We now come to that section of the Book of Ezekiel which, almost
entirely, is prophecy yet to be fulfilled.
What we have seen in the last fifty years, and what we are seeing in
the
An overall view of these chapters to the end of the Book is as follows:
Ezekiel 35 Trouble in the Middle East.
Ezekiel 36 The restoration of the Land
of Israel.
Ezekiel 37 The return of the Jews to
the Land of Israel.
Ezekiel 38 An invasion of the land of
Israel by a leader identified as “Gog” of the land of Magog.
Ezekiel 39 The utter destruction of
this invading army in the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 40-42 The building of another Temple.
Ezekiel 43 The return of Christ to that
Temple.
Ezekiel 44-46 Religious instructions to follow the return
of the Messiah.
Ezekiel 47-48 The final division of the Land of Israel to
the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
In Ezekiel chapter 34, we noticed a long list of final blessings for
the Nation of Israel.
Ezekiel 34:11 “I, even I, will
both search my sheep, and seek them out.”
Ezekiel 34:13 “And I will
bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will
bring them to their own land.”
Ezekiel 34:15 “I will feed my
flock.”
Ezekiel 34:22 “Therefore will
I save my flock.”
Ezekiel 34:23 “I will set up
one shepherd over them.”
Ezekiel 34:24 “I will be their
God.”
Ezekiel 34:25 “I will make
with them a covenant of peace.”
Ezekiel 34:26 “I will make
them and the places round about my hill, a blessing...”
Ezekiel 34:27 “They shall be
safe in their land.”
Ezekiel 34:28 “They shall be
no more a prey...”
Ezekiel 34:29 “And I will raise
up for them a plant of renown.”
Ezekiel 34:30 “They shall
know, I the LORD their God am with them.”
To read this list overwhelms me!
How can anyone read about the literal scattering and judgments of the
Jews, and not believe these promises are literal also?
But before all these blessings, which we believe can only be fulfilled
by the return of Christ to reign on this earth during the Millennium, the
events of chapters 35-42 must be fulfilled.
We therefore look upon Ezekiel chapters 35-42 as events that must
precede the return of Christ while Ezekiel chapters 43-48 are events that will
follow that return.
Ezekiel 35 Trouble in the Middle East.
Ezekiel 35:1-15
(1) Moreover
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(2) Son
of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
(4) I
will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that
I [am] the LORD.
(14) Thus
saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
What we are seeing in the news of the day is but an indication of how
troubled that area of the world can be. We
state again, we are not seeing the complete fulfillment of this chapter but rather,
seeing the stage being set for its fulfillment.
Genesis 32:3
And Jacob sent messengers before him to
Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
We noted when considering Ezekiel 25, that the Edomites occupied Mt.
Seir (Genesis 32:3). Here in chapter 35,
“Mt Seir” is named in verses 2 and 3 but the Edomites are not mentioned. This area is now occupied by Arabs and by
those known today as “Palestinians.”
Ezekiel 35:2,3 Here again we
note the word “against.” Four times the
Lord says He is “against
Ezekiel 35:3,4 He says He will
make the place desolate and destroy the cities.
Ezekiel 35:5 His reason? “Because of the perpetual hatred against
Israel, and because they have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the
force of the sword.”
The world seems to have forgotten that Israel has already been forced
to go to war in 1948-49, 1956, 1976, 1973, 1982 and pressure is on her to do so
again, even as I write these lines. Although Mr. Arafat speaks about peace with
Ezekiel 35:5 states that this
hatred and “force of the sword” will take place during the time of Israel’s
calamity in the time that their iniquity had an end.” I read these words in the light of Daniel 9:24.
Daniel 9:24
(24) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy.
It is during the 70th week of Daniel (which is the time of
the Great Tribulation) that Israel’s transgression will be finished, and
reconciliation for her iniquity will be ended. Thus we conclude the events of Ezekiel 35 will be fully fulfilled
during the Tribulation.
Ezekiel 35:6 Therefore, because
of hatred against Israel and because Israel has been forced into war, the
Palestinians “will be prepared unto blood, and blood shall pursue (them).” It is not a pretty picture that is presented
here. But are we not already seeing the
stage being set in the
Ezekiel 35:7-9 Death, destruction
and desolation are promised in these verses.
Ezekiel 35:10 It would seem to
me that this verse applies to what we are witnessing today. “The two countries” are
Ezekiel 35:11 The charges
against the inhabitants of the land are summed up in these words, “thine
anger”, “envy” and “hatred”. Their anger
at
Israel; their envy of Israel and their hatred for Israel.
All these charges are evident today. But the Lord is not finished. He will make
Himself known.
Ezekiel 35:12 He charges them
with “blasphemies” against the Mountains of Israel, because the enemies of
Israel said the land had been made desolate so that they could possess it. The strange fact is, when the land was most
desolate the Arabs had no interest in the land at all. They have only become interested in the land
since the people of
Ezekiel 35:13 The words of
Psalm 83:1-8
(A Song [or] Psalm of Asaph.)
(1) Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and
be not still, O God.
(2) For, lo, thine
enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
(3) They have taken
crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
(5) For they have
consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
(6) The tabernacles
of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
(7) Gebal, and
Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
(8) Assur also is
joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
Ezekiel 35:14-15 When the whole earth rejoiceth—When will that
be?
Will it not be during the Millennium when the curse is removed (Romans
8:21)?
Romans 8:21
(21) Because the creature itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God.
We shall discover in the next chapter that the land of Israel will
become like the Garden of Eden but the territory known today as Trans-Jordan
will remain a place of desolation. Then
all will know that the LORD is the LORD!
The sum of the matter in Ezekiel 35 is: there will be blood shed by
force of war between the Arabs and the Jews and blood shed between the Arabs
and the Arabs.
Matthew 24:6-8
(6) And ye shall hear of wars and rumours
of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
(7) For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places.
(8) All these [are] the beginning of
sorrows.
Perhaps this chapter will be fulfilled when the predictions of Jesus in
Matthew 24:6-8 are fulfilled. “And ye
shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, see that ye be not troubled: for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For Nation shall rise against Nation, and
Kingdom against Kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes in divers places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows”.
Ezekiel 36 Restoration of the Land of Israel.
The major subject is that of God’s future plans for the
I believe that there is and that it has been well identified in the
pages of the Bible. A few examples are:
Genesis 15:18-21; Genesis 17:8;
Deuteronomy 18:12; and Zechariah 12:12.
Genesis 15:18-21
(18) In the same day the LORD made a
covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the
river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
(19) The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and
the Kadmonites,
(20) And the Hittites, and the Perizzites,
and the Rephaims,
(21) And the Amorites, and the Canaanites,
and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Genesis 17:8
(8) And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan,
for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Deuteronomy 18:12
(12) For all that do these things [are] an
abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God
doth drive them out from before thee.
Zechariah 12:12
(12) And the land shall mourn, every family
apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the
family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
Why is it the “Holy” land? The
answer: it has been set-apart by God for His plans and purposes.
When we come to Ezekiel chapter 36, we believe, if these Scriptures are
not to be taken literally, then words have ceased to have significance.
Words
are very important.
When one reads this chapter one can see multiplied promises of a restoration
of the
Ezekiel 36:1-38
(9) For, behold, I
[am] for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:
(14) Therefore thou
shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord
GOD.
(16) Moreover the
word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(34) And the desolate
land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed
by.
Ezekiel 36:1-5 These verses are
actually a continuation of the last part of chapter 35.
Regarding the Mountains of Israel (verse 1), the enemy hath said these
are “ours in possession” (verse 2).
The enemy has made the mountains of Israel desolate that they might be
possessed by the heathen (verse 3).
“Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and
to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, to the
cities that are forsaken, which became a prey, and derision to the residue of
the heathen that are round about (verse 4).
“Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, surely in the fire of my jealousy
have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against Idumea, which
have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart,
with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.” (verse 5)
Certainly there should be no difficulty in seeing that the text is
talking about the
Ezekiel 36:6-11 There should be
no question as to the subject matter of these verses.
God has pledged Himself to restore the land of Israel for the people of
Israel. And when He restores the land it
is for the people “that are at hand to come” (verse 8). These words could have been translated “they
will soon come home.” We should notice
that the restoration of the land and the restoration of the people to the
land are subjects interwoven in Ezekiel 36 and 37. Today we have seen a
partial restoration and return, and what we are seeing is a literal
restoration and a literal return.
Ezekiel 36:12-15 reveals why we
have stated that we have only seen a partial fulfillment of these prophecies.
Especially notice the words “no more” in these verses. That is not so as yet. There is death in the
land today.
Ezekiel 36: 16-21 The Lord reminds
Israel of what they did when they dwelt in the land and what He did because of
it.
He poured His fury upon them (verse 18) and scattered them among the
Nations (verse 19). And in those lands they
still profaned His name (verse 20). But
even then He had pity on them (verse 21).
Ezekiel 36: 22-23 He reminded them
of their history so that they would know that there is no cause in them for the
blessings He has promised them. “I do
not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake...” (verse
22).
His dealings with Israel are on the same basis as His dealings with us.
All is based on His grace, not our
or their goodness.
Hosea 14:1-2
(1) O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God;
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
(2) Take with you words, and turn to the
LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously: so
will we render the calves of our lips.
When Israel fully returns she will be received “graciously” (Hosea
14:1,2).
.
Ezekiel 36: 24-38 These verses are
filled with promises and predictions that only make sense if they are taken
literally.
Verse 24 “I will take you
from the heathen.”
“(I will)
gather you out of all countries.”
“(I will)
bring you into your own land.”
We have certainly seen a partial fulfillment of this but what we are
seeing is not the end.
Verse 25 “Then” - mark that word “then”, - “will I sprinkle clean water
upon you.” By the way, this has nothing
to do with water baptism. Water cannot
wash away the filthiness of sin. But the
Lord will cleanse
Verse 26 And more: He will regenerate the people by giving them a new
heart. In other words they will be “born
again”.
John 3:10
(10) Jesus answered and said unto him, Art
thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Jesus told Nicodemus that being a Rabbi, a master in Israel, he should
have understood about a new birth John 3:10.
Verse 27 makes it very plain. This will take place by a work of His Spirit
upon them. The law would be written in
their hearts, not on tables of stone.
Verse 28 And then, “Israel shall dwell in the land that I gave to their
fathers.” This can only have reference
to the Land of Israel which was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Verse 29 Then they will be saved from their filthiness, and never again
will they have to face famine.
Verse 30 explains why there will be no more famine. “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the
increase of the field.” Once again
notice the words “no more.”
Verse 31 Israel will then “loathe themselves” for their evil ways from
which they will then have been delivered.
Zechariah 12:10
(10) And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in
bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as
one mourneth for his only son. And shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” They will then realize that their evil ways
had been the cause of their Messiah’s suffering.
Verse 32 Again He reminds them “that it is not for your sakes” I do
this. Boasting will be excluded. All are only sinners saved by grace.
Verse 33 It is when they have been saved - Israel will dwell in the
cities and the wastes shall be built - permanently.
Verses 34-35 The desolate land, shall be no more desolate but
shall be like “the Garden of Eden.” That
has not taken place yet!
And those “cities that were made desolate will be inhabited by
Verse 36 The Lord has spoken and “He will do it”. It will not be Israel’s doing or dessert
at all. It will all be of the Lord’s doing.
Verses 37-38 Israel will be increased like a flock. “The waste cities
shall be filled with flocks of men.”
The
fact of the literal restoration of the land of Israel; The fact of the literal
return of the people of Israel to that land; involves The fact of a literal
return of Jesus Christ to His land. This
is the great issue of these studies.
Exodus 4:22
(22) And thou shalt
say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
Remember,
And as Israel came into their land under Joshua, and then, because of
their sin, were removed from their land then at the end will be returned to
their land SO, Jesus Christ, God’s
Son, came to the Holy Land and because of man’s sin placed upon Him, was
cut-off from that land; but having put away sin, He will return to this same
land for His glorious Millennial reign.
We are persuaded that only the return of Christ to this
earth can fully fulfill the restoration of the land and the complete return of
the Jews to their land.
For many years the idea that the Jews would ever repossess Palestine
was ridiculed. W.T. Rouse in his book,
“God and the Jew”, published in 1946, boldly stated: “There will never be a
restoration of the Jews.” Now since
1948, the attitude has changed by such to one of condemnation, affirming that
the state of
However, no one can say that Israel is not the subject of a great deal
of Prophetic Scripture.
To us, the events of today continue to confirm the literal
interpretation of both Bible history and Bible prophecy.
Romans 11:25
(25) For I would not, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in.
Romans 11:25 must be
considered as having a great bearing on this subject.
I quote another:
“For their own good the Apostle could not leave Gentile believers in
ignorance of the mystery of God with
“We have now entered upon an overlapping period of history. As Israel faded out of the picture to allow
the Church to take the spot-light, so we are seeing the reverse today. The world is paying less and less attention to
the
About 50 years ago a “Restoration of the Church” doctrine flooded
Western Canada. And the doctrine is now
being propagated by most Charismatic groups. Fifty years ago the doctrine split Churches
and Denominations. And it will do the
same again!
The foundation of the doctrine is faulty. Ignoring the fact that the Old Testament
prophecies about restoration were given to Israel and were about Israel—and
having believed that there would never be a national restoration of
Israel—there was only one thing left to do.
Change the meaning of
But something had to be done with these Old Testament Scriptures! Only one step could be taken. It became a logical conclusion. Because it could not be denied—restoration
Scriptures abound and the time element of these Scriptures is related to the
time of the End or the Second Coming of Christ, therefore it followed that
these Scriptures must mean, a restoration, a great revival of the Church just
before the return of Christ. And that teaching seems to be accepted more and
more by more and more Christians. I fear too many are reading reports in
Christian Magazines more than they are reading their Bibles!
Joel 2:25-27
(25) And I will restore to you the years
that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the
palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
(26) And ye shall eat in plenty, and be
satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously
with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
(27) And ye shall know that I [am] in the
midst of Israel, and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else: and my
people shall never be ashamed.
Joel
Ezekiel chapter 36 (and as
we shall find, chapter 37 as well) are talking about the historical land of
Israel and the historical people of Israel.
“In the Old Testament few issues are as important as that of the
Promised Land to the Patriarchs and the Nation of Israel. The land cannot be reduced to a sort of mystical
land defined by some as ‘a new spiritual reality’. The Bible is most insistent on the fact that
the Land was promised to the Patriarchs as a gift where their descendants would
reside and rule as a Nation”.
Again we refer to Deuteronomy 11:12 as a very important passage
regarding this subject.
Deuteronomy 11:12
(12) A land which the LORD thy God careth
for: the eyes of the LORD thy God [are] always upon it, from the beginning of
the year even unto the end of the year.
Although the Lord is omnipresent and everywhere, there is a special
sense in which He is in the land of Israel.
There is a saying, “you are nearer God’s heart in a garden than any
other place on earth.” That is not true!
The truth is, you are nearer God’s heart
in the land of Israel than any other place on earth.
Genesis 15:7-21
(8) And he said,
Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
(11) And when the
fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
(15) And thou shalt
go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
(19) The Kenites, and
the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
(20) And the
Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
(21) And the
Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
“God marked out a specific geographical destination for Abraham. So solemn was this covenant with its gift of
the land, that Genesis 15:7-21 depicts God alone moving between the halves of
the sacrifice. He obligated Himself and
only Himself to fulfill the terms of the oath.” Fulfilling of the promise in finality, did not
and does not depend on what Abraham or what his seed did or does do, it
depends totally on what God said He would, and will yet, do.
Leviticus 25:23
(23) The land shall not be sold for evcr:
for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me.
In Leviticus 25:23, God says
the land is His. Someone has tabulated
that in Deuteronomy alone 18 times the land is referred to as being promised
and 25 times as being a gift.
Ezekiel
chapter 37 The restoration of the
people of Israel to their land.
Here is the better-known vision of the valley of “dry bones.” I have heard preachers read Ezekiel 37:1-10 and,
because they interpret these bones to represent the Church, they ignore verse
11. Read it! How can we understand the vision apart from
verse 11?
Ezekiel 37:1-28
(3) And he said unto
me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
(15) The word of the
LORD came again unto me, saying,
(17) And join them
one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
(20) And the sticks
whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
(27) My tabernacle
also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
If you were to literally
witness dead bones come together and fit into their places, leg bones with leg
bones, neck bones with neck bones and so on, what would be your reaction? You would likely run! But would you not know that you were
witnessing a miracle? That is what is
here.
These bones coming together - while they were still dead - does depict
a miracle. There is no life in them. When they are all in place, then
the spirit of life is breathed into them. That is the picture. It is more miraculous than the live animals
going into Noah’s ark without being led or driven in.
There are those who say, God cannot be involved in the Jews going back
to their land because they are going back in unbelief; a majority of Jews going
back today are atheists. But that is just the point of this prophecy. They are to go back dead bones. Their going
back is not of themselves, dead bones can’t move, therefore what is happening
must be of God. Even from a logical
point of view with so much trouble in the land during the past 50 years, why
would any Jew desire to go and live there?
Yet in 1999, 77,000 Jews arrived, in Israel, which was a 33 % increase
over 1998 (Midnight Call).
Jeremiah 29:10
(10) For thus saith the LORD, That after
seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good
word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
A brother said to me some years ago, there is no more significance in
Jews going back to the land of Israel than there is in Irishmen going back to
Ireland. Such is the language of
unbelief, not faith. We know that there
was a return of a small remnant from
Isaiah 11:9-12
Isaiah 11:9-12 “The Lord shall
set His hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people”
There is no mention of a third time so we must be seeing the
last time!
When you read Ezekiel 37
remember this:
Ezekiel 37: 1-10 we have the
symbols of the dry bones.
Ezekiel 37:11-28 give the
explanation of the symbols.
Ezekiel 37:12-13 “I will open
your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.”
What graves? This is not talking
about the day of physical resurrection.
The explanation is in verse 21: “Behold, I will take the children of
Israel from among the Heathen, and will gather them on every side, and bring
them into their own land.”
Ezekiel 37:15-19 another object
lesson: the two sticks, one for Judah and one for Ephraim. He was to hold the two in one hand.
Ezekiel 37:22 This verse
explains the action. When the Jews are
finally back in their land, they shall no more be two Nations, as they were
when scattered, but they shall be one Nation.
Ezekiel 37:24 “David my servant shall be king over
them.” This I am sure is again speaking
of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1).
Matthew 1:1
(1) The book of the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Ezekiel 37:25 should not be
passed over. When David’s Greater Son is
king they shall dwell in the land. What land?
That which was given unto Jacob, wherein their fathers dwelt. That cannot be spiritualized away to mean
something other than the literal
Ezekiel 37:26 again when
David’s Greater Son is their King, “I will make a covenant of peace with them.” And at that time “He will set His sanctuary
in the midst of them forever more.”
Ezekiel 37:27 My tabernacle
shall be with them. The Lord Himself
will be dwelling with
In 1825 only 500 destitute Jews were in the land.
In 1845 there were 12,000.
In 1884 the number was 25,000
In 1914 it had risen to 80,000.
In 1936 to 400,000.
In 1960 there were 2,150,000.
In 1976 the Jewish population was 3,000,000.
In 1986 it was over 4,000,000.
In 1999 it was 4,847,000 Jews.
Midnight Call of October 2000 states that “960,000 immigrants have
arrived (in Israel) in the past decade, compared to the 700,000 that came
between 1948 and 1951”.
We
believe that only unbelief in what the Bible says cannot see the hand of God in
what has and is taking place in