But regardless of the past, I have some news about the future: the best is yet to come.
Because the book is making a major turning point in this section we’re in. So far, we’ve just encountered the bad news. But now we’re in a part called the Gospel According to Ezekiel. That’s what some commentaries call it.
And the word “Gospel” means good news.
So we have some good news for you today, and this good news will be in the form of future prophecy. This book is turning it’s attention toward the future for the material we’re going to talk about in today’s verses.
We’re covering the back half of Ezekiel 34 on this episode, and we’ll answer these questions…
Why does God bring trials into our lives that cripple and hobble us?
Who is the David spoken of in verse 23?
Is it possible that we’re in the Millennium right now?
You’ll find out today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
V11-16, The Best Shepherd
Welcome to the book of Ezekiel: a Cross References Bible study where we learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I’m a sheep, and I follow the Good Shepherd. And if you’ve read your New Testament, you know exactly who that is: Jesus. When we left off last week, we were reading these verses:
John 10:14-15
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Most commentators believe that Jesus was not just making a metaphor about Himself, but that He was actually referring back to Ezekiel 34 specifically.
And so Ezekiel 34, in case you didn’t hear it last time, is a passage about good and bad shepherds, which I related in the previous section to good and bad pastors, although there were lessons in there for leaders of all types.
But as we discussed, out leaders can fail us and disappoint us. They can be bad leaders who take advantage of their followers, their sheep. And Jesus proclaimed Himself to be a better shepherd, the best shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who will properly take care of His flock and hold those bad shepherds accountable.
So in this next section of Ezekiel 34, we’ll read a panel of verses that are about how the Good Shepherd takes care of His flock, and then we’ll cross reference that with John 10 again.
Ezekiel 34:11-13
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 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. 13 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.
So as we talked about last time, the bad shepherds scatter the sheep. God doesn’t want His sheep to be scattered, God wants His flock united. I think often of that huge long prayer that Jesus prayed just before He went to the cross in John 17, that we- the church- would be one- one with the Father and one with each other. So God desires unity.
God desires those who have been cast off and separated and are missing from the flock to be brought in. God- from the perspective of eternity- looks out at the whole world and sees all the people out there who are willing to accept the Gospel of salvation and need to be brought into the sheep fold. And so He says, “My sheep have been scattered; I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries.” God wants all His sheep brought together, no matter where they are. Jew, Gentile, whatever. Build the church. This is why Jesus said this in
John 10:16
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
It’s the same message that Ezekiel is writing here in chapter 34. The sheep that are not of this fold refers to the Gentiles. God’s plan of salvation, throughout the Bible, is to save not just Jew but Gentile. We can forget how good we have it sometimes because for all of us Gentile Christians, we can feel like the Bible was just written for everybody. Well, it was, but it wasn’t.
That could make a pretty good trick question: was the Bible written for everybody? Yes, and no. It was written to the Jews. The Israelites. It was a Jewish book. But it was also written for everybody that all- even non-jews- would pick it up and read it and be saved. To come into this faith that was first delivered to the Jews.
So that’s why Jesus said: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold.” If you’re not Jewish, He was referring to you and me. What does he say to us?
Ezekiel 34:14-16
14 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. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 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.
I think another good cross reference for this, perhaps you thought of it as I read through these verses, is Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
Sheep are so skittish that the shepherd has to make them lie down sometimes. It’s hard for them to relax. It’s hard for them to sit still. Remember what we talked about a couple of episodes ago? Be still and know that I am God. Take time to slow down and rest and reflect on the Lord. Talk to Him.
If we won’t do that voluntarily, sometimes He has to make us lie down. He might send a setback or a waiting season into our lives and make us to lie down. He is the Good Shepherd, He has good reasons for allowing trials into our lives.
He will bring back the strayed. The prodigal sons who don’t deserve it. Those who had come to God and then blown it and feel too ashamed of themselves to come back. God will get them and take them back. I’ve noticed that for many Christians, when they want to run off into sin, God will knock them right on their butts to try and get their attention. That’s what a Good Shepherd does. He brings back the strays.
He will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. Sometimes we get injured in this life, by this world, by the Enemy, by ourselves. Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s others’ fault. But it doesn’t mean God has forgotten you. God will bind you up and strengthen you. God still has a plan for you.
I’ve heard it said that the shepherds of old would intentionally break their sheep’s legs at times. You say, “why would a shepherd intentionally break his own sheep’s leg? He’d do that if the sheep had a bad habit of wandering off. If the sheep wouldn’t trust or stay close to the shepherd. So after the sheep had messed up enough times, the shepherd would take the sheep’s leg and break it with his rod.
Why would he do that? Is it punishment? No, it’s discipline. The sheep could not walk on this leg, so the shepherd would pick up that sheep and carry him on his back as the leg healed. During this time, the sheep learned dependence on the shepherd. He learned he could trust him. He learned to walk with the shepherd so that when it came time to walk on his own, the sheep knew how to stay near to the shepherd and to not let himself get out of the shepherd’s presence.
Sometimes God has to do something in our lives to break out legs. To hobble us for a bit. And it can hurt. And we wonder why a good God would allow such pain into our lives. But through that process, we learn to trust Him. We learn to depend on Him. We learn how to remain in His presence even after we’re healed from what broke us. And we come out of that trial stronger than how we went into it.
When I was 18 or 20, I wouldn’t have liked a message like this very much. When I had a trial in my life, I would have been more likely to just get mad at God. I knew He was in control, I didn’t doubt His existence, so I would have questioned why He even allowed me to deal with the hard things I was dealing with. It just didn’t seem fair.
But now that I’m a little older, I’ve been through a few hard seasons in my life and I’m understanding more how God’s furnace is God’s refining fire. I understand how I’ve come through these things better. I’m even thankful for some of the trials I’ve gone through and how they’ve brought me closer to the Lord. How they brought my faith to a deeper place.
Now, I won’t pretend I’m always thankful for everything I’ve been through. I’m not spiritually mature enough for that, if I can be just honest. And I know that some of the hard times I’ve gone through have been my own fault, because I did something boneheaded. But God even used those situations to teach me something and bring me closer to Him.
And that’s a good place to be, because He’s a Good Shepherd.
V17-24, Judgment within the church
In this next part, it’s transitioning to talking about how the Father judges.
Ezekiel 34:17-19
17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18 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? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
Here God speaks of judging within His own flock. So to put this in modern terms, this speaks of how Jesus manages within His church. When one member of the church is bullying or taking advantage of or stealing from another member, Jesus has ways of dealing with that.
Now, do I always know how God is going to deal with it? No. But I’ll say this, He has His ways. When someone is living in sin or doing something wrong, God has His way of exposing them and dealing with it.
In these verses, it says when one sheep is fat and another is skinny, or when one has muddied another’s water, God will judge between sheep and sheep. I just spent a week at the County Fair for my work, I saw a lot of people judging between sheep and sheep. There are competitions and judges who inspect the animals. And we have a master sheep inspector who is our shepherd watching over us. And He sees everything.
And guess what? God will deal with the unfairness in our lives and mistreatment from other people. And in saying all this, it seems to make a transition to talking about future events.
Ezekiel 34:20-22
20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 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. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.
Now here is the transition to the future that happens a lot in prophetic literature. Oftentimes as you are reading along in the prophets, it’s all going fine and making sense and then all of a sudden, it jumps thousands of years into the future. And that’s what it seems to do right here as we hit verses 22 and 23. All of a sudden, it seems to start talking about the Millennium.
Now, if you’re a longtime listener of this podcast, you may know that I take the premillennial view of scripture. I believe that the end times are in front of us, then at the end of a 7-year tribulation Jesus will return, and after He returns there will be a 1000-year reign of Christ that takes place. I believe that the Millennium is a Millennium: 1000 years. And we’ll be studying the Millennium a lot as we go forward on this podcast. And as I read something like verse 22, I only know how to read it as something that won’t happen until we get to the Millennium.
Here it is again (verse 22):
I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey.
I am really looking forward to the day that I am no longer prey, but that doesn’t happen as long as evil is allowed to reign and flourish in this world. And that’s going to continue until Jesus comes back and becomes King of the World. So I believe this is referring to that future time.
Then verse 23 said something curious:
23 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.
So there are two schools of thought about this. Some believe that this is a Messianic prophecy speaking of Jesus, referring to Him as David right here. The possible reason for this is because the Messiah was said to be a descendant of David, and a huge promise had been made to King David in II Samuel 7 regarding this. The Messiah will sit on the throne of David. So some believe that this is a reference to Jesus Himself.
Then there are others who believe that King David Himself has a role to play in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. There is going to be some more evidence of this view as we get into the last few chapters of Ezekiel, which is a few months away, so consider this a teaser for down the road. I think there’s a lot of legitimacy to the view that this refers to King David himself and a role that he will play in the Millennium. But we’re gonna get into all of that later. For today, let’s read the last seven verses of today’s chapter and then we’ll wrap it up. These are blessings of that Millennial Kingdom period.
V25-31, The Millennial Sheep Pen
Ezekiel 34:25-31
25 “I will make with them 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. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 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. 29 And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”
So there are three promises made to those who dwell in God’s Kingdom, they’re each repeated in these verses so it sounds like a lot more than three, but it’s really just three; and they all relate to security:
Security with the animals, or wild beasts. Some see this as referring to literal animals, and there’s some truth to that, as it seems that in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, that the meat-eating animals will not eat other animals. As Isaiah 11:6 famously says, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat…” But another way of understanding ‘wild beasts’ could be referring to demons and dark spiritual beings who try to harm humans. We’ll also be given security from them in the Millennium.
Security in food supply. The land will be well-watered and bear fruit for us. So our material needs will be met.
Security from oppressors. People who would bully us or try to take advantage of us. People who would attack us or even just look down on us. It says that in Jesus’ Kingdom, we won’t have to worry about that anymore.
Now, some will look at these promises and say that they apply to us right now today. Those who are amillennial, or say there is NO millennium, say that these verses would apply to you now, the moment you get saved. But our experience tells us otherwise. And the New Testament warns us otherwise. We still have to deal with demons. We still have oppressors. Now, you might be able to make a point about this with the second promise- that we’ll have food security- because Jesus did say, “if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you…?” In other words, Jesus promised that our needs would be met already if we seek God’s Kingdom first, so that one could be said to apply now.
But those other promises won’t be a reality until the Kingdom of God is built by Jesus in his thousand-year reign. So I’ve got some bad news: we aren’t in the Millennium yet. Many of these promises we find about it do not apply to 2024.
But I’ve also got some good news: it’s still gonna happen. That Kingdom is gonna be here someday. The best is yet to come.
[musical interlude]
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll move right along into chapter 35. That chapter is so short, I anticipate completing it in one episode. So we’ll cover all of Ezekiel 35 next time, but I’m going to take next week off. If you can oblige me a week off. The reason being that I’m just running behind right now. I went on vacation about a month ago and it’s been hard to catch up on things, I keep recording these episodes the day before they release and running that close to the wire is just too close to me. So I’m going to take a week off, and then we’ll be back July 29 with the Ezekiel 35 episode.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Closing Thoughts
I love this breakdown in the in the NICOT on Ezekiel by Daniel Block:
34- Restoring Yahweh’s role
35- Restoring Yahweh’s land
36- Restoring Yahweh’s honor
37- Restoring Yahweh’s people
38-39- Restoring Yahweh’s supremacy
40-48- Restoring Yahweh’s presence
So we are in a very positive portion of Scripture now. And it reminds me of Romans 8. Romans 8 is full of iconic verses, such as how there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And it ends with the epic promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God when we’re in Christ Jesus. And in the midst of all that is this amazing verse:
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Your bad things work out for your good
Your good things cannot be lost
The best is yet to come
Studying Ezekiel has not always been easy. It’s been dark, depressing and gloomy.
Life in this world is not always easy. Maybe some of you listening have had lives that were dark, depressing and gloomy.
And if that’s your experience, I won’t argue with it.
But regardless of your past, I have some news about the future: the best is yet to come.
Thanks for listening to this Cross References Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode.