Ezekiel 34:11-16

What a sweet relief doth this part of the Chapter afford, after beholding what went before, in the unfaithfulness of false shepherds, to hear what is promised to the true. Reader! you will not, I am sure, need my pointing out, that it is Jesus who here takes up the subject. His Church is his flock, and for every one of the fold he is intimately concerned. Indeed, under how many characters of a shepherd doth the Holy Ghost represent him, in various parts of his sacred word. At one place as the chief shepherd, 1 Peter 5:4. at another as the Great shepherd, Hebrews 13:20. And for the identity of the person and character, in the same Chapter, he is called the one shepherd; to intimate that there is no other. See Ezekiel 34:23. And Jesus calls himself the good shepherd. John 10:11. And God the Father calls him my shepherd. Zechariah 13:7. And Reader! you and I are not, I hope, without a personal knowledge of him, under everyone of those sweet distinctions. And that Jesus hath a flock, a Church, a people, which are his, both by the Father's gift, and his own purchase; this I hope is also well known both to the Writer and the Reader. And this flock, like the glorious Shepherd of it, is known by various names in the word of God, which the Holy Ghost hath given to it. At one place it is called a little flock: Luke 12:32. At another a beautiful flock: Jeremiah 13:20. And by one of the Prophets it is called a flock of slaughter. Zechariah 11:4. But still Jesus's flock is costly, and precious in his eyes. No wonder that the Lord therefore so graciously undertakes those compassionate offices himself, which are here marked down. Reader! are you of Christ's fold? fear not then, Jesus will feed, protect, heal, restore, comfort, bring home, and cause to lie down in his bosom, every poor, diseased, and wandering sheep of his fold!