The Forgotten Jesus by Robby Gallaty

Author:Robby Gallaty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2017-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

A Shepherd Searching for His Sheep

We should also take note when Jesus calls Zacchaeus “a son of Abraham.” He follows this by adding: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 CSB). In saying this, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man, alluding to two Old Testament scriptures to reveal his true identity. Daniel 7 refers to the Messiah as the “son of man.” In Daniel 7:13–14 we read:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Jesus also makes a connection to the book of Ezekiel by referencing the phrase “to seek and to save the lost.” Ezekiel 34 begins, “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?’ ” The language of shepherd is a metaphor for the religious and political leadership of Israel. In Ezekiel’s day, the shepherds (leaders) neglected their duty to care for the sheep (the people), and so God chastised their leadership by saying,

You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them [or seek and save them] (Ezek. 34:3–6).

Ezekiel continues:

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out (seek and save them). As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.

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