Ezekiel’s vision of the spiritual condition of the Jews (Judahites–tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi nicknamed “Jews” by the King James translators) needs some background information in order to fully understand the degree to which God’s chosen people (the 12 tribes of Israel) would all need to hear the prophet’s message and how God arranged for all of them to do so, even in these end times.  As history has proven, Ezekiel’s message would not be received by the other Israelite tribes for many generations after he spoke it audibly to the Jewish captives in Babylonia.

The Jews were in Babylonian captivity when God sent Ezekiel to them with a message they would not want to hear.  He would tell them why they had been defeated and enslaved.  However, the Jews were only a small minority of the House of Israel.  The other tribes had been defeated, captured and carried off to Assyria around 720-724 B.C.  From Assyria God scattered them throughout the world as had been prophesied.  As Scripture tells us, the Lord Jesus would send His apostles to those scattered Israelites with His Gospel many generations later.  The question is, why did He want Israelites who, by that time did not know they were Israelites, to hear what He had spoken to Ezekiel around 580 B.C?  The answer is that the two groups comprised one nation stemming from the patriarch Abraham, who were guilty of the same sins and would suffer the same consequences at the hand of the same God.  And just as the house of Judah had been warned before their demise, the globally-scattered house of Israel would also be warned in the distant future.  Their warning would begin following the founding of the New Covenant Church in 31 A.D.  The warning would become horrific reality shortly before the return of Jesus Christ to earth to set up His Father’s kingdom.  The question is, How would Ezekiel’s warning be carried forth from the prophet’s day (500’s B.C.) to the 21st century A.D.?  How would Ezekiel’s message survive thousands of years of turmoil so as to be available to end-time Israelites who would not know they were Israelites?

Many generations after the Jews had been allowed to return to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity a man-child was born in nearby Bethlehem.  This child would grow up to be Jesus of Nazareth.  For 3 1/2 years He preached His Father’s Gospel–the good news about the coming Kingdom of God on earth (Mk. 1:14/ Mat. 6:10).  Jesus blessed the Jews of Judea in many ways while teaching them God’s message of personal righteousness and  holiness that the Father would require in order to enter His kingdom, receive salvation and be born again (Rom. 5:21; 6:22).  Read Born Again.  Key word–Again.  He spent His short ministry teaching and exhibiting the “walk” the Father required of Jesus Himself, as well as those who would follow in His spiritual footsteps.  To join Him in His kingdom they would have to “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6).  Only those who so “walked” (lived) would join Him in that future kingdom (Rev. 3:21).  Having taught and demonstrated the kingdom-style life, He allowed Himself to be beaten and crucified for mankind’s sins.

But the ministry was just getting started.  Jesus had come to earth to “… finish the Father’s work.”  What was that work?  Shortly before His death He commissioned His apostles to take His Gospel to the scattered tribes of Israel.  He, Himself had taught the Jews of the Holy Land the Father’s ways.  It would be the task of the apostles, and those who would pick up their mantles and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom until His return.  Read White Fields and Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key words–Fields and Today.  Following the deaths of all of the original apostles except John, Jesus had him to codify the writings of the Old Testament prophets and the epistles of the apostles into one majestic tome that we today call the Holy Bible (Heb.–book).  The invention of the printing press enabled that precious book to be duplicated and sent around the world.

Among the books within the Bible was the prophesy of the Prophet Ezekiel which, along with the writings of the other prophets and the apostles, is available to most anyone who wants the inspired Word of God in written form.  That is how we in these end times are able to read for ourselves what the prophets wrote.   This series concerns the specific prophesy God gave to Ezekiel concerning His dealings with the Jews of Babylon, and by printed extension, to Israelite and Gentile God-seekers in these end times.  In chapter 9 verse 9 God reminds Ezekiel of the sins of both the house of Judah and the house of Israel.  He showed Ezekiel what the Jews had done which had brought about their defeat and captivity.  Many generations later that same God, now in human form, would tell His apostles to: “Go not to the Jews … but rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ….” that were scattered throughout the world (Mat. 10:6).  The apostles were to tell them good news (Gospel) of the kingdom and how to enter it.  Then, just before His death, He told them: “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end (of the age) shall come” (Mat. 24:14).  Notice that the true Gospel is not about Jesus Himself, but about the coming Kingdom of God.  In verses 11-13 He noted that just prior to His return false prophets would rise to leadership positions in the church and would deceive many salvation seekers.  Because of their teachings against the Law, iniquity (Lawlessness) would abound and the people’s love for God would grow cold.  Sin would reign throughout the world and in the church, which would by then be under the control of Satan.  In verse 14 Jesus said that only those who endured in righteousness and holiness (Lawfulness) until the end (of one’s life or of the age) would receive salvation.  At that time they will be resurrected and changed from physical to spiritual bodily composition (be born again), will rise to meet Him in the clouds, descend with Him to the Mt. of Olives and enter Jerusalem where He will establish the Kingdom of God from whence He and His saints will rule, first the earth, then the universe.  Read The Kingdom of God and God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe.  Key words–Kingdom and Caretakers respectively.

Just as the Lord punished the house of Israel prior to her defeat and enslavement, and just as He punished the house of Judah in the same way, He has been cursing the modern nations of Israel (the United States, Great Britain and the Jews of the Middle East) for several generations.  He has sent disease, wars, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, pandemics, crime, invasion, vile and weak leadership, etc. as punishments upon a stiff-necked people.  What will happen next will duplicate what happened to the Israelites and Jews respectively after they refused to hear the “voice” of God.  Modern day Israel will be defeated militarily and slaughtered.  The few who survive will be taken into slavery.  What we are seeing today is merely “the beginning of sorrows (Mat. 24:1-8).  All so-called “Christian nations” will suffer greatly because they have “THE ORACLES OF GOD” but refuse to obey them.  However, the U.S., Britain and the Jews will suffer by far the most because they were to live them and teach them to the Gentile world (Rom. 3:1,2/ Mk. 1:15) as the Gentile’s lights.  The faith and works Israel was supposed to exhibit were not forthcoming.  Faith must be proven by obedience (works)–Jam. 2:10,14,17,18, 20,24,26.  Both Judah and Israel failed miserably.  They have sown the wind and are beginning to reap the whirlwind.

Let us hear what the prophet says to us.  Let us heed his warning.  Let us heed Christ’s warning.  LET US BELIEVE AND OBEY THE GOSPEL.  LET NOT EZEKIEL’S WORK AND CHRIST’S SACRIFICE BE IN VAIN.  L.J.