Ezekiel 34 and Hebrews 5
God is Our Shepherd.
God is Our High Priest.
When others lead us wrongly, He comes in and takes over.
When we are struggling, He comes in and helps us, because He has been where we are.
11’For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
I myself will search for my sheep
and look after them.
12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them,
so will I look after my sheep.
I will rescue them from all the places
where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.
13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries,
and I will bring them into their own land.
I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel,
in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.
14 I will tend them in a good pasture,
and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land.
There they will lie down in good grazing land,
and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.
I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy.
I will shepherd the flock with justice.
That last line is what God does: He rules with justice.
In Hebrews, we see another picture…
Every high priest is:
selected from among men
and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray,
since he himself is subject to weakness.
3This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
4 No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest.
But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.[a]”[b] 6And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”[c]
7During the days of Jesus’ life on earth,
he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears
to the one who could save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered
9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
In Hebrews 4, at the end we see this:
16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God is Our Shepherd who rules with justice and our high priest who rules with mercy
We need both
I need both
God, please do according to me what I deserve. Let my punishment and let the consequences for my sins fall on me, whether it be pain or guilt or shame. But let it fall on me so that it may destroy the greater evil, the sin in me. Lord, I let go. Or at least I try.
And God, thank you for your mercy. I pray that you might forgive me and that we might be able to walk together along this road, with nothing in between us. Lord, I give over this sin and move on. In your grace and power.
dv
ecw
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