Who is your spiritual leader? Who has the most influence over you spiritually, religiously, morally?
Your parents? Your friends? Some actor or actress? The President of the United States? Oprah Winfrey? Saturday Night Live? Bill Maher? Your preacher, yours truly? Here’s how I would illustrate that question… If your parents or friends did something wrong, would you say, “Okay, my parents did something wrong. They are not right with God. I’m not going to do what they do. I’m going to do what is right.” Or, would you say or think, “Well, if my parents did it, they were good people, therefore, what they did had to be right. They can’t be wrong…”
I cannot overemphasize how important it is not to trust man but to keep your heart and your mind convicted toward Jesus Christ and toward His word.
The nation of Israel struggled with this same struggle with good, spiritual leadership. I want us to spend time in one chapter of the prophet Ezekiel. Living in a strange land in Babylon was very much like living in 21st-century America today. Who is your spiritual leader? Who has the most influence over you spiritually, ethically, religiously, morally? Israel had her leaders, just like our country has our leaders – political leaders, cultural leaders, religious leaders.
THERE ARE BAD SPIRITUAL LEADERS – 34:1-6:
They are selfish – verse 2. They are self-interested – verse 3. They have no real concern for their flock – verse 4. Speaking of the down-trodden, they were not concerned – verse 5. It was not the shepherds’ flock; it was in actuality God’s flock – verse 6. Seventeen times in the chapter, God emphasizes that this flock was His flock.
God will punish the bad spiritual leaders – 34:7-10:
First, Ezekiel calls on the shepherds to hear God’s message (vs 7, 9).
Then God makes an oath (vs 8).
God says He is against the selfish, self-centered shepherds (vs 10).
THERE IS ONE GOOD SPIRITUAL LEADER – 34:11-16:
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Verse 11 begins very emphatically, because God’s shepherds did not take their responsibility seriously and take care of God’s sheep, then, He says, “Behold, I Myself will search and seek out…” This emphasizes the point that if man is going to be saved, if man is going to come to a knowledge of the truth, it will take an act of God. God has to reveal Himself; God has to seek after man, find him, and guide him back to God Himself.
Please observe what God says He will do for His sheep (vss 11-15). Then, in verse 16, in contrast to how Israel’s shepherds were ignoring the downtrodden (34:4), God will provide.
THE ONE GOOD SPIRITUAL LEADER IS JESUS CHRIST – 34:20-24:
Again, verse 20 is emphatic as God takes the initiative. Israel’s shepherds, the human leaders, were pushing the nation of Israel away from God with their sides and their shoulders (vs 21). They were pushing the weak away from God with their horns, causing the people to move away from God, scattering them.
God steps in and delivers the people, His flock (vs 22). The emphasis on the work of God begins in verse 11 and is intensified through the rest of the chapter. I have counted at least twenty-eight verbs with God as the subject. The human leaders were not providing Israel with the Truth. They were not leading Israel in faithfulness to God. God steps in and He delivers them.
But, God will deliver Israel through a mediator. In the context, the leader is King David (vs 23). King David is mentioned four times in the prophet Ezekiel; here in verses 23-24 and again in 37:24-25. King David has been dead for over 400 years so Ezekiel is not talking about the real King David, the literal King David. Ezekiel is talking about the descendent of King David, the Son of David. The one about whom Isaiah the prophet said 100 years earlier than Ezekiel (9:6-7).
I certainly do not have to tell you that Jesus Christ is that Shepherd. It is very likely that when Jesus calls Himself the “Shepherd” in John 10, He has Ezekiel 34 in mind. Ezekiel uses “shepherd” 16 times. Isaiah used the word 7 times; Jeremiah, 19 times; twice in Amos, once each in Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah, 10 times in Zechariah. But none focus on the proper role of the shepherd as Ezekiel does here in chapter 34.
God shepherds through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Shepherd from God. He is our Shepherd. He is the one who “seeks the lost, brings back the scattered, binds up the broken and strengthens the sick” (Eze. 11:16). That’s why Jesus is our only spiritual guide, our only spiritual leader.
Since Jesus is the Shepherd sent from God, to Him we give our complete devotion, our ultimate trust, and our undying affection. He is searching and seeking for YOU!
Paul Holland
