(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)
When Linda and I first began our monthly visits to Snow Hill, the most direct route crossed a small bridge. At some point, the county decided to renovate the bridge and closed it to traffic, which required us to take a longer and less direct route. Every month we looked to see if the "Road Closed" sign was still up. After three years, that sign was a permanent a fixture.... Some construction projects seem to take forever. Perhaps we should have done what another driver did.
In 586 B.C., the Babylonian army invaded Judah for the third and final time. Each of the three incursions penetrated increasingly deeper into the heart of the Southern Kingdom, finally attacking and destroying the capital itself. The Babylonians probably would have preferred to avoid this campaign, if only the Judean king had cooperated. Alas, he did not. Having refused to pay the required tribute and seeking an alliance with Egypt, King Zedekiah was the last in a series of rulers who defied Nebuchadnezzar, who then saw little choice but to suppress the revolt and to make an example of Judah, lest other vassal states follow.
The situation that precipitated this final attack was actually Judah's persistent failure to heed the warnings of God's prophets. His spokesmen first inveighed against idolatry, which was rampant among the people and had penetrated even the temple. Ezekiel describes the extent of corruption there.1
As it became increasingly apparent that there was no way to avoid this judgment, the prophet Jeremiah, a contemporary of Ezekiel, counseled surrender and submission.3 Alas, here as well, the people refused to listen and pursued their own course instead, a decision that ultimately failed when the Babylonians defeated the rebel forces, destroyed the capital (including the temple), and deported most of the populace. When news of Babylon's final victory reached those Jews already in Babylon,4 their collective response was one of utter despair, Ezekiel records their cry in...
Sometime later, after those in exile had accepted their fate, God changes Ezekiel's message from one of hopelessness to one of hopefulness, describing a time in the future when the people will not only return to their land but will prosper in that land. It will be a period marked by...
* LIII The Foremost Construction5
...when Israel will experience fully...
God communicates to His prophets in a variety of ways—through angels, dreams, visions, a voice from heaven, even in a combination of ways. Peter says...
What the prophet witnesses is apparently for his eyes only. There is no indication that his audience also sees it, although Ezekiel probably relates what he saw and then explains the significance of his vision to his audience, as God explains it here to him. There are two parts to what God does with these bones, and the two parts correspond to what God will do in the future with the nation. In v. 7, which describes the first part of the vision, "the bones came together, bone to bone." Ezekiel then explains to his audience what this signifies, that...
There is another important difference in this revival. Since the Babylonian exile, Jews have made several attempts to restore the kingdom. In each case, however, one necessary element has always been missing. It is the element God says will be present in this final revival.
The more I study the history of God's people, and note especially their repeated apostasy from Him, the more I am amazed at His repeated mercy to them. Despite their rebellion, God calls them back, and He accepts them back when they repent.17 The same is true for you if you rebel. No matter what you may do, no matter how far or how long you may stray, God calls you back, and He accepts you back when you repent.
When Israel's future appears bleak, Ezekiel receives a vision to turn the people's outlook from one of hopelessness to one of hopefulness. The Lord will re-gather the nation and, more importantly, will revive the nation. That project will entail The Foremost Construction, when Israel will experience fully the preservation by God of the nation as the divine plan moves into a new and final phase, a phase that has wonderful implications for you as well.
Having considered The Foremost Construction, we will look next at The Foremost Conception, which introduces Jesus as the priest of God, in Matt 1:20-21.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
The off-ramp of a freeway in Long Beach, CA, has been torn up for years. Eventually, someone put up a handmade sign reading, "Scientists tell us that the sun will burn out in one and a half billion years. It's sad that this contractor...will have to finish working in the dark."God also has a building project in mind, but once started, He will not stop until it is complete. Much more than a small bridge, it will be The Foremost Construction.
In 586 B.C., the Babylonian army invaded Judah for the third and final time. Each of the three incursions penetrated increasingly deeper into the heart of the Southern Kingdom, finally attacking and destroying the capital itself. The Babylonians probably would have preferred to avoid this campaign, if only the Judean king had cooperated. Alas, he did not. Having refused to pay the required tribute and seeking an alliance with Egypt, King Zedekiah was the last in a series of rulers who defied Nebuchadnezzar, who then saw little choice but to suppress the revolt and to make an example of Judah, lest other vassal states follow.
The situation that precipitated this final attack was actually Judah's persistent failure to heed the warnings of God's prophets. His spokesmen first inveighed against idolatry, which was rampant among the people and had penetrated even the temple. Ezekiel describes the extent of corruption there.1
Ezek 8:10 ...portrayed all over the walls [were] crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11a In front of them stood seventy elders.... 12...each at the shrine of his own idol [and saying], 'The LORD does not see us....'" 14 [At] the north gate of the house of the LORD [were] women...mourning for Tammuz [the Sumerian god of vegetation, who died every year].... 16...[A]t the entrance to the temple...were...men [with] their backs toward the temple...and their faces toward the east, [and] they were bowing down to the sun....When God's people turn from Him and turn to other deities, He gets the hint and will, Himself, back away from His people, as He did here, withdrawing His support for Judah and, eventually His presence from the temple. (He is very polite in this way.) Having rejected the Lord as their king, He gave them another: Nebuchadnezzar.2 God would use the Babylonians to punish His people for their rebellion against Him.
As it became increasingly apparent that there was no way to avoid this judgment, the prophet Jeremiah, a contemporary of Ezekiel, counseled surrender and submission.3 Alas, here as well, the people refused to listen and pursued their own course instead, a decision that ultimately failed when the Babylonians defeated the rebel forces, destroyed the capital (including the temple), and deported most of the populace. When news of Babylon's final victory reached those Jews already in Babylon,4 their collective response was one of utter despair, Ezekiel records their cry in...
Ezek 37:11b ...Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.Ezekiel was among some of the first prisoners deported to Babylon, and his book describes his work among the other captives. At first, God has him squash any hope people may have entertained about returning to the land soon. Quite the contrary, an entire generation would pass in exile, so that most of those who went to Babylon would die in Babylon, never seeing their homeland again.
Sometime later, after those in exile had accepted their fate, God changes Ezekiel's message from one of hopelessness to one of hopefulness, describing a time in the future when the people will not only return to their land but will prosper in that land. It will be a period marked by...
* LIII The Foremost Construction5
...when Israel will experience fully...
- The preservation by God (Ezek 37:7,10)
Ezek 37:7 ...I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.... 10 [Again] I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.In the aftermath of war, fields are strewn with bodies of the "slain" (v. 9), soldiers and civilians. If an invader has no interest in occupying what he has conquered, the victorious army may depart and leave only devastation in its wake, including fields littered with the dead. When no one remains to bury the dead, their bodies become food for carrion, which leave only the bones behind. That may be what the prophet depicts: the remains of a battle, where the victor, and even the carrion, have long since moved on.6 Only the bones of the fallen remain. This is what the prophet sees, a field of bones, picked clean and left to rot.7 God instructs the prophet to speak—to prophesy. Precisely what Ezekiel said, we do not know. Whatever it was, the effect was startling, even to him, as he witnesses a most unnatural thing, reversal of the decomposition process. "At the critical moment, however, the process seems to abort" (Block 1998:376), because "there was no breath in them" (v. 8).
God communicates to His prophets in a variety of ways—through angels, dreams, visions, a voice from heaven, even in a combination of ways. Peter says...
Pet 1:21b ...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.That is especially so for Ezekiel, who describes his prophetic encounters, often in physical terms.8
Ezek 2:2 ...the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
Ezek 3:14a The Spirit...lifted me up and took me away....
Ezek 8:3b The Spirit lifted me up...and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem....
Ezek 11:5a ...the Spirit of the LORD came upon me, and he told me [what] to say....Ezekiel describes this experience in chapter 37 similarly.
Ezek 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.This is a vision, as was his earlier revelation of corruption in the temple. Ezekiel does not provide the location of this valley. Given the identity of the dead as Israelites, it is probably somewhere in Canaan.9 The specific place is apparently not important. What is important is what happens there and what that event signifies.
What the prophet witnesses is apparently for his eyes only. There is no indication that his audience also sees it, although Ezekiel probably relates what he saw and then explains the significance of his vision to his audience, as God explains it here to him. There are two parts to what God does with these bones, and the two parts correspond to what God will do in the future with the nation. In v. 7, which describes the first part of the vision, "the bones came together, bone to bone." Ezekiel then explains to his audience what this signifies, that...
1. Your Lord will re-gather Israel (v. 7).As God explains the vision in vv. 11-12...
Ezek 37:11 ..."Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; [In other words,] I will bring you back to the land of Israel.Two events, since Israel's exile, might qualify as the fulfillment of this first part to Ezekiel's vision.10
- In the 5th c. B.C., under Ezra and Nehemiah, people returned to the land.
- In the 201h c. A.D., under a UN resolution, people returned to the land.11
2. Your Lord will revive Israel (v. 10).How is the revival of Israel more than the re-gathering of Israel? ... God explains in v. 14...
Ezek 37:14a I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.This reference to the Spirit is a description of regeneration, similar to what God says earlier...12
Ezek 11:19a I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them....
Ezek 36:26a I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.... 27...I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.This regeneration of God's people on a national scale is also what we considered in The Foremost Constitution from Jer 31.13 There is more happening here than just an assemblage of people. These people will all be "born again."14
There is another important difference in this revival. Since the Babylonian exile, Jews have made several attempts to restore the kingdom. In each case, however, one necessary element has always been missing. It is the element God says will be present in this final revival.
Ezek 37:24 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.The dynasty David founded included more than twenty rulers, who reigned for about 600 years. At this point, there will be only one more king in David's line, and he will reign far longer than all those before him combined.15 This is a reference, of course, to the messiah, the one we know as Jesus, whose advent will initiate the change for Israel that Ezekiel describes here.16
The more I study the history of God's people, and note especially their repeated apostasy from Him, the more I am amazed at His repeated mercy to them. Despite their rebellion, God calls them back, and He accepts them back when they repent.17 The same is true for you if you rebel. No matter what you may do, no matter how far or how long you may stray, God calls you back, and He accepts you back when you repent.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.Although this passage from Ezekiel is addressed to Israel and not to us, it contains good news for us, because it is a reminder about God's faithfulness, that He continues to care about His people even when they do not seem to care about Him. Moreover, what the prophet describes here is one of two great events that will attend the messiah's advent. Jesus' return will signal national restoration for Israel and physical resurrection for you. So, Paul writes...
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven...and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will...meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.In another letter, Paul explains how God will work with Jews and gentiles to the benefit of both groups.
Rom 11:1a ...Did God reject his people? By no means! ...12 But if their transgression means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! ...15 For if their [own] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ...26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.... 29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.This will be a very good time for Israel and the very best time for you.
When Israel's future appears bleak, Ezekiel receives a vision to turn the people's outlook from one of hopelessness to one of hopefulness. The Lord will re-gather the nation and, more importantly, will revive the nation. That project will entail The Foremost Construction, when Israel will experience fully the preservation by God of the nation as the divine plan moves into a new and final phase, a phase that has wonderful implications for you as well.
Having considered The Foremost Construction, we will look next at The Foremost Conception, which introduces Jesus as the priest of God, in Matt 1:20-21.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)
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Jim Skaggs