As we discussed yesterday, the most
probable interpretation of vss. 1-6 is that they’re referring to a future time
in which idolatry and false prophecy will be stamped out in Israel after the
Messiah returns. In this age, out weapons
are spiritual: prayer, proclaiming the Message of Jesus as found in the Bible,
persuasion, etc. What doesn’t work with those methods, we leave between a
person and the Lord. But in that Age, after Christ returns, there won’t be any
room for doubt and no room for worshiping any God but the true one.
Now we come to a shift in the focus.
11:15-17
talked about a false shepherd, one with whom the Lord was disgusted. This false
shepherd only cared about himself, not his sheep or his responsibilities. But
this Shepherd is the “man who is close to” the Lord. This is talking about the
Good Shepherd, the One who will lay
down his life for his sheep. So what’s this passage talking about?
This, once again, is a great case to
be made for the “partially then/complete in the future” motif we’ve been seeing
a lot. It was definitely at least partially fulfilled in the First Coming.
Jesus said
that verse 7 was fulfilled at the Last Supper, and he applied
it later when his disciples fled in a panic and were scattered at his arrest.
You might be wondering about the
last part of vs. 7: The Shepherd will be struck and “I will turn my hand
against the little ones.”? What? Well, it is true that it’s possible to
translate “against” here as “upon”; in other words, the Lord will put his hand
“upon” (as in protecting) the little ones. But quite frankly, most seem to
translate it as “against” based on the context. This is talking about the
Lord’s sovereign plan, which is to strike the shepherd and “strike” the “little
ones.” It’ll look like they’re abandoned. Of course we know from the rest of
his word that he'll never really leave nor forsake his children.
But the rest of the passage makes
very little sense if you believe it was completely fulfilled at his first
coming. You might try to claim that the destruction of the land (in vs. 8) was
fulfilled when Rome destroyed it in A.D. 70. And Jesus said
that this would be a direct result of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. There
was certainly a lot of loss of life there—probably not a full two-thirds of the
population, but a lot.
But verse 9 makes a wonderful
promise, which has definitely not been fulfilled in any way yet that makes
sense. It says that the all the remaining one-third who survive the destruction
of verse 8 will turn wholeheartedly back to the Lord:
“They
will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I
will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.”
In no way has this been fulfilled
among Israel since the days of the first century. Thank the Lord, there’s been
a remnant
chosen by grace that have turned to the Messiah. But their numbers, regrettably,
are nowhere near the majority or even a significant plurality.
So assuming that it’s “then
partial/future complete,” then what can we learn from it?
I think first and foremost this is a
great reminder of how much we desperately need our Shepherd/Savior. When our
Shepherd was “struck,” all of his followers folded like a house of cards in a
windstorm. The wonderful news is that that was a one-time affair. But we should
keep in the forefront of our heads: “Apart
from me you can do nothing.” If he ever did turn his back on us, or if by
some crazy set of circumstances he ever was taken away from us by force, that
would be it for us. Without the Shepherd, the sheep would not only be
defenseless but dead.
It also reminds me that everything
does have a purpose. There is no such thing as purposeless suffering. To say
that these folks are going through a terrible time is to really understate it.
But the Lord will bring them out to the other side of it all, and both they and
he will say in the end “It was worth it. To bring us to this point of intimate
communion, it was worth it all.”
Aren’t you glad?
Lord Jesus, I know full well what I can
do without you. And I know what would happen if you ever did leave me or forsake me.
But you won’t. Never ever ever. Thank you.
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