The Gospel According to Eden Text: Ezekiel 34:25-31
Introduction: The Government of God
We live in an age that is terrified of the future, and for good reason. Our political shepherds are fools, our cultural shepherds are wolves, and the flock is scattered, frightened, and thin. Men look at the chaos, the decay, the sheer insanity of our times, and they conclude that the only reasonable response is a kind of managed despair. Many Christians, who ought to know better, have bought into this narrative. They read the glorious promises of the Old Testament prophets, promises of peace, of fruitful lands, of secure dwellings, and they spiritualize them into a distant, ethereal heaven, or postpone them to a future millennium that has little to do with the here and now. They see the triumph of God's kingdom as something that happens after history is a smoking ruin, not within it.
But the prophet Ezekiel will not allow us this luxury of pessimism. God does not make promises that He does not intend to keep, and He does not paint pictures of a glorious future simply to taunt us with what might have been. The promises in our text today are not wispy spiritual abstractions. They are earthy. They are tangible. They speak of harmful beasts, of wilderness and woods, of showers and seasons, of fruit and produce, of yokes and plunderers. This is a prophecy about the government of God breaking into our world in a real, concrete, and transformative way.
This passage comes on the heels of God's blistering condemnation of the false shepherds of Israel, the corrupt leaders who fed themselves and fleeced the flock. Having pronounced judgment on them, God now declares what He, the true Shepherd, will do. And what He will do is establish His rule through a new David, a Shepherd-King. What Ezekiel describes here is nothing less than the blessings of the New Covenant, the gospel of Jesus Christ, applied to every square inch of creation. This is a postmillennial passage, which is to say, it is a profoundly optimistic passage. It tells us what the world looks like as the gospel goes forth and does its work. It is a picture of the kingdom of God advancing, not in retreat. It is the re-Edening of the world through the finished work of the second Adam.
So as we unpack these verses, we must resist the temptation to think this is merely for some other time or some other people. This is the charter of the Church. This is the inheritance of the saints. This is the future that the gospel is building, right now, in our midst.
The Text
"I will cut a covenant of peace with them and cause harmful beasts to cease from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them tremble. I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear the dishonor of the nations anymore. Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people," declares Lord Yahweh. "As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares Lord Yahweh.
(Ezekiel 34:25-31 LSB)
The Covenant of Peace (v. 25)
We begin with the foundation of all these blessings.
"I will cut a covenant of peace with them and cause harmful beasts to cease from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." (Ezekiel 34:25)
Everything that follows flows from this first action: God cuts a covenant. This is not a negotiation between equals. This is a unilateral, sovereign act of grace. The "covenant of peace" is another name for the New Covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is not merely the absence of conflict. It is wholeness, completeness, flourishing, and well-being in every direction. It is peace with God, which then overflows into peace with one another and peace with the created order itself.
And notice the first tangible result of this covenant. God will "cause harmful beasts to cease from the land." In the Old Covenant, wild beasts were a curse for disobedience (Lev. 26:22). They represented the chaos and danger of a world disordered by sin. When Adam fell, the harmony between man and the animal kingdom was shattered. Here, God promises a reversal of that curse. This is not just about lions and bears, though it includes them. The "harmful beasts" are also a metaphor for predatory men and tyrannical nations that devour the people of God. The gospel, as it takes root in a society, tames the beastliness of fallen man. It civilizes. It makes the wilderness safe.
The result is that God's people can "live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." The most dangerous places become safe. This is a picture of profound security. The gospel does not promise to remove us from the wilderness of this world, but it does promise to make us safe in it. We are not called to a monastic retreat from the world, but to a confident engagement with it, fearing no evil, because our Shepherd is with us.
Showers of Gospel Blessing (v. 26-27)
The blessings of this covenant are not static; they are dynamic and life-giving.
"I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them." (Ezekiel 34:26-27)
"My hill" refers to Zion, the place of God's dwelling, which is a type of the Church. God promises that not only will the Church be blessed, but it will be a blessing to everything around it. The Church is to be the source of cultural transformation. The presence of God's people in a community should make that community a better, more fruitful, more blessed place. We are to be a city on a hill, radiating the light and life of the kingdom.
And how does this happen? Through "showers of blessing." This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, promised in the New Covenant. Rain in the Scriptures is a symbol of God's life-giving Word and Spirit (Isa. 55:10-11). These are not sprinkles of blessing, but showers. This is a picture of lavish, abundant grace. When the gospel is faithfully preached and the Spirit is poured out, the result is supernatural fruitfulness. The "tree of the field" and the "earth" yielding their produce is the reversal of the curse of Genesis 3, where the ground was cursed for Adam's sake. The gospel begins to heal the very creation.
This material and spiritual prosperity has a purpose: "Then they will know that I am Yahweh." God's blessings are evangelistic. They are a sign and a testimony to a watching world that our God is the one true God. And this knowledge comes when He acts to save: "when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them." This is Exodus language. God is the great Liberator. In Christ, He has broken the yoke of sin, death, and the devil. And as the gospel advances through history, He continues to break the yokes of tyranny, poverty, and ignorance that enslave men and nations.
Secure and Unashamed (v. 28-29)
The result of God's covenant action is a new posture for His people: security and honor.
"They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them tremble. I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear the dishonor of the nations anymore." (Ezekiel 34:28-29)
For centuries, Israel had been "plunder to the nations." They were a doormat for every passing empire. This was a covenant curse for their faithlessness. But in the New Covenant, this is reversed. God's people, the Church, will ultimately be victorious. The gates of Hell will not prevail against it. The promise that "no one will make them tremble" is a promise of the triumphant, confident posture of the Church as she fulfills the Great Commission.
God then promises a "renowned planting place." Some translations render this "a plant of renown." Both are getting at the same truth. The "plant of renown" is the Messiah Himself, the Branch from the stump of Jesse (Isa. 11:1). Jesus is the true vine, and we are the branches. He is the source of all our fruitfulness. But this renowned plant also establishes a "renowned planting place." That is, Christ establishes His Church as a fruitful garden in the midst of a desolate world. This garden is so fruitful that there will be no more famine, which is both physical and spiritual. Where the gospel goes, the Word of God is preached, and the famine for hearing the Word of the Lord is ended (Amos 8:11).
And because of this, they will no longer "bear the dishonor of the nations." The world mocks the Church. They dishonor the name of our God. But God promises a day when the Church will be so manifestly blessed, so culturally fruitful, so victorious, that the mocking will cease. The nations will see the goodness and glory of God in His people and will stream to Zion to learn of His ways (Isa. 2:2-3).
The Covenant Relationship (v. 30-31)
The prophecy concludes by summarizing the heart of the matter: the restored relationship between God and His people.
"Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people," declares Lord Yahweh. "As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 34:30-31)
This is the great covenant formula that echoes throughout Scripture: "I will be their God, and they will be My people" (Jer. 31:33). All the blessings of peace, security, and fruitfulness are simply the outworking of this central reality. The greatest blessing of the covenant of peace is the presence of God Himself. "I... am with them." This is Immanuel, God with us. This is the whole point of redemption.
The "house of Israel" here is not the ethnic nation alone, but the true Israel of God, the Church, composed of both Jew and Gentile who are united by faith in the Messiah (Gal. 6:16). We are His people. We belong to Him.
And He concludes with this tender and yet clarifying statement. "As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God." He reminds them of their creatureliness. "You are men." You are not God. You are the sheep; I am the Shepherd. This is the fundamental Creator/creature distinction that keeps us sane. Our security and our blessing do not come from our own strength or ingenuity. They come from the fact that we belong to Him. He is our God, and we are the sheep of His pasture. He is responsible for our care, our feeding, our protection, and our ultimate victory. Our job is to trust Him, to follow Him, and to rejoice in the green pastures He is leading us into.
Conclusion: From Prophecy to Reality
So what do we do with a passage like this? First, we must recognize that this is not a description of some far-off, disconnected reality. This is the work that Jesus Christ began at His first coming and is continuing to this day through His body, the Church, by the power of His Spirit. The covenant of peace has been cut. The showers of blessing began to fall at Pentecost and have been watering the earth ever since. The yoke of sin has been broken. We are, right now, the sheep of His pasture.
Second, we must allow this robust, optimistic, world-conquering vision to shape our own expectations. We are not fighting a losing battle. We are not engaged in a holding action, waiting for the cavalry to rescue us from a failed mission. We are on the winning side of history. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it is the power of God unto cultural transformation. The world will not be won by our political programs or our clever strategies. It will be won as the Church is faithful to be the Church, radiating the blessings of God's covenant of peace from every hill where she is planted.
Therefore, we should labor with confidence. We should pray with boldness. We should preach the gospel with the expectation that it will do what God has promised it will do: cause the beasts to cease, make the wilderness safe, bring forth fruit from barren ground, and fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The Shepherd-King is on His throne, and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of its increase, there will be no end.