Advent: December 2, 2024

Ezekiel 34:23-24 (ESV) And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.

Ezekiel 34 is a rebuke of the shepherds of Israel. I know this doesn’t sound very “Adventy”. Just hang on.

“Shepherd” refers to the multitude of men who had some manner of responsibility over the people from the prophets to the princes to the priests to the military commanders to the kings. Anyone who had a role in the people of God and did not perform their duty to the glory of God and the good of the people is addressed in Ezekiel 34.

These men served themselves to the neglect of God’s people. They had little concern for the good of the people.

Poor instruction from God’s word and the lack of obedience to God’s word from both neglect and false teaching led to dire conditions for God’s people.

In God’s good providence, he made these leaders serve his purpose to point us to the work of Jesus, who is the perfect leader and will never fail his people. The leaders of the Bible do this either through being a bad leader, like those of Ezekiel 34 or a good leader. In this way, all Scripture prepares us to see and know Jesus.

Bad leaders lead the people to a place that harms them, so they are a negative example in contrast to Jesus. They are an opposite of how Jesus is and what Jesus does. King Saul is a bad leader. Saul sought his own purposes, his own comfort, and his own success. Bad leaders make us understand that Jesus would never be or do things like the bad leader did. In that way we can know something of Jesus.

Good leaders put on display something of the love and care of God. David is a good leader. David loved God from the heart, sought to obey the Lord, and did his work in the name of the Lord for the fame of the Lord even in his failures. Good leaders show us a glimpse of the goodness of Jesus.

In either case, God has prepared the world to see Jesus through the leaders he has allowed to rule over his people.

With these bad shepherds being rebuked in Ezekiel 34, the Lord doesn’t leave us hopeless. The Lord provides a glimmer of light and hope that there will one day be a good shepherd who will lead God’s people well, and it won’t be just any old shepherd. It will be THE Shepherd. The Promised One.

Ezekiel calls this coming promised Shepherd, “David”. David has already died, so who is this “David”?

The coming Messiah was to be like David, a good leader, but with none of the failures of king David.

God, being rich in mercy and with sovereign design, ordained that the better David, the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd would be sent to speak God’s word, cause his people to hear his voice, bring them into his safe pasture, and oversee them in love.

This is exactly what Jesus tells us in John 10.

John 10:11 (ESV) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus tells us that he is that “David”. Jesus has come. Jesus is the Good and Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), and Jesus is coming again.

Just like they longed for a Good Shepherd back in the days of bad shepherd leaders, at Advent we celebrate that the Good Shepherd has come and established his rule, and we live in the security of his established loving care. He rules in power and love for his people like David. Jesus is the Leader who leads like David, only Jesus leads us perfectly.

Grace to you and peace on this second day of December in the Advent season where we celebrate that the Good Shepherd has come.