Taking Comfort in God's Love for the People of the Shepherd-King

INTRODUCTION

Today we wrap up our series in which we have been walking through the prophets and taking comfort in God’s promises to His people.

We have taken comfort from Zephaniah in seeing how God loves to save His peoples.

We have taken comfort from Micah in seeing how God keeps every one of His promises to His faithful remnant.

We have taken comfort in Habakkuk in seeing how God turns our complaints to praise when we look at Him.

His joy will be our strength.

This series has also served a purpose of walking us up to the beginning of Daniel next week.

All of the prophets who have books in the Bible prophesied after Israel divided into the North Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah).

Micah prophesied during the time of Isaiah—beginning in 735 BC.

This is when the Northern Kingdom is being carried off into Exile by the Assyrians for their disobedience.

That same Assyrian threat is bearing down on Judah.

Zephaniah prophesied about a century later from 609-605 BC.

Habakkuk prophesied right after Zephaniah in the years just before the Southern Kingdom of Judah is carried off into Babylonian Exile for their disobedience.

So this leads us up to the the Exile itself.

God warned His people that if they did not stop committing sinning against God and their neighbors and the covenant that He made with them, they would be removed from the land He gave them.

Outside of a remnant that was faithful, they did not listen.

And so God allowed Judah to be carried off into Babylon.

This morning, we arrive at our final stop before we start Daniel.

And that stop is in Ezekiel 37.

When we read Daniel, what we see is that Daniel is in Babylon.

He is in a world that is not his home.

This morning, as we read the Scripture, understand that Ezekiel is in that same world.

CONTEXT

Ezekiel is an amazing guy that we don’t talk about enough.

In his life he saw:

Judah controlled by the foreign power of Egypt (609)

The defeat of Egypt and Assyria by Babylon (605)

The deportation of the best and the brightest—like Daniel and his friends (603)

A second round of exiles being sent to Babylon after a failed rebellion was put down in 597 BC.

Ezekiel would have been a part of this second group to be taken away.

He was likely around 25 years old at the time this happened.

He was training to be a priest (1:3)

But five years into Exile, he is a prophet seeing a vision on the banks of Chebar Canal in Babylon.

In his prophecy, there are three cycles of judgment against Judah.

There are 7 chapters of judgment against the nations.

When you get to Ezekiel 37, you go from what has occurred to speaking more about what will occur.

And this is where Jerusalem is pictured as a valley of dry bones that God will bring to life by His Spirit.

This is where we pick our text up this morning.

TEXT—THESE ARE THE VERY WORDS OF GOD...

Ezekiel 37:15–28 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

This passage has a really basic structure that we will use like a map this morning:

Prophecy (v. 15-17)

Interpretation of the Prophecy (v. 18-19)

The Promise in the Prophecy (v. 20-28)

We will walk through these text and end with a point of application regarding unity.

PROPHECY (v. 15-17)

God’s Word comes to Ezekiel (v. 15) and he is told to take two sticks:

On one he will write: “For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him”

One the other he will write: “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him”

And then he is to take these sticks and hold them together in his hand so that they look like one branch or one stick.

SHOW PICTURE

This may seem strange to us, but this was a hallmark of Ezekiel’s ministry.

God calls him act out the prophecies in these “sign-acts”

The sign-act illustrates the contents of the prophecy.

Two examples for us:

In Ezekiel 4, God charges Ezekiel to:

Draw a map of Jerusalem on a clay tablet

Set up a little model reenactment of the siege of Jerusalem

And then he is to lay on his left side for 390 days to demonstrate God’s judgment on Northern Israel and their years in Exile

And then he is to lay on his right side for 40 days to demonstrate God’s judgment on Southern Judah and their years in Exile in Babylon

And THEN he was to cook unclean food over dung

He did this as a reminder to the people of why they were under God’s discipline in the first place.

The model of the siege reminded them of how they got there

Ezekiel lying down symbolized the weight of judgment that was upon them

Ezekiel cooking unclean food over feces showed how defiling Exile was for God’s people

In Ezekiel 5, God charges Ezekiel to undertake another sign-act. This time he is to:

Shave his head and beard with a sharp sword (no safety razors in 590’s BC)

Cut the hair in three parts

Burn 1/3 in the city, strike 1/3 with the sword, scatter 1/3 to the wind

And then keep one small remnant in his garment

This sign-act illustrated how in the siege:

They died by fire

They died by sword and they were dispersed into the wind of the nations

And yet—God always has his remnant.

People like Ezekiel.

People like Daniel and his friends.

They are represented by the few hairs that Ezekiel keeps in his garment.

It is like God’s remnant is suffering in Exile, but God is such a promise-keeper that they are in His pocket as they live in this foreign land

INTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHECY (v. 18-19)

The question is—What does THIS sign-act from Ezekiel mean? What is happening with the two sticks in his hand?

Verses 18-19 tell us.

When the people ask the meaning of the sticks, Ezekiel is to tell them:

The stick bearing Judah’s name represents the Southern Kingdom.

The stick bearing Joseph’s name represents the Northern Kingdom.

They are held together in the hand to look like one stick in order to show the people that God will re-unite the kingdoms.

He will not just give life to the valley of dry bones...

He will take those bones and make one people from them.

No longer divided—one people of God.

FIVE PROMISES IN THE PROPHECY (v. 20-28)

And then, Ezekiel beings to expound on this vision of a united people by issuing a host of promises.

You will notice that God is speaking in the first person.

Everything we are speaking on in these promises are being carried out by the Lord Himself.

He is seeing to it.

In fact, 7 different times in verses 20-28, the Lord says, “I WILL.”

He is taking action for His faithful people.

And the way these five promises work, they build on each other.

So we will start with the first one and just add each promise onto the sentence and by the time we get finished, we will have one nice, encapsulating sentence for v. 20-28.

1. They will be united.

They will be one nation (v. 22)

They will no longer be two nations or two divided kingdoms (v. 22)

They will be one people and they will be God’s people (v. 23, 27)

They will be “one in the hand” of God, just like the two sticks are one in Ezekiel’s hand

2. They will be united in their land.

They will not be in the land of Babylon, but in their own land (v. 21)

The land promised to Abram when God called him out of his father’s land:

Genesis 12:1 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

They will dwell in that land (v. 25)

He will set them in their land and multiply them there (v. 26)

3. They will be united in their land as a holy people.

You see this in verse 23:

They will no longer defile themselves with idols

They will be saved from their backsliding and sinning

They will be cleansed

God will take His idolatrous people and make them holy.

He will save them and sanctify them and make them like Himself.

4. They will be united in their land as a holy people under a Shepherd-King.

They will have one King (v. 22)

He will be from David’s line (v. 24—my servant David)

In 2 Samuel 7, God promises David that a child from his line would sit on the throne of God’s Kingdom forever

Clearly, Ezekiel is talking about that King from David’s line

And not only is this ruler a King—He is a Shepherd (v. 24)

So the One who is being promised is a “Shepherd-King”

The Shepherd-King is also called “their Prince” in v. 25

The picture is clear—One people under One Ruler, who is a Shepherd-King

JESUS—THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE KING

Now if you are here this morning and you are a Christian, you have already felt your heart jump and take notice as you read these verses.

Even if you are not super-schooled in the ways of interpreting Old Testament prophecy, you are seeing some language here and you are going, “I know who this is...”

And it is good that your heart jumps and takes notice in this way! Your heart is right to leap at the sound of prophecy that is telling you of your Savior.

Of course, this is Jesus! Of course this is the Good Shepherd.

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Of course, this is God’s Son! Of course this is the King.

Revelation 19:16 ESV

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Of course, this is Jesus Christ! Of course, this is one One born in Bethlehem from David’s line to sit on his throne.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us from the very start:

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The Shepherd-King that is promised here is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was born in Bethlehem.

He lived before the eyes of humanity and there was no sin to be found in Him.

He worshipped God faithfully and fully in every second of His beautiful life

He loved His neighbor and showed God’s compassionate heart with every step of His daily walk

He preached truth and grace with utter perfection every time He taught

And then—the Shepherd King died.

The Prince who deserves nothing but glory, laid down His life as a sin-offering for the sake of His sheep.

He is sinless but His sheep are sinners.

If they are going to be made right with God, they need salvation because God is a God of wrath who rightly punishes sin.

And so the Prince suffers on the Cross like a sinner, absorbing an eternity worth of God’s anger toward sin for His people, and He dies like a criminal in a public execution.

And then, much like the valley of dry bones, the Shepherd-King came back to life.

He resurrected from the grave by the power of God.

He proved Himself the Conqueror of sin and death and Hell.

This is what Jesus has done in the glorious Gospel for His children.

He came and died in order to inaugurate God’s Kingdom promises.

He wore two sticks on His back so that His people could be forgiven and reconciled to God.

He wore two sticks on the back, so that He could make one unified stick in His hand.

Christ died to bring about this one, saved people of the Shepherd-King.

That leads us to the final promise and the completion of our summary sentence.

5. They will be united in their land as a holy people under a Shepherd-King, with God possessing them.

You see this in verses 23 and 27:

...they shall be my people, and I will be their God (23)

My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God (27)

This is how God designed things in Genesis 1:

He has a people, dwelling in unity in the land of the Garden.

They are holy.

They belong to Him.

Adam is working the Garden and naming animals and ruling it with dominion like a Shepherd-King

He is the vice-ruler in charge, with God as the Ruler over all

But sin shattered this design in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve fell.

Therefore, here in Ezekiel, God is restoring the original design.

He has one, holy people in a land, under a Shepherd-King, as God’s possession.

What was lost in the first Adam is regained in Jesus Christ—the Better Adam.

The God-Man who did not break Covenant with God, but kept Covenant with the Father and inaugurated God’s Kingdom promises for God’s Kingdom people.

GENTILE INCLUSION

Now, before we move on from this image that is painted by God’s promises, I want to address the fact that most of us are not Jewish.

My roots go back to England and Ireland—not Joseph and Judah.

So what about all of us Gentiles?

Where do we fit into the two unified sticks?

Well this is where we must remember how the New Testament defines the true Israel.

It is not about blood and natural birth.

It is about faith and being born again.

The people of God have always been those who have faith in the plan of God, as revealed in the Word of God.

That is who Abraham was.

That is who Moses was.

That is who David was.

That is who Ezekiel was.

They looked forward in faith, trusting in the Messiah to come.

Anyone who did not do that or who refused was not a part of the true Israel.

Those are the hairs that Ezekiel burned and struck with the sword and cast to the wind.

Those who did were justified by faith and made right with God.

Now, in the New Covenant, Satan has been bound by the work of Christ and the Gospel is going to the nations.

The Gentiles are being grafted into the sticks like a branch grafted into a tree.

So who is the true Israel now?

Same as it has always been.

It is those who have faith in the plan of God to save the people of God, as revealed in the Word of God.

True Israel are those who believe in Christ.

It has always been this way. It will always be this way.

Galatians 6:15–16 ESV

For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

So in the end, the united people of God will be those who do not count circumcision or no circumcision to mean a thing.

Instead, they will be those who are born again in Christ, living under the reign of the Shepherd-King as God’s possession forever.

No more Jew and Gentile.

No more Southern and Northern.

No more Judah and Joseph.

Just one body—one people—under one Shepherd-King.

WHEN DO THESE THINGS COME TRUE?

Now this is a beautiful picture. And when we see something this desirable, we want to know when we can lay our hands on it.

If Chick-Fil-A comes out right now and says, “This summer we will have our first-ever “Mango Milkshake,” some of you would be so excited that we might need to throw you in a cold shower.

And your first question would be, “When does it release?”

So with in mind—when do these promises release?

Has God already fulfilled all of these promises?

If not, when and how will He fulfill these promises?

Let’s deal with these questions in order and then we will get into our application for this morning.

A. Has God already fulfilled all of these promises?

We don’t need to play around with this. The Scripture clearly shows us that the answer is no. There are two massive clues:

First of all, the land they will be in is the land they will be in forever (v. 26)

They shall dwell there forever.

That tells us that this cannot be talking only about return from Babylonian Exile.

It is pointing to a greater future reality.

It is pointing to the final destination of the people of God.

We are talking about an eternal home in an eternal land.

That’s not Jerusalem five centuries before Christ

That’s not Jerusalem today either

This is an eternal land.

Secondly, the land they will be in is one where they will have “David” as their “prince forever.”

That speaks to a future reality in a future land, where the Messianic Prince is ruling and reigning without resistance (v. 25)

It speaks to a future reality in a future land, where there is absolutely no separation between God and His people (v. 26)

You see this in v. 26 where His sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.

Earlier in Ezekiel 10, because of the sin of the people, the glory of the Lord leaves the temple.

The people are without the presence of God.

In this future reality, it will never be that way again.

B. When and how will God fulfill all of these promises?

Well this is where we have to caveat a little.

Clearly these are future promises, but they are not unaffected by what Christ has already done.

If the fulfillment of these promises were inaugurated in the first coming of Christ, there is a sense in which we can say that they are already coming true because Christ has already come.

In the New Testament church, we are getting a taste and a preview of what the ultimate fulfillment of these promises will look like.

We have unity with one another now in Christ.

We are called out of the world into the spiritual land of the church.

We are being made more holy by Christ day by day.

We are one church under our one King—the Son of David, Jesus Christ.

And we are God’s people and He is our God.

All of that is true now.

But what is also true now is that sometimes:

We damage the unity given to us with sinful attitudes and actions

We may have a season where we backslide and retreat into the world

We have sin in the church that still needs the sanctifying work of God’s Spirit and Word.

We rebel against the rule of King Jesus even though He deserves nothing but obedience.

We live as if we do not belong to God.

So while we may have a preview right now, we don’t have the whole movie.

We are getting a sample of the mango milkshake, but not the full 20 ounces yet.

And yet, a day is coming and may not be far off yet, when Son of David returns in glory.

A day is coming when the Shepherd-King returns and vanquishes every enemy He has.

And He will bring about justice for His church that has suffered.

And He will slay Satan and cast him into the Lake of Fire with death and Hades.

And then—the Genesis 1 reality will be fully restored.

Revelation 22:3–5 ESV

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

God on His throne.

The Lamb ruling from the throne of David.

The people of God worshipping Him through serving Him

Marked up with His name to show they belong to Him

Night is gone. No more fear. No more darkness. No more invasions when you least expect it from the dangers of this world.

Just the light of the glory of God

And the people of God reigning with Lamb forever

This is what God designed.

And God will get what was on His blueprint.

Jesus has acquired the Kingdom of God through His saving work and delivers the Kingdom to the Father.

The Father has given the Son all authority over the Kingdom as His inheritance.

So the answer to our question is this:

All of the promises of God will fully and finally come true in the 2nd Coming of Christ

And all of the promises of God will come true through Jesus who is the YES and AMEN of every covenant that God given to His people.

This is how the two sticks become one and dwell forever in the place God is preparing for His people.

APPLICATION: UTILIZING UNITY TO PREVIEW THE PROMISE

If you have a Christian heart this morning, I know you long for the day when these things of our faith will become sight.

We are eager to see the people of God united in their land as a holy people under a Shepherd-King, with God possessing them.

But I don’t think that’s as far as we can take application today.

We cannot simply look to the horizon and say, “When Jesus comes back, things will be great.”

What about right now?

What about this period of time in which we live in between the first and second coming of Christ?

How does Ezekiel’s sign-act of the two sticks impact how we live as the church tomorrow?

We know there is a day coming when Jesus will return and that He will establish the new heavens and the new earth and all of His people will dwell in unity under His reign forever.

That future reality will come to pass.

But how do we live as the church right now knowing that Day is coming?

I want to give us an exhortation as we leave today.

We must utilize our unity to preview the promise.

THE CHURCH MUST BE WHO SHE WILL BECOME

We are one our way to being this unified people who are without any division under the Lordship of Christ.

We are not there yet.

But the Ezekiel 37 picture is our predestined destination.

You are headed for it church.

And if that is who we are going to be, then we should strive to show it now.

Our community NOW should say something of what our community will BECOME.

WALK WORTHY

This means that the church should dwell in unity with one another.

We’ve been given a supernatural unity through Christ and His Spirit and we must maintain this unity.

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Those who will be a part of the united kingdom in the Lord’s hand, are showing it now by walking in humility and gentleness.

They are showing it now by being patient with others.

They are showing it now by being eager to maintain unity.

And this brings glory to Jesus.

SEEING THE PRINCIPLES IN THE SCRIPTURES

You can even see this concept in Ezekiel 37:28

Ezekiel 37:28 ESV

Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

The nations are going to know that Yahweh is a sanctifying promise-keeping God because they will see Him dwelling with His people forever.

Their unity under His reign is going to be a testimony to the Lord’s identity and His name and the weight of who He is.

In other words—the unified people of God under the reign of the Shepherd-King brings glory to the Lord.

This will be the case on the Day when God brings our enemies to justice and we enter into the jubilation of eternal life.

But it’s not JUST then.

Even now, as we are still on our journey toward home, the unity of the church is a witness of what is to come.

You can see this in Jesus’ priestly prayer just before His crucifixion.

John 17:20–23 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Did you hear what Jesus just prayed?

He asks the Father to unify His church so that the world will believe in Jesus.

Meaning, there is something about our togetherness and our oneness that convinces the world that Jesus is the King.

THE DIVIDED WORLD

It is not hard to understand how this works.

This world is so divided that I watched a handful of politicians refused to stand up and clap for a child who was battling cancer a few weeks ago, just because they didn’t like the guy introducing him.

That is sick, sinful division, isn’t it?

Our world is tribal. Segmented. Fragmented.

And this often results in hate-filled rivalries between human beings.

It could be on social media or on a battlefield in the Middle East.

So then we come along as people who do not have this world as our home and we say to this divided world— “HEY! Look at this!”

We show them how we forgive each other.

We show them how we meet each others needs.

We show them how we sing together to Christ.

We show them how we eat together at the communion table.

And in doing these things, we are giving them a little trailer for the world to come.

We are giving them a little preview of the unified, holy people of God living under the reign of the Shepherd-King.

And this stands out against the backdrop of tribalism and rivalries and hate in this world and they go, “WHAT IS THAT?”

OTHER-WORLDLY UNITY

See to them, real, true Christian unity seems other-worldly.

Like it came from some other land.

It goes against the “survival of the fittest” mindset our culture has bought into.

And when we demonstrate the Gospel realities of the New Earth on THIS earth—the preview of what is to come compels them to believe in the Jesus who can save their souls.

INVERSE IS TRUE

But we also must recognize that the inverse of this is true.

If our unity previews heaven—our squabbling clouds it.

When the church fights within herself, the world goes, “Ew. All that piety to look just like us? I’ll stick to fishing on Sundays.”

When we harm the unity of the church with sinful attitudes and actions, we obscure the Gospel to a hellbound world that needs our witness.

Whatever we may be tempted to sacrifice unity for...

Convenience...

Ego...

Winning and argument...

Reputation...

...we end up making those things more important than the Gospel of Christ.

Far be it from us that this would be the case, church.

CONCLUSION

Instead, let us refuse every opportunity to harm unity.

Let us refuse every opportunity to gossip.

Let us refuse every opportunity to be selfish.

Let us refused every opportunity to say a harsh word.

And let us take every opportunity to increase and maintain unity.

Take every opportunity to die to preference.

Take every opportunity to stop and pray with a brother.

Take every opportunity to serve your sister.

Take every opportunity to be patient and bear with one another in love.

Take every opportunity to THINK AND ASSUME the best about one another.

Take every opportunity to utilize unity to preview the promise of Ezekiel 37.

This is what love does.

And that is what binds us.

We are bound by the love of the Shepherd-King.

This is the state of the church today.

Let us walk worthy.

And this will be the state of the church forever.

One stick in the hand.

One united people in their land as a holy people under a Shepherd-King, with God possessing them.