Watchman on the Wall

Southwest Radio Ministries: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. Today, the Southwest team continues to share the exciting details on our brand new resource, In the Land.

Every week, the headlines remind us that the world is changing at a breathtaking pace. But what does it all mean in light of God's word? On Prophecy in the News TV, Southwest Radio Ministries brings you trusted Bible teachers and respected guests who connect today's events with Bible prophecy. Strengthen your faith and help you understand the times in which we live.

Every episode is designed to encourage believers and point people to the hope found in Jesus Christ. Best of all, you can watch new episodes anytime at swrc.com and the Prophecy in the News YouTube channel through the SWRC mobile app and on television stations across America. If Prophecy in the News TV has encouraged your faith and helped you better understand God's prophetic word, would you prayerfully consider supporting this outreach? Your financial gifts make this program possible week after week. Give today at swrc.com or call 1-800-652-1144. Together, we can continue proclaiming biblical truth until the Lord returns.

Sitting atop the same mountain where Jesus gave the Great Commission, Dr. Larry Spargimino explains the nature of God's promises to Israel by exploring a crucial Old Testament passage. This message is one of five great teachings filmed on location in the Holy Land. Experience the land of the Bible in a whole new way through the In the Land video project, available right now from SWRC.

Greetings, friends. Back in 2023, several of the staff from SWRC was able to go to Israel with a professional film crew and film several different series of Bible teaching. We brought one of those to you over a year ago. It's called Pilgrimage to Zion, featuring Bible teacher and our good friend, Larry Stam.

And now I'm privileged to introduce to you a brand new series from that Israel filming trip. It's called In the Land. This is very unique. It's a Bible prophecy conference of sorts, filmed on location throughout the land of the Bible. There are five different teachers and over 90 minutes worth of teaching, all shot in 4K digital video, and it is available now. And today we're going to feature one of the teachings from our very own host of Watchman on the Wall, Pastor Larry Spargimino.

Pastor Larry sat atop Mount Arbel, which is right near the Sea of Galilee. He turns to a crucial chapter in the Old Testament as he unveils Israel's role in Bible prophecy and explores the promises that God made to Israel. So let's hear Pastor Larry, and then I'll tell you a little bit more information about this entire series and how you can get a copy of it.

Dr. Larry Spargimino: We are having a prophecy conference and I am pretty much on the top of Mount Arbel on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. I've done many prophecy conferences before in the last 30 years or so, but this is the only one like this. It's a delight to be here in Israel, and I do want to speak on Ezekiel chapter 36. I think it's a very important chapter in the Bible.

I want to deal with the issue, and it's a question. The question is, are the promises of God to Israel in the future carnal? One of the things that I struggled with when I was an amillennialist and believed in replacement theology was the common charge that Israel's promises are carnal. In other words, the promise of the land, a promise of a people, a promise of great riches, abundance, prosperity, and so forth.

Many of the replacement theologians would say, well, those are all carnal. Israel is no longer in the picture. We need to look at Israel from the perspective of the church. The church is the test. The church is that final revelation of God, and so we throw out Israel. This is the very footing, the very foundation of replacement theology.

So I want to challenge the contention that the promises of God to Israel in the future kingdom are carnal and not worthy of being thought of today from the standpoint of the New Testament. Since we are New Testament Christians, the argument goes that we no longer look at Israel. So I want to look at a prophecy of Israel in Ezekiel chapter 36. I want to pretty much, as time holds, to exegete this passage.

Ezekiel 36 and verse one says, "Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession." In other words, God is pretty angry that the enemy says, you're losers. You've lost out. We're taking over this land. This is our possession.

God is incensed at that because this land is given and was given and by perpetual covenant donation, given to Israel and to the Jewish people. In verse three it says, "Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen," that is of the nations, "and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers and are in infamy of the people."

God is saying that these nations who are making great plans to come and conquer you, they have disgraced my name. They have stolen from you that which I've given to you, and therefore I want to give a word of prophecy to these nations to maintain my honor and glory. Now friends, there's nothing wrong with maintaining the honor and glory of God, whether it's in the Old Testament or New Testament.

So I want to point out that the motivation, and we're going to see this later on, that the motivation in this prophecy is the highest motivation possible, and that is that the honor and integrity and name of God be preserved. That's why this prophecy is given. There's nothing carnal about that. If you want to hold up the name of God, if you want God to be respected, if you don't want to see His name taken in vain, there's nothing carnal about that. You love God, you love Jesus, you love the Blessed Holy Trinity, and anybody who maligns it and speaks against it, you're unhappy with that.

Then the scripture goes on in 36:5, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen," or nations, "and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart." They've taken this with great joy. They've rejoiced that they've stolen from the Almighty God.

Then in verse six, "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen," or the shame of the nations. Then the Lord goes on and says in verse eight of chapter 36, "But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded."

God is giving a wonderful, wonderful promise to His people. He's speaking about the land. He's speaking about prosperity. He's speaking about people honoring Him. That's something that God is always much concerned with. Then as we read in verse 21, it says that the Lord says, "I had pity for mine holy name." Once again, there's that great, great theme: mercy for God's name, protection for God's name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen.

Yes, they did sin. Yes, they did go astray. Yes, God's own people insulted Him. Not only was it the nations, not only was it the heathen, it was God's own people, Israel. That's why later on in Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 40, we see that there is a promise of God that He will change the hearts of the people, that the people will obey Him. He will make an everlasting covenant, and the word for everlasting there is olam, which really means everlasting. There are scriptures that speak about God being olam, God being everlasting.

So in verse 22, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned." Verse 23, "And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know," notice that, "the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you," that is in Israel, "before their eyes."

Just think of the grandiose scope of these promises. If this is not a literal promise given, if it can be allegorized, then God has lost His honor. Then the purpose of the prophecy can no longer be achieved. It has to be literally fulfilled so that the nations will know, so that the people of God will know. This has to be something real in time and space.

This has to be something that you can bring your video camera, your Nikon camera, and take a picture. Take a picture of Israel as the Garden of Eden. In fact, chapter 36 and verse 33 says, "Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities." Verse 35, "And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited."

I maintain that these are intensely spiritual, and they're intensely spiritual, number one, because God's name has been insulted and blasphemed. Number two, that we know for all time that God wants His name to be honored. You know, you can study the names of God. God has many names in the Old Testament. They all say something very significant, something very true about God. You can learn a lot about God from His name.

The reason why there are so many names for God, especially in the Old Testament, is because God is a multifaceted personality. One thought, one name cannot describe all that He is. One thought, one name cannot describe His power, His holiness, His majesty, and all of that. So there are the names of God that are given to reveal to the world what God is really like so people might know Him and believe in Him and come to Him and serve Him and give Him everything that they have, everything that they are, only through the name of God being honored. I believe this is true.

Now, let's get to another part of this prophecy. Not only is the motivation for the prophecy eternal and everlasting, but I want you to notice that this is a prophecy that speaks about what God is going to do in the hearts of the people. This is really the center of my message because what is God going to do? Now notice Ezekiel 36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

I don't see how you can say that that's carnal. There's no way that when God cleanses them from their filthiness, from their idolatry, when God changes their heart, that that's carnal. That's intensely spiritual. That's something that is done by the Holy Spirit of God. It's something that's sacred, something holy, something majestic that describes the love of God for His people, not simply some external changes. Not letting the beard grow longer or shorter, not putting on some special garments or dressing in a special way or using special words, but changing the very hearts of the people.

Verse 26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put," notice, "within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Now notice verse 27, "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Friends, when I look at these words, I see an intense spirituality.

I see the kind of inner working of God the Holy Spirit that I want in my life. I'm a New Testament Christian. I'm living in the last days, but these very promises that are being given to Israel are of the same nature. They're spiritual, they're internal, they become a motivating power that changes the very lives of these people. This is internal surgery, you might say. It's spiritual surgery. It cannot be done simply by some external works, the works of the Pharisees, the works of rabbinic Judaism is so external. This does not match that at all.

Verse 28 says, "And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers." Now, I want you to notice this is very important because here we have the land promise, which might be considered carnal—well, it's just a piece of land on planet Earth—tied in with those spiritual promises. So I submit to you that this land promise, the promise of a great number of people, tied in with these intensely powerful, emotional, motivating, internal promises that are wrought in the hearts of the Jews by the Holy Spirit. There's no way that properly understood these can be called carnal.

Verse 29, "I will also save you from all your uncleannesses." Now, that's certainly spiritual. "And I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you." Once again, we see promises of foodstuff, corn, food, which can be considered "carnal." I don't consider that carnal, but some people consider it carnal, tied in with these internal promises of spiritual renovation.

Verse 31, "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations." Now, this whole idea of loathing yourself, this is not something that the Pharisees did. Okay? It's kind of humorous, I think, but yes, the Pharisees were definitely carnal. They thought that by going through certain religious ritual that they were pleasing God. This is not that kind of religion. This is true religion. This is heart religion. This is the kind of religion that God has for His people.

And then verse 32, the same theme comes back again that we had in verse 22. In verse 32, it says, "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." So repeatedly, we see that God's promises for Israel are intensely personal, intensely spiritual, intensely internal. He's calling for a change, and He will bring that change.

And the desolate land shall be tilled. Once again, there's the land promise. "Whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited." Now, that might seem carnal to you, but it's not carnal to me, and it's not carnal to God because this is a passage that speaks of God's wonderful grace and God's mercy for His people.

In chapter 37, the next chapter, we won't have time to go into that, but here we see the vision of dry bones in the valley. I can imagine what the dry bones were like: white, they were in the hot Middle Eastern sun, they had no life of their own, they were dry, they were barren. And then notice in verse 11 of chapter 37, Israel says, "Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts." There is that hopelessness, that lack of a reason to live.

And then verse 12 gives the reason to the Jewish people. "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 that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves." Verse 14, "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."

You know, as I look at these wonderful promises for Israel, my whole attitude toward the Old Testament has changed. It's been a wonderful pilgrimage for me. I've traveled a great distance theologically. I've always believed in doctrines such as the grace of God, justification by faith, the Trinity. I believe that God is a triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three different persons, but one eternal Godhead. I've always believed that, but my eschatology was always off, and I think that's a serious problem.

You know, friends, when you come to read prophecy and to understand prophecy, don't be afraid of prophecy. So many times in the book of Revelation, there'll be a prophecy that's given that seems very hard to understand, but then a little bit later on it tells you what it means. So always look for God's explanation.

And my great hope in my books, and especially Preterism on Trial and also No Uncertain Future, I speak about prophecy. I speak about my pilgrimage, coming to see the truth of the word of God. I know that there is one very well-known pastor—I don't want to mention his name, his father was a great man of God, he recently departed—but his son made a statement not too long ago that we can do without the Old Testament. And I think that is tragic.

We cannot do without the Old Testament. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. God didn't give the scripture just to hear Himself speak. He gave it for our profit. And friends, when we come to the point where we can look at the whole word of God and we say, I love this book, I want to understand this book, I want to proclaim this book in Sunday school, I want people to see and to know the great truths that are therein, I think that's the promise that God has for us if we study His word.

So I want to remind you that you know when the scripture was originally given, most of it was prophetic. And of course, a lot of it has already been fulfilled. We have such a thing as fulfilled prophecy, for example, the virgin birth, Isaiah 7:14, and then we see we come to the New Testament, we come to Matthew chapter one, it's quoted and it was fulfilled. And we notice that those ancient prophecies that were given a long time ago, we've noticed the method of their fulfillment. How have they been fulfilled? They've been literally fulfilled.

And so that tells me that those prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled will be fulfilled literally in the future. So I pray that you'll want to come to Israel. There are a lot of historical sites in Israel. I love it. I love history. I love about the Romans and about the Hasmoneans and about the intertestamental times and so forth. But if you understand what I've just shown you from the book, from the word of God, you will look at Israel not simply as a museum piece.

All of this is gone in the past. You will look at Israel as an object lesson where God is going to declare His glory for the future. This barren land, this land that has been surrounded by enemies, this land that has been fought in and that has been raped and robbed and burned and battle upon battle upon battle, the glory of God is going to come upon this land and this people.

Now, I believe that that's after the rapture of the church because God has a plan for the church and it's different than God's plan for Israel. I think we need to make that very important distinction. If we don't make that distinction, we get confused. In fact, I remember looking at some of the old editions of the King James Bible over some of those passages in Isaiah that speak about Israel's future, but then the heading on the top of the page says, God's plan for the church. No, no, no, that's not God's plan for the church. That's God's plan for Israel. And His plan is real and will be fulfilled.

So I want to challenge you to remember that Israel has a future, and Israel has a glorious future. And not only will Israel's glorious future be manifested, it will be manifested so that, number one, the heathen or the nations will know the Lord is really God, and so that His own people, the people of Israel, will honor Him and respect Him as God. What could be a greater motivation for God to operate? I think that's as spiritual as anything you and I could ever imagine.

Southwest Radio Ministries: What if your next Bible study took you to Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, the Garden Tomb, and even the ancient city of Petra? With In the Land, the brand new DVD and digital download from Southwest Radio Ministries, you can experience the beauty and significance of the Holy Land from the comfort of your own home.

Journey through Israel and Jordan with five respected Bible teachers: Dr. Larry Spargimino, Larry Stam, Micah Van Huss, Josh Davis, and Clayton Van Huss as they teach on location, revealing history, archaeology, and prophetic significance of the places where the events of scripture unfolded. You'll never read your Bible the same way again.

Order In the Land today on DVD or as an instant digital download by visiting swrc.com or calling 1-800-652-1144. That's swrc.com or 1-800-652-1144. Bring the Holy Land into your home with In the Land, and watch the Bible come alive before your eyes.

Tomorrow, Donald Perkins will continue sharing his verse-by-verse study of Revelation, so be sure to tune in. Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful listeners like you. Visit swrc.com.