Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Male): Stay tuned as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses Israel's coming restoration right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, and he's talking about the coming restoration of national Israel, a restoration, in fact, that has already begun. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thanks. Welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you on board today as we finish up this series on Israel's coming restoration. We're talking about that great prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 37 about Israel's end-time restoration. And we've come to the place in the prophecy where the Lord tells Ezekiel to take two sticks and join them together. It's like an object lesson if you've ever taught Sunday school for little children. You use these object lessons. And in verse 18, the Lord says, "And when the children of thy people shall speak to thee saying, wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?"

So here Ezekiel is going to be acting out this object lesson with two sticks, and the Lord knows the people are going to want to know what he's doing. So he says when the people ask what it means, here's what you tell them. In verse 19, the Lord says, "Say to 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 my hand." So the two sticks are miraculously joined together in Ezekiel's hand.

Verse 20: "And the sticks on which thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes." Remember, one stick represented the southern kingdom of Judah and the other stick represented the northern kingdom of the house of Israel. Now, here's what Ezekiel is supposed to say to the people when they want to know what it means. Verse 21: "And say to them, the Lord says, thus saith the Lord God, behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they are gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land."

Remember, we said Ezekiel is writing this from Babylon. The last of the southern kingdom had been taken captive to Babylon in 586 BC, and the last of the northern kingdom had been taken captive to Assyria in 722 BC. Those who escaped were scattered to the four winds. So the nation Israel had been totally decimated by her enemies. Her cities were destroyed, the land was overrun by Arab nomads and foreigners, the Jewish people themselves were taken captive in the diaspora or the dispersion. It looked like there was no hope of restoration, no hope of return, no hope of the nation ever living again.

The Jewish people had only one thing to cling to, only one thing that gave them hope, and that was the promise of God. That's all they had. The promises that God had given through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and later through David. Promises that said the nation Israel would never cease to exist. Promises that said the throne of David would never pass away. Promises that said the people of Israel would be planted in their land, never to be driven out again. That's what God promised.

But here the Jewish people found themselves in circumstances that seemed to say just the opposite. Has that ever been your experience, my friend? You know what God's word says and you know what God has promised you, but your circumstances seem to say just the opposite. Let me tell you something, my listening friend, if you have nothing else but the promise of God to hold on to, that's enough. Wasn't it D.L. Moody who said if the promise of God was a rope, you could tie a knot in one end, swing out over the flames of hell, and spit in the devil's eye? He's right. If you have nothing left but the promise of God, that's enough.

That's why the Lord wants Ezekiel to remind God's people of the promises. As hopeless as the situation appears, Israel still has the promises. Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 22: "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 anymore at all." One nation with one king. Now that's important because Israel never had a monarchy during the Second Temple period. That was during the time of Christ. Do you know what that means? It means the restoration promises were not fulfilled after the return from Babylon.

Because the Jewish people never had a king after that. Do you hear what I'm saying? In the first century, Israel was under Roman jurisdiction, and the Romans installed their own rulers in Palestine. So united Israel has been without a king for 3,000 years since the days of King Solomon, exactly as Hosea prophesied in Hosea chapter 3, verse 4, where he said, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without what? Without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim."

Verse 5: "Afterward," Hosea says, "shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king." That's the Messiah, the end-time Davidic king, the Messiah. "And they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." So the fulfillment of the restoration promises must be yet future, not in the past, like many of our amillennialist and preterist friends say. So Ezekiel says the Lord promises his people one nation and one king. Then go on to verse 23.

He says, "Neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them," the Lord says. "So shall they be my people, and I will be their God." This is the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:33: "I will be their God, and they," talking about the children of Israel, "will be my people." Now look at verse 24: "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 this future Davidic king is none other than the Messiah, Jesus Christ. One of the messianic titles is Son of David, or Ben David, Mashiach Ben David, or Messiah Son of David. At the triumphal entry, when Jesus was presenting himself to national Israel as the promised Messiah, what did the multitude say? They said, "Hosanna to whom? To the Son of David, Ben David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." That's what they said when they saw Jesus coming into Jerusalem at his triumphal entry. But he's also the great shepherd of his people Israel.

In Psalm 23, verse 1, David said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And in Psalm 80, verse 1, Asaph says, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, that thou leadest Joseph like a flock. Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth," he says. So who dwells between the cherubim? The Lord does. So this is the divine shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Ezekiel says there will be one nation and one shepherd-king, and that's the Messiah.

So what else does Ezekiel say as we finish this up? Verse 25: "And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, even they and their children and their children's children forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forever." How long will Israel dwell in the land? How long will the Messiah be their prince? Forever, it says. And what conditions does the Lord place on this promise? None.

Do you see the word "if" in there anywhere? Nope, it's not in there. Verse 26: "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 forevermore." It's the new covenant, you see, a covenant of shalom, a covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant. It represents the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the other covenants that God made with his people.

And then he closes this great prophecy. He says in verse 27 of Ezekiel 37, "My tabernacle also shall be with them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people." The tabernacle is the temple, beit ha-mikdash in Hebrew. This will be the fourth temple the Jewish people have had, and you can read Ezekiel's vision of that temple beginning in chapter 40. And then it says the nations, the goyim, shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary, that's mikdash or the temple, beit ha-mikdash is literally house of the sanctuary or the temple.

So he says, "The goyim shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when my temple shall be in the midst of them forever." That's the future restoration of Israel, and what a glorious time that will be, my friend, when the redeemed of all Israel and the redeemed of the nations come together to worship and adore our wonderful savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. Well, our time is gone. I hope you've enjoyed this prophetic study from Ezekiel 37. Until next time, this is your friend Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you Gary, and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. We've been listening to Dr. Gary Hedrick discussing Israel's coming restoration from the prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 37. Isn't it exciting to think that our generation is beginning to see the fulfillment of prophecies that previous generations could only dream about or read about in the Bible? As we hear those bones rattling in the Middle East, we are reminded that the stage is being set for the end-time scenario described by the ancient prophets.

If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on compact disc. The title is "Israel's Coming Restoration." It's available for your gift of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program here on your station. Just visit our secure online store at MessianicSpecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries? Call our toll-free number, 1-800-926-5397, and we'll be happy to handle all of the details. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick begins his series on the truth about Psalm 110 right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Guest (Female): Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contributions of our listeners in this area.