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I. GOD PROVIDES GOOD PASTURE (Ezekiel 34:14). Although spoken of Israel, yet surely God's spiritual Israel may lay the hand of faith and appropriation upon the promises of this chapter. One chief idea of good pasture in the mind of a shepherd would be pasture from which nutriment could be derived without fear of deleterious herbs. The psalmist says, "Thy Word is very pure" (Psalm 119:140), and again (Psalm 12:6). The writings of men may be good and very helpful, but God's Word is essence. No other book will fully satisfy the soul that has found a living Christ in the written Word, and that knows experimentally how pregnant with life and meaning the Holy Ghost can make the simplest verses of God's Book.

II. GOD PROVIDES LARGE PASTURES (Isaiah 30:23). This seems to refer to literal cattle, but 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, embodies the same thought. In God's Word may be found everything necessary for the soul's real good, but not anything for curious speculation. Yes, large — wide as the needs of the human heart — extensive as the infinite fulness of God. Every promise from cover to cover belongs to the believer, and there is no need of man which has not its corresponding supply in the promises of God. But the mere letter of the Word will profit little; it is only as Christ the living Word, in whom all fulness dwells, is seen and appropriated through the written Word, that the need of the human heart and the infinite fulness of God are brought together.

III. GOD PROVIDES GREEN PASTURES (Psalm 23:2). "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;" or, as the margin, "pastures of tender grass" — some one has rendered it "springing grass." Evidently the idea is that of freshness — not stale food. There is a great tendency in our day to feed upon stale spiritual food. One says, "I had a great blessing last year through Mr. So-and-So's preaching." Another says, "My Bible seemed to be lit up one morning last week, and I have been living upon the blessing I got then ever since." If God's pasture is ever green and springing, why have you had no fresh food to-day? In the country you will see the sheep turn from the rank grass of long growth to seek the delicate fresh-springing grass. Your body cannot be strong upon yesterday's food, neither can your soul be strong upon past experiences of blessing in the Word. The fresh pasture is still there, and the Holy Spirit waits to nourish the soul by means of it. Get fresh food daily.

IV. GOD PROVIDES FAT PASTURE (Ezekiel 34:14). Those who have the charge of sheep sometimes say a piece of pasture land has "no heart in it"; and Christians sometimes say they find their Bibles lifeless — they read them regularly, but get no good from them. It is possible to read chapter after chapter without blessing, for the letter of the Word alone may be compared to the husk which covers the grain — to the casket which contains the precious gem. But use it as revealing Christ; see Him in and through it; take home its warnings; claim the fulfilment of its promises; touch Christ in the Word; feed on Him; seek to extract the kernel from its covering, the gem from its casket, ever seeking and depending upon the Holy Spirit's teaching and power, and there will be no more complaint over a dull Bible; but it will be found to be fat, rich pasture that will abundantly satisfy (Psalm 36:8), and upon which the soul will gain new life, strength, joy, and power for useful service.

V. GOD PROVIDES PASTURE IN HIGH PLACES (Isaiah 49:9). And in Ezekiel 34:13, 14, the Lord promises to feed His flock upon the "mountains" and "upon the high mountains." May not a New Testament parallel to these "high places" be found in the "heavenly places," or heavenlies, of the Epistle to the Ephesians? Five times in that epistle the words occur, and in no other epistle. A careful study of the context would seem to show that it is a position attained through union with Christ in death and resurrection — a death unto sin (Romans 6), in His death, that, raised with Him, His resurrection life may be ours; not judicially only, but in actual fact and realization, through faith in God's mighty power (Ephesians 1:19-23) and promise. A daily death unto self and sin, "that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:10, 11), that we may be able to say with the apostle (Galatians 2:19-20).

(The Christian.)

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KJV: Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

WEB: Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.