Is Jesus God? Ezekiel 34:10-17

[derekohachey]

I have read many articles and books that discuss the divinity of Christ. However, I have never heard any of them discuss the following Bible verses. Is this a prophecy of Ezekiel that is rightly assigned to Jesus’ first comming that is described in the Gospels?

Ezekiel 34:10-17 (NAB):
Thus says the Lord GOD: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land’s ravines and all its inhabited places). In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly. As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

God Bless,
Derek

 

[mnealon1]

Jesus is the Son Of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity.
Ezekiel was writing from Babylon in captivity 586-38 BC. He was a Jewish exile and called by God to be a great Prophet and visionary.He was called to fortell God faithfulness in the mist of their trials and wicketness and fortold the destruction of Juda, before the fall of Jerusalem. After this happened he was to announce their return from exile and triumph of the Kingdom of the Messiah so people would not dispair.
God was speaking to Ezekiel as he did all through the Old Testament BC and this changed from the birth of Jesus the Son of God.
This is the best I can do with this, as it is difficult. Hope it makes some sense and I am sure someone elsecan do a better explaination!
God Bless

 

[kimbaichan]

God is three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. During the first covenant the Trinity was not yet revealed. I don’t think this passage excludes Jesus. There is only ONE God and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equally God.

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

John 14:11

I tell you that I am in my Father and my Father is in me. But you do not believe me. So then let the work that I do prove it to you.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Derek,

This passage speaks of God’s love for His people and Jesus specifically applied this passage’s vocabulary to Himself. So the passage is messianic in nature and predicts Jesus’ mission as God’s envoy. But, of itself, it does not speak to the divinity of the Messiah. Jesus has done this by quoting Psalm 110 (Vulgate 109) as proof of his own (the Messiah’s) divinity.

Verbum

 

[derekohachey]

Thanks Verbum,

If this passage is Messianic, I do believe it speaks to Christ’s divinity as God Almighty. because of this statement:

For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. …
I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. (NAB)

And pointing to the New Testament, we see that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

Thanks,
Derek

 

[Nita]

*Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. *

I can just imagine the Ezekel passage being one of those Jesus talked about with the disciples on the way to Emmaus.

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

Ezekiel 34:23-24 is even more to the point:

23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

David, long since gone to his reward, means, in the same allegorical sense as the rest of the passages, Jesus. Jesus, True God and True Man:vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19870826en.html

 

[jazzbass981]

The Trinity can be explained; but not understood by anyone. That’s why it’s called a mystery. Jesus is true God and true man. He is divine, but fully human.

 

[gulmatan]

The Trinity can be explained; but not understood by anyone. That’s why it’s called a mystery. Jesus is true God and true man. He is divine, but fully human.

Part of this mystery is how the Holy Spirit brings to each believer some understanding and it’s the role of trust, love, faith and growth in Him that fulfills the void left by our limited human understanding. Further along the line, because His glory is so immense and unbounded, if we were to understand it all, we would never be able to fathom it. That full understanding can only be realised when we are in Heaven in His presence. Even further, when, in the Second Coming, when we receive our glorified bodied, perhaps then is the time we can fully fathom and understand His glory.

 

[PJM]

---

I

have read many articles and books that discuss the divinity of Christ. However, I have never heard any of them discuss the following Bible verses. Is this a prophecy of Ezekiel that is rightly assigned to Jesus’ first comming that is described in the Gospels?

Ezekiel 34:10-17 (NAB):
Thus says the Lord GOD: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land’s ravines and all its inhabited places). In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly. As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

***Lk. 1: 34 *"And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” 35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born * will be called holy, the Son of God. **

**John 10: ** 7 "So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. 9 I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 14: * 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me," *

Love and prayers

 

[derekohachey]

Ezekiel 34:23-24 is even more to the point:

David, long since gone to his reward, means, in the same allegorical sense as the rest of the passages, Jesus. Jesus, True God and True Man:vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19870826en.html

Yes this passage if you take Ezekiel 34 from verses 10 all the way to 24 you see the Divine and Human Nature of Christ because in verse 11 God says that He Himself will tend is sheep and in verse 23 God says that He will appoint one shephard to pasture them, His servant David, which we understand to be David’s descendent, Jesus Christ.

Alternatively, I am wondering if somehow Ezekiel 34:23 is referring to the Papacy in the context of John 21:15-17?

Thanks & God Bless,
Derek

 

[derekohachey]

---

I

***Lk. 1: 34 ***"And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” 35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born * will be called holy, the Son of God.

**John 10: ** 7 "So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. 9 I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 14: * 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me," *

Love and prayers

Thanks PJM,

This is most useful!

Derek,

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

Yes this passage if you take Ezekiel 34 from verses 10 all the way to 24 you see the Divine and Human Nature of Christ because in verse 11 God says that He Himself will tend is sheep and in verse 23 God says that He will appoint one shephard to pasture them, His servant David, which we understand to be David’s descendent, Jesus Christ.

Alternatively, I am wondering if somehow Ezekiel 34:23 is referring to the Papacy in the context of John 21:15-17?

Thanks & God Bless,
Derek

It also comes down to authority,

**Matthew 16:19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." **

if Jesus isn’t God, then we aren’t saved or the Church hasn’t the authority to make liturgy, ritual, or laws and isn’t even authorized to say Jesus is God. My non-Catholic, non-religious family disputes the divinity of Jesus. The authority of personal interpretation in action.
As He is God, the Church is the authority to “feed the sheep” the “Bread of Heaven” that is Jesus.