So that everyone will know

~ Ezekiel 39:21-29

The children of Israel – proof that God exists

The children of Israel were warned. If they disobeyed God they would be scattered. It’s history. They did disobey and they were scattered. But the warnings came with the Law and before the Law there had been an unconditional promise. God gave them the land forever. So, when the warnings came they were followed by another promise. Although they would be scattered throughout the earth, one day He would bring them back to the land. And that is happening now.

This is breathtaking. The promise and the warnings were written more than 2,000 years ago. (Roman coins sealed up with the Dead Sea Scrolls prove the antiquity of the Scriptures.) What was written has happened and is happening.

The Bible has at least 170 references to the land of Israel – 55 of those times it records that the gift of the land was made with a promise and 12 of those times that the covenant was everlasting. The warnings of being scattered were recorded dozens of times. And the historical record is unarguable. The Jews did go into exile and, before our eyes, the Jews are returning to the same land.

Two matters have to be considered.

The Bible is more than good writing, wisdom, history, poetry, comfort. It must be accurate and it must have been supernaturally delivered.

And, second, what it has to say about what is still to come is thought-provoking.

All Israel will be regathered in the land. None will be left behind. Israel will become rich. Israel will be attacked but God will protect her. Israel will meet her Saviour – in the promised land. He will return to the place He left. His name is Jesus.

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Bible references:
Ezekiel 39:21-29; Micah 2:12; Jeremiah 33:6-9; Hosea 1:10; Ezekiel 20:40

Ezekiel 39:21-29

“I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid My face from them.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for My holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward Me when they lived in safety in their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show Myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Micah 2:12

“I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.”

Jeremiah 33:6-9

“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal My people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against Me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me. Then this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.”

Hosea 1:10

“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

Ezekiel 20:40

“For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, there in the land the entire house of Israel will serve Me, and there I will accept them.”

See also: Zechariah 12

Zechariah 12

This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling, Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

“On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

“The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord going before them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and brieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.”

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