Scripture Reading: Ezek. 34:11-16, 23-31; John 10:10, 16; 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:2, 4; Heb. 13:20; Rev. 7:16-17
Ⅰ
To shepherd is to take all-inclusive, tender care of the flock— John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28:
A
Shepherding refers to caring for all the needs of the sheep— Psa. 23.
B
All the sheep need to be well provided for and well tended to.
Ⅱ
In Ezekiel 34 the Lord Himself comes as the Shepherd to search for His sheep and seek them out—vv. 11-31; Luke 15:3-7; Matt. 9:36; John 10:11; 21:15-17; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:3-4:
A
The Lord brings us out from among the unbelievers to Himself—Ezek. 34:12-13a; cf. Eph. 2:12-13.
B
He brings us to our own land, signifying Christ as the good land of Canaan—Ezek. 34:13b; cf. Col. 1:12.
C
He brings us back to the high mountains, signifying the resurrected and ascended Christ—Ezek. 34:13-14.
D
He brings us back to the streams, signifying the living water of the life-giving Spirit—v. 13; Rev. 22:1; 1 Cor. 12:13; Psa. 36:8.
E
He feeds His flock by the streams, signifying His feeding us with His riches—Ezek. 34:13; Rev. 22:1-2a.
F
He brings us back to the good and rich pasture, signifying Christ as our life supply—Ezek. 34:14; Psa. 23:2; John 10:9; cf. 1 Tim. 1:4.
G
He causes us to lie down, giving us inward rest—Ezek. 34:15; S. S. 1:7; Matt. 11:28-30.
H
He binds up the broken one and strengthens the sick one, signifying His binding up and healing the brokenhearted and sick ones—Ezek. 34:16a; Isa. 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19; Matt. 9:9-13.
I
The Lord exercises righteous judgments among us, clearing away all the unjust things—Ezek. 34:17-22; Col. 3:15.
J
Christ is the real David, the real Shepherd, set up as the one Shepherd to feed us and cause us to be filled and satisfied— Ezek. 34:23:
１
He takes care of us, including all our problems and responsibilities and every aspect of our living—Psa. 23.
２
The issue of the Lord's caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King and come under His kingship— Rev. 7:17.
３
As we experience the Lord's shepherding and remain under His kingship, we enjoy His covenant of peace and are no longer subject to spiritual troubles and disturbances—Ezek. 37:25a.
４
Under His shepherding, all the evil beasts, evil persons, are kept away from the Lord's recovered people—34:25b; cf. Acts 20:28-29; Phil. 3:2-3.
５
He breaks the bars of all our yokes, including the yokes of sin and the world, and delivers us from all kinds of slavery—Ezek. 34:27b.
６
He promises that we will not be prey to the enemy and that we will dwell in peace and safety—vv. 28a, 25b.
K
He causes us to become a source of blessing to others so that they may be supplied with Him as the showers of blessing and as the planting place of renown—vv. 26-27a, 29; Zech. 10:1; Ezek. 36:35.
L
Through the experience of His shepherding, we have God's presence; we are His and He is ours in our fellowship with Him in oneness for the mingling of God and man—34:30-31.
Ⅲ
Christ is the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, and the Shepherd of our souls— John 10:9-17; Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Pet. 5:4; 2:25:
A
As the good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly— John 10:10-11:
１
He laid down His soul-life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep that they may share His zoe life, His divine life—vv. 11, 15, 17.
２
He leads His sheep out of the fold into Himself as the pasture, the feeding place, where they may eat freely of Him and be nourished by Him—v. 9.
３
The Lord has formed the Jewish and Gentile believers into one flock (the church, the Body of Christ) under His shepherding—v. 16.
B
God raised up from the dead "our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant"—Heb. 13:20:
１
The eternal covenant is to consummate the New Jerusalem by shepherding.
２
The eternal covenant is the covenant of the new testament to gain a flock, which is the church issuing in the Body of Christ and consummating in the New Jerusalem.
３
As the great Shepherd, the Lord is making real to us the contents of the new covenant—8:8-13.
C
As the Chief Shepherd, Christ shepherds His flock through the elders of the churches—1 Pet. 5:4:
１
Without the elders' shepherding, the church cannot be built up.
２
The elders' shepherding should be Christ's shepherding through them.
D
As the Shepherd of our souls, the pneumatic Christ oversees our inward condition, caring for the situation of our inner being—2:25:
１
He shepherds us by caring for the welfare of our soul and by exercising His oversight over the condition of our inner being.
２
Because our soul is very complicated, we need Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, to shepherd us in our soul in order to take care of our mind, emotion, and will and our problems, needs, and wounds.
３
As the Shepherd of our souls, the Lord restores our soul and gives rest to our soul—Psa. 23:3a; Matt. 11:28-30.
Ⅳ
John 21, a chapter on shepherding, is the completion and consummation of the Gospel of John; shepherding is the key to the Gospel of John:
A
The Gospel of John is a book on Christ coming to be our life by cherishing and nourishing us; to cherish people is to make them happy, pleasant, and comfortable (Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34), and to nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ (Matt. 24:45-47).
B
After His resurrection, the Lord shepherded Peter and commissioned him to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep; this is to incorporate the apostolic ministry with Christ's heavenly ministry to take care of God's flock, the church, which issues in the Body of Christ— John 21:15-17:
１
The apostles were commissioned by the ascended Christ to cooperate with Him to carry out God's New Testament economy—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10.
２
Regarding shepherding, the apostolic ministry cooperates with Christ's heavenly ministry, doing on earth what He is doing in the heavens.
Ⅴ
First Peter 5:2 speaks of shepherding the flock of God according to God:
A
According to God means that we live God.
B
When we are one with God, we become God and we are God in our shepherding of others.
C
To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to God's nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to our preference, interest, purpose, and disposition.
D
To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes—1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16.
E
In order to shepherd according to God, we need to become God in life, nature, expression, and function:
１
We need to be filled to the brim with the divine life, enjoying the Triune God as the fountain, the spring, and the river to become a totality of the divine life, even to become the divine life itself— John 4:14; Col. 3:4.
２
We need to become God in His attributes of love, light, righteousness, and holiness—1 John 3:2; 2 Pet. 1:4.
３
We need to be the reproduction of Christ, the expression of God, so that in our shepherding we express God, not the self with its disposition and peculiarities— John 12:24.
４
We need to become God in His function of shepherding the flock of God according to what He is and according to His goal in His economy—Psa. 23:6b; Eph. 4:12, 16; Rev. 21:2, 10-11.
Ⅵ
For eternity we will have the experience and enjoyment of Christ as our eternal Shepherd—7:16-17:
A
As our eternal Shepherd, Christ will lead us into Himself as the springs of waters of life so that we may enjoy the eternal dispensing of the Triune God—v. 17a.
B
The waters of life will be supplied, and the water of tears will be wiped away—v. 17b.
C
Under Christ's shepherding in eternity, there will be no tears, no hunger, and no thirst—only enjoyment—vv. 16-17.