God ta­kes care of His child­ren like a shep­herd ca­res for his flock. He se­arc­hes for, tends, and feeds his sheep. The Good Shep­herd does not avoid sin­ners or drive them away, but lo­ves them and cal­ls them to Him. God par­dons the weak and pe­ni­tent in His king­dom.

Man’s path­way in life is ra­re­ly smooth and le­vel. We una­voi­dab­ly en­coun­ter ad­ver­si­ties in our life. Neit­her does man al­wa­ys tra­vel along the path that the scrip­tu­res ex­hort him to. Many stray from the way of God’s will. This hap­pens to both in­di­vi­du­al pe­op­le and en­ti­re na­ti­ons.

Prop­het Eze­kiel was a priest in the temp­le of Je­ru­sa­lem. God had a li­fe­long task re­ser­ved for him that dif­fe­red from the or­di­na­ry. King Ne­buc­had­nez­zar con­qu­e­red Je­ru­sa­lem in 587 B.C. Af­ter that the pe­op­le of Is­ra­el were brought in­to cap­ti­vi­ty in Ba­by­lon. Prop­het Eze­kiel al­so had to go to Ba­by­lon, where his task was to be a prop­het, a coun­se­lor, and an en­cou­ra­ging shep­herd of his pe­op­le. He com­for­ted the pe­op­le by pro­mi­sing that God would yet give them an op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­turn to their ho­me­land.

God of­ten re­bu­ked his pe­op­le about sin and war­ned them of its con­se­qu­en­ces through prop­hets. Prop­het Eze­kiel gave a clear mes­sa­ge that eve­ry­o­ne is per­so­nal­ly res­pon­sib­le for his own deeds. The son is not res­pon­sib­le for the sins of the fat­her, neit­her is the fat­her res­pon­sib­le for the sins of the son (Ezek. 18:20).

Eze­kiel re­cei­ved a mes­sa­ge from the Lord desc­ri­bing how God ta­kes care of his child­ren like a shep­herd ca­res for his flock. The shep­herd se­arc­hes for those that are lost, binds the bro­ken leg, brings them to a fer­ti­le pas­tu­re to feed, and tends his flock (Ezek. 34:14–16). This pa­rab­le brings to mind the fa­mi­li­ar psalm of the shep­herd writ­ten by Da­vid (Ps. 23) and the ima­ge of Je­sus as the Good Shep­herd, who gi­ves up his life for his sheep (John 10:11).

Mer­ci­ful God

God does not want any­o­ne who has stra­yed from the way of His will to pe­rish. Ins­te­ad His will is that eve­ry­o­ne would turn and live (2 Pe­ter 3:9). The Good Shep­herd does not avoid sin­ners or drive them away, but lo­ves them and cal­ls them to Him. The grace of God is nee­ded where there are sin­ful pe­op­le. Je­sus says: “They that are whole have no need of the phy­si­ci­an, but they that are sick.” (Mark 2:17).

Ac­cor­ding to the Chris­ti­an Doct­ri­ne of 1948, re­pen­tan­ce is pe­ni­ten­ce and fear be­cau­se of sin. At the same time it is be­lief in ab­so­lu­ti­on—that sins are for­gi­ven through the me­rit of Christ’s ato­ne­ment. Re­pen­tan­ce is fol­lo­wed by a chan­ge in life and re­jec­ti­on of sin (CD 72). When sins are for­gi­ven, ac­cor­ding to Eze­kiel, God no lon­ger re­mem­bers them. This spe­aks to us of the es­sen­ce of God’s grace, its un­fat­ho­mab­le po­wer and im­men­si­ty.

The Book of Eze­kiel says that if the righ­te­ous strays on­to the wrong paths, to the ways of the un­god­ly, he will su­re­ly die. There is on­ly one way to le­a­ve the king­dom of God—by fol­lo­wing the en­ti­ce­ments of sin. A per­son who re­pents re­cei­ves life and will not pe­rish (Ezek. 18:21).

Tri­als al­lo­wed by God

Cap­ti­vi­ty was a he­a­vy phase in the li­ves of the pe­op­le of Is­ra­el. It is of­ten dif­fi­cult for in­di­vi­du­als or na­ti­ons to un­ders­tand the pur­po­se of tri­als and God’s in­ten­ti­ons. God’s thoughts are abo­ve our thoughts (Isa. 55:8–9). God sees much furt­her ahe­ad than man does. He gui­des the pha­ses of na­ti­ons and spe­aks to pe­op­le through them (CD 4).

The pe­op­le of Is­ra­el had transg­res­sed against God’s will and wan­ted to tra­vel their own ways. No­net­he­less God was mer­ci­ful to­ward His pe­op­le. He did not dest­roy them, but was re­a­dy to be mer­ci­ful. God’s love is di­rec­ted to­ward the en­ti­re sin­ful world: “For God so lo­ved the world, that he gave his on­ly be­got­ten Son, that who­so­e­ver be­lie­veth in him should not pe­rish, but have ever­las­ting life.” (John 3:16).

The mes­sa­ge of the word of God is clear. Those who have fal­len in­to sin can hear the pro­mi­se: “Turn yo­ur­sel­ves, and live ye!” (Ezek. 18:32). When a per­son be­lie­ves the gos­pel, proc­lai­med through the Holy Spi­rit, he is freed of his sins. The he­art of stone is rep­la­ced by a li­ving he­art (Ezek. 36:26–27).

In the fel­lows­hip of the king­dom of God

Eze­kiel com­for­ted the pe­op­le: “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to yo­ur fat­hers; and ye shall be my pe­op­le, and I will be yo­ur God.” (Ezek. 36:28). The time of cap­ti­vi­ty of the pe­op­le of Is­ra­el en­ded in time, ac­cor­ding to God’s pro­mi­ses. They were ab­le to re­turn to their ho­me­land.

The child­ren of God are pilg­rims here on earth. We are tra­ve­lers in a stran­ge land (Hebr. 11:13). We fall in­to sin on the jour­ney, but God par­dons the weak and pe­ni­tent in His king­dom.

The des­ti­na­ti­on of the child­ren of God is eter­nal life in our he­a­ven­ly home. We can own ever­las­ting life al­re­a­dy now in the mes­sa­ge of for­gi­ve­ness. In the care of the Good Shep­herd we will one day re­ach our true ho­me­land, where there is no sin or de­ath.

Text Juha Sep­pä­lä

Trans­la­ti­on K. K.

Pub­lis­hed Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 6/2013

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: Ezek. 18:20–32

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 11/2014.