EZEKIEL 36

I am loving reading Ezekiel. It is exciting to read what was written +-2600 years ago, and have the opportunity to look back over history to see the obvious fulfillment of the prophecies - with some completed and some still to come, layered prophecies that have application to what has already transpired - but seeing their ultimate fulfillment in the second coming of the Messiah.

Chapter 36 is one of those chapters. I've been blessed to get to go to Israel 2 times, once in February/March 2006; and once in February 2011. Because of what I've been priviliged to see, the words of Ezekiel 36 leap off the page.

Quoting the ESV, verses 6b - 9, "Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be tilled and sown."

Israel is an amazing country. It is surrounded by nations that want her destroyed - yet she flourishes. Why? Because God said He would do it. Anyone who defies Israel defies Almighty GOD. That's a fearful role to adopt! And why does God protect Israel? He gives the answer in Ezekiel, beginning with verse 22 "...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.... I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.... ...I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Verse 35 declares, "And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden.' "

Verse 36 states, "Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I am the LORD.... I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it."

He does it for His name. There is absolutely no other explanation for why a nation so small could survive against all human odds. God intervenes for Israel.

It is absolutely beautiful to see the abundance of crops, date palms, banana trees, persimmons, oranges, etc. After extreme desolation, the desert is truly blooming again just as God said it would. There is conspicuous evidence of this layer of the prophetic fulfillment - - but the final fulfillment will come during the millenial reign. What a thing of beauty Israel will be then! And why? Because God has declared it.

Thank God, we can be grafted in to the 'spiritual Israel' by accepting Jesus' atonement for sin!

Thank you, Lord, for your incredible gift - the greatest gift ever given. Draw the hungry to You! Help me be faithful to point others to You as the source of life everlasting! I don't want to keep You a well-guarded secret!