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The Lord will search diligently for those who are the sheep of the Lord. They are to be gathered together. He calls them ìmy sheep.î His sheep know His voice (the Word) and any other voice is strange to them and they will run from it. John 10:4-5 Those who are His sheep are the chosen, chosen by grace and not race. They are the elect, who are saved by grace and not by works. Rom. 11:5-8 The prophecy of Ezekiel which pertained to those in captivity in Babylon was fulfilled when Ezra and Nehemiah returned and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Any reference to the end times must be limited to those who are born of the Spirit and made to be members of the body of Christ. Those who are truly His sheep will be granted an abundance of all that is needful to produce healthy sheep. Eze. 34:11-12.
His sheep know His deliverance from bondage for He will bring them out of their bondage. They are to be fed in good pastures, the pleasant and wonderful things of the Word of the Lord. They rest in a good fold, a place of divine protection. On the mountain tops, exalted and lifted up in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself being the ìGood Shepherd.î John 10:11 The ìGreat Shepherd.î Heb. 13:20 The ìChief Shepherd.î 1 Peter 5:4 The ìOne Shepherd.î John 10:16 He is also portrayed as the ìGentle Shepherd.î Isa. 40:11 The prophecy is made to portray the coming of the Messiah who would be that one and only true shepherd. Eze. 34:23 He proclaimed Himself to be that Shepherd of the sheep as the Lord Jehovah.
The sick He will heal. The broken He will bind up. But, those who have taken advantage of the situation called the ëfat and the strongí will be dealt with severely. The Lord will judge and separate all other species of animal from His flock and keep only the true sheep. The sheep of His pasture. Eze. 34:13-17 It is interesting to note that Jesus in His teaching on His second coming made it very plain that there would be a time when the goats and the sheep would be separated one from the other. Mt. 25:31-34.
There will be day when He will take to task the prophets who have prophesied of their own spirit and not the Spirit of the Lord. They have muddied the waters, trampled the grass of the fields until there is little left that is good and edible and His flock have had to eat the remnants. One of the signs of the last days, that is seldom if ever considered, is the fact of the itching ears of the people which demand an easy, watered down, muddied water gospel. 2 Tim. 4:3-4 A people of apostasy who cannot digest sound doctrine. Preachers of compromise who accommodate them with trampled grass, messages without inspiration or an anointing of the Spirit. There is a great division on the horizon where the Lord will expose those whom He called cattle and are not His sheep. Eze. 34:18-22.