Son of Isaac Restoration Ministry

How many Christians are there today who are not connected to, and with, a local fellowship of believers?  Too many!

Why are there so many born-again believers who have left the organized church?   A survey of such people would uncover many different reasons that they might offer.  The purpose of this article is not to discuss those “excuses” or the range of them.

Clearly, the Word of God, in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, offers one underlying truth that can be universally applied to all such “scattered sheep” who are not in the sheepfold!

Ezekiel 34:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2  Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3  You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you do not feed the flock.
4  The diseased you have not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you  bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you  sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
5  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

There are those in the Body of Christ who would say these verses are only applicable to the Old Covenant natural Israel and their “shepherds” (pastors) at the time of Ezekiel (about 600 years before Christ, during the Babylonian captivity).  But the words of Jesus clearly bring into the New Testament Church the concept that if there are “scattered sheep” who have not been brought back to the sheepfold, it is because the shepherds (pastors) have not “brought back that which was driven away.”

Matthew 18:12  What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
13  And if he finds it, truly I say unto you, he rejoices more about that  one than about the ninety nine which did not go astray.

Regarding some of the other failures of the shepherds to whom Ezekiel’s prophecy was addressed, are these not things that the Body of Christ is called to do?  Consider the words of our Lord, Jesus, the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) in Luke 4:18 (as He quoted from Isaiah 61:1):

Luke 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,  because  he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,  to preach deliverance to the captives,  and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised…

As His Body on earth — the Body of Christ, the Body of the Anointed One — are we not called to do that which Jesus did, and then told us to do in His Name?  Could the words of Ezekiel 34, the words of God Himself through the prophet, have application to us as born-again believers today?

More than 20 years ago, as the Lord placed a God-given burden in my heart about “the scattered sheep,” He challenged me to ask a question to a number of pastors whom I knew at the time — pastors of a number of different “Bible-believing” churches.  The question was this: “What do you do when one of your sheep wanders off, for whatever reason they might cite?”

The answers ranged from, “I say good riddance to bad rubbish” to “I pray for them, as I release them from this fellowship.”  Not one of those polled at the time said, “I leave the 99 who stayed to go after the one who has gone astray.”

Unfortunately, a large percentage of those believers who leave, depart not only from that particular body of believers, but from all fellowship with other church-going brothers and sisters.  Yes, some leave one church to go to another.  I am not writing about them.  The ones in focus here are those who “go astray” and all too often are “devoured” by the wild beasts in the wilderness and “became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.”  These are ones we often self-righteously call “backsliders” who after leaving the church become overtaken by sins of the flesh of all types, and soon do not even resemble believers.

Eze 34:6  My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

Where today are the shepherds (pastors) who go after the scattered sheep to bring them back?  Many good sermons have been preached about why God refers to His people as “sheep.”  Most know that sheep are not that smart and will wander off, if the shepherd doesn’t “sheep herd” them.  They will, if allowed, wander into a place of danger where wild beasts might devour them, oblivious to the dangers they face.  It is the shepherd’s job to feed, care for and protect the sheep — and to go after them and bring them back if they wander off!  (Look at the life of young David, the eventual king, as he cared for his sheep, as recorded in First  Samuel.)

Eze 34:7  Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8  As I live, says the Lord GOD,  surely  because  my flock  became a prey, and my flock  became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9  Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10  Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock;  neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

My intention is not to attack the shepherds (pastors) that are set in place in the universal church today.  They answer only to God, not to me.  However, I would do anything possible to give them a true pastoral burden for the scattered sheep.  Clearly, it is God’s heart to deliver His sheep, His people, from the wildernesses to which they have been scattered.

Eze 34:11  For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold,  I, even I, will both search for my sheep,  and seek them out.
12  As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Some will look at the words of God through Ezekiel and say, “Well, the LORD said He Himself would seek them and bring them back.”  And just how will He do that?  Will Jesus physically descend to earth to go gather up the scattered sheep and bring them back to the sheepfold?  No!  He will do that the same way He does all things in the earth — through His people, His Body, the Body of Christ!

Eze 34:16  I will seek that which was lost, and bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen  that which was sick….

What did the resurrected Jesus say to Peter who had denied Him?

John 21:14  This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15  So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jona, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.  He said to him, Feed my lambs.
16  He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jona, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.  He said to him, Feed my sheep.
17  He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jona,   do you love me?   Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.   Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.

Some pastors will say that despite Ezekiel 34, it is the job of the evangelist, not the pastor, to reach those who are outside the church — even those who were once a part of the church.  They, the shepherds, feed the sheep who are in the church. (How does that square with the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:12?)

We have much evangelism in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ today.  This is good.  Most of us would agree that “the fields are white to harvest.”  Nevertheless, why is so little (if any) of evangelistic outreach aimed at the scattered sheep — the disillusioned believers who for whatever reason have left the church entirely and will not likely even attend an evangelistic meeting?

Do we place too much emphasis on the prodigals who return of their own choice, and not enough on the sheep who have been scattered for lack of a shepherd — for whom someone must go after them?

So who will seek out the scattered sheep and bring them back?  I, for one, have made myself available to the Lord to send me!  Whether He does so or not is up to Him.  I cannot conceive that He has given me this burden and does not intend to send me to do the job.  And I sincerely believe He has been preparing me.  In fact, over the years, every time I forgot or put aside this Ezekiel 34 burden, I seem to have found myself back in that horrible wilderness of the scattered sheep!   I truly believe I have heard the Holy Spirit saying to me, ‘This is due season — the appointed time!”

I, however, am only one person.  Who else will “catch the burden”?  Are there pastors (shepherds) and evangelists who will read this article and allow the Holy Spirit to impart to them a burning passion for this assignment?  Are there those to whom the Lord Jesus has spoken about this assignment who have yet to respond?   Are there those who have been prepared and are just waiting for the Lord to say, “Now”?

Thus says the Lord, “NOW!“