Filled, ready to lay down

Ezekiel 34: [15] I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
[16] I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

"You know what He's going to do? He's going to judge the leaders of Israel. When He says, 'I'm going to feed them,' back in verses 12-13 they don't feed the people," explains Richard Jordan.

"Feeding them is not just giving them groceries. You know, we have all these institutions trying to feed and clothe and so forth. I worked at a rescue mission years ago when I first started in the ministry and we fed and clothed people so that we could preach to them.

Jeremiah 3: [14] Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

[15] And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

"You put bread in a guy's belly and he's hungry tomorrow; you put knowledge and understanding in his heart and you've equipped him. The first priority of the leaders of Israel was to teach God's Word. Give them knowledge and understanding of how to handle the details of life, as God designed His nation for them to do that.

"Mark 7 is a verse that's almost always misquoted. When the woman comes to Christ and wants Him to heal her daughter and He says, 'I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' she responds to Him in Mark 7: [26] The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

[27] But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

"Let the children first be what? Not fed; filled. That's an important thing. You're not just preaching it to Israel so that Israel gets it; you're preaching it to them so they're FILLED with it.

Go back to Ezekiel 34: [15] I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

"When you've gone and had a big meal, what's the first thing you want to do? Run track? Plow corn? You really want to go lay down, dontcha? When you've been filled . . . 

"I'm just trying to say to you, what's going on in Matthew, Mark and Luke is really an echo of what you're hearing back here when he talks in verse 17 about judging between the people in Israel: [17] And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.

That's exactly what the John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:7: [7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

[8] Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
[9] And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

[10] And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

"He's going to separate the people in Israel and the ones who are going to come to do it, He's the true shepherd. That's the part of this passage that kind of blows your mind.

Ezekiel 34: [11] For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

[12] As a shepherd seeketh 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.

Verse 15: [15] I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

"Jesus said in John 10, 'I am the good shepherd.' He said, 'I'm Jehovah.' So the identifying of Jesus Christ as Jehovah just comes right out of here. His role as Jehovah comes right out of here."