Outline
Ⅱ
The believers are symbolized by sheep, those who are under Christ's organic shepherding—John 10:11-16; Psa. 23:1; Matt. 9:36; Heb. 13:20:
A
The Lord Himself comes as the Shepherd to search for His sheep and seek them out—Ezek. 34:11-31; Luke 15:3-7; Rev. 7:17; John 21:15-17; 1 Pet.2:25; 5:3-4.
B
The Lord brings His sheep to their own land and to the high mountains; the land signifies Christ as the good land of Canaan, and the high mountains signify the resurrected and ascended Christ—Ezek. 34:13-14; Col. 1:12.
C
The Lord brings His sheep back to the streams, signifying the life-giving Spirit, and He feeds His flock by the streams, signifying His feeding the believers with His riches—Ezek. 34:13; Rev. 22:1-2a; 1 Cor. 12:13; Psa. 36:8.
Morning Nourishment
Ezek. 34:11-13 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep and seek them out…And I will deliver them from all the places where they have been scattered…And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land.Because of our fallen condition, we were all buried under many evil things, so we needed God to search for us. In Luke 15 we have both the shepherd (signifying Christ as the Shepherd) seeking the lost sheep and the woman (signifying the Spirit) lighting the lamp and searching within the house for the lost coin. The prodigal son then was drawn home by the searching of the Spirit.
The Lord has done the same thing with us. He searched for us in order to save us and recover us. Before we were saved, we were buried under many sins, but the Lord Jesus sought us. Then after we were saved, we backslid into degraded Christianity, and we were buried under many things, such as doctrines, forms, and gifts. However, once again the Lord Jesus searched for us; He sought us out and brought us out. Now we are the ones who have been sought out by the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 175-176)
Today’s Reading
Ezekiel prophesied that as the Shepherd, the Lord would bring His people, His sheep, out of the nations [Ezek. 34:12-13a].This also has been our experience…As sinners or when we became backsliders,…although we were living like unbelievers among billions of others on earth, the Lord Jesus sought us out and brought us out of the nations, out of the unbelievers…Formerly, you were the same as the unbelievers, but one day the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd sought you and brought you out from among the unbelievers and brought you to Himself.
In verse 13b the Lord went on to say that He would bring His people back to their own land. They were in captivity in heathen countries, but the Lord promised to bring them back to their own country, to the good land of Canaan. Our good land is Christ. Before we were saved or after we backslid, we were separated from Christ. But the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself and even into Himself as our good land…The good land today is also in the church life. Thus, when we were brought back to Christ, we were also brought to the church life, where we have the riches and the enjoyment of the good land.
The Lord promised to bring His people back not only to their own land but also to the mountains of the heights (vv. 13-14)…This indicates that the Lord Jesus brings us back to the experience of the resurrected and ascended Christ.
The Lord also said that He would bring His people back to the streams (v. 13). These streams signify the life-giving Spirit, the living water of the Spirit. From the mountains, the resurrected and ascended Christ, the living water of the Spirit flows. The Spirit of life flows forth from Christ in His resurrection and ascension. After the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself, we not only returned to Christ in the transcendent position of His ascension, but we also began to drink of the Spirit as the living water.
Furthermore, verse 13 says that the Lord would feed His flock by the streams. We can testify that in the local churches we have the sense that the Lord Jesus is feeding us day by day by the streams of living water. While we were in the denominations, we had the sense of dryness and drought, but once we came into the meetings of the local churches, we began to have the sense that we had been brought back to the streams and that by these streams we were being fed by the Lord Jesus. Something was flowing there as a stream, and we were by the side of the stream enjoying the riches of Christ. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 176-178)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 109; Life-study of Zechariah, msgs. 10—11