Thus, in the 34th chapter of Ezekiel Jehovah pronounces woe upon the negligent shepherds of his sheep, saying: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. And I myself, Jehovah, will become their God, and my servant David a chieftain in the midst of them. He himself will feed them, and he himself will become their shepherd. Jehovah would give them a righteous shepherd/king – “David” – even as Ezekiel 34:23-24 says: “And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he must feed them, even my servant David. No longer would God allow his sheep to suffer under the care of unqualified, uncaring, negligent or self-indulgent shepherds. More importantly, the shadows cast by this portion of the prophecy have profound significance for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the coming of Christ, which is the subject of this article.įollowing the desolation of Jerusalem Jehovah revealed the means by which he would heal his broken people. But while it is noteworthy that the repatriated Jews did not resume the degrading form of idolatry that they had practiced before their exile, it is also apparent that the prophecy of Ezekiel only had a relative fulfillment with regard to the post-exilic Jewish society. At least that is what the prophecies relate.
No, in his compassion Jehovah purposed to permanently repair his relationship with the Jews.
Although the nation as a whole, particularly the leadership, failed to live up to the obligations of the covenant into which their forefathers had entered with God, Jehovah did not stay resentful nor did he cast them off forever, but he extended forgiveness and mercy in a very large way to a chastened remnant.īut the relationship between God and his people was not to be as before. Another significant aspect, not only of the book of Ezekiel, but of all Hebrew prophecy, has to do with the liberation, restoration and revival of God’s covenanted people.
The prophesied desolation of Jerusalem and the Jewish exile in Babylon was by no means the end of Jehovah’s dealings with his renegade nation. Where Stephen saw him and which is an honour never conferred on any angel, or man and shows that Christ had done his work, and that in a way acceptable to God the Vulgate Latin version here adds "swallowing up death, that we might be made heirs of eternal life" but is not supported by any copy or version:Īngels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him īy "angels" may be meant angels both good and bad, who are all in subjection to Christ and by authorities and powers, the kings, princes, and governors of this world, who hold their dominions from and under the Lord Jesus Christ and which is an argument why believers should patiently bear all their sufferings and afflictions, since Christ has the government in his hands, and he rules and overrules all things for good and when he pleases, he can put a stop to the rage and persecutions of men and so the apostle returns to his former argument, in the following chapter.“For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: ‘Here I am, I myself, and I will search for my sheep and care for them. According to the care of one feeding his drove in the day of his coming to be in the midst of his sheep that have been spread abroad, that is the way that I shall care for my sheep and I will deliver them out of all the places to which they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick gloom.'” After he had been risen forty days, where he is received, and will remain, until the restitution of all things and where he appears in the presence of God for his people, and ever lives to make intercession for them and is entered as their forerunner, and is preparing mansions of glory for them and will come again, and take them to himself, to be for ever with him, and from hence they expect him:
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