Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 32
Right after giving Ezekiel the very powerful vision of the dry bones being completely restored with life representing how God will take their spiritually dry bones and give them life.
Right after that comes an illustration that I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My People.
The theme of the chapter does not change here. This is still all about restoring Israel. It is not about some other group and not about your lukewarm church.
Eze 37:15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 37:16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
In verse 16 are the two sticks that the Mormons claim mean the Bible and the book of Mormon.
This is a real head shaker because there is no room for guesswork here because God Himself clearly says what the two sticks mean. And He says it in the same verse. Sometimes God will tell us what something means but it will be several verses later.
Not here. It is in the same verse.
God says that the one stick is for Judah and his companions. So the stick stands for people and not for a book. And not just any people, specifically for the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.
Those two tribes stayed with the son of Solomon when the kingdom split.
The second stick God says is for Ephraim. Ephraim was one of the sons of Joseph. So again the second stick does not stand for a book. It stands for people. For the 10 tribes that broke away and formed the northern kingdom.
That is the kingdom that had Ahab and Jezebel and the golden calves they worshipped in Bethel and Dan. The two sticks represent the split of the nation of Israel into two kingdoms. That is as clear as clear can be.
God then tells Ezekiel to join the two separate sticks together into one.
Eze 37:17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Eze 37:18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
And then comes the explanation. And again this will be as clear as the nose on your face.
Eze 37:19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
Eze 37:20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
Eze 37:21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Eze 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
That split was because of sin. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son would not listen to good wise counsel and pushed too hard. Then Jeroboam became king of the north and set up idol worship so that the people would not go to Jerusalem to worship.
And those sins of those two men caused pain and hurt and evil and civil war and the death of a multitude of people thru the years.
The split became very ingrained in who they were. By the time of Hezekiah’s revival he sent the call out all across the northern kingdom, only a few people responded and came to worship in Jerusalem.
They shared a common history, but that was centuries ago. In any practical sense they were not one people anymore as far as politically, or religiously. By the time of the last kings, no one could entertain the thought of becoming one again.
And then the northern kingdom got taken away by Assyria. So they do not even exist anymore as a kingdom. And now Jerusalem is taken away. Neither one are a nation anymore.
It would seem hopeless for them to reunite into one nation again.
But that is exactly what God was saying that He was going to do here.
Eze 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
They will no longer have a king for Judah and Benjamin and another king for the other tribes. They are going to have just one. Yes both kingdoms are now destroyed. However, people from all 12 tribes still exist. And they will be gathered together into one nation and not just anywhere but upon the mountains of Israel.
Like many prophecies of this time, you will see a partial fulfillment and then a long time later there will be a total fulfillment during the millennial kingdom.
So in about 70 years from the time Ezekiel gave this promise, people from all tribes were gathered together in Israel into one kingdom. And they stayed there for almost 600 years and as one kingdom.
That was a partial fulfillment. Not all Jews were gathered together in Israel. After the tribulation when Jesus establishes His throne in Jerusalem for 1,000 years, that is when we will see a complete fulfillment of this.
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
We understand that David my servant shall be king is actually talking about Jesus who came thru the linage of David.
Eze 37:25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
If you read the description of the boarders of the land that God gave Israel you will find out that there has never been a time in all of history where they have possessed all of that land.
They stopped after Joshua died and did not take it all. They got closer in Solomon’s day, but even then did not possess it all.
But God will fulfill His promise and during the 1,000 year reign they will finally possess every square inch of it.
Eze 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Eze 37:27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Eze 37:28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
When we are raptured before the tribulation there will be multitudes of lost people left behind. Over 1/3 of them will die during the tribulation. Those that live thru it will still be in their natural bodies, and they will continue having children.
Jesus will come back and establish His throne, the Jews will all be gathered back to Israel. And there will still be nations of lost heathen.
So you will basically have 3 groups during the millennial reign. Lost heathen. The Israelites, and those of us who come back with Jesus in our glorified bodies.
And the lost people will have this promise that we are looking at today and they will see that it all came true just like God said it will. And that will be a testimony. Verse 38 says that when the heathen see this,
And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
When we look at chapter 37 the meaning is so clear. It is all about Israel and how God had not forsaken them and how He will restore them and bring them back to the land.
It has absolutely nothing to do with books or with a cult. You really can never underestimate sinful man’s ability to really mess up the meaning of scripture. And the bible clearly tells us why that is.
1 Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Other things we learn from this would include.
God has all power so he can make anything come to pass. It does not matter how hopeless it looks.
God is completely faithful to fulfill every single promise that He makes.
God is very active in working way ahead in the circumstances of life. In large events and in small events.
This vision and then following it with the illustration of two sticks also shows that God knows exactly what message to give and when.
Both of these were exactly what those taken into captivity needed to hear.
This shows that God does indeed care about people having hope and purpose. He did not keep His silence or delay this needed message. He cared about them feeling like their bones were dry and without hope.
So He gave them what they needed in His word.
This is true for us today. Everything we need for hope and purpose has been given. We have all we need in His precious word. All the hope and purpose and direction we need for our lives in right here and we can pick it up and read it anytime we want to.
God truly is good.