Friday, July 18, 2025

God’s Blessing Is Inter-twine with God’s Discipline - Ezekiel 31-36

Ezekiel 34:25-31 (ESV)

The LORD’S Covenant of Peace

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”


God tells Israel that they are human sheep.   The Sheep-Shepherd relationship in the Bible is one of the strongest of all metaphors for the relationship between God and His people.   Sheep need a shepherd.   They need someone to guide them and care for them and correct them.   They tend to turn to things that are not good for them.  They tend to wander when they have no guide.  One of the phrases in the famous Psalm, the 23rd, gives us a great understanding about this:


Psalms 23:4 (ESV)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.


It is God’s rod and His staff that guides His sheep.   The staff is what keeps the sheep from wandering.  The rod is what God uses when His staff is not enough.  In this section of Ezekiel we are reading about the sword of the Lord. God must correct every sheep that goes astray.    God states such in the above.   Because at the end of every correction there is blessing.   God is in the midst of chastening His sheep, as they have gone astray.   But God will always be faithful to His promises and bless His people.   That is what the prophet is writing about in the above passage.   Why?  So that in the end, all men will know that He is their Lord and their God.    

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