Ezekiel 34:23
God has just denounced Israel’s leaders, the ‘shepherds’ who fed themselves while the flock scattered, starved, and fell prey to wild animals. Against that backdrop of failed leadership, God makes a promise: I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them – My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.
Centuries after David’s death, this promise of a coming David could only mean one thing: a Shepherd-King in David’s line who would do everything the failed shepherds could not. That Shepherd is Jesus Christ.
The angels announced Jesus’ birth first to shepherds (Luke 2:8-12), and Matthew applies an ancient oracle to Bethlehem: from there shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel (Matthew 2:6). The one Shepherd God promised was born among the lowly, to gather a scattered people.
Jesus said: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). The failed shepherds of Israel had fleeced and abandoned the flock; this Shepherd does the opposite, dying for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16), expanding Ezekiel’s vision beyond Israel to gather the nations.
The resurrection vindicates the Shepherd and secures the flock. Because He lives, His sheep are eternally safe: And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28). The Shepherd who died is the Shepherd who reigns.
Seeing the crowds weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd, He had compassion on them (Matthew 9:36). Even now His shepherding continues: He intercedes for us (Romans 8:34) and guides us by the Spirit (John 14:16-17). Peter, restored by Jesus to feed my sheep (John 21:17), later wrote that we who were like sheep going astray have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:25).
At His coming, the Chief Shepherd will appear (1 Peter 5:4), and the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17). The promise of Psalm 23, I shall not want, finds its final fulfilment when the flock is gathered home for good.
To call Jesus our Shepherd is to confess two things at once. First, we are sheep: prone to wander, unable to defend ourselves, in constant need of guidance. There is humility in that, and great relief, for the responsibility for our safety does not rest on us. Second, we are not abandoned. We belong to a Shepherd who knows us by name (John 10:14), feeds us, restores our souls, and leads us through even the darkest valley.
Ezekiel longed for a shepherd whose care, authority, and sacrificial love would surpass every human leader. In Jesus, that longing is answered beyond measure. Through His birth, life, atoning death, resurrection, and promised return, He tends, leads, and secures His people, uniting a once-scattered flock into one body.
Prayer points:
- Thank Jesus, the Good Shepherd, for laying down His life for the sheep and for knowing each of us by name.
- Pray for those who have wandered or feel lost, that the Shepherd who seeks the one would find them and carry them home.
- Pray for the ‘other sheep not of this fold’, that the one flock under one Shepherd would grow across every nation and people.
