As we traveled this week to our Revival Meeting (which began yesterday morning, this being Monday), Debbie was up front driving. And I was in the back seat reading, studying for the upcoming Sermons. That’s when I saw the “connection!”
How very (inordinately) many ways the Prophet Ezekiel seems to be like the Prophet Moses! This theme will occupy a whole lesson (if not two) at the end of the Ezekiel Series, I suspect.
But today, in Ezekiel 37:15-28, we see one of this similarities.
God instructions are simple, clear: “The word of the LORD came again unto me (Ezekiel), saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah (the southern kingdom), and for the children of Israel his companions … then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim (the northern kingdom), and for all the house of Israel his companions.” Verses 15-16, these wood pieces being “emblems” of two kingdoms long ago separated by civil war! So much so that multitudes (scholars included) have called Ephraim “the LOST ten tribes” of Israel! (Not lost to God, apparently!)
Our Lord immediately continues: “And (Ezekiel) join them (these two pieces of timber) one to another into one stick; and THEY SHALL BECOME ONE in thine hand.” Verse 17, which I would certainly call a “miracle!” Fusion! Instant grafting! Unification! (Incidentally, this is the last of a long series of “action sermons” that God asked Ezekiel to preach.)
Note: Moses performed some miraculous “action sermons,” too! Exodus 17:6, for one example. “Behold, I (the Lord) will stand before thee (Moses) there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt SMITE THE ROCK, and there shall COME WATER OUT of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” Yes, I do believe it. (Think of the “rod” that became a “serpent,” too!)
But for now, back to Ezekiel. “And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us WHAT THOU MEANEST by these? 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.” Verses 18-19, this (to me) being as exciting as the dry bones coming together! A bright future awaits the people of God, the Jews! Harmony yet again! (Sort of gives Psalm 133 “fresh” meaning, too!)
But it gets even better! God is going to send them a King! (King Jesus!) “And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 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: 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.” Verses 20-22, King James Version, Wow! Jesus is coming again!
Here’s God cleansing them now! “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.” Verse 23, “I WILL SAVE THEM,” see that?
National Salvation!
Sinners born again, one by one!
Next, the Millennium: “And David (Jesus as the Root and Offspring of 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. 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.” Verses 24-25, “forever” and “forever!”
Chapter’s end: “Moreover I (God) 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 (TEMPLE) in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen (Gentiles) shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” Verses 26-28, what glorious news!
I am amazed, thrilled, thankful to have been allowed of God to write these words today!
Hallelujah!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Folks, a whole nation just got saved!