Promise in the Prophets 306: God with us, His People

306. God With Us, His People

Ezekiel 34:30 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.

God promises to be with us. Matthew opens his Gospel with “Immanuel, God with us,” the fulfillment of God’s promise in the birth of Jesus. And he ends his Gospel with the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, unto the end of the age.” When the Son of God, the Word of God, very God of very God, was born as a human being, Jesus of Nazareth, God came to be with us, Immanuel. Jesus was with us on earth, in our history, for 33 years, and then died, rose again from the dead, and was taken away into the heavenly, spiritual realm (which is right next to the earthly, physical realm).

But then, just before He was physically removed from our sight, Jesus makes the promise, “I will be with you always.” How can this be? How can He be with us after being removed from our physical presence? The answer is He is with us in the spiritual world; He is with us in the spirit within our bodies. He could not be any closer to being “with us” than if he were only physically present. He fulfills the promise of the Lord our God.

Jesus is with us always, wherever we are, whenever we go, whatever we do, and He will never leave us. We may not sense His presence, feel God, or be aware that He is with us most of the time, but that does not make the promise untrue. Whether we know it or not, Jesus is always there, here, with us, in us. He is here with us as a companion, a friend, a guide, a lover, a brother, a husband, as a man and, yes, as God. There are times when this promise is most comforting to remember.

God is with us as His people, the Church (the house of Israel). We, all believers in Christ, are His people; I am one of His people. That makes Jesus responsible for us. Just like humans become responsible for anything they make or buy (like spouse, children, house, car, gadgets, tools, toys, etc.), and they obligate themselves to maintain, clean and take care of it. Jesus created and then bought us, and now He is responsible for us. He is obligated to maintain us and take care of us. That’s what it means when God says, “they are MY people.” His people are in good hands.

Promise in the Prophets 305: No Hunger or Shame

305. No hunger or shame

Ezekiel 34:29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Many precious promises are given regarding hunger and satisfaction. The hungry will be filled. The rich will be sent empty away. The rich, the proud, and the full do not need God and so they do not have room for Him in their lives. They are distracted about too many things and do not even sense their need. Until something bad happens; then they may cry out for help. Or not.

A truly hungry person is consumed with his hunger; he cannot think of anything else other than getting something to eat. Humans have been spiritually hungry and empty ever since the Fall when they were banned from the Tree of Life. Those who recognize spiritual hunger and come to understand that they are empty without God have the promise that they will be filled. When they hear the Gospel God comes in to fill the “God-sized vacuum.” Jesus has opened the way to the Tree of Life by dying on the tree of the cross. This is the “plant of renown.”

There is no hunger in “the land.” This is ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem when it comes down from heaven, for the Tree of Life is in it, opened up for all. “The land” is the kingdom of God, presently residing within the believer and seen in the group of believers meeting in Jesus’ name; this is the Church. In that land they may hear, receive and believe the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. Believers have come to know they are really hungry, empty, poor beggars in this world. They come to the cross and remember their baptism daily. And they are no more consumed with spiritual hunger. Jesus grants a full life.

The other part of the promise is that believers will no longer bear the shame of the heathen. The Holy Spirit, through the Word, convicts of guilt and shame and leads us to the sacrificed Lamb to cover the shame. The problem for many heathen is that they do not even sense their shame. Unbelievers sense disappointment, but in their pride they blame God and others, instead of finding the only remedy for shame. But the believer in Christ has no more shame, guilt, bitterness, resentment, blaming, and even complaint. This is the promise of “not bearing the shame of the heathen.”

Promise in the Prophets 304: Fear Nothing

304. Fear Nothing

Ezekiel 34:28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.

The Father and Jesus and angels very often speak these words to humans: “Fear not!” This is more than a wish or a command. It is a truth: there is nothing and no one to fear. “Perfect love casts out fear.” Perfect love is simple faith in Jesus, for He gives to us, and He is for us, perfect love. The truth is that when we fear God above all things, then we have nothing to fear. The problem is that we cannot keep this First Commandment.

If we truly feared God, which means, “Believe God,” we would really have no fears, worries, anxieties, doubts or frustrations. It is, of course, impossible for human beings to live without fear. Fear is an endemic characteristic of the human condition, at least since the Fall into Sin. But all impossible things are possible for God. He sees “No Fear” as a real possibility, and so He has no compunctions about telling the truth of this promise: “none shall make them afraid.” Or, as the Bible confesses: “Of whom shall I be afraid?”

We will not be a prey to the heathen and the beast of the field will not devour. These are two concrete examples of “things that make us afraid.” The general and spiritual promise is that nothing in heaven or on earth or under the earth shall make us afraid. The promise is believable because we have Jesus as our Strong Man, Protector, Deliver, Savior, and Conqueror. “If He is for us, who can be against us?” Our spiritual enemies are real, they are dangerous, and they are fierce, but with Jesus we can stand against all the evil powers. In Christ we dwell safely.

Promise in the Prophets 303: Break the Bands of the Yoke

303. Break the yoke

Ezekiel 34:27 And tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.

These promises about fruit and increase and safety are the results of the great promise, which is the cause of good things, that the Lord will break the bands of our yoke, and He has delivered us out of the hands of those who seek to take advantage of us for their own profit. When the yoke is broken all kinds of good things that come from God’s goodness can happen to us.

We are all born under the yoke of sin and death, and Satan has the control of our lives to destroy us. However, Satan has his limits set by the Lord, and the Spirit of God in the world, the invisible church, restrains his activity. But once the blood of Christ forgives our sinSatan has no more authority over us and he cannot serve himself through us. And Death has lost its hold on us, for without sin we will live forever.

We attribute “the yoke” to many causes. We know we are weighed down, but we are prone to blame others instead of taking responsibility for the cause of our problems. We cannot lift the yoke or lighten the load ourselves, so Jesus calls us to “Come unto me….Take my yoke upon you.” The promise of the Gospel is that we can exchange yokes. “Give Me your yoke, and you take mine. He says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We do not have a choice about wearing a yoke or not; the choice is: Which Yoke? The heavy one or the light one? When we are yoked with Jesus He is like the lead ox, the strong and experienced one, who pulls the heavy load and we just follow along with ease. When we strain at the yoke of Jesus it hurts the neck. We do make it difficult by straining at the narrow way, but it is still much better than being yoked to the Evil One.

Our Lord breaks the bands of the yoke and delivers us from the Evil One. If we could plainly see the broken bands of the old yoke, and believe this promise, we would gladly and joyfully proclaim: “Deliver us from evil,” and declare, “It is done.”

Promise in the Prophets 302: Showers of Blessing

302. Showers of Blessing

Ezekiel 34:26 And 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.

We believe, and sometimes we experience, the blessing of God upon our lives, particularly our spiritual lives. The Lord promises showers of blessing in season. We will not always, every minute, feel the spiritual blessings of the Lord, but there will be seasons of blessings. But the Christian knows that he is blessed all the time, whether it is in season or out of season. Seasons come and go, but blessing continues on. It is just that at certain seasons we see it more clearly than in others. The promise is given that there will be seasons of blessing, but faith knows that true spiritual blessing is always present and available to us.

But what we don’t usually realize is that the places around the invisible church (my hill) are also blessed. Just being a true believer and walking around in the world the Christian affects life and people around him or her. And when Christians meet together in Jesus’ name the physical place and the people nearby are blessed. We seldom see this blessing of “places round about,” but we still believe it to be true because God promises that it is so.

Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He doesn’t command us to be. We don’t try to be. We just are. Every Christian individual, family and church has a positive effect upon the places on earth where the Gospel is believed and preached. It is probably a good thing we don’t see the effect we have, for then we would become unduly proud (and that’s a bad thing). Because we don’t see the blessings God gives through us we need the Word to tell us so that we may believe the promise.

The Word says we, that is, our words, will have either the effect of blessing or cursing. James 3:16: “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.” For this reason we “set an angel at the door of my mouth.” And the Bible also warns that every word has the power to tend toward life or death (by blessing or cursing). Believe the promise: you are a blessing. So what do we do? Bring every thought captive to Jesus Christ and every word under the control of the Spirit by remembering the Gospel of Christ.

Promise in the Prophets 301: Peace and No Beasts

301. Peace and No Beasts

Ezekiel 34:25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

God promises a covenant of peace and a kingdom without wild beasts in which we can live safely, even in the desert and in the woods. Jesus has earned for us and given to us a covenant of peace. He has placed peace in the heart, where the kingdom is located. This inward kingdom becomes the visible and never-ending new heaven and new earth in which we will live in Paradise forever when we die. Meanwhile, while we wait we enjoy the peace of God and peace with God by faith. Peace in the heart is a sometimes tangible fulfilled promise. It is guaranteed in the covenant of blood.

The interesting aspect of this promise is that there will be no wild beasts in the Kingdom of God. There is nothing to fear. Adam had dominion over all animals, he knew and named them all, and no animal was wild or ferocious until the curse of the Fall into Sin. During Jesus’ temptation in the desert He was “with the wild beasts,” while the angels ministered to Him. Isaiah promises a time when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them.

The promise, “the evil beasts will cease out of the land,” is a graphic picture that the Curse has been removed from the earth and its people. Jesus became a curse for us. The curse is no longer on us or in us, but we still live with the curse on the earth and the sin that remains in us So we still live with wild, carnivorous, poisonous and dangerous beasts. Thus, Spiritually, however, the evil beasts within the soul have ceased their power over us who have received Jesus Christ as our Savior.  The devil and the demons still ravage and roar and scare and lie, but the truth always overcomes the lie. Whenever the believer repents and believes the gospel the evil beasts are crushed anew. Since sin is forgiven the Serpent and Death have lost their sting. In the “safe place” we “dwell safely.”

Promise in the Prophets 300: God and Prince

300. God and Prince

Ezekiel 34:24 And I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a prince among them: I the Lord have spoken.

The very great and precious promise is that the Lord (Jesus is my Lord) will be our God, and His servant David (Jesus is the Son of David) will be a prince among us. Faith makes Jesus our Lord and our God. Jesus is the prince who has taken over our lives from the prince of the power of the air (Satan), who previously had the destructive rule over our lives. But this old prince is not the boss any longer; he has been removed from authority and a new boss has taken his place. 

However, the old prince doesn’t surrender his rule readily. Therefore, he lies and deceives and tries to make us think that he is still in charge. He doesn’t say it that way, for then we might recognize the evil voice. He says things like: “You are the captain,” “You can be your own god.” “Bad things still happen, so God must be bad for you.” “Take the easy way and fun road and give in to the way of the world. The majority way can’t be all bad.” “God is not there, so do what you want.” “God doesn’t care, you look out for number one.” “You are guilty and deserve bad things, so just give up.” And with many such lies the Devil seeks to regain control and authority over us, which happens if we believe the lie. If we sin without repentance, or if we try to do good without faith, or if we think that God isn’t working for me, we come out from under the new prince and come under the old prince.

For this reason we need to believe the promise of God, know who He is, and accept what He does. We need to hear the gospel and believe it; when we do we submit to the good God and the good Prince. Jesus is your God and your King.

Promise in the Prophets 299: One Shepherd

299. One Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:23 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.

The Lord promises us a Shepherd. The Lord is the Shepherd. Jesus is the Lord. Jesus is the Shepherd. Jesus is the servant David, the son of David’s line and the fulfillment of the covenant promise to David that one of his descendants will rule on the throne of God’s people forever. Jesus is the promised King. This King is the Shepherd. Jesus says: “I am (=Yahweh, the Lord, the I AM) the Good Shepherd.”

Jesus is the promised King of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the Shepherd-King, who is the Son of God and the Son of David. “The Lord (Yahweh) is my shepherd.” Jesus is Lord, King, God, and Shepherd all rolled into one. He is one with the Father God, and the Father and the Son, as one, is the one shepherd. This One God, One Shepherd, has placed the One Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, into the heart of the believer. This is where the Kingdom is. God rules our life, today and forever.

The promise is a metaphor: Jesus is the Shepherd. God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as One, is the Shepherd. All that the Shepherd does for His Sheep God does for us: the Father plans it, the Son carries it out, and the Spirit works it out in real life. Who lives and rules in the heart? Father, Son, or Spirit? Well, all three, as one, for where one is there the other two are. What one does the other two do also.

The promise is also a simile. Jesus is like the Shepherd. That is, God does what a shepherd does: He rules as a king, He feeds, guards, He provides, He protects, He gives everything the sheep, like us, need for spiritual life and health. Specifically, the Lord promises in this verse that the Shepherd will feed us. He feeds us through the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. We make the promise personally our own by placing ourselves, by the Spirit’s guidance, under the ministry of the Gospel. This means we go to church and Bible study and spend time alone with God. This is how the Lord shepherds and feeds.

Promise in the Prophets 298: Seek, Bring, Bind Up, Strengthen

298. Seek, Bring, Bind Up, Strengthen

Ezekiel 34:16 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.

This promise is like the “Blessed” Beatitudes. Here is good news for the poor. Jesus announces that He has come to bless the people who need it. On the other hand, if you think you are already fat and strong in yourself then the “Cursed” comes in; He will destroy them in the judgment.

The Lord will seek the lost. This is what Jesus came for: to seek and to save the lost. We are all lost, but sometimes we recognize it more than at other times. The Savior came for the lost: He is looking for lost souls.

The Lord will bring again those who were driven away. In Adam, we have been driven out of Paradise into a cursed and sinful world. And we aren’t making it very well, Sin drives us away from God and from others. Jesus came to bring us back to Eden and back to God, our home where we belong. We stray every day; He brings us back every day.

The Lord will bind up what was broken. In a sin-cursed world everything breaks, including our spirit that is dead, our soul that is broken-hearted, and our body that gets weak and dies. Sin did that to us; Jesus bound it up, and His bandages are available for every wound. He pours life into the brokenness.

The Lord will strengthen the sick. Sin-sickness makes us weak and weary. We get sick and tired of our own sin, and the sins of others in the world. Jesus comes to us in our weakness and weariness and gives strength and life. Now the Joy of the Lord is our strength. Now we can get up and go on. 

Believe the fourfold promise: In Christ, we are no longer lost, exiled, broken and sick.

Promise in the Prophets 297: Good Fold and Fat Pasture

297. Good Fold and Fat Pasture

Ezekiel 34:14, 15 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. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.

The Lord, the Good Shepherd, will feed us in a good and fat pasture upon the mountains of Israel. He will feed the flock and cause them to lie down. This came true when Jesus came to earth to be the Shepherd of all the people who will believe in Him. Jesus uses this image to show us what He has done for us, what He is doing for us, and what He will do for us every day for eternity. He Himself says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” The metaphor of the Shepherd is one of the most powerful pictures in the Gospel of the Person who finds, saves, feeds, protects, and gives rest and peace. We are like weak and helpless sheep; Jesus is like the strong and loving shepherd. In His hands we are in good hands.

God feeds me: The Lord uses the Word of God to nourish and strengthen our spirit and our faith to grow spiritually strong and healthy. He leads us to and feeds us in a good pasture and in a fat pasture. The Lord shows us where the Gospel is proclaimed, and He prepares such a pasture for us to feed in. This pasture is on the mountains of Israel, which signifies the church of all believers in Christ. God will make sure that His believing children have a place they may go to hear the Gospel and hear the Word of forgiveness and salvation.

God makes me to lie down: I n those green pastures beside still waters, which is the invisible Church where the Gospel is preached, the Lord will cause us to lie down and rest at peace. Jesus says, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest for your souls.” The Curse of the Fall into Sin brings stresses, strains, toil and labor into our life. We may lie down by ourselves, but that does not always relieve stress. But when Jesus causes us to lie down it is because there is no stress. Sin is forgiven. Curse is relieved. Stress is removed. Peace floods the soul. Now we can lie down. We say with the David in Psalm 3: “I lay down and slept: I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.”