God's Desire for Israel

Well, over the last several times that I've spoken, the last several sermons I've given, I've been dealing with the subject of Israel. And I know that all of you realize the significance of Israel in the Bible. Actually, the Old Testament is the story, the biggest part of it, the story of how it was that Israel came about as far as the nation, and then ultimately how because of disobedience they went into captivity. And I want us to think about that. I covered a sermon regarding the promises that God had given to Abraham because he had given Abraham a direction that he would be given great physical prominence in this world. And certainly we can identify that today in the children of Abraham. God also promised that he would be, from his descendants, would come the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who would then be a blessing to everyone. And so clearly what God had taught Abraham and what he worked with Abraham regarding was very significant. We also went over the promises that God had made to David. And clearly David's a significant figure in the Old Testament. He's going to be a significant figure in the world to come. And whenever you think about the promise that God gave as far as a royal line and that Jesus would return. And again, uphold that line of authority that God would maintain through David. That's a very significant part of understanding the Bible. We also had a sermon regarding how it is that the people of Israel today, the descendants of Israel, how they lost their identity. How they, for the most part, can't figure out who they are. Now we can identify the house of Judah because they maintained at least a remembrance of the Sabbath. But see, Israel had forsaken God. They had forsaken the Sabbath. They had forsaken the sign that God said, pointed out, you know, that He would sanctify His people. And so because the people of Israel lost that sign, they lost their identity, they both, house of Israel and house of Judah, went into captivity. Now, you can think about, you know, that kind of covers much of what you read in the Old Testament.

And yet I ask the question, is God finished with Israel? Is Israel just something that you read about in the Old Testament? Is God finished with Israel? And I want to point out how that, of course, God is not finished with Israel. But understanding what God is doing with Israel is important. So the title for the sermon would be God's Desire for Israel. God's desire for Israel. I want us to look. We see in Romans chapter 9 and 10 and 11, you see a subsection here in the book of Romans that where Paul reveals God's intention, what he wants. And actually, in a sense, Romans 9, 10, and 11 are a sub-book in itself because in chapter 6 and 7 and 8, Paul's talking about being baptized and being converted and understanding your human nature and receiving the Holy Spirit and how all that is incredibly important. And when you jump through 9, 10, and 11 and go to 12, then you see in Romans 12 a whole list of things that, you know, it says we ought to be doing. We ought to give a list of Christian service and concern and care and using of gifts, as our sermonette was speaking about. You can read Romans 12, and you can see a number of things that we could be doing, we should be doing. And yet, why is chapter 9, 10, and 11 entirely focused on what Paul understood that God was doing with Israel, especially since Paul was not the apostle to Israel, was he? Now, he was the apostle to the Gentiles. Now, clearly he had an Israelite background, as he says, and yet what he says in chapter 9 is that I am so amazingly concerned about my people. I would even give up my eternal life, if I could get all of them to agree to obey God. But, of course, that wasn't going to happen either, and God wasn't going to allow that. But I do want us to look in Romans chapter 11. Romans 11, you might later want to read Romans 9, and 10, and 11. I will tell you that Paul uses a lot of what you can say would be distractions in this section. You can read through it, and you can wonder what is he talking? What is he referring to? Well, I'm going to try to make part of this plain today. But here in chapter 11, it starts off in verse 1 and says, I ask then, has God rejected his people? Has God rejected Israel? And, of course, he answers that by saying absolutely not. By no means. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham. I'm a member of the tribe of Benjamin, and God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. And then he goes ahead and describes things that you can read in the Old Testament about Elijah and about Elisha. But, see, I want to focus just simply on that statement that he makes. Is God finished?

Or, you could think of it in kind of a reverse. Does God have unfinished business with Israel?

Down in verse 11, he says, so I ask, have they, talking about Israel, have they stumbled so as to fall? And he again says, by no means. But through their stumbling, Israel was disobedient, Israel went into captivity, Israel was, in a sense, punished. But it says, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. And so here, he's making a comparison, he's explaining, well, Israel were clearly the people of God, but they did stumble. And now, God is bringing Gentiles to an awareness of him and his great power and might. But has he rejected and forsaken Israel? Well, he says, no, that isn't the case. But he does want to make Israel jealous. Down in verse 25. So, again, speaking to the members of the church there, brethren, so that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, I want you to understand this mystery. And so Paul clearly was wanting to help people comprehend because he knew people who were a part of the church who had a Gentile background. He also knew many who had a Jewish background and Israelite background like he had. He was one of the Pharisees. He was exceptional in his pursuit of what you could call Judaism at the time. But he says, brethren, I don't want you to misunderstand. I want you to understand this mystery. A hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. A hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Now, what is he talking about? Well, he's talking about a different aspect of Israel, a different aspect of Israel that we could term to be the church of God, to be the spiritual Israel that God also is clearly dealing with. He goes on, verse 26, so all of Israel will be saved. See, there were few that appeared in the past when you read through the Old Testament. Very few of the Israelites who really understood what God was doing at all. They certainly weren't obedient. They weren't responsive. We see the few that are focused on in the Old Testament. But he says, so that all Israel will be saved as it is written out of Zion will come a deliverer and he will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Now, again, I'm only hitting a few verses that are kind of summary verses of what Paul is talking about here in this particular chapter, or this section 9, 10, and 11 of Romans. But I think you can see from the verses that we read that clearly God has not forgotten, or he has not forsaken Israel. Now, there are two aspects of this that I want to focus on today. So, Kristin, there's two points. That's it. Kristin always helps me figure out whether or not I got the points right. My wife always does too, especially if I get them wrong. But there's only two points, and so I want those to be very clear. See, it's clear that God has not forsaken Israel. So, the first point is spiritual Israel. Who is that? What is that? Spiritual Israel, and of course, that is the people who make up the Church of God prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. Spiritual Israel. See, that should be us. It should be us, at least part of us, and we are a part of a larger grouping of spiritual Israel. And I'm going to be able to go over that, and there'll be a number of verses that will support that. Secondly, so that's the first point. This is the second point. The second point is Israel will be a model nation for the entire world in the millennium. Israel will be a model nation for the entire world in the millennium.

So, let's go back to the first point. The first point was simply about spiritual Israel. See, that's actually about conversion. It's about the transforming power of God involving himself in our lives, of bringing us to repentance, of forgiving us of our sins, of extending his mercy and love toward us, and then giving us the gift of his Spirit, enabling us to grow, to be his servants, as we go forward. See, let's look at 1 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter writes about, of course, he is writing to the members of the church. Actually, at this point, people who, you know, have been dispersed, people who were scattered all over a wide area. But he's writing to the church. Of course, he gives a lot of instruction, but I want to pick out only a few things here. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4 says, Come, come to him, come to Jesus, who is the living stone, through, or excuse me, though rejected by mortals, yet he is chosen and precious in God's sight. And so, like living stones, see, God says, or Peter does, under God's inspiration, that Jesus is the living stone. But we are to be like living stones. Verse 5, Let yourself be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. See, now, for any of us to be successful in our Christian lives, then we're going to have to be dependent upon Jesus Christ. He is the one through whom we're going to be successful. Now, yes, the Holy Spirit has its part, but, you know, Jesus is fully in unison with the work of the Spirit of God in each of our lives. But if we drop down to verse 9, again talking to the church members, who he said should be a spiritual house, and a holy priesthood, he says in verse 9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You are God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. See, here he points out how that the spiritual Israel that God is concerned about today, that he is actually working with today, that he is molding and shaping, and like a potter does with the clay, he can shape it however he wants. He's in charge. He's the one who has to shape our connection with him. We have to ask for that. We have to be open to that. But he says in verse 10, once you were not a people, but now you were the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. See, those two things, you see them highlighted here. You see them, you read about them in the book of Hosea. But see, being called by God is a very special privilege. And receiving the mercy of God is a summary of everything that God makes available to us. You can describe it in a lot of ways, but it is a summary of what it is that God has done. He has extended mercy to us because we need it. We need mercy from God. So I want to back up again to Romans 11. Romans 11, and I want to read a verse here and then read a few verses in chapter 9 because they all apply to the Church of God today, to people who make up the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. See, there are a lot of different descriptions for the Church. One could be a body of Christ, you know, one could be a spiritual temple, as we've already read. One is a peculiar people. One is a royal priesthood. Now, there are a lot of different descriptions that the Bible gives. But here in chapter 11 of Romans, in verse 5, it says, so too at this present time there is a remnant that has been chosen by grace.

See, now that would include all of us. See, Paul was writing this to people who were part of the Church of God, and he says, I want you to understand that you've had a special calling, you've been given mercy from God, and it is through the grace of God that that has happened. So if we back up to chapter 9, chapter 9 mentions in verse 21, has the potter of no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use.

And of course, he's describing how it is that God can decide what he wants to do. He's the one who is working out a master plan. He's the one who's going to develop a divine family. He's the one who is concerned about and interested in spiritual Israel today.

We drop down to verse 22. It says, what if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory to the objects of mercy? See, that's a description. That's another description of the Church of God. The objects of mercy. What if God decides that he's going to call some in this age and that he's going to work with others as he goes forward?

Well, that's up to him. And it says, you know, what if he's decided in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory? Does he want us to be glorified with Christ and his family? Well, sure. And he goes ahead to say, including us, verse 24, whom he is called, and from the Jews, or not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.

So he said here, the spiritual Israel today is not made of physical Israel. Spiritual Israel involves Jews, involves Israelites, it involves Gentiles. All kinds of people are brought into the Church of God today. And so it's important for us to recognize that as the objects of God's mercy, that his calling is a very special calling.

Now, I want us to look at Galatians chapter 3, because you see in Galatians 3, and Paul also, again writing to the Church there, he points out that all of us who become a part of the Church of God, you know, we are the children of Abraham in a sense. He says in verse 16, now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.

And it doesn't say, and to offsprings as of many, but it says to his offspring, which is, or that is, to one person who is Jesus Christ. And so, as I mentioned, you know, that's clearly one of the promises that God fulfilled through Abraham, that, or to Abraham, he fulfilled the coming of Jesus to the earth as the Lamb of God. But then, beginning in verse 25, he says, but now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian for in Jesus Christ, you are all the children of God through faith.

And so, we've become a part of the church of God. We've become a part of the family of God through faith, through believing what God teaches and what he tells us here in the Word of God. And in verse 27, as many of you, as were baptized into Jesus, have clothed yourself with Christ, and there is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Jesus Christ.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring who are heirs according to the promise. And so, God is continuing to work with Israel today. But of course, he's working with spiritual Israel. He's working with those that he extends his grace and mercy, his forgiveness, his love, and his spirit to. And what does he actually call this grouping over in Matthew 24? In Matthew 24, verse 21, for at that time there will be great suffering or tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now.

No one never will be. And if those days have not been cut short, then no one would be saved. But for the sake of spiritual Israel, for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. See, he also references the church as the elect. And so, it's important for us to understand that clearly God has not forsaken Israel at all. He does continue to be concerned about Israel physically. But right now, he's very concerned about spiritual Israel. And here in the end of the book of Galatians, you see a reference and one that is very specific in Galatians chapter 6.

You see in verse 15 that Paul says, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything. And so, he tells us it's not whether or not we're physically circumcised. That's not what God is doing today. He is wanting us to have a different heart. He is wanting us to have a converted mind.

And yet he goes on to say, verse 16, all of these who follow this rule, or as for these who follow this rule, peace be upon you and mercy upon the Israel of God. See, that's where he tells us. Galatians 6, 16 is a verse you should remember because it defines the church as the Israel of God, the spiritual house that God is working with and that God is preparing and that He is actually nurturing. And why is He doing that? Why is He doing that for you or me? Well, He's going to have a new world introduced here shortly. Christ is going to come. A new millennial rule of Jesus Christ will begin. And we read about it here in Revelation 20, and we always go over this at the Feast of Tabernacles. We go over this maybe at other times because it's applicable in tying it in with the other holy days. But here in Revelation 20, He says in verse 4, I saw thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge. And so the individuals who are going to rise in a resurrection at Christ's return will be given responsibility to rule. And it says in the latter part of verse 4, they came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. And in verse 6, He says, Blessed and holy are these who share in this first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him a thousand years.

Again, what is God doing with spiritual Israel today? Well, He's allowing us to be tested and tried. He's allowing us sometimes to suffer. He's allowing us to grow in faith. He's allowing us to live through trials where we have to learn to trust Him. We have to learn to bring difficulties that we have to Him and ask for His deliverance. You know, we need to be delivered. That's what God is doing today. He wants us to grow in His nature. He wants us to grow, as we mentioned earlier, in joy and in love and joy and peace and long suffering. That's the, in a sense, that is the part of the project that God is working on with the church today that is never going to be fully complete until we're changed. See, any of us not need to grow some more in love or joy or peace or long suffering or gentleness or goodness. You know, that's a no-brainer. We all know, yeah, I seek that. I want that. I exemplify that sometimes, but I don't always do that. And that's always yet to be fully achieved. And yet, see, what God is doing is that He is causing spiritual Israel to grow, to grow and develop. And He wants us to be participants in that, and He allows us to be participants by learning to agree with God, putting His ways before our ways.

So is God finished with Israel? No, none of us are a finished project as a part of spiritual Israel. And so He's going to continue to work with us. But what about the second point that I brought up? That Israel, and I will say physical Israel, people who are of Israelite descendants today, some of whom are going to live into the world to come. See, we don't know how many people are going to live through the end of the age, but God shows there will be a sizable group of people, that He will be drawing together and gathering.

That's what He says about Israel. He says, as the millennium comes, and so this is point two, as the millennium comes, Israel will be set up to be a model nation. Now, they were really offered to be a model nation in the past, but they failed. That was God's desire. They didn't have a heart for it. And of course, we read in Paul's writings that the mystery is they were blinded.

They didn't know. But see, because of spiritual Israel, those of us who are made up of Israelite and Jewish or Gentile backgrounds, it doesn't matter today what kind of a physical heritage we have. That's not of interest to God. He says, I can convert everyone. He says, I'm going to do that, and then I'm going to begin to introduce to Israel the physical Israelites who are alive and surely hope that they will be seeking the relationship with me that they can have offered to them.

All of us know, as we attend the Feast of Tabernacles every year, and as we think about the full holy days and the days that represent the coming of Jesus Christ and the binding of Satan and the wonderful world tomorrow being set up, the thousand-year rule of Christ, and then beyond that, the white throne judgment. You know, we study that. We go over that. We read about that. We preach about that. We talk about it here at church. And so, in many ways, I think you would find that most of us are familiar with some of the descriptions that you see of that world to come in the book of Isaiah.

See, there are actually a number of different chapters there, 2, 9, 11, 35, 25, lots of chapters that give information about the world to come. But I want us to think about, let's look at chapter 2. Think about what this says, because this is talking of the millennial rule of Christ on earth. Chapter 2 of Isaiah, verse 2, in days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, mountain being a symbol of a kingdom or a rulership.

The mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the highest of mountains, will be raised above the hills, and all nations are going to stream to it. Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of who? The God of Israel, the God of Jacob, and that He may teach us His ways, that we may walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now, you could read a lot of verses that are kind of similar to that.

They all talk about a utopian, a utopial reign of Christ on earth, about a peaceful kingdom, about a successful kingdom, because He'll be putting to rest all of the kingdoms of men, and everybody's going to be looking to the great God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be the true God.

But here, it references everyone, all nations, are going to stream, they're going to come and say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob. And so clearly, Israel is going to be well thought of by God at that time. I want us to look over in the book of, actually, I'm going to go to several of the prophetic books here, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah.

Some of these we go through commonly, but I'm going to go through some verses we don't commonly go through. What does it say here in Jeremiah, chapter 23? See now, Isaiah wrote pretty much around the time when the nation of Israel was going into captivity.

And so you could say, Well, he was speaking to Israel, but see, there was also going to be more that he said. And yet, clearly, Jeremiah and Ezekiel both wrote later, 100 years later at least, at the very end of the reign of the house of Judah. And they were yet to go into captivity, but Israel had been in captivity for 100 years. What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about a future time. He uses the reference in the days to come or in the latter days or in the days that we are to be looking forward to. Verse 5, Jeremiah 23 says in verse 5, The days are surely coming. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. Now, you see in other places where that righteous branch is Jesus Christ. The time is going to come. I'm going to raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. This is clearly talking of the coming of Christ, the rule of God on earth. In verse 6 it says, in those days or in his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.

And this is the name by which he'll be called. He'll be called the Lord our righteousness.

See, that's who we're looking forward to coming and establishing the rule of God on earth. Therefore, in verse 7, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt. See, now, as we think of it today, we look back on the deliverance that God provided to Moses and to the Israelites. And that is, you know, that's a primary thing. That's a, you know, very significant. We cover that almost every Passover, every days of unleavened bread. And that's clearly a focus of deliverance and of rescue that God did offer. But here Jeremiah predicts, he prophesies and says, time will come when they won't say, oh, the Lord who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But they will say, in verse 8, as the Lord lives, who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of the lands where he had driven them, and then they shall live in their land. See, a real rescue is going to happen to Israel. A real rescue. Here he mentions Israel and Judah, both. But they are going to be, that's going to be, you know, the thing during the millennium, you can talk about how God rescued Israel at the beginning of the New Age. So let's go over to Ezekiel 20.

Ezekiel also again wrote about this, the very end of Judah's existence.

And clearly Israel had already been in captivity for a hundred and hundred and twenty-five years. So this obviously was prophetic, but we read much of what we see here in Ezekiel 20 last week, or last time when I spoke. It spoke about how it was Israel had rejected God, they had turned to other idols, they had neglected the Sabbath, they had polluted and profaned the Sabbath.

But I want to begin a little later on here in the chapter in verse 33. Ezekiel 20 verse 33, as I live, says the Lord, Surely with the mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you. See, even though Israel rejected God from being king and all the other kings that he set in positions, he says, I'm going to be your king. I am going to rule the world, and I'm going to rule all of Israel, and I'm going to rule everyone who eventually will be a part of my family.

I will be your king. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out. I will bring you into the wilderness to the people, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. See, again, this is directed at Israel, as we'll see here a little later. It says, I will be. This is talking of a future time. This is talking about God's unfinished business with the physical people of Israel and the physical people of Judah. In verse 39, he actually describes there what's going to take place here at the beginning of the millennium after Israel has been scattered wherever they will be scattered. It says in verse 39, As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, go serve your idols, every one of you now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me, but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts than I am with your idols. It says you've ignored me long enough. But in verse 40, on my holy mountain, we read about that in Isaiah 2, on my holy mountain, the mountain heights of Israel, says the Lord, there all the house of Israel, all of them, so that would be Israel and Judah, all the house of Israel shall serve me in the land, and there I will accept them, and there I will require their contributions and the choices of their gifts with all their sacred things, and as a pleasing odor, I will accept you when I bring you out from the people and from gather you out of the countries where you've been scattered, and I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. And so God is going to be using Israel as, again, a model, a model for the other nations. Again, at the beginning of the millennium, you shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore you'd give to your ancestors. There you shall remember your ways. See what kind of a transition will be required of these people who are rescued and brought into a relationship with God at the beginning of the millennium? There you shall remember your ways. You shall remember all the deeds by which you polluted yourself, and you shall loathe yourself for all the evils that you have committed. What's that talking about? Well, it's talking about them becoming aware of the fact that we need to repent. We need to change our outlook. We need to change our mind. We need to, instead of polluting idols and polluting the Sabbath, we need to respect what God is offering. So it says you're going to remember your ways, and you're going to loathe yourself, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways or corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord.

See, has God finished with Israel? No, this is all yet to happen. This is going to happen as they are regathered, as they come out of having been scattered, actually, as they come out of a tribulation. I want as well to look at the book of Zechariah. Now, I'm pretty sure, again, many of you would be familiar with Zechariah, at least chapter 14, because that's what we commonly read. Zechariah 14 talks about amassing armies at Jerusalem and then, you know, fighting against Christ when he returns. And it talks in verse 9 about Zechariah chapter 14 verse 9, the earth will become, or the Lord will become king over all the earth, and on that day, Lord will be one and his name one. See, this clearly pictures the return of Christ and the establishment of the rule of God on earth. And so we're familiar with that. Verse 16 mentions everybody's going to learn to keep the feast. You know, some won't want to. They won't repent initially, but they'll learn. If you don't have any rain, you know, you need rain. And so, after a little while, they'll figure that out. But what I want to focus on is what we see here in Zechariah chapter 8, because, as I said, you know, God's going to set up Israel as a model nation. He wanted them to be that to begin with, and they failed. But he's going to give them the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity that they can't afford to refuse. Here in Zechariah 8 verse 1, Word of the Lord came to me saying, thus says, Lord of Host, I am jealous for Zion. Zion is a reference to Jerusalem. It's a reference sometimes refers to the church, but in this case, it's referring to Jerusalem. It's referring to where he's going to establish his capital, and where the rule will go forth from, as we read there in Isaiah. I am jealous for Zion, with great jealousy. I am jealous for her with great wrath. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city. And the mountain of the Lord of Host shall be called the holy mountain. And thus says the Lord of Host, what will it be like at that time whenever that holy mountain is set up?

Well, it says old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in their hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. And thus says the Lord of Host, even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people, and it seems impossible to me, says the Lord of Host. Thus says the Lord of Host, I will save my people from the east country, and I will save them from the west country. I will bring them to live in Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness. To here he's describing younger people and older people living in safety, in peace, in contentment, in righteousness. And of course, you know, is that impossible for God to do? Yeah, he can do it. He can do it. Nobody might not think he can, but he can do it. He will do it. And also to drop down to verse 20. Thus says the Lord of Host, people shall yet come, the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, come, let us entreat the favor of the Lord. Let us seek the Lord of Host. I myself am going. Come with me. That will be the appeal at that time. Many people, many peoples, many strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Host in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of Host, in those days ten men from nations of every language will take hold of a Jew, take hold of an Israelite that has been united with Israel, grasping his garment and saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. See, that's a type of a model and setting that God is going to create for the people of Israel. The people of Israel and the people of Judah, who at one time were a united kingdom, as we explained last time, they became divided, they ended up going into captivity, but when God reunites them, that's going to be a joyous time. That's at the beginning of the millennium, and yet he's going to set up Israel as a model nation, where people from other nations are going to say, we want to learn what you know. We want to learn how it is that you relate to your God, how it is that the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is the God of all the earth. That's what they're going to want to learn.

I finally want to go here to Ezekiel chapter 37.

Ezekiel chapter 37. Now, again, I'm pretty sure many of you would know that Ezekiel 37 is about a picture of a physical resurrection. It's about a picture of what we commonly think of as the physical resurrection that will happen at the end of the millennium, and that certainly appears to be what that is describing. A valley of dry bones, and those bones coming together, and life being given to those individuals. But the part that I want to focus on is over, starting here in chapter 37, down in verse 15, because we commonly read, you know, the first part there. We don't always read the second part, but I want to read the second part because it points out what I'm saying about God still intending to work with Israel as a model nation in the millennium. Verse 15, the word of the Lord came to me, so came to Ezekiel, and said, mortal or man, take a stick, and write on the stick for Judah. I guess we could have had some props here, but I failed to prepare enough. A stick that says Judah.

Write on it for Judah and for the Israelites who were associated with Judah. And then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. Now, if you recall what we went over, you know, that's representative of all of Israel. Ephraim was the primary nation in the nation of Israel, and was given preeminence by Jacob himself. And yet here he says, I want you to have one stick that represents Judah or the house of Judah, and one stick that represents the house of Israel.

You're to write on that one? For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel associated with it. And in verse 17, I want you to join them together into one stick.

And so I kind of thought about that, and I thought, well, it'd be hard to get two sticks and try to make you... you can put them together, I guess. I thought it'd be easier if I had two vines of licorice, because they're softer. Now, I could name one Judah and one Israel, but what it says is you twist those together. Here in verse 17, join them together into one stick so that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, will you not show us what you mean by this? Say to them, thus says, Lord, I am about to take the stick of Joseph, which is representing Ephraim and Israel, and the tribes of Israel associated with it, and I'm going to put the stick of Judah upon it, and I'm going to make them one.

See, now, that... they were one under Saul. They were one under David. They were one under Solomon. It was after Solomon that they became divided. But here God is saying, in the future, and at the beginning of the millennium, I'm going to unite them to be one nation, one model nation, that I will be king over. I will put those sticks together and make them one stick in order that they may be one in your hand. And when the sticks on which you write are in your hand before your eyes, then say to them, thus says the Lord God, I'm going to take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and I'm going to gather them from every quarter. I'm going to bring them to their own land. I'm going to make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king over all of them.

Neither shall they be any more two nations, and neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms. They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or any of their transgressions. I'm going to save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen. I'm going to cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. God's going to use Israel as a model of how to relate to him.

In verse 24, my servant David shall be king over all of them. They shall have one shepherd, they shall follow my ordinances, and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which their ancestors lived. They and their children shall live there forever. My servant David shall be their prince forever. Clearly, Christ is going to be the king over all the earth, but David is going to be the king and prince over Israel. And so he says, in talking about how this union is going to take place, my servant David, verse 25, will be their prince forever. Verse 26, I'm going to make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant of peace with them, and I will bless them, and I will multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And then the nations. Everybody else, Egypt as well as Assyria and all of the other nations that survive to go into this time frame, the nation shall know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is among them forever.

See, God is going to do that in Jerusalem. He's going to do that, and he brings Israel together again, not to be a divided kingdom, but to be a united kingdom and to be a model of how to relate to God. And he says, I, the Lord, will sanctify Israel. They rejected me in the past. They ignored my Sabbath. They polluted that. See, we understand and appreciate these things today because of the gift of the Spirit of God. We can understand how it is that he's working with spiritual Israel today. He's working in our lives to prepare us as servants in the kingdom to come. But see, he's going to use Israel. Israel and Judah united once again under David to be the model that everyone else will learn how to relate to God.

So I think you can consider the answer to the question, has God forsaken or God forgotten Israel? No. He's going to continue to use the people of Israel in the future, the descendants of Israel, to be able to develop, in the beginning of the Millennial Rule of Christ, a system, a way, a way that will be based on his law, based on his love, based on following Jesus Christ, following David the King, and following the servants of God at that time, who all of us would hope to be spirit beings, who are in preparation to be servants of God. He says, priests and kings ruling, judging, serving, however God would wish for us to do so, again, according to his plan. So clearly, God has not. He has unfinished business with Israel. He's going to bring this about. And there are many other verses that we could add to these, but these would be a kind of a core that we could use to kind of frame what God is going to do with Israel. So God has not forsaken Israel. He is simply working out a divine plan, working out a plan that all of us can be a part of if we endure under the end, if we grow in faith, if we grow in love, if we grow in service to our great God. So I hope this overview again does help you. You might want to read Romans 9 and 10 and 11 with this in mind, because this is an overview, and yet it does give you, you know, some context for what Romans 9, 10 and 11 are talking about, because in a sense, it almost seems to be kind of out of place with other things that Paul is writing. But clearly, Paul wanted to include that so that all of us could understand a little more about the future and a little more about how God is so concerned about the people of Israel.