As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
3 sermons cite this verse
Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word and we confess that we are needy people and we desire that your spirit would enlighten us to the meaning and the things that we behold in your law. Help us to understand and own and apply these things for your glory and our good we pray in christ's name amen so who's ezekiel he's a prophet and he's a priest ministering to god's people at that most awful of times as god's people are going into captivity he is proclaiming god's word to them a word that the holy spirit desires for them to hear that they need to receive because of the position the plight that they're in that they have earned for themselves and so he's called to that he's calling a people to recognize their sinfulness but at the same time he is holding out for them this joyous hope this evening as we cover this particular passage i need to do a couple of things for you i need to first off explain what where did that crazy title come from that's in your bulletin and then to make sense of the culture that that is feeding into it first off what is what is oviculture what what what are we talking about here well there's a particular work that goes on in shepherding and oviculture is a sort of a technical name for it. It describes holistically all that goes on if you are a farmer and rancher …
Powerfully dramatic contrast between God's desire for His flock and the failure of the leaders of Israel to obey the Divine One whose flock they were. God will step in, He says. This is a prophecy. I myself will take care of My sheep, and to do that I will send one shepherd, one shepherd. That is a messianic prophecy, and you are in John 10 right there. in the text of the New Testament which describes the fulfillment of that prophecy. As we read in those opening ten verses, it is our Lord Jesus who says, I am the Good Shepherd. And this is something He repeated in His ministry. In Matthew 18 He said He is the shepherd who risks His life to seek and save the straying sheep. In Matthew 9, He said His pity is upon the people because they were sheep without a shepherd. His disciples in Luke chapter 12, He called a little flock. He, the shepherd, will be smitten, according to Mark 14, and the sheep will be scattered. …
No earthly images can come up to the awful and gracious truth, that God became the Son of man--that the Word became flesh, and was born of a woman. This ineffable mystery surpasses human words. No titles of earth can Christ give to Himself, ever so lowly or mean, which will fitly show us His condescension. His act and deed is too great even for His own lips to utter it. Yet He delights in the image contained in the text, as conveying to us, in such degree as we can receive it, some notion of the degradation, hardship, and pain, which He underwent for our sake. Hence it was prophesied under this figure by the Prophet Isaiah, "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him . . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." And, again, He promises by the mouth of Ezekiel, "Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." And the Psalmist says of Him, "The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort." And he addresses Him, "Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, show Thyself also, Thou that sittest upon the Cherubims." And He Himself says in a parable, speaking of Himself, "What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." …