God carried Ezekiel out in the Holy Spirit means he was in tune with God and His Holy Spirit and His spiritual revelations. Then God set Ezekiel down in a valley full of bones. God then directed Ezekiel to pass by and survey the bones in the valley which resulted in Ezekiel observing that the bones were very dry. God then asked Ezekiel who is here called Son of man if these bones he saw could live. Ezekiel replied thou knowest to God meaning you know but I don't know. God then directed Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones to hear God's word. God then said to the bones in this vision that he would cause breath to enter into the bones and they would live. God said further to the bones that he would lay sinews upon them and then cover them with flesh and skin and then put breath in them and cause them to live and that they would know he was the LORD. The prophecy of this valley of dry bones from Ezekiel 37 is as follows:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O LORD GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 37:1-6
Then Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded him which first resulted in a noise as of a wind which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. This caused a great shaking and the bones came together in an orderly way. Then the sinews and the flesh came upon the bones and next the skin covered the flesh. However up to this point there was no breath in them. Then God urged Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind symbolic of the Holy Spirit to breathe upon these bones that they may live. Then Ezekiel breathed upon the bones as God instructed him and the wind caused the bones to live as an exceedingly great army. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of this vision of the fulfillment of this prophecy of the valley of dry bones is as follows:
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Ezekiel 37:7-10
Then God said these bones are the whole house of Israel. This prophesy has already been partly fulfilled in our time since the 1880s when the Jews started coming back to Israel under the Zionist ideology. This has been even more so since 1948 when Israel became an independent Jewish nation. Immigration from countries all over the earth of Jewish people to Israel as this return of Jews to Israel continues to this day. God then says the words and sentiments of the bones are that they are dried and that they are cut off and their hope is lost. I am sure this is how some of the Jews have felt and many still feel that their hope of national salvation with the coming of their Messiah seems to never come. However this is partly because they don't recognize Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. There has been a long time since he came as well and He will come again as their Messiah and their hope at the end of the tribulation. God then prophesies that he will open their graves and bring them out of their graves into the land of Israel. This could symbolize bringing the Jews out of the relative graves of the Gentile or non-Jewish nations as started to happen since the 1880s and has happened even more since 1948 when Israel became a nation and continues to this day. It is obvious in what way the nations could be viewed as graves to the Jews from the Nazi Holocaust or other persecutions such as the Russian pogroms, the Spanish inquisition, the persecution under Stalin or other cases. God says Israel will know He is the LORD when he brings them out of the graves of the Gentile nations. Although I am sure most Jews especially those in Israel acknowledge this to some extent many are still not really living for God. Jews not living for God is the case especially the case the secular Jews or those who follow Eastern mysticism or others that don't seek after God according to even the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures. Although much of Israel especially probably the tribes of Judah and Benjamin or the southern Kingdom have returned to Israel most of them are still there in unbelief without a relationship with God through Messiah Jesus and without God's Holy Spirit in their hearts. The Pathan or Pushtun tribe in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Bnei Menasche in Manipur and Mizoram states in eastern India among others are probably a main part of the 10 lost tribes. These tribes are also starting to convert back to Judaism and return to Israel but more complications have to be overcome for this to occur to a larger extent. God is gathering Israel, all 12 tribes, into Israel mostly in unbelief but God will pour out His Holy Spirit into them sometime in the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation at Jesus the Messiah's second coming. At the end of the tribulation God will through His Messiah Jesus come to lead the Jewish people to the glorious fulfillment of the blessings of God's covenants with them through Abraham, Moses and David in the Messianic Kingdom. We, or dispensationalist Christians, believe true or Holy Spirit born again Christians of this present age will be caught up to heaven before the tribulation starts and God will then really focus on dealing with and witnessing to the nations through Israel or the Jews as well as in the Messianic Kingdom. However the Church will also share in God's glory through Israel through our reigning with Jesus the Messiah in the Messianic Kingdom although our home will still be the Heavenly Jerusalem and we will then have spiritual or heavenly or incorruptable bodies. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of the explanation of the vision of the valley of dry bones as the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel and God putting His Holy Spirit in them in the last days is as follows:
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves. And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. Ezekiel 37:11-14
In the Old Testament history of Israel, after the reign of King Solomon, the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom of Judah comprised the tribe of Judah and Benjamin which included Jerusalem and the Temple and the Davidic Messianic line. The first ruler of the separate kingdom of Judah was Rehoboam a son of Solomon. There were several righteous kings in the history of Judah that often led revivals in bringing people back to God and His Word and right worship of him at his temple in Jerusalem. The northern kingdom which was comprised of the remaining 10 tribes of Israel was at first led by Jeroboam who unfortunately set up a golden calf and a pagan temple, partly to discourage people from going back to the southern kingdom to worship in Jerusalem. These worship sites were at Dan and Bethel. The capital of the northern kingdom was Samaria. There were several dynasties in the history of the northern kingdom and none of the kings of Israel are described as doing right in the sight of the LORD partly because none of them had the courage or righteous convictions to remove the pagan temples at Dan and Bethel. The kings of Israel also had no relationship to the Messianic line or kingly line of David. Ezekiel was instructed to take two sticks one representing Judah which would represent the southern kingdom of Judah and another representing Joseph or Ephraim which would represent the northern kingdom of Israel and join them together as one stick. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God using the sign of Ezekiel joining the stick of Judah with the stick of Ephraim to make one stick or one nation is as follows:
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 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. Amd the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. Ezekiel 37:15-20
In verse 21 Israel refers to the entire people of Israel or all 12 tribes. God promises he will gather the people of Israel or the Jews from among the nations to their own land, the promised land of Israel which with God includes Judaea and Samaria or the West Bank. The so-called Palestinians are actually just Arabs most of whom have come from the nations surrounding Israel such as Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt since some of the Jewish people started to return to the promised land of Israel in the 1880s and especially since 1948. In 1948 the Jewish people were able to get international recognition for a Jewish state named Israel within the land God promised to them in the Bible between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The so called Palestinians should be content with what land they have as their own state or to live in Israel by its rules and the Arab nations should do more to make room for the Palestinian Arabs within their borders partly because many of them originally came from those countries. Israel should also not unduly persecute the Palestinian Arabs either living in Israel or in the Palestinian territories or in other Arab countries.
When the Jews in 1948 or from the 1880s leading up to that time had to make a decision whether to reestablish their nations as two countries or one, they wisely decided to become one country. I am sure this was partly to fulfill this passage in their scriptures but also to avoid civil wars between themselves or other problems that were evident in the divided kingdom period. This joining of the two sticks of Judah and Ephraim was realized in our time in 1948 and since that time and will most likely continue to be the case since this seems to be what the Bible says, especially in this passage. Probably most of the people in Israel now are descendants of the two tribes of Judah. There are also probably many individuals of the 10 lost or hidden tribes of Ephraim among the Pathan or Pushtun of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Bnei Menasche of Manipur and Mizoram states in eastern India and other places in Asia. One of the sub tribes of the Pathans or Pushtuns is Efredi which is probably their name for Ephraim. God also said he would place a king over Israel which at least in the Messianic Kingdom will be the prince King David who will reign under the Messiah that I and other Christians think will be Jesus of Nazareth. God says he will cleanse the Israelites of all their idols and detestable things which in some cases will literally be true but in other cases it will just be to cleanse the Jews from other non-Jewish religions such as secularism or Islam in the case of the Pushtuns if they are indeed the bulk of the ten tribes of Ephraim. The fact that the Pushtuns hold to and practice their legal code the Pushtunwali that in many respects is similiar or identical to the Law of Moses instead of the Koran also suggests they are Jews that have been outwardly converted to Islam. God states that in the land of Israel He will bring Jews from all 12 tribes back to Israel and has already started to do so. This will result in their fully being his people and he being their God. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God making the Jews one people, even in our time, and bringing them back from all the nations where they were scattered and cleansing them of their idols is as follows:
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: 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. Ezekiel 37:21-23
God says, looking to the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom, that David will be king over them. However from other scriptures it is plain that David the king is not the Messiah as later in this book he is pictured as offering sacrifices in the temple and having children and not sitting on the throne in the holy of holies in the temple which will be reserved for the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ). However David the prince or king will help Israel worship God in a general way with helping them observe God's statutes and judgments which will be decreed by Messiah Jesus when he is on the throne. David will also help implement as well God's statutes and judgments already contained in the sixty six books of the Holy Bible. God affirms that the Jewish people will dwell in (all of) their land in the Messianic Kingdom although it will be somewhat different than in Old Testament times and is described later in Ezekiel. This land will be only for the duration of the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom but Israel will probably have a special allotment in the New Earth described in Revelation 21 to 22 for ever. King David will probably have some role as reigning over Israel under Jesus the Messiah for the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom and for ever. God also states that he will make a covenant of peace over Israel meaning no more wars in the Messianic Age like we see much in evidence today. We will see these ware in the Middle East more so until Jesus as the Prince of Peace sets up the Messianic Kingdom of Israel and over the world. God also states that he will multiply the Jews or Israel and that he will dwell among them in his sanctuary or temple. Jesus in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily will sit bodily in the holy of holies but God the Father's Shekinah glory will probably be over the Messianic Temple as well. God and Jesus will be in the midst of Israel, the Church and believing Gentiles without any temple in the New Jerusalem, the New Earth and the New Heavens for eternity according to Revelation 21 and 22. The nations, instead of as is too much the case now in mocking or criticizing or hating Israel or the Jews, will in the Messianic Kingdom and for eternity acknowledge or honour Israel as God's chosen earthly people with the true and living God as their special covenant God. However the Church as God's chosen heavenly people and believers of the nations that in the tribulation and Messianic Kingdom will join Israel will also share Israel's glory in the Messianic Age and eternity. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God setting David as Israel's king and Himself dwelling amongst Israel in His sanctuary or temple in the Messianic Age (and eternity) is as follows:
And 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. Moreover I 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 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 shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 37:24-28
At the end of Ezekiel 28 there is a brief description of the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel in the last days, the end of the current church age and in the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. God will be sanctified in the sight of the heathen or nations at Jesus' second coming when he judges the world and establishes Israel as the primary nation on earth through whom he will rule the world in the Messianic Kingdom. God promises that then the Jews or people of Israel will dwell in their land in peace without fear of invasion or trouble from other nations. God also says here that the Jews will dwell in the land of Israel or the Holy land and build houses and plant vineyards which is implying they will be able to settle down on the land without fear of disruption or destruction from Gentile armies as they have experienced for much of their history. God says they will also have confidence both in God's protection also because they will then be living by his law, word or principles but also because God will then have judged the nations that were opposed to Israel about the then just preceding battle of Armageddon. God finishes this passage that about the Jews will know or have an abiding faith, honour to and obedience to Him in the Messianic Kingdom after they have been gathered from the nations to the land of Israel. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 28 of the Jews to be gathered from the nations to the Land of Israel where they will live in peace for the true God the God of Israel is as follows:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God. Ezekiel 28:25-26
<The LORD (God the Father) promises that the days will come, the last days, when he will raise up for David a righteous branch. This is talking about the coming or revelation of the Messiah who will be a son of David. Although Jesus of Nazareth was a son of David and claimed to be such and presented himself as the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel as well as Saviour of the world at his first coming almost 2000 years ago, this prophecy in Jeremiah is about the Messiah coming in glory to set up God's Kingdom on Earth through the reign of His Messiah but I as a Christian believe this will still be realized in Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth but at his second coming when he comes in power and great glory from heaven with his Church and some Old Testament saints and holy angels and the Shekinah glory of God the Father at the end of the 7 year tribulation. This will also start the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom or Messianic Kingdom. Then it follows that the King that shall reign and prosper will be Messiah Jesus at his second coming in the time of peace and prosperity in the Messianic Kingdom. Jesus the Messiah will then execute or implement justice and judgment or righteousness and justice through Israel and all the earth. God also promises through his servant Jeremiah that in the days of the branch of David the Messiah (Jesus Christ) Judah meaning the southern kingdom shall be saved or come to place their faith wholly in the LORD and Israel the northern kingdom shall dwell safely or won't be persecuted or invaded by the Gentiles or non-Jewish people. Then the scriptures further identifies the Messiah as the one that will be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is one of the few time in the Bible that a phrase is used all in capital letters showing it is very important. The title the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS is also an appropriate title for Jesus Christ as the Messiah as he died on the cross and rose from the dead to enable us to receive God's righteousness through His as a free gift by faith. Jesus will also give God's righteousness to His chosen earthly people Israel when He comes to rule the earth from Israel in His righteous 1000 year Messianic rule. Although even after about 3500 years, it is still a major point of reference in the history of Israel or the Jewish people in the Exodus from Egypt and the Passover and the parting of the Red Sea, God says in the last days he will do just as great if not greater deliverance for His chosen earthly people Israel or the Jewish people in delivering them from the north country or Russia or the former Soviet Union which is basically north of Israel especially the area around Moscow the capital of Russia. God says he will also deliver the children of Israel or the Jews from all the nations where he has driven them and bring them back to the land of Israel to dwell in their own land. Although we continue to see this phenomena in our day and especially since 1948 or from about the 1880s this return of Israel to their promised land will have its greatest expression when the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth sets up God's Kingdom over all the earth focused on Israel and Jerusalem at His Second Coming. God through Messiah Jesus will then exalt the nation of Israel for all their suffering they will have undergone since going into captivity by Assyria and Babylon over 2500 years ago to this time and especially the soon coming 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel or time of Jacob's trouble when about a third of the Jews will not only turn back to God but also trust in Jesus as their Messiah as a result of their suffering in the tribulation and hearing the gospel from the Messianic Jewish two witnesses and 144,000 witnesses of Revelation. The scripture reference in Jeremiah 23 of God's restoration of the Jewish people to their land of Israel and raising up their Messiah and King in Jesus' second coming in power and great glory to set up God's Messianic Kingdom is as follows:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither (to where) I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. Jeremiah 23:5-8
The LORD says in verse 7 that he will not only bring the Jewish people but save them from lands in different directions from Israel. This probably means the LORD will bring them to the land of Israel when they are under persecution or in danger in some of the lands of the Gentiles or nations perhaps such as they were immediately before the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany leading up to the HOlocaust and World War II. God also says he will deliver the Jews from the east and from the west. Many Jews were driver to the east mostly Asia such as the Middle East or perhaps Pakistan and Afghanistan when the northern kingdom was conquored and brought into captivity by the Assyrians around 720 BC and by the Babylonians around 600 BC. However many Jews were driven to the west meaning Europe and to some extent Africa and later the Americas when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and again in 135 AD and scattered the Jews to the ends of the earth but especially to the west. God will bring the Jews from each these directions and all countries to the land of Israel through the current time but especially in the tribulation and perhaps the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom to the land of Israel. Then when God brings the Jewish people to the land of Israel many of them will dwell or at least come regulary to Jerusalem and the then rebuilt temple in the Messianic Kingdom to worship the LORD there. The LORD will in return be their God in truth and righteousness which includes the idea that God will provide peace and security as well as encouragement to righteousness and follow him and his word or law in the Messianic Kingdom especially for His chosen earthly people the Jews who will then be the most blessed people or nation on earth after God refines them through their trials for him in the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. The scripture reference from Zechariah 8 of the LORD saving the Jews from all directions of the world and bringing them back to Jerusalem and the land of Israel to be His blessed people in the Messianic Kingdom is as follows:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Zechariah 8:7-8
Recently one of my friends asked me if there was any reference in God's Word - the Holy Bible that spoke clearly that God would bring the Jews back to their land in the Holy Land on a permanent basis never to be removed again. Although I'm sure there are other references especially in the Old Testament prophets, one such reference I found was in the last couple verses of the prophecy of Amos. In this prophecy God states clearly that he will again bring back from their captivity His earthly people the Jews and that they will build their desolate cities and inhabit them. This has happened to some extent in the last 100 years or so staring around 1880 with the initiative of Theodore Herzl but according to some other scriptures, the Jews still have one major affliction left which is the great tribulation or the time of Jacob's trouble or the 70th week of Daniel. Although this will result in unprecedented persecution of the Jews it will not remove them from the promised land of Israel again although some of their adversaries like the militant Muslims would disagree. Jesus as the Jewish Messiah will come again and deliver the Jews from their adversaries of the world at the last moment from heaven according to scriptures like Zechariah 14. Then the Jews will live in unthreatened peace and prosperity in their own land with the protection of their God the LORD and Creator God and their Messiah Jesus of Nazareth when they will be the chief nation on earth and the means of God blessing all the people of the nations that trusted in Him and His Messiah Jesus and blessed His chosen earthly people Israel in the tribulation or trusted in Jesus in this present Church age. Then the Jews will be able settle down with their own property and be blessed with the abundance of the land of Israel for the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom and in some way also for eternity on the new earth or in the New Jerusalem if they trust in Jesus as their Messiah. Verse 15 says the Jews will not be removed from their land which will be true for the most part from this time through the tribulation and definitely through the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom when they will come into their full inheritance of their land according to Ezekiel 47 and perhaps also in part of the new earth for eternity. The scripture reference of God's clear unconditional promise to the Jews to bring them back to their own land in the last days which we are in the beginning of never to be removed again and for them to be blessed of the increase of the land of Israel in Amos 9 is as follows:
And (the LORD God says) I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. Amos 9:14-15
Although God chastened his earthly people Israel for their idolatry, immorality, oppression and other sins he promised that ultimately he will restore Israel to Himself in their own land of Israel. He promised they will also be restored to him spiritually at that time at the end of the tribulation and beginning of the Messianic Kingdom as indicated in the passage later in this chapter about the New Covenant in verses 31 to 34. God says in the last days it won't be just the two tribes of Judah but all the families of Israel meaning all twelve tribes will be restored to Him. This will include all the Jews of the 10 lost or missing tribes that are mostly in Asia or Africa and some other places. In verse two God says the people that survived the sword meaning originally those that survived the Babylonian invasion but in an ultimate sense all the Jews that survive the times of the Gentiles including the still future tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel or the time of Jacob's trouble as mentioned in the preceding chapter Jeremiah 30 (verse 7) will have a rest in the wilderness first Babylon then the whole world. However although there have been periods of rest in different areas of the world for the Jews in the last 2500 years there have also been times of terrible persecution such as with the Roman Empire in 70 and 135 AD, in Russia, in Spain during the inquisition and in Nazi Germany in the 20th century. The LORD says that he has loved the Jewish people or people of Israel with an everlasting love and that with lovingkindness he will bring them back to their land and to Himself. This still applies after their primary rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah just as it applied after their disobedience to God before the Babylonianc captivity since this love is based on God's covenants with the Jewish people through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Moses and David and the covenants except the one with Moses are unconditional covenants are only based on God's faithfulness, goodness and grace as the New Testament is with the true Church and the final form of the New Covenant (Testament) will with Israel and all the nations. God promises to build up Israel again and make her like a virgin that will be joyful including enabling her to put behind all her idolatry and other sin that God likens to spiritual adultery or harlotry or fornication. God promises Israel or the Jews that they will settle down in peace for the long term to be able to raise their own food in their land in Samaria (northern Israel) as well as Judah. God also promises that all twelve tribes of Israel or the Jews in that day in the Messianic Kingdom or Millennial Kingdom will go from all Israel to Zion (Jerusalem) to go and come before God who in the person of the Messiah who will be the Divine Son of the Father Jesus of Nazareth as well as perhaps the Shekinah glory of God the Father in the Messianic Temple to worship God. God says through Jeremiah to say also among the nations and with Jacob Israel to urge God to restore Israel or the Jews especially for the final restoration where they will never again be removed from their land as in the Messianic Kingdom and that the current time as impending tribulation will help accomplish. God says he will bring His earthly people the Jews from the north country which could have been to a minor or partial extent from Babylon before but in a last days sense which this passage is mostly focused on will be from Russia or the former Soviet Union which continues to occur as we speak and will continue until the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom when most of the Jews will be back in the land of Israel. God also says he will gather the Jews from the coasts of the earth that would encompass the whole earth including all of Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. God says he wouldn't leave any of the Jews behind since he includes women, children and the disabled with those among the Jews who will return in a great company back to the land of Israel from the nations. There will be great repentance and dedications to God among the Jews that return since they will sense that this is a momentous time and that they will be going back to experience all the Messianic blessings God has promised them and that then the end of their suffering at the hand of the Gentiles will be in sight. Ephraim here means the Jews of the 10 northern tribes it does not mean the Anglo-Saxon people or some other fanciful and unwarranted and non-Jewish application. God gives a message to the nations that the same God who scattered Israel by the Babylonians (and later by the Romans) will gather them back from among the nations a final time with loving care as a shephered gathers his flock. God states that he has redeeemed Jacob or the Jews from him that was stronger than he. In the initial sense this could refer back to God's delivering the Jews from Pharoah and the Egyptians but could also have some application of delivering them from the Babylonians and Persians but in a spiritual sense could include he delivering the remnant or believing Jews in the last days from Satan the devil through the first earthly ministry of their Messiah Jesus and in the last days sense from the Antichrist who will also persecute them in the tribulation. The LORD promises Israel or the Jews that they will come and sing in the height of Zion or Jerusalem which is most likely a reference to the Messianic Kingdom on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where the LORD especially through His Messiah Jesus will be then. God also promises their will be peace and prosperity for the Jews or Israel in their own land with time and opportunity for them to grow and harvest crops and livestock and his assurance that they won't sorrow any more including any sorrow from foreign armies or oppressors. This will be true for eternity as well as in the Messianic Kingdom for the Jews that trust in their Messiah Jesus but I don't know whether the Jews in eternity that trust in Jesus will live in the New Jerusalem or the New Earth or both. The scripture reference of God's promise to regather the Jews from all the nations and bring them into their own land in peace and prosperity and his blessing not to be oppressed or attacked again starting in the last days but with the peace starting in the Messianic Kingdom in Jeremiah 31 is as follows:
At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and shall be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, he that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD that redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Jeremiah 31:1-12
The LORD showed his favour to his servant the prophet Jeremiah as he does often to his devoted people while he was in a time of trial in this case in prison for speaking out to God's earthly then very wayward people the Jews for them to return to God. God or the LORD addresses himself as the maker or creator and urges Jeremiah and by extension to the people of Israel to call upon him in prayer and that he could do things to answer their prayers beyond their expectations or their imagination. These prayers for the Jews at that time would probably be especially for the restoration of hope and peace and security and authority in their land which to some extent was answered in the near future after the 70 year Babylonian captivity was over and people like Ezra and Nehemiah led godly Jews back to the land of Israel to restart Jewish society and worship there but the more complete fulfillment is yet future when the Messiah (Jesus) will rule the world from Jerusalem through His then fully blessed earthly people the Jews. The LORD reminded the people of Jerusalem and Judah especially of the desolation of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians of both the common people and the nobility or the kings that they were in a very defeated state when they lived by their own resources and not in trusting in being obedient to the LORD. The LORD also states it was for the wickedness of the people of Judah and Jerusalem that their city was made desolate by the Babylonians and that the Israelites of Jerusalem and Judah fighting against the Babylonians by their own power only resulted in more devastation and destruction for the Israelites or the Jews. The LORD states that this destruction against his earthly people the Jews around 600 BC was because of the LORD's anger and fury and his turning his face or his protection from the people of Jerusalem and Judah. This was because of their violence, idolatry, immorality and godlessness or not keeping the priniciples of the LORD in His law through Moses. The scripture reference of the state of destruction and despair of the people of Jerusalem and Judah that they had suffered from the Babylonians for the Jews' disobedience to God as a background to the LORD's message of hope and restoration of the people of Judah and Israel in the last days is as follows:
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword; They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. Jeremiah 33:1-5
The LORD promises the Jews that he bring health and a cure to the city of Jerusalem and Judah for its devastation and destruction when he restores it and brings it his blessing especially in the last days after Messiah Jesus comes again to set up God's Messianic Kingdom with Israel as the head nation after the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. God also promises he will cure not just the city and nation of its destruction and devastation but also the people of Jerusalem and Judah and all of Israel especially in the last days when He comes to rule the world from Jerusalem through the Messiah. Then God will reveal to the Jews and to all the people of the nations through the Jews His abundance of peace and truth. Of course many people both Jewish and non-Jewish today also want world peace but many of them without truth especially that true peace involves peace with God as well. Sadly many of these people of which I urge the reader not to be a part of will fall for the shortterm imminent false peace of the Antichrist. The LORD also states quite clearly he will cause both the captivity of Judah and Israel to return or to be removed so they could come back from Babylon or Assyria or other lands both physically and mentally and spiritually back to God and the land of Israel. God also says he would then build the people of Judah and Israel both physically to rebuild their homes, their temple or other places as at the first or as when he brought them into the promised land from Egypt before. God did this to a partial fulfillment after the Babylonian captivity at least with the captivity of Judah but hardly at all with the 10 tribes of Israel but God will restore and rebuild all of both Judah and Israel in the last days when the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth comes from Heaven at the end of the tribulation to set up God's 1000 year Messianic Kingdom featuring special blessings to the Jews after they return to Him in their trial in the tribulation. God says he will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against him. This is partly a reference to their disobedience to Him before He judged them by the Assyrians and Babylonians or for their factions and coldness to Him before the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the second temple but also especially for their lack for the most part of acknowledging and trusting in their Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth which man of them will do by the end of the tribulation or have God's cleansing of them spiritually through His blood. God will for all these sins pardon all the Jews that turn to Him in the tribulation or those who trusted in Him in earlier times to enjoy the blessings of God's rule under His Messiah in the Messianic Kingdom from Jerusalem. The LORD says His restoring Israel nationally, socially, religiously and for many Jews individually spiritually to Himself will a name or source of joy, praise and honour before all the nations of the earth. This will be not just because of God's forgiveness and deliverance of the Jews who return to Him but also for all the goodness and prosperity the LORD will especially blessed the redeemed of Israel through returning to the LORD, His Messiah Jesus the Son of David and His Word the Holy Bible in the Messianic Kingdom. The scripture reference from Jeremiah 33 of God's cleansing, pardoning and blessing the nation and repentant and trusting chosen people of Israel in His Messianic Kingdom is as follows:
Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity (lawlessness), whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Jeremiah 33:6-9
After the famous Messianic prophecy of the birthplace of the Messiah in Micah 5:2 as Bethlehem that was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth there is another interesting prophecy. This prophecy is about the temporary setting aside by God of His chosen earthly people the Jews and His restoration of them in the last days. God giving them up would include His allowing the Romans to disperse them in the nations from the Roman operations in 70 AD and around 135 AD but would also include the many persecutions of the Jews over the last 2000 years including at the hands of the Vatican during the inquisition, the Russian pogroms, the Holocaust perpetrated by Hitler and Germany under the Nazis and some of the other nations including the United Kingdom under then Prime Minister Atlee of being reluctant to look after the survivors of the Holocaust in Europe or not more readily allowing the Jews to establish their own nation again in the Holy Land as well as the ongoing Muslim persecution of the Jews and the nation of Israel. However this scripture mentions the time when Israel travails and brings forth. This is especially referring to the time Israel is born in a day at the end of the tribulation and as a whole trusts in Jesus or Y'Shua as her Messiah and Redeemer but probably refers in a secondary way to the recovery of the hope of Zionism and a Jewish homeland by Theodore Herzl and others who reestablished Zioinism or the idea of a Jewish state in the Holy land in the 1880s in Europe. This led to increased efforts and success of Jews immigrating or returning to the Holy land from that time and still continues although there are some Jews in administrative positions in Israel that see Zionism as a mistake and want to overturn Israel's law of return that offers open reception of any Jew anywhere in the world to immigrate to Israel to live. The return of the Jews to Israel started to accelerate during the time of the British mandate over Palestine or the land of Israel from 1917 to 1948 especially with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany in 1933. There were also desparate attempt by Jews during World War 2 from 1939 to 1945 to escape Hitler's Holocaust in Europe by returning to Israel where there was viewed as a hope of having a Jewish state or home that would welcome and protect the Jewish people unlike what was then happening in Europe. In 1947 and 1948 with the agreement with the United Nations of a Jewish state and the declaration of Israel as an independent Jewish state immigrations by Jews from Europe and then Asia and other parts of the world to Israel further increased and provided population and workers for the reestablished nation of Israel. This return will continue until the coming again of the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth this time in power and great glory to set up the Messianic Kingdom at the end of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel during which tribulation unfortunately the Jewish people will endure their worst and final period of tribulation or persecution but from which God through His Messiah Jesus of Nazareth will deliver them. There will also be some return or immigration of the remaining Jews in other nations of the world including United States and Canada to Israel in the early part of the Messianic Kingdom although according to other scriptures some Jews will remain among the nations in the Messianic Kingdom to teach the Gentiles or people of the nations the word or law of the LORD or God. There have always been some Jews in the holy land even after the Romans dispersed many of them to the nations and the Jews did not just come to Palestine, the holy land or Israel in the 20th century but some were there all along from their former period going to their establishment there by Abraham, Moses and Joshua in Bible days. This is implied in the last part of this verse that a remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel that were already in the land of Israel. The scripture reference in Micah 5 of the return of the remnant of Israel or the Jews to the land of Israel or the Holy Land especially starting when the people or land of Israel travailled and brought forth starting in the 1880s and accelerated since the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state in 1948 is as follows:
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. Micah 5:3
In that day in verse 1 means on the day of the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah at the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom of the Millennium. The root of Jesse refers to the Messiah being God incarnate who is before Jesse the father of King David or in other words a reference to the Messiah in the line of David for which Jesus of Nazareth was qualified. Messiah Jesus will stand as an ensign or flag or rallying point for the people that is God's chosen earthly people Israel or the Jews. The Gentiles or people of the other nations will also seek after Jesus the Messiah as not only the Messiah or Redeemer of Israel but also the Saviour of the world and God Incarnate in the time of his glorious Millennial time of rest or peace, prosperity and righteousness. In verse 11 the reference to the Messiah (Jesus) setting his hand the second time to recover his remnant that are left probably implies the first time of God restoring his remnant of Israel was after the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities when a significant number from Judah and some of the northern 10 tribes of Israel returned from the east to the land of Israel as recorded to some extent in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah in God's word the holy Bible. God will at this time recover the Jews that are left in Middle Eastern countries like Assyria (northern Iraq), Egypt, Pathros, southern Egypt or Sudan, from Cush (Ethiopia) such as the Falasha Jews, from Elam (Iran) from Shinar(Iraq) and from Hamath (Lebanon and Syria) and from the islands (or coastlands) of the sea which would include the rest of the world such as Europe and North and South America. The Messiah Jesus then at the beginning of the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom after Jesus' second coming to judge the world and remove those who refuse to trust in him or repent of their sins at the battle of Armageddon shall give a flag or sign to the nations perhaps referring to the establishment of God's throne for his 1000 year rule on earth in the Messianic Kingdom Temple in Jerusalem and gather not just the outcasts or dispersed of Judah but also of the 10 lost tribes of Israel which could include the Pathans of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Bnei Manasche of India and other members of the 10 tribes from India or central Asia or North Africa as well to bring them to resettle in the land of Israel. The scripture reference to this final regathering of the dispersed tribes of Israel both of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel at the beginning of the glorious rule of the LORD's Messiah Jesus of Nazareth from Isaiah 11 is as follows:
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:10-12
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