THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 109
But what says the Lord God through His servant,
Ezekiel? Hearken to this: "For thus saith the Lord
God ; 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 . . .
and I will feed them in a . .
good pasture I will seek
that which was lost, and bring again that which was
driven away; and will bind up that which was broken,
and strengthen that which was sick" (vv. 11-16).
Our Lord Himself has declared the fulfilment of
this prophecy in one of the best known chapters in
the Bible, John X. For our present purpose we need
only recall these familiar words : "I am the good Shepherd
; the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
"I am the door ; by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
Beyond dispute, therefore, Ezekiel XXXIV is a
prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ to seek His
own sheep, to lead them out from the mass of the
apostate Jewish nation, to die for them, and in resurrection
to be their "Prince," their "David," who is
here, as elsewhere, a type of "the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (I
Tim. 6:15).
Peter declared the fulfilment of this part
of Ezekiel's prophecy when he confronted the sanhedrim
at Jerusalem with the statement that God had
exalted Jesus, whom they had slain, to be " a Prince
and a saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins" (Acts 5:31).
This chapter (Ezek. XXXIV) has always been regarded,
I believe, until very recent times, as a prophecy
of Christ and His spiritual kingdom.