Scripture Reading: Ezek. 33:7, 11; 34:11-16, 23-31
In the last message we considered God’s judgment upon seven representative nations surrounding the nation of Israel: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyrus, Zidon, and Egypt.
The dates of Ezekiel’s visions are significant. For instance, the vision in chapter twenty-six concerning Tyrus was in the eleventh year, and the vision in chapter twenty-nine concerning Egypt was in the tenth year. This indicates that Ezekiel’s record is not according to chronology but according to meaning. He wrote not according to the sequence of history but according to the sequence of meaning. According to spiritual meaning or significance, Tyrus comes before Egypt, although in fact Ezekiel saw the vision concerning Egypt before the vision concerning Tyrus. The record regarding these seven nations is arranged not according to historical events but according to meaning. This is a strong proof that these seven nations have a spiritual significance.
The last three nations — Tyrus, Zidon, and Egypt — are mainly related to worldly wealth and natural resources. Tyrus represents worldly riches and wealth, which damage the church life. We may say that we love the church, but if we pursue the wealth and riches of the world, we will become a damage to the church life. We need to look to the Lord that, in His mercy, none of us in the local churches in the Lord’s recovery would care for worldly riches. Instead of caring for the riches of the world, we should prefer to be poor.
Out of caring for worldly riches comes Zidon as the pricking briers and the grieving thorns, as indicated by the Lord’s parable in Matthew 13:3-23. The church is like a farm for producing something (1 Cor. 3:9). Briers and thorns frustrate the growth of the proper plants on the farm. In the church life none of us should care for the world’s wealth and riches. If we care for riches, we may hinder not only our own growth but also the growth of others.
The last nation, Egypt, is closely related to Tyrus and Zidon and represents the development of natural resources for others to trust in. When the people of God become poor and are short of food, they put their trust in Egypt. But God said that Egypt was a staff made of reeds and was not strong enough to trust in (Ezek. 29:6-7). If you trust in Egypt, you will hurt yourself. This indicates that natural resources are not trustworthy. Even many worldly people realize this. If you put your trust in natural resources or in the riches that come from the development of natural resources, you will be a damage to the church life.
We should not regard this understanding of the spiritual significance of the seven nations as mere knowledge. Rather, we need to apply this understanding to ourselves in the church life.
In this message we come to the third section of the book of Ezekiel — the section of recovery (chs. 33—39). God’s judgment is always with a purpose, and God never executes His judgment without a purpose. The purpose of God’s judgment is to bring in recovery. He does not exercise judgment apart from His purpose to recover something.
We need to remember that God’s judgment is based upon His righteousness, His holiness, and His glory. Whenever the condition among His people or in the world does not match His righteousness, holiness, and glory, God will exercise His judgment for the purpose of recovery. God wants to recover His people according to His righteousness, holiness, and glory. As we will see, whereas God’s judgment is by fire, God’s recovery is by life.
In His recovery by life, the first thing the Lord does is to set the watchman. Ezekiel 33:7 says, “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” A watchman is one who has been commissioned by God to give His people a warning, to sound the trumpet to cause God’s people to turn to Him and repent. The principle is the same in the New Testament, where God sent John the Baptist as a great watchman. When John the Baptist came, he sounded the trumpet of repentance, crying, “Repent!” (Matt. 3:1-2). In principle, Ezekiel voiced the same thing when he urged the people to turn from their evil ways. God did not want them to die; His desire was that they would turn and live. Concerning this, Ezekiel 33:11 says, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
After setting the watchman, God Himself came in to be the Shepherd (34:11-31). After the warning of the watchman, God did not send an angel or another person; He Himself came as the Shepherd. How wonderful! We see this not only in Ezekiel but also in the New Testament. After John the Baptist sounded the trumpet of repentance, the Lord Jesus came in as the Shepherd (Matt. 9:36; Luke 15:1-7; John 10:11).
In God’s recovery by life, He first sends the watchman to His people to repent, turn, and live, and then He Himself appears as the Shepherd. In our own personal experiences it is exactly the same. First we may hear a warning from the Lord causing us to repent. Then we realize that the Lord Jesus is not only our Savior but also our Shepherd, seeking and searching us out.
Ezekiel 34:11 says, “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” As the Shepherd, the Lord not only seeks but also searches. Because of our fallen condition, we were all buried under many evil things, so we needed God to search for us. In Luke 15 we have both the shepherd (signifying Christ as the Shepherd) seeking the lost sheep and the woman (signifying the Spirit) lighting the lamp and searching within the house for the lost coin. The prodigal son then was drawn home by the searching of the Spirit.
The Lord has done the same thing with us. He searched for us in order to save us and recover us. Before we were saved, we were buried under many sins, but the Lord Jesus sought us. Then after we were saved, we backslid into degraded Christianity, and we were buried under many things, such as doctrines, forms, and gifts. However, once again the Lord Jesus searched for us; He sought us out and brought us out. Now we are the ones who have been sought out by the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd. How is it possible for us to be here in the church life? This is not of us but absolutely of Him. We are here because as the Shepherd He sought and searched for us.
Ezekiel 34:12-13a says, “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 out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries.” Here we see that Ezekiel prophesied that as the Shepherd the Lord would bring His people, His sheep, out of the nations.
This also has been our experience. When we were fallen as sinners or when we became backsliders, we were among the nations living like Gentiles. Although we were living like unbelievers among billions of others on earth, the Lord Jesus sought us out and brought us out of the nations, out of the unbelievers. You might have been a school teacher among many others, but you alone were sought out and brought back by the Lord Jesus, who then caused you to be different from the Gentiles. Formerly you were the same as the unbelievers, but one day the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd sought you and brought you out from among the unbelievers and brought you to Himself.
In verse 13b the Lord went on to say that He would bring His people back to their own land. They were in captivity in heathen countries, but the Lord promised to bring them back to their own country, to the good land of Canaan. Our good land is Christ. Before we were saved or after we backslid, we were separated from Christ. But the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself and even into Himself as our good land. Today we are in Christ as the good land. The good land today is also in the church life. Thus, when we were brought back to Christ, we were also brought to the church life, where we have the riches and the enjoyment of the good land.
The Lord promised to bring His people back not only to their own land but also to the high mountains (vv. 13-14). Since the high mountains signify the resurrected and ascended Christ, this indicates that the Lord Jesus brings us back to the experience of the resurrected and ascended Christ. Thus, in the Lord’s recovery today, we do not enjoy a Christ merely on the level of the plain but on the highest mountains as the resurrected and ascended Christ.
The Lord also said that He would bring His people back to the rivers (v. 13). These rivers signify the life-giving Spirit, the living water of the Spirit. From the mountains, the resurrected and ascended Christ, the living water of the Spirit flows. The Spirit of life flows forth from Christ in His resurrection and ascension. After the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself, we not only returned to Christ in the transcendent position of His ascension, but we also began to drink of the Spirit as the living water.
Furthermore, verse 13 says that the Lord would feed His flock by the rivers. We can testify that in the local churches we have the sense that the Lord Jesus is feeding us day by day by the rivers of living water. While we were in the denominations, we had the sense of dryness and drought, but once we came into the meetings of the local churches, we began to have the sense that we had been brought back to the river and that by this river we were being fed by the Lord Jesus. Something was flowing there as a river, and we were by the side of the river enjoying the riches of Christ. This is not something of man; it is something of our Shepherd, who is feeding us by the rivers. In the meetings of the local churches we have the river, the flow, and the watering.
Verse 14 goes on to say, “I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.” Here we see that the Lord would bring His people back not only to the rivers but also to the good and fat pasture. Whereas the rivers signify the life-giving Spirit, the pasture signifies Christ. By the rivers we have the rich Christ as our pasture. The rivers are for our drinking, and the pasture is for our eating. In the meetings of the local churches, we do have the sense that we are by the rivers and in the pasture, that we are drinking and eating. Praise the Lord that we are under the care of our Shepherd, drinking by the rivers and feeding in the pasture!
If visitors come to your local church and do not have the sense that they are under the watering and the feeding with a river flowing and with a good, fat, and green pasture, this indicates that the church life is wrong. If the church life is right, then when others come to the meetings, they will sense that they are by a flowing river and in a good pasture.
In verse 15 the Lord, the Shepherd, says, “I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down.” To lie down means not to work, struggle, and strive. In the Bible to lie down is to rest. In Song of Songs 1:7 the seeker asked the Lord where He fed His sheep, where He gave His flock rest at noontime. Whenever the Lord feeds us, shepherds us, and gives us something to drink, He also gives us rest. In the church meetings we often have the sense that we are lying down to rest. Outwardly we are sitting, but inwardly we are lying down to rest.
Ezekiel 34:16a continues, “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Here to strengthen means to heal. As the Shepherd the Lord will bind up that which was broken and heal that which was sick. How we need the Lord’s binding and healing! Frequently in the church meetings we have the sense that we are under the tender binding of the Lord and that the wounds and the broken places are being bound up by Him. At other times we may sense that we are experiencing His strengthening, His healing. Praise the Lord that while we are eating, drinking, and resting, we are under His binding, strengthening, and healing.
Verse 17 says, “And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.” Verses 18 through 21 continue the Lord’s word concerning His judging, and then verse 22 concludes, “Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.” This indicates that when we have experienced the Lord’s recovery by life — that is, when we have been brought back to the mountains, the rivers, and the pasture and have experienced rest and healing — there can be righteous judgments among us. When we were fallen or backslidden, we argued with others and blamed them for our situation. But after we have been revived, recovered by life, we begin to realize that we ourselves have been wrong. Only then will righteous judgments be made among us. Actually, only the Lord who shepherds us, supplies us, and heals us can make such judgments. Only after He gives us the life supply, binds up our wounds, and heals us can all the unjust things among us be cleared away.
However, if we lack the Lord’s supply, binding, and healing, we will condemn others, blame others, and complain about others. If we condemn and blame one another, we cannot be in harmony with one another. But as the Lord recovers us by life, we have genuine revival, we have the enjoyment of Christ, which causes us to be satisfied, restful, and peaceful, and we experience the Lord’s binding and healing. The One who nourishes us and supplies us causes us to have an accurate sense concerning our relationships with the brothers and sisters. When we have such a sense, we judge ourselves, and as a result we have a genuine oneness with the saints as the one flock.
Verse 23 goes on to say, “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.” David typifies Christ. Christ is the real David, the real Shepherd, feeding us and causing us to be filled and satisfied.
As our Shepherd Christ takes care of us, including all our problems and responsibilities. He takes care of us not only in spiritual things but in all things related to our human needs. This means that, according to Psalm 23, He takes care of us in every aspect of our living.
Since the Lord Jesus is our Shepherd taking care of us, we should not worry about our problems or about our living. Instead, we need to learn to put our trust in Him. At the end of the day, it is very good to pray to the Lord as our Shepherd. There is no need to pray at length in a formal, religious way. Simply say, “Lord Jesus, I thank You that I am under Your care. Now I am going to sleep, and I ask You to come and take care of me.” Such a simple prayer is good enough. When you wake up in the morning, you say, “Lord, I thank You that I am still under Your care.” There is no need to be religious, asking the Lord to protect you and do many other things for you. If you pray in a religious way, the Lord might say, “Child, I know what you need. Do not waste your time and do not burden Me with this kind of prayer. Simply enjoy My care.”
The Lord Jesus truly is our Shepherd. I could give many testimonies of how I have enjoyed His care throughout the years. Wherever I have gone and wherever I have worked, I have been under His shepherding care. I rejoice that we are under the care of our Shepherd. We are not a flock without a Shepherd. In His recovery we, as His flock, are under His constant shepherding. As He cares for us, He feeds us, and we have the real experience of Psalm 23: The Lord is our Shepherd, and we have no want. May we all learn to experience Christ as our Shepherd.
When the Lord Jesus comes as the Shepherd, He comes also as the King. The issue of the Lord’s caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King and come under His kingship. The Lord is our Shepherd to be our King, and He is our King to be our Shepherd. On the one hand He shepherds us; on the other hand, He governs us. As we receive the Lord’s shepherding, we understand the Lord’s throne, kingdom, and authority. He is shepherding us with His care and supply so that we may be subject to His kingship and that He may set up His throne and His kingdom within us.
Certain portions of Ezekiel speak of God’s covenant with Israel. Ezekiel 16:60 and 62 say, “Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant....And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.” In 37:26a the Lord promises, “Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them.” Once a matter has been covenanted, it is established and secure and it cannot be changed. Therefore, this covenant of peace is established, secure, and unchanging. As we experience the Lord’s shepherding and remain under His kingship, we enjoy His peace and are no longer subject to spiritual troubles and disturbances. Regarding this covenant there are a number of points that deserve our attention.
Ezekiel 34:25a says, “I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land.” Here we are told that, under the Lord’s shepherding, all the evil beasts will be kept away from the Lord’s recovered people. According to Paul’s word in Acts 20:29 evil beasts (“fierce wolves”) refer to evil persons who disturb God’s people. In the proper church life there are no wolves, only lambs. In His recovery the Lord causes the evil beasts to cease.
In Ezekiel 34:27 the Lord promised to break all the yokes, including the yokes of sin and the world. With Him as our Shepherd, we have no yokes and no bondage. Jesus breaks every fetter! In the local churches we have no yokes. Instead, we have full liberty and full release.
Verse 27 also indicates that the Lord delivers us from all kinds of slavery. In the church we do not have the sense that we are under slavery. Rather, we have the sense of liberty. The more we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding, the more we are liberated from every kind of slavery.
Verse 28a says, “They shall no more be a prey to the heathen.” Here the Lord promised that those in His recovery would never be a prey to the enemy. This means that they would never be defeated or captured by the enemy. In the church life we share the spoil of the Lord’s recovery, of the Lord’s victory. Instead of struggling to gain the victory, we are simply enjoying the victory of the Lord.
Eventually the Lord promised that all those in His recovery would dwell in peace and safety. Verse 25b says, “They shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods”; verse 27b says, “They shall be safe in their land”; and verse 28b says, “They shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.” This indicates that we will dwell safely and restfully in Christ, without any fear. In Christ we have peace.
In verse 15 we have the phrase lie down,and in verse 25, the word sleep. Under the Lord’s shepherding, it is safe to sleep even in the woods. In the Lord’s recovery, there is no need for us to be afraid of anything. If you go to a local church where you have to be careful because the situation is touchy and you are afraid, that must not be a proper local church in the Lord’s recovery. In the proper church life in the Lord’s recovery, there is nothing for you to be afraid of. In such a church we have the sense of safety. In every aspect of the church life, we should feel safe. There should never be a situation in the church life that causes you to be fearful. For instance, you should never be afraid to talk to an elder or to an older sister.
Some have asked me why I can be so frank in speaking for the Lord. I can be frank because in the Lord’s recovery we have peace and safety; therefore, I am not afraid of anything.
Ezekiel 34:26 says, “I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” Here the Lord promised not only that His people would receive His blessing but also that He would make them a blessing. If there is the peace which is the peace of the covenant, the Lord’s blessing will follow. First, we ourselves will enjoy the Lord’s blessing, and then He will cause us to become a source of blessing to others so that they may be supplied.
We need to comment briefly on five aspects of this blessing.
God will cause the shower of blessing to come down in its season. This means that its coming will be timely. There will be timely rain. As we are abiding in Christ, the rain, the Holy Spirit, will often come upon us.
The Lord promises that there will be “showers of blessing.” There will be no lack of water, for there will be not only rivers but also showers. Many times in the meetings of the local churches we sense that something is not only flowing but also coming down like a shower. Sometimes even at home after the meeting, we have the sense that the showers of blessing are still coming down upon us. This is the strongest sign that the Lord’s blessing is upon the local church. He sends us showers of blessing in season, so timely.
Verse 27 tells us that the tree of the field will yield its fruit and that the earth will yield its increase. The showers will cause the trees to yield their fruit and cause the earth to yield its rich produce. This indicates that there will be an abundance of spiritual food not only for us to enjoy ourselves but also for us to supply others. Because the local churches are rich with spiritual food, in the Lord’s recovery there is no more famine, no shortage of food. At the start of a meeting, we may seem to have only five small loaves, but after the meeting we have twelve full baskets left over. This is a real blessing.
Thus far we have seen that there are three signs that the local churches are under the Lord’s blessing: the showers in season, the trees yielding fruit, and the abundance of produce from the good land. We should never have the sense that the local church meetings are short of food. If we are short of food, we are wrong. If we in the Lord’s recovery are under His blessing, we will be rich in food.
Ezekiel 34:29a says, “I will raise up for them a plant of renown.” Here the Lord promised to raise up a plant of renown, whose fruit would be for the enjoyment of His recovered people. Once again, this plant is Christ as the rich food supply. Whatever needs we may have and whatever difficulties we may face, He will give us the rich supply.
Finally, verse 29b says, “They shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land.” Instead of spiritual famine, there will be a rich food supply.
Verses 30 and 31 conclude, “Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.” Here the Lord promised that He would be with them, that they would be His people, and that He would be their God. They have God’s presence, God is among them, and they are before God. This is the perfect fellowship with God, the fellowship in oneness — the genuine recovery.
In the Lord’s recovery we have God’s presence. God is with us. We are His people, and He is our God. We are His and He is ours. We have such a fellowship, such a oneness, for we are one with God, and God is one with us. This is the recovery of the church life — the real mingling of God and man. From this we see that the recovery of the church life is not a matter of teachings or gifts but a matter of the Lord’s presence. We are here on earth enjoying such a oneness and mingling with the Lord. This is the Lord’s recovery by life.
