Ezekiel 34:11-16, Ezekiel 34:20-24, Psalm 100:1-5, Psalm 95:1-7, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46
A). THE DAVIDIC SHEPHERD.
Ezekiel 34:11-16, Ezekiel 34:20-24.
1. The Good Shepherd (Ezekiel 34:11-16).
First, we see the Good Shepherd as the one who seeks out the lost sheep, Ezekiel 34:11. ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,’ teaches Jesus, ‘does he not go to the mountains to seek the one who is straying?’ (cf. Matthew 18:12). Thus does Jesus with us.
Second, He delivers them from their enemies, Ezekiel 34:12. The price Jesus paid for our deliverance was death, but in His death He overcame death, that last of all our enemies, on our behalf. He is the good shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep.
Third, He gathers them from the nations, and feeds them on the mountains of Israel, Ezekiel 34:13-14. This reaches far beyond the physical restoration of the land to Israel, to an inheritance for all God’s people. Even now He is gathering a people to Himself out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it to the isles afar off,’ says Jeremiah; ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock’ (cf. Jeremiah 31:10).
Fourth, he gives them rest, Ezekiel 34:15. He makes them to lie down in green pastures. God’s people find true repose in His presence, and in the yoke of Christ, and even physical death represents nothing more than a rest from our labours!
Fifth, He binds that which was broken and heals the sick, Ezekiel 34:16a. John the Baptist sent disciples to Jesus to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ To which Jesus replied, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them’ (cf. Matthew 11:3-5).
Sixth, conversely, the Good Shepherd exercises judgment and pronounces destruction against “the fat and the strong” (Ezekiel 34:16b). These represent people of rank and privilege WITHIN the visible flock of Christ who turn out to be not sheep at all, but ‘rams and he-goats’ (cf. Ezekiel 34:17-19).
2. I Will Save My Flock (Ezekiel 34:20-22).
The Good Shepherd picks up the theme of judgment again in Ezekiel 34:20.
The indictment is that the ‘fat and the strong’ (cf. Ezekiel 34:16b) have been effectively bullying the more vulnerable sheep, “till you have scattered them abroad” (Ezekiel 34:21). When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion because they were ‘scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd’ (cf. Matthew 9:36).
Therefore the Lord GOD is determined to save His flock, and to separate the sheep from the goats (Ezekiel 34:22).
3. The Davidic Prince (Ezekiel 34:23-24).
So far the LORD has appeared as the Good Shepherd. Now He delegates that role to “one shepherd” - “my servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). In other words, the LORD would raise up Messiah from the house and lineage of David, even as He had promised (cf. 2 Samuel 7:16). This "David" shall “feed" His flock, and "He shall be their shepherd."
That Davidic “prince among them” (Ezekiel 34:24), that Messiah, is Jesus.
B). MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE.
Psalm 100.
PSALM 100:1a. This “Psalm of praise” is known in some liturgical circles as ‘Jubilate,’ after the first word of the Latin version. The English translation of the original Hebrew is “Make a joyful noise.”
(Similarly, Psalm 95:1-2 twice calls upon us to “make a joyful noise”: ‘to the Rock of our salvation’ [God/Jesus], and ‘unto Him with psalms.’)
PSALM 100:1b. This is an imperative, calling us to exuberant worship of the LORD. It is addressed to “all the earth.”
(Psalm 98:4 addresses the same call, to ‘Make a joyful noise unto the LORD’ to “all the earth”: ‘make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.’)
(Psalm 92:1 encourages us that, ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD,’ and to sing praises to His name.)
(By Psalm 150:3-6, the whole orchestra is engaged in this service. There is nothing dull about the worship of God!)
PSALM 100:2. The type of service enjoined here clearly includes what we call ‘worship.’ As we “come before His presence,” it includes singing. All of our service should be “with gladness,” but perhaps especially our ‘worship.’
PSALM 100:3. Worship is based in knowledge. Hence the word “Know” at the beginning of this verse. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, ‘You (all) worship what you (all) do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews’ (John 4:22).
So why do we worship? It is because “the LORD, He is God.” “He made us” - both in Creation, but also in Covenant: “we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”
(Psalm 95:7 states that ‘He is our God; and we the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.’)
PSALM 100:4. “Enter into His gates” suggests a processional: perhaps pilgrims going up to the Jerusalem Temple. But it also a metaphor of our whole approach to God.
We “enter His gates” with “thanksgiving,” acknowledging God’s goodness. We “enter His courts” (another way of saying the same thing) with “praise” (e.g. with Psalms upon our lips). We are “thankful unto Him,” and “bless (speak well of) His name.”
When we bless or praise God, we add nothing to Him: but there is healing power when we take stock of our blessings and honour Him. It does wonders for us, and, like the Old Testament priest, we magnify Him before the people. True worship, after all, is God-centred.
PSALM 100:5. Again we are given reasons for this exuberance:
1. “For the LORD is good.” It is the LORD who puts gladness in our hearts (cf. Psalm 4:7).
2. “His mercy (covenant love) is everlasting” (endures forever, never fails).
3. “His truth” (faithfulness) will continue “to all generations.”
‘God commends His love towards us, in that, while we yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). There is nothing, but nothing that will ever separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 8:38-39).
C). LET US SING UNTO THE LORD.
Psalm 95:1-7a.
In days gone by not everybody who gathered in our churches could read, so it was useful to learn things by rote. So when the praise-leader sang “O Come let us sing unto the LORD” (Psalm 95:1), the congregation knew to join in the singing of Psalm 95. Depending on which tradition they were in, they would know the Psalm by the words, or the tune perhaps, or by its place within the service.
Psalm 95 begins with a reciprocal invitation to praise (Psalm 95:1). Yet praise must have focus. This is not just a chance for ‘a good-old sing-song’ - you can get that down the pub. This is serious worship, with its focus upon who the LORD is (the Rock), and who He is to us (the rock of our salvation).
We should be aware - even in ‘the praise part of our service’ - that we are coming into the presence of the true and living God. We draw near with the familiarity of “thanksgiving” and of “making a joyful noise” (Psalm 95:2), ‘boldly approaching the throne of grace’ (Hebrews 4:16). But we also come with a sense of awe at the presence of the LORD, the great God, the King over all (Psalm 95:3).
We celebrate Him as the One who sustains all things (Psalm 95:4). We acknowledge Him as Creator (Psalm 95:5). We worship, we bow down, we kneel in the presence of the LORD our Maker (Psalm 95:6).
Such awe is appropriate in those who have the LORD as “our God” (Psalm 95:7). We are “the people of his pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:7).
D). IMPLICATIONS OF THE ASCENSION OF JESUS.
Ephesians 1:15-23.
This single-sentence prayer is a follow-up to the single-sentence praise of Ephesians 1:3-14. God has blessed Paul’s readers with faith (Ephesians 1:15), so the Apostle ceases not to give thanks for them, and continues to pray for them (Ephesians 1:16). Paul prays that his readers would be able to grasp the full implication of their inheritance in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:17-18); and that they may tap into “the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19).
This “working of the might of God’s strength” (Ephesians 1:19) is demonstrated in Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and seating at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20). It is customary to reflect upon the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the event: the cloud, the two angels in white, the promise of His return ‘in like manner’ (Acts 1:9-11). But Ephesians 1:20-23 points us towards the implications of the event.
1. Christ being seated at the right hand of God “in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 1:20) is replicated in our own spiritual experience. We are ‘quickened together with Christ’ (Ephesians 2:5), and ‘raised up together in Christ’ (Ephesians 2:6): but we are also ‘seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6). We are already citizens of heaven, and we should live accordingly (Philippians 3:17-21).
2. Furthermore, Christ is thus elevated in order to establish His reign (Ephesians 1:21). The Psalmist envisioned the enthroning of the Lord Jesus at the ‘right hand’ of the LORD God, ‘until His enemies are made His footstool’ (Psalm 110:1). He is set above every principality, and power, and authority, and lordship: and above every “named name” both now and hereafter (Ephesians 1:21).
Again, the inference for the Christian is not far to seek. Paul later exhorts us to ‘put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For’ (he says) ‘we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against authorities, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual (powers) of wickedness in the heavenlies’ (Ephesians 6:11-12). From heaven, Christ rules over these, but there are still pockets of resistance which have not yet yielded to His authority (Ephesians 2:2).
3. As the man at God’s right hand, Jesus is also able to take up man’s primeval dominion over Creation (Ephesians 1:22; cf. Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:6). This had been marred by the Fall. ‘For in that He put all things in subjection under him (man), He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him: but we see Jesus…’ (Hebrews 2:8-9).
4. Having established that Jesus is “head over all things” (Ephesians 1:22), we are now told that He is “given as head-over-all-things to the church, which is His body” (Ephesians 1:22-23). He who fills the church (Ephesians 1:23), is also the One who - as a result of His ascension - fills all things (Ephesians 4:10). The head of the church is already the head of the world, whether the world acknowledges Him or not!
E). ACCOUNTABILITY BEFORE JESUS.
Matthew 25:31-46.
This passage speaks to us of our final accountability before Jesus. Many people will acknowledge our accountability before God, whatever that may mean to them: but there is no reckoning with God without Jesus (John 14:9). This is not just for those who believe in Him: “all peoples” shall be gathered before Him (Matthew 25:32).
As is usual in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus refers to Himself as “the Son of man” (Matthew 25:31). The name means ‘human being’ - and may well cause us to wonder at the amazing grace of God in sending forth His own only begotten Son ‘that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16). God became man in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ with the express purpose of drawing unworthy sinners into the family and kingdom of God (Matthew 25:34).
The Old Testament vision of the enthronement of the “Son of man” by the ‘Ancient of days’ (Daniel 7:13-14) is replicated here (Matthew 25:31-32). God’s judgment does not take place without reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus first identifies Himself as a shepherd (Matthew 25:32-33), then as the King (Matthew 25:34; cf. Matthew 2:2; Matthew 21:5; Matthew 27:37) - and, incidentally, as the unique Son of God (Matthew 25:34).
Jesus elsewhere refers to Himself as the good Shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11; John 10:14). I thank my God that Jesus is the One who seeks out the one who has gone astray (Matthew 18:12-14). I would not be here today if that were not true.
Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between sheep and goats, but those who run their flocks together know the difference, and separate the one from the other at the end of the day. In today’s passage, Jesus shows Himself separating the “sheep” from the “goats” at the Great Assize (Matthew 25:32). The one He sets on His right hand, the other on the left (Matthew 25:33).
What makes the difference? How we treat “one of the least of these my brethren,” says Jesus (Matthew 25:40; Matthew 25:45). Jesus has referred to this before: we must not ‘offend one of these little ones which believe’ in Him (Matthew 18:6).
This is not justification by works, as a superficial reading might suggest. According to Paul, we are ‘saved by grace through faith… not of works, so that no one can boast.’ Those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are seen as God’s workmanship, ‘created in Christ Jesus to do good works’ (Ephesians 2:8-10).
James agrees. Faith is only really evidenced where there are works following (James 2:17-18). Ultimately the difference between the “sheep” and the “goats” lies in the way that we receive the ‘little ones’ - i.e. the disciples and their message (Matthew 10:40-42).
There is still a place for works of mercy in our style of life. We are called to ‘do good to all’ - but ‘especially to those who are of the household of faith’ (Galatians 6:10). We share Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes (Matthew 9:36-38), but it is love of the brethren that more thoroughly characterises Christians (1 John 3:14; Hebrews 13:1).
Remember that Jesus was speaking to His disciples (Matthew 24:1-2). However, the inclusion of this passage in Matthew’s Gospel universalises the message. It stands as an encouragement to those who have done right by Jesus and His disciples, and a warning to those who have done them wrong.
We must judge ourselves. Are our good works based upon humanitarian considerations? That would make us a philanthropist, a ‘do-gooder,’ not a Christian.
Are our good works an attempt to manipulate God, to earn ‘brownie points’ for heaven? ‘Oh, I do harm to no man, and help when I can.’ That is justification by works, not the faith of Abraham.
‘We must examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith’ (2 Corinthians 13:5). On this depends our eternal salvation; nothing else will suffice. Our good works will then naturally and instinctively arise out of our faith.
