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Home , Ezekiel 35

THE BOOK OF GBC EQUIPPING HOUR | MARCH 15, 2020

Class 12 – Reentering the Land on God’s Terms (33:21-39:29)

PURPOSE: To relate to the early Jews in Exile -leaving their glory days, entering into hostile territory, always looking ahead to the Kingdom of Redemption.

Introduction

If a business owner defaults on a bank loan, conventional wisdom would say you don’t shrug your shoulders and “let it go.” Instead, you formulate incentives to ensure that the same thing doesn’t happen again. To just be passive about it would mean you have no sense of equity or character or self-respect. The God of the is not passive about his Name being trampled on…but he is also amazingly gracious…yet gracious on his own rigorous terms…

I. The Last Vestiges of Pride (Ezek. 33:21-36:7; 38:1-39:24)

A. To the Generation saying “We’re It!” (33:21-33)

And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. 33 When this comes— and come it will!—then they will know that a has been among them. -:32-33

B. To the Bully Shepherds (34:1-31)

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. -:15-16

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C. To the Edomites (35:1-36:7)

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of , because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, , and all , all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

-Ezekiel 35:15

D. To Gog and & Future Attackers (38:1-39:24)

You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

-:16

“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. 19 And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. 20 And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord GOD.

-:17-20

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, , to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them..

-Revelation 20:7-9 Page 2 of 4

II. Israel’s Complete Reconstruction (Ezek. 36:8-37:28)

A. A Davidite King [briefly looking back to chapter 34]

And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant , and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

-Ezekiel 34:23 (cf. Ezek. 34:15 & Jn. 10:11)

B. Population Growth & Unified Land (36:8-24)

And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. -:11

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

-Ezekiel 36:24 (cf. Ezek. 37:21-23)

C. A New Heart (36:25-38)

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. -Ezekiel 36:26-27 (cf. John 3:5-7; Titus 3:5-6)

D. New Frame…Whole New Constitution of Being (37:1-28)

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you

shall know that I am the LORD.”

-:5-6 Page 3 of 4

Conclusion

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. - Ezekiel 36:22-23

The Course Outline:

 Introduction to Ezekiel  Ezekiel’s Close Encounter (1:1-28)  Ezekiel’s Strange Commissioning (2:1-3:27)  Four Signs of Coming Judgment (4:1-5:17)  Two Messages of Coming Judgment (6:1-7:27)  Idolatry in the House (8:1-18)  God’s Glory Departs (9:1-11:23)  Straight Talk to the Covenant People (12:1-19:14)  Blind Leadership (20:1-23:49)  The Purge (24:1-27)  Foreign Raiders Not Exempt (25:1-33:20)  Reentering the Land on God’s Terms (33:21-39:29)  Restoration of Temple Worship (40:1-46:24)  Restoration of the Land (47:1-48:35)

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