THE HURRIEDER I GO, … THE
BEHINDER I GET
POST
#2
a.
A CAREGIVER, BY DIVINE COMMISSION
i. MATTHEW
28:19-20 – DISCIPLER
https://www.xenos.org/essays/shepherd-motif-old-and-new-testament
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As we look at the characteristics of a good
shepherd it will become clear that God chose this motif at least in part
because His people are so apt to act like sheep. Scriptures like Is. 53:6
remind us over and over again that God’s people and sheep are very much alike
and the connection is most often negative. “Sheep are not only dependent
creatures; singularly unintelligent, prone to wandering and unable to find
their way to a shepherd even when it is in sight.”6 The
analogy is fitting. It is clear, because of our helplessness and our tendency
to wander and get lost we are in need of a Good Shepherd.
o The
focus of a good shepherd was to be on his flock--their provision, guidance and
safety. The epitome of the bad shepherds, in Ezekiel’s expose of Israel’s
leaders of his day (34:1-6), sketches out in vivid terms, what it looked like
when leaders failed to provide this care.
o Not
only did the shepherd provide nourishment and direction, but David goes out of
his way in the Psalm to convey the idea of the shepherd providing safety and
protection.
o In
Jesus’ description of Himself in John 10 he adds to our understanding of what
makes for a good shepherd. The good shepherd is sacrificial. He is willing to
ignore his own needs in order to meet the needs of the sheep. Over and over in the
passage he states the good shepherd gives his own life for his sheep. (vs.11,
15, 17, 18)
o The
other characteristic of the good shepherd Jesus makes crystal clear in his
discussion of the topic in John 10, is that the good shepherd is personally, if
not intimately involved with all his sheep.
o After
each admission of love on Peter’s part Jesus said, “Tend My lambs” John
21:15, “Shepherd my sheep” vs.16, and “Tend my sheep”
vs.17. Peter charges the elders at the churches in present day Asia Minor to “shepherd
the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to
the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as
lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be
examples to the flock.” (1Peter 5:2-3)
ii. EZEKIEL
CHAPTER 3 - WATCHMAN
https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/ezekiel-3/
The
responsibility of a watchman.
1.
(16-19) The responsibility to warn the wicked.
Now
it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me,
saying, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;
therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say
to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will
require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from
his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you
have delivered your soul.
a. I have made you a watchman for
the house of Israel: God used the figure of the watchman to describe
Ezekiel’s responsibility, here and in Ezekiel
33.
He fulfilled his role as a watchman not primarily by
observing others, but by faithfully proclaiming God’s word and bringing
God’s warning to the people. God was gracious to provide a watchman at all.
i. “A watchman: “See therefore that
thou be Episcopus, not Aposcopus; an overseer, not a
byseer; a watcher, not a sleeper.” (Trapp)
ii. “Ezekiel was not the first to define the prophetic office in
terms of a sentry. The 8th-century prophet Hosea makes the identification in
9:8, and alludes to it in 5:8 and 8:1, where he calls for the blowing of the
horn. Isa.
56:10 refers to blind sentries, visionaries who are asleep,
presumably false or negligent prophets.” (Block)
iii. There are many who consider themselves watchmen to the
people of God today. They watch carefully and look for signs of error or apostasy.
There is always a place for those to do what Ezekiel was called to do as a
watchman – to hear a word from God’s word
and to give them a warning. Yet many who do this focus on the examination of supposed
error more than the proclamation of God’s truth. This is a distortion of
Ezekiel’s calling as a watchman.
iv. Another way this modern office of watchman may distort the
Biblical idea is by untruthful or unfair examination of others in search of
error or apostasy. If a watchman alerts people to dangers but does not give an
honest and fair report, then he will not be believed when they warn of a
genuine danger.
v. “Herodotus telleth of one Euenius, a city shepherd, who for
sleeping and allowed the wolf to enter the fold and kill sixty sheep, had his
eyes pulled out. God threateneth the like punishment upon sleepy watchmen, idol
shepherds. [Zechariah
11:17].” (Trapp)
b. When I say to the wicked, “You
shall surely die,” and you give him no warning: God explained the
sin and the penalty of failing to be a faithful watchman. If God’s message was
not delivered, then his blood I will require at
your hand.
Again, the focus of the watchman’s work is not on the examination of the wicked, but on the faithful
declaration of God’s message.
i. His blood I will require at
your hand:
“Hear it, ye priests, ye preachers, ye ministers of the Gospel;
ye, especially, who have entered into the ministry for
a living,
ye who gather a congregation to yourselves that ye may feed upon their fat, and clothe
yourselves with their wool; in whose parishes and in whose congregations souls
are dying unconverted from day to day, who have never been solemnly warned by
you, and to whom you have never shown the way of salvation, probably because ye
know nothing of it yourselves! O what a perdition awaits you! To have the blood of
every soul that has died in your parishes or in your congregations unconverted
laid at your door! To suffer a common damnation for every soul that
perishes through your neglect! How many loads of endless wo
must such have to bear! Ye take your tithes, your stipends, or your rents, to the last grain, and the last penny; while the souls
over whom you made yourselves watchmen have perished, and are perishing,
through your neglect. O worthless and hapless men! better for you had
ye never been born! Vain is your boast of apostolical
authority,
while ye do not the work of apostles! Vain your boast
of orthodoxy, while ye neither show nor know the way
of salvation! Vain your pretensions to a Divine
call,
when ye do not the work of evangelists! The state of the
most wretched of the human race is enviable to that of such ministers, pastors,
teachers, and preachers.” (Clarke)
c. Yet, if you warn the wicked: If Ezekiel did
faithfully deliver God’s message, then he would bear no guilt if the message
was rejected. The one who rejected the message would die
in his iniquity, under the judgment of God. Yet of Ezekiel, faithfully
delivering God’s message, it would be said, you
have delivered your soul.
i. “A phrase which our fathers often used, is not heard to-day
frequently, about the work of the prophet. I refer to the phrase,
‘blood-guiltiness.’ Yet that phrase finds its warrant in this paragraph. There
is such a thing. If the wicked die in wickedness for lack of the prophetic
word, the prophet is guilty of his blood.” (Morgan)d. Shall
die in his wickedness: This probably has the sense of death in this life, not eternal
death – though, of course, most all who would be specifically judged with death
in this life would be judged with death in the age to come. Death was part of
God’s promised curse for disobedience to the Mosaic covenant.
i. The judgment of death had special relevance in the days of
Ezekiel and Jeremiah. False prophets gave false hope to the people and told
them to resist the Babylonians and put their trust in the Egyptians to save
them. Those who did this would die either in conquest or exile. The path of
safety was an obedient trust in the judgments of God.
ii. “‘Life’ and ‘death’ in this context are to be understood as
physical, not eternal, life and death. The concept of life and death in the
Mosaic covenant is primarily physical.” (Alexander)
2.
(20-21) The responsibility to warn the righteous.
“Again,
when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits
iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did
not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he
has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous
should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took
warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
a. When
a righteous man turns from his righteousness: The previous verses told of Ezekiel’s
responsibility to warn the wicked. Now God told him he also had a
responsibility to warn the righteous who may stray
from God’s path. If Ezekiel did not give him warning, he would share in
responsibility for the sin (his blood I will require at
your hand).
i. “The righteous (Heb. saddiq) was essentially the
man who showed by his good living his adherence to the covenant. It went
without saying that he was dutiful in carrying out the requisite religious
observances.” (Taylor)
ii. “Ezekiel admonished the righteous man not to turn from his
righteous ways—loyalty to the Mosaic code—and disobey God’s commands; for if he
did, he would surely die.” (Alexander)
iii. A
stumbling block: “It does not here indicate that God deliberately sets out to
trip up the righteous and bring him crashing to the ground, but that he leaves
opportunities for sin in the paths of men, so that if their heart is bent on
sin they may do so and thus earn their condemnation.” (Taylor)
iv. “The idea that God tests the fidelity of the righteous is a
well-worn biblical theme, most graphically presented in the prose story of the
book of Job. In the Lord’s Prayer there is a petition that God preserve the
believer in the midst of such a test. Elsewhere Ezekiel speaks of stumbling
blocks that God has laid in Israel’s path in the form of silver and gold (7:19)
and idolatry (14:3; 44:12).” (Vawter and Hoppe)
b. His
righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered: This is the tragic
price paid by many righteous men and women
who fail to finish well. The real good they have done
shall not be remembered. One sin or a short season of sin can easily wipe out an
otherwise good reputation.
c. If
you warn the righteous man: If Ezekiel were faithful to bring the message and the
righteous were appropriately warned and kept from their sin, it would be good
for the one who kept the warning (he shall surely live because he
took warning), and good for the prophet (you will have delivered your
soul).
3.
(22-23) Another vision of the glory of the LORD.
Then
the hand of the LORD was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into
the plain, and there I shall talk with you.” So I arose and went out into the
plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I
saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.
a. The hand of the LORD was upon
me there:
For the third time (Ezekiel
1:3 and 3:14) Ezekiel experienced
this. Once again Ezekiel had to prepare himself to hear and receive God’s word.
b. Behold, the glory of the LORD
stood there: Once again, Ezekiel had a vision similar to that which he
experienced in chapter 1.
i. “Although this is the third time he sees the kabod, the sight still
catches him by surprise and overwhelms him with awe. His relationship with God
never becomes familiar or casual—even a commissioned and authorized spokesman
must prostrate himself in the presence of God.” (Block)
ii. “First he has a renewed vision of the glory of the Lord
(22,23). Already, perhaps, he had begun to tum in on himself under the strain
that he could foresee was coming. A wise man once said something to the effect
that we should take ten looks at Christ to one at ourselves.” (Wright)
iii. JESUS
EXAMPLE – SHEPHERD
·
JOHN 13:34 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another.
·
REVIEW QUALIFICATIONS OF A TRUE
BELIEVER FROM POST#1
