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!
Ezekiel 34:11-16
11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 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.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 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.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
16 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: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.