The Shepherd Who Gathers: A People of Spirit and Truth
Throughout the history of God’s dealings with humankind, the divine intention has always been to gather a people unto Himself—not merely by blood, tribe, or tradition, but by truth, righteousness, and the indwelling of the Spirit. From the earliest days of Israel’s calling, the heartbeat of God has pulsed with the desire to shape a people who know Him, walk with Him, and reflect His nature in the world. This longing, spoken by the prophets and fulfilled in the person of Jesus the Messiah, is now realized in the forming of a new kind of people: a spiritual nation, gathered not by flesh, but by the Spirit of the living God.
The prophets foresaw this. In the visions of Ezekiel, Isaiah, and even the apocalyptic writings like the Book of Enoch, God is portrayed not as a distant ruler but as a Shepherd—a seeker of the scattered, the broken, and the lost. “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them,” declares the Lord in Ezekiel 34. These are not merely words of comfort, but declarations of divine initiative. God does not leave the gathering to others; He takes it upon Himself.
The Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, came as that very Shepherd. He walked the dusty paths of Galilee and Samaria, not looking for those acclaimed by religious society, but for the forgotten, the mingled, the spiritually hungry—those lost among the nations. He declared, “I have come to seek and to save the lost,” and again, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Yet his actions revealed a mystery: that the true Israel he came to restore was not limited to bloodlines or sacred geography, but made up of those who would receive him in Spirit and truth.
At Jacob’s well, he met a Samaritan woman, a figure despised and excluded by Jewish orthodoxy. Yet he offered her living water, promising that within her, a spring would well up to eternal life. No longer would worship be bound to Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem; the Father sought those who would worship in Spirit and truth. In this, he unveiled a radical shift: the gathering of God’s people would not be external, but internal; not nationalistic, but spiritual; not by rite, but by rebirth.
This living water—the Holy Spirit—is the seal of the new covenant people. As prophesied by Joel and fulfilled at Pentecost, the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, breaking down divisions between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. Through this outpouring, God forms a new Israel—not a political nation, but a people who belong to Him, called from every tribe, tongue, and background.
Paul the apostle understood this mystery and proclaimed it boldly. Though he was sent to the Gentiles, his heart ached for his fellow Jews, whom he called his kinsmen according to the flesh. Yet he made it clear that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel”—rather, “it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise.” To the Gentiles, he preached inclusion by faith, describing them as wild branches grafted into the olive tree of God’s covenant people. To the Jews, he held out hope for restoration, for the natural branches to be grafted back in—not by merit, but by belief.
Thus, the people of God are formed not through inheritance of blood, but through participation in the Spirit. They are those who have received the Son, who abide in his teachings, and who experience the wellspring of life within. They are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ, the scattered exiles now regathered in him. As it was in the beginning, when Israel was called out of Egypt, so now God is calling out a people from the nations—out of spiritual Egypt and Babylon—into a new exodus, led by the Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
This regathering is not merely individual salvation; it is the formation of a people. A people called to bear witness to the character of God, to walk in holiness, mercy, and love. A people who welcome the stranger, who bind up the broken, who tear down dividing walls. A people not marked by temple buildings or earthly borders, but by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
To participate in this is to share in the ministry of the Shepherd—to seek the lost, to heal the wounded, to proclaim good news to the poor. It is to be drawn into the heart of God, whose love compels us to open wide the gates of fellowship, even to those the world and the religious systems have despised. For in this, the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
And so, the Shepherd continues to gather. From the scattered, from the hidden, from the disqualified. He calls them by name. He knows their hearts. And by His Spirit, He makes them one.
Stephen D Green with ChatGPT, April 2025
