Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 860. Bible Study: Ezekiel 36 (Prophecy about Israel and Jordan and other Nations: Then, Now and Future in this Chapter)

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860. Bible Study: Ezekiel 36 (Prophecy about Israel and Jordan and other Nations: Then, Now and Future in this Chapter) · Faith by annm2705

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  These next two chapters are really interesting and I don't
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  know depending on time if we'll put them both together or if
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  I'll have to have separate podcast, but we are on chapter
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  36 from the book of Ezekiel. Dear Lord, please open our eyes,
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  our ears, our hearts to your word so that we may absorb what
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  you have to say here and it may affect our lives in the way that
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  you intended. We ask this in Jesus name.
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  So this is called for the mountains of Israel.
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  Son of Man prophesied to the mountains of Israel and say
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  Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.
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  This is what the sovereign Lord says.
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  The enemy said of you. Aha, ancient heights have become
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  our possession. Therefore prophecy and say this
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  is what the sovereign Lord says, because they ravaged and crushed
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  you from every side, so that you became the possession of the
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  rest of the nations and the object of people's malicious
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  talk and slander. Therefore, mountains of Israel
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  hear the word of the Sovereign Lord.
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  This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills,
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  to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the
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  deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the
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  rest of the nations around you. This is what the Sovereign Lord
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  says. In my burning zeal I have spoken
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  against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, which is
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  modern day Jordan. For with Glee and with malice in
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  their hearts they made my land their own possession, so they
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  might plunder its pasture land. Therefore prophecy concerning
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  the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the
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  ravines and valleys, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
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  I speak in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the
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  scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the
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  sovereign Lord says. I swear with an uplifted hand
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  that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.
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  I'll pause there for a minute because what came to mind as I
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  was reading that was other another verse in Scripture that
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  talks about when you see Jerusalem surrounded.
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  And this has an end of the age application or right before
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  Jesus returns. So in Luke chapter 21, verse 20,
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  it says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
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  then recognize that her desolation is near.
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  So this is kind of a, a forewarning.
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  This is talking about the end of the age and it's talking about
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  nations surrounding Israel. And it right after that it says
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  then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains and those
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  who are inside the city must leave, and those who are in the
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  country must not enter the city. So everything is going to focus
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  on Jerusalem. There's something significant
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  that's going to happen in Jerusalem.
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  Then it says in Luke, because these are days of punishment, so
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  that all things which have been written will be fulfilled.
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  And then it goes on to say a lot more about it.
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  And then in verse 25 it talks about the return of Christ that
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  comes following that. So first there is Jerusalem
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  surrounded by armies, and a desolation is coming.
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  And then it says, as soon as you see these armies surrounding,
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  get out of there. And it says, I'll just read the
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  rest of it. Verse 23 Woe to those women who
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  are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
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  days. For there will be great distress
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  upon the land and wrath to this people, and they will fall by
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  the edge of the sword and will be LED captive into all the
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  nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the
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  Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
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  There's a lot in this verse and it there's actually some timing
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  that goes along are some progression of events.
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  So there is going to be army surrounding Jerusalem.
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  People will recognize when that happens that the desolation is
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  close. They are to get out of.
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  Those who are in Judea are supposed to just get out, get
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  out of the city right away, because there is going to be
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  this great distress upon the land.
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  That's that great tribulation that's coming to the people of
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  Jerusalem. I didn't notice this before
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  until just reading this now because I didn't carefully read
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  it because just like Jeremiah prophesied, just like I think it
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  was mainly Jeremiah. I don't know if Ezekiel did also
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  that people that stayed in the city of Jerusalem would fall by
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  the sword or they will actually be killed in the past, you know,
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  when Babylon conquered Jerusalem.
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  And so here it's talking about a different time when there's
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  multiple nations surrounding around surrounding Jerusalem and
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  the people will fall by sword again.
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  We saw something similar to this happen October 7th, 2023.
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  And that was only a minor compared to what this Bible
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  prophecy talks about of what happened.
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  And yet it was still horribly devastating what happened.
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  That was almost like a precursor or a warning I believe to the
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  people in Jerusalem. It like God always when he does
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  things, he does give warnings ahead of time.
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  And I really do see October 7th as a warning to Jerusalem and
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  actually to all of us like that. That is something that pay
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  attention to it because I believe it's a a warning to us.
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  And so then it says they will be LED.
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  So the people that are in the, some of them are going to die by
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  swords. Some of them are going to be LED
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  captive into all nations. They will be LED captive.
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  So this has not happened. I mean, this is talking about
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  the future. This is not in Luke.
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  It's talking about the future. And so again, people in
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  Jerusalem are going, it sounds like there's going to be like
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  another hostage situation. They're going to be the enemies
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  will surround them and they are going to be LED captive into all
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  the nations. It's interesting because when we
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  read about Jesus returning, he goes to Edom and releases some
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  prisoners that are there and his clothes are stained Crimson.
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  And he said that no, when he goes to Basra actually.
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  So Basra is probably going to have future hostages there and
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  no one but Jesus is there to rescue them from that.
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  And but here's what it says. So this gives us evidence that
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  people are going to be taken into captivity again and it
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  says, and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the
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  Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
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  If we look into the Book of Revelation, it talks about this
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  time also. It's the 42 months, it's the 3
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  1/2 years. And because it says like the
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  temple court, I didn't look this up prior to doing this podcast
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  because as I was reading, I didn't expect to read the Luke
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  portion. But I want to find that where it
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  says about the trampling that occurs in the Book of Revelation
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  and see if I can find that verse.
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  Let's see I the 4th beast. I'm searching still and for
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  maybe it's 42 months is what it says, or that that should bring
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  me close to finding the scripture.
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  It was like, OK, that's not it. I mean, I know that's the
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  period, but there's there's the part of measuring the courtyard
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  and I want to find that. I can't remember which book or
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  which chapter in Revelation that comes from because he says, OK,
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  this is it. It's it's when the two witnesses
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  are talked about South in Revelation Chapter 11, verse 2,
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  it says, but this is talking to John, who's supposed to, he sees
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  a vision and it's talking about measuring the court.
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  It's talking about like the Temple Mount area is what is
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  presumed. I'm not sure if that's the right
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  area, but that's what it sounds like.
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  And it says but exclude the outer court.
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  Do not measure it because it has been given to the Gentiles.
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  They will trample on the Holy city for 42 months and I will
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  appoint my 2 witnesses and they will prophecy for 1260 days
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  clothed in sackcloth. That's like in mourning.
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  So there's going to be a couple of people.
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  So these things tie together. It's at that time, there will be
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  3 1/2 more years when referring back to Luke, when this
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  desolation happens, then there's going to be great tribulation.
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  There's going to be 3 1/2 years. And just like Luke says, it's
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  going to happen until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
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  And that's the time frame is given to us in Revelation
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  Chapter 11, verse 2 and verse 342 months and also 1260 days.
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  If you divide that by 30, you get the 42 months.
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  So and then there's going to be two witnesses who are going to,
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  I guess bring they're going to, they're going to do a lot of
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  things. They are going to prophecy,
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  they're going to make it not rain, and they will also have
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  power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth
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  with every kind of plague as often as they want.
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  And when they finish the testimony, the beast that comes
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  up from the abyss will attack them and overpower them and kill
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  them. So very interesting timeline of
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  events that we get now let's get back to the book of Ezekiel.
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  It's just that I believe this this part of Ezekiel is talking
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  about a a near term. This is Amir addresses this in
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  his book, which I will get to also a near term fulfillment in
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  the time of Ezekiel as well as a future fulfillment.
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  And as we read more of chapter 36, you will see what I'm
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  saying. But Israel I, I wonder like I
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  did not look this up, but I was wondering when did Edom take
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  land from Israel? Edom is modern day Jordan, and I
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  don't know if that's historically happened, it said.
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  Well, it says Edom significantly took land from Israel following
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  the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 and 586 BC.
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  During this period, Edomites occupied southern Judah,
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  including Hebron, expanding westward as refugees fled.
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  This region later became known as Edumia A, with Edomites in
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  this area until the Maccabean period.
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  So it did. It did happen in the past.
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  And so this is, you know, a near term prophecy that was
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  fulfilled. But I also when we get to the
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  latter part, you know, history repeats itself.
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  So similarly to that past time when they're, you know, had
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  their enemies surrounding them. You know when it says the enemy
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  says when because they ravaged and crushed you from every side
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  so that you became possession of the rest of the nations and the
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  object of people's malicious talk and slander.
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  Therefore mountains of Israel hear the word of the sovereign
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  Lord. So this isn't that's from
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  Ezekiel 36. So it pluralizes it.
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  I mean it says the rest of the nations.
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  It's not just only Edom, but the other ones that the enemies of
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  Israel. So again, that does seem more
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  like the end of the age event that will happen.
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  So let's see in this is what the Sovereign Lord says, In my
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  burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations
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  and against all Edom. For with Glee and with malice
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  their hearts, in their hearts they made my land their own
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  possession, so that they might plunder its pasture land.
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  So this is another interesting thing that just came to mind.
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  But I, I don't want to, I don't want to get too far off of here
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  anyway. Therefore prophecy concerning
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  the land of Israel and say to the mountains and the hills, to
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  the ravines and valleys, This is what the Sovereign Lord says.
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  I speak in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the
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  scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the
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  Sovereign Lord says. I will I swear with an uplifted
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  hand, that the nations plural around you will also suffer
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  scorn. But you mountains of Israel will
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  produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will
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  soon come home. This is that restoration part I
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  am concerned for you and will look on you with favour.
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  You will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live
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  in you. Yes, all of Israel.
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  The towns will be inhabited and the runes rebuilt.
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  I will increase the number of people and animals living on
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  you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous.
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  I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you
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  prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the
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  Lord. I will cause people, my people
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  Israel, to live on you. They will possess you and you
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  will be their inheritance. You will never again deprive
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  them of their children. So again, this has some long
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  term lasting effects. Never again.
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  And and so I think this is again a future prophecy.
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  This is what the Sovereign Lord says.
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  Because some say to you, you devour people and deprive your
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  nation of its children. Therefore you will no longer
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  devour people or make your nation childless, declares the
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  Sovereign Lord. No longer will I make will I
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  make you hear the taunts of the nations.
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  See, that's not happening today. It says no longer.
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  They're not going to hear the taunts of the nations.
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  They're they're right. It's happening right now today,
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  2026. So this is this has not been
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  fulfilled yet. And no longer will you suffer
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  the scorn of peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares
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  the sovereign Lord. Again, the word of the Lord came
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  to me, Son of Man, when the people of Israel were living in
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  their land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions.
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  So right here God is saying why all of this is happening because
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  Israel defiled their, defiled the land by their conduct and
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  their actions. So ultimately it's a result of
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  sin. And and that's what we need to
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  also think about and reflect on that our lives can have bad
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  consequences because of our rebellion to God and because of
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  how we are living in rebellion to God if we don't deal with
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  that right away. So Amir has such a good forward
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  about these chapters that we're reading that I'm going to read
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  several pages of it before we wrap up this podcast.
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  So you're going to want to stick around for that because it's
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  really good and applicable to us today.
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  So their conduct was like, their conduct was like a monthly woman
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  or a woman's monthly uncleanness in my sight.
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  So I poured out my wrath on them because they shed blood in the
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  land and they had defiled it with their idols.
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  I dispersed them among the nations and they were scattered
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  through the countries. I judged them according to their
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  conduct and their actions, and wherever they went among the
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  nations, they profaned my holy name.
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  For it was said of them, these are the Lord's people, and yet
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  they had to leave His land. I had concern for my holy name,
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  which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where
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  they had gone. So again, we're seeing that God
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  doesn't want His reputation room like He did choose Israel, and
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  Israel did not become a good representative of God's
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  character. And they did not listen.
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  They did not obey God, they did not abide in him.
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  And this is God's reputation now, because then people see
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  this, this is just like Christians who who call
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  themselves Christians, but they really aren't surrendered to
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  Christ. So they live a worldly life, but
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  they call themselves a Christian and that's giving God a bad
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  reputation. I mean, there are so many people
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  that I've heard talk that got away from going to church
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  because of the people that they interacted with in the church
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  and the ungodly actions of the people in the church that I,
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  they thought, I don't want this. These people are horrible.
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  And they associated that with Christians, But in reality,
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  those people were not Christians.
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  They call themselves that name. We can call ourselves anything.
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  We can say, oh, I'm so great and you can give any kind of title
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  to ourselves, but that doesn't mean it's true.
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  It means that we just called ourselves something that we're
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  not. And that's exactly what God is
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  saying here, is that these people are representatives
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  representing him, and He does not want his reputation damaged
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  because this is not who he is by what they are doing.
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  And He's taking care of that, and he wants to be known.
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  That's what this entire Bible expresses.
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  God wants to be known by his people.
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  By all people God wants to be known.
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  So therefore, getting back to Ezekiel 20, verse 22, therefore
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  say to the Israelites, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
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  It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do
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  these things, but for the sake of My holy name which you have
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  profaned among the nations where you have gone.
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  I will show the holiness of my great name which has been
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  profaned among the nations, the name you profaned among them.
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  The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the sovereign
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  Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.
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  So here's where God is also saying He's still going to work
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  through Israel and be proved holy, even though they are doing
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  all these things that they're doing that he is not happy with.
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  So it says I will OK, for I will take you out of the nations.
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  I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back
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  into your land. I will sprinkle clean water on
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  you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your
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  impurities and from all your idols.
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  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.
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  I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a
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  heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you
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  and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep
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  my laws. This is kind of interesting too,
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  because this, you know, God is saying he's going to give them
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  the Holy Spirit at this, you know, at this point like this is
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  what he's going to do. He's going to cleanse the
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  people, He's going to take away their iniquities, their sin, and
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  they are going to be come, you know, true children of God that
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  reflect his holy character. They are going to be sanctified
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  through this process. And that's what the whole that's
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  what the Holy Spirit does to people.
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  When people receive the Holy Spirit, their life begins to
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  change. And he says then you will live
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  in the land I gave your ancestors.
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  You will be my people and I will be your God.
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  So this is not Israel today. This is not describing Israel
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  today because Israel is still not reflecting God, God's
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  holiness, and Israel is not occupying all of the land that
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  God gave to them. We can look back in the book of
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  Genesis to find the extents of the land that God gave to them
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  and that that taunt that's from the river to the sea is actually
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  what God gave to Israel. But here the enemy is taunting
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  them, saying we want to be free and get them out of here.
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  And so you can see this spiritual battle that's
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  happening among among relatives. I mean, these are related
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  people, but there is definitely division among the people.
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  And anyway, let's go back to verse 29.
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  I will save you from all your uncleanness.
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  I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not
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  bring famine upon you. Now famine is one of the
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  judgements. So this is after all of that.
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  They're not going to have the famine.
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  It's going to be a restoration. I will increase the fruit of the
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  trees and the crops of the fields so that you will no
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  longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine.
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  Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you
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  will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices.
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  I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake,
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  declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and disgraced for
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  your conduct, people of Israel. So maybe people who are against
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  Israel right now should read this chapter 37 and know that
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  God's not pleased with Israel. And because there are things
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  that people you know can point out, some of them may be true,
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  some of them may be lies, but certainly Israel is not perfect
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  right now. And so people who, you know,
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  that's what happens as people get very judgy about Israel
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  right now and they start saying, well, look at what they're
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  doing, this is horrible. They are not, you know, they
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  can't be God's chosen because they're so horrible.
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  But you read Ezekiel 37 and God's acknowledging that, but
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  he's only doing it because of a promise he made.
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  And he is the faithful God. And he made this promise to
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  Israel so many years before. And Amir actually does a really
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  nice job of talking about the process that God and and all of
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  us are really a process in our relationship with God and our
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  change, you know, our lives changing from rebellion towards
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  actually loving God and being obedient to him.
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  There was something else that stood out in here and it's verse
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  27. It says I will put my spirit in
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  you and will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to
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  keep my laws. I hear a lot of Christians
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  saying, you know, like the laws are gone away, but Jesus
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  actually said not a single word from my law will I?
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  I'm not, I'm paraphrasing. This obviously will not go away
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  unless heaven and earth disappear.
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  So heaven and earth haven't disappeared.
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  So God's laws still remain and, and even here, so it says that
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  once the Holy Spirit's in them, in the people of Israel, they
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  are going to be careful to keep his laws.
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  So maybe that's how or why during the Millennium time
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  frame, there are sacrifices that occur in the temple because
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  those were kind of the laws of God.
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  I don't, I don't know, like that's the big question that
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  everybody has about why are there sacrifices?
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  Because it does say there are. So anyway, let's go back to what
• 27:10
  he verse 33. This is what the sovereign Lord
• 27:13
  says on the day. So there is a day coming forth
• 27:17
  and I'm thinking that's, you know, when Jesus returns on the
• 27:22
  day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your
• 27:26
  towns. Or, you know, when Jesus takes
• 27:28
  over ruling as king, I cleanse you from all your sins, I will
• 27:34
  resettle your towns and the ruins will be rebuilt.
• 27:38
  The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying
• 27:41
  desolate in the sight of all who pass through it.
• 27:44
  They will say this land was laid, that was laid waste, has
• 27:49
  become like a Garden of Eden. That's pretty lush.
• 27:54
  I don't know if that would be described.
• 27:57
  I haven't been to Israel. I think Amir writes in his book
• 28:00
  that there's been a lot of restoration in Israel, but I
• 28:03
  don't know if it's to the full like this is describing.
• 28:07
  I don't know if it would be like the Garden of Eden, when the
• 28:11
  Garden of Eden seems just like it was so lush and tropical and
• 28:15
  beautiful, and I just don't know that that's exactly the way it
• 28:20
  is today. Yet the land was laid waste, has
• 28:25
  become like the Garden of Eden. The cities that were lying in
• 28:27
  ruins, desolate and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.
• 28:33
  When the nations around you that remain so that's interesting
• 28:39
  too. These are the nations around you
• 28:41
  that remain. So not all of them are going to
• 28:43
  remain. That's what this implies.
• 28:47
  The nations around you that remain will know that I, the
• 28:51
  Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted
• 28:56
  what was desolate. I, the Lord have spoken and will
• 29:00
  do it. This is what the Sovereign Lord
• 29:02
  says. Once again, I will yield to
• 29:05
  Israel's plea and do this for them.
• 29:09
  I will make their people as numerous as sheep, as numerous
• 29:14
  as the flocks for offering at for offerings at Jerusalem
• 29:19
  during her appointed festivals. So there are three festivals
• 29:23
  that God basically said people should always observe and, and I
• 29:30
  need to one of them I know is the festival of tabernacles or
• 29:35
  suit coat, which is in the fall, and another one is Passover.
• 29:39
  And I think the middle one is first fruits, I believe, but I
• 29:45
  would I need to verify that there's basically three that
• 29:50
  were like an everlasting covenant.
• 29:52
  And we find also in the Millennium period, the 1000
• 29:56
  years that Christ reigns on earth that people will sell it
• 30:00
  will go to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of
• 30:04
  Tabernacles in the fall. And if they don't, they're their
• 30:09
  nation will not have rain. So there are consequences of
• 30:12
  people not going there. So it's going to be very
• 30:15
  different. There's going to be a lot of
• 30:16
  travel upcoming to Jerusalem. So will this the rune cities be
• 30:24
  filled with flocks of people? Then they will know that I am
• 30:28
  the Lord. So that's the end of chapter 36.
• 30:31
  I don't think I'm going to get into 37 today.
• 30:34
  I'm going to read the study bibles, questions and answers
• 30:38
  and then also Amir's book. So I'll try to do this quickly.
• 30:41
  What does the expression aha mean here?
• 30:44
  And it's referring to the enemy said of you, aha.
• 30:47
  The ancient heights have become our possession.
• 30:50
  This term can denote delight over some person or thing.
• 30:54
  Here the term aha is used as a verbal expression of malicious
• 30:59
  delight. So then how did the promise of
• 31:04
  judgement on Israel's tormentors bring Israel consolation?
• 31:08
  Referring to verse 7, the judgement reminded the
• 31:11
  humiliated people of Israel that God is sovereign and just with
• 31:16
  all nations. Israel was not the only nation
• 31:18
  marched marked for judgement. God desires that every nation
• 31:22
  bow before Him. Israel could take comfort in
• 31:26
  knowing that all people must undergo God's judgement for the
• 31:30
  reign of God to be complete. Was this God's promise that
• 31:37
  punishment wouldn't go on forever?
• 31:40
  God is a God of judgement and mercy.
• 31:43
  Punishment would lead to restoration and renewal, and in
• 31:49
  time God would bring His people back to the land He had promised
• 31:53
  them. How had the mountains deprived
• 31:56
  the Israelites of their children?
• 31:58
  This is not a prophecy about literal mountains.
• 32:00
  It is a prophecy about the people who lived on them.
• 32:04
  In ancient Near Eastern culture, the people were seen as part of
• 32:08
  the land, inseparable from it. The concept of quote the Holy
• 32:12
  Land shows how fully a how fully a nation can be identified with
• 32:18
  its locale. Thus the deeds of a nation or
• 32:21
  people could be described as deeds of the mountain on which
• 32:24
  they lived. To say to the mountain, to say
• 32:27
  the mountains had displaced the Israelites and their
• 32:30
  descendants, was to say that the foreigners who had moved into
• 32:34
  Israel during the exile had done it.
• 32:37
  How did the people of Israel profane the name of the Lord?
• 32:41
  The people of other lands form their opinion of God based on
• 32:44
  the conduct of God's people. When God's people sinned, their
• 32:48
  behavior stood in stark contrast to the holy God they claimed to
• 32:52
  serve. To defend his own reputation,
• 32:54
  God was forced to send them out of the land.
• 32:57
  Still, wherever they went, they were a blight on his holy name.
• 33:01
  Because foreigners interpreted the defeat of the Jews as a sign
• 33:05
  that their God was weak. And in how did God begin to
• 33:09
  break his people of their addiction to idols?
• 33:13
  God purified his people by putting them through a time of
• 33:16
  exile in Babylon, away from their homeland.
• 33:19
  Separated from both the temple of the Lord and their idols, the
• 33:22
  Israelites came to realize what was real and what was not.
• 33:26
  They saw the prophets of the Lord had been right.
• 33:29
  Their idols had been impotent to save them from the judgement
• 33:35
  they deserved. In what way would God give them
• 33:38
  a new heart? God promised not only to bring
• 33:40
  the people back, but also to completely change their hearts.
• 33:44
  It's a figurative language. The hearts of stone had been
• 33:47
  cold and unfeeling, unable to respond to God's love.
• 33:51
  But God performed A radical transformation and gave them
• 33:55
  hearts of flesh, hearts that were spiritually alive and open
• 33:59
  to Him. How did God move them to obey
• 34:03
  Him? Though difficult or through
• 34:06
  difficult circumstances, God brought the people to a place of
• 34:11
  decision. While he did not coerce or force
• 34:15
  their obedience, He used their hardships to help them see that
• 34:20
  it would be to their own benefit to obey him.
• 34:23
  You know, I think that's really something that happens to all of
• 34:26
  us is not all of us, but some when they come to Christ, when
• 34:32
  they, they finally get hit rock bottom and then are we finally
• 34:37
  hit rock bottom? And then at that point we, we
• 34:39
  just like re look at our life and we're like, OK, everything
• 34:43
  I've been doing is not successful.
• 34:45
  What is missing here? And that's how when we seek God,
• 34:50
  we find him. And that's what happens when God
• 34:53
  restores a person. So there's one more question and
• 34:58
  answers. Did Ezekiel foresee the
• 35:01
  existence of modern Israel? Ezekiel recognized that God had
• 35:05
  a planned in mind, a plan in mind for the future of his
• 35:08
  people as a nation. God had promised a homeland for
• 35:12
  His people, Israel, and had affirmed His promise to Abraham
• 35:16
  and David. Many believe that the Jewish
• 35:18
  nation continues to figure prominently in God's prophetic
• 35:22
  plan. They note that though the
• 35:23
  Israelites were forced to leave their land several times
• 35:26
  throughout history, God always brought them back.
• 35:29
  They see the the re establishment of Israel as
• 35:32
  another indication of God's work among His chosen people.
• 35:36
  Others are careful to point to God's promise to spiritually
• 35:41
  restore Israel. They interpret the future glory
• 35:45
  of Israel as an indication of spiritual blessings poured out
• 35:50
  on a spiritual Israel, the Church of Jesus Christ.
• 35:54
  The foundation of the restoration is Christ.
• 35:58
  Salvation for both Jew and Gentile is by grace through
• 36:02
  faith in Christ. Still others see this prophecy
• 36:06
  primarily fulfilled in the return of Israel from captivity
• 36:10
  in Babylon. They believe modern parallels of
• 36:14
  the Jews returning to their homeland are mostly
• 36:18
  coincidental. So that is the end of the
• 36:22
  questions and answers from the Study Bible and I want to read
• 36:26
  from Exploring Ezekiel by Amir Sarfati with Doctor Rick Young.
• 36:32
  You can get it on Amazon and it's his last name is spelled
• 36:37
  TSARFATI if you're looking for that.
• 36:42
  So this I just thought this was really good and encourage you to
• 36:46
  buy the book so you can get a lot more that he talks about
• 36:49
  here. But I'll just read a little bit
• 36:51
  of it. So this is chapter 10, Ezekiel
• 36:54
  36 through 37. Believe it or not, this is Amir
• 36:57
  writing. Believe it or not, I'm not a
• 36:59
  perfect man. I know some of you are really in
• 37:02
  shock right now. Those who actually know me
• 37:05
  however, are saying wow Amir, why don't you drop another
• 37:08
  surprise truth on us? Like the sky is blue, our water
• 37:11
  is wet. It's true.
• 37:13
  There are times when I disappoint my family, my Behold
• 37:16
  Israel team, my friends, and most importantly my God.
• 37:20
  Sin is a sad part of this mortal life we are living.
• 37:24
  I long for the day when I will shed this corruptible shell for
• 37:28
  a new upgraded, incorruptible body.
• 37:32
  For those times when I do fail, there is a passage written by
• 37:35
  Paul that always boosts me up and keeps me going.
• 37:38
  The apostle wrote one thing I do forgetting those things which
• 37:43
  are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
• 37:49
  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
• 37:54
  in Christ Jesus. That's found in Philippians 313
• 37:59
  through 14. Putting the past behind and
• 38:02
  setting your sights on the future.
• 38:03
  That is an essential philosophy for anyone who wants to serve
• 38:08
  God. Wallowing in our sins leads to
• 38:11
  inertia. We give in to the devil's lies
• 38:14
  of You're not good enough and who would ever listen to you?
• 38:18
  Now that kind of self-imposed guilt makes us useless in God's
• 38:24
  Kingdom. Spiritual shame is unwarranted
• 38:28
  and unnecessary for the believer in the Messiah.
• 38:32
  When we confess, God Forgives, and when God Forgives, he does
• 38:37
  so completely. If guilt short circuits our
• 38:41
  service to God, it's not the Holy Spirit who is putting on
• 38:45
  the brakes. That is the enemy trying to take
• 38:49
  our legs out from under us before we have the chance to do
• 38:53
  some good for the Kingdom with Jesus.
• 38:56
  When we quote confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
• 39:01
  forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
• 39:06
  righteousness that's found in first John chapter one verse 9.
• 39:11
  That doesn't mean that our forgiven sins are filed away in
• 39:14
  a cabinet for our future reckoning.
• 39:16
  God isn't keeping our offenses in a computer folder ready to
• 39:19
  download it into our brains the moment we start feeling
• 39:22
  confident about our Christian walk.
• 39:25
  When we confess our sins are tossed into the incinerator,
• 39:29
  incinerator never to be seen again.
• 39:32
  But there is a nuance on the phrase forget our sins.
• 39:37
  The forget here has a sense of not letting it negatively
• 39:41
  impact. It doesn't mean our sins.
• 39:43
  Our sins never enter our minds again.
• 39:45
  We got to learn from our mistakes.
• 39:47
  If I sin once, then I'm a Sinner.
• 39:50
  If I commit the same sin again, then I'm a Sinner and an idiot
• 39:54
  because I didn't learn the first time.
• 39:56
  We forget our sins to the extent that guilt doesn't oppress us
• 40:00
  and make us unusable. We remember our sins so that we
• 40:04
  don't fall into the same trap again.
• 40:07
  As we approach Ezekiel 36 and 37, we are in the preparation
• 40:12
  stage for Israel to put the past behind and press on to the goal.
• 40:18
  God could have changed the hearts of the people in one
• 40:20
  quick Holy Spirit blast. Bam.
• 40:23
  Suddenly every Jew around the world is praising Yeshua as
• 40:26
  Messiah. But God appreciates process, and
• 40:31
  his definition of love demands free will.
• 40:36
  He knows what it will take to bring his people to their knees,
• 40:39
  and He is committed to a worship that is birthed in a recognition
• 40:43
  of who He is not from some divine mandate.
• 40:48
  In these two chapters of Ezekiel, we see God laying the
• 40:51
  tracks for the redemptive train that will carry Israel to a
• 40:55
  final and permanent reconciliation with Him.
• 41:01
  So then let's see, I guess this is also something that I wanted
• 41:09
  to read here. Yeah.
• 41:11
  Prophetic fulfillments. Proclaiming prophecy is a risk.
• 41:14
  A prophet puts himself out on a limb by just by saying, just
• 41:18
  wait, this is going to happen. What if it doesn't?
• 41:21
  What does that say about the prophet and his foretelling
• 41:24
  skills? That's why I don't understand
• 41:26
  these online pastors who predict the day of the rapture using
• 41:30
  blood moons or festivals or political events or some secret
• 41:33
  code they found hidden with the ancient manuscripts.
• 41:36
  Inevitably, that faithful day will come, and they and their
• 41:42
  followers will prepare for flight.
• 41:45
  From morning to night, they sit excitedly, anticipating that
• 41:48
  feeling of liftoff. But nothing happens.
• 41:51
  As always, the pastor disappears for a while, mumbling something
• 41:55
  about missing a digit or misreading some Aramaic
• 41:58
  inscription. But then three months later,
• 42:01
  he's back with a new date, saying he's figured out the
• 42:04
  problem from the last time. And for some reason, people
• 42:07
  still believe him. Oyve, what a balagon.
• 42:11
  But for God, prophecy is not a risk for two reasons.
• 42:15
  First, he has seen all history from beginning to end.
• 42:19
  Here's the reference. Remember the former things of
• 42:23
  old. For I am God and there is no
• 42:25
  other. I am God and there is none like
• 42:27
  me. Declaring the end from the
• 42:29
  beginning and from ancient times.
• 42:31
  Things that are not yet done. Saying My counsel shall stand
• 42:37
  and I will do all my pleasure. That's from Isaiah chapter 46,
• 42:42
  verses 9 through 10. There is nothing that will
• 42:45
  happen on this earth that God does not intimately know about,
• 42:48
  but it's more than him simple, simply witnessing it.
• 42:52
  He has ordained it. God's not sitting around gazing
• 42:56
  at the world's timeline, watching what we humans decide
• 42:59
  to do, jotting down notes on a yellow legal pad for future
• 43:03
  prophetic references. He is the one who is in control.
• 43:07
  Of course. He gives us freedom, as long as
• 43:10
  that freedom stays within his overall will.
• 43:14
  But God will accomplish His purposes and He will use nations
• 43:22
  and people to do it. So as we look at the prophets
• 43:26
  that fill the remaining pages of Ezekiel's book, we can do so
• 43:30
  with certainty that it is not if these things will happen, but
• 43:35
  when. With prophecy, there are often 2
• 43:38
  fulfillments, a near and afar. For instance, through Ezekiel,
• 43:43
  God promised a return from the exile.
• 43:46
  I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you in the
• 43:49
  countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you
• 43:51
  the land of Israel. Israel, and they will go there
• 43:56
  and they will take away all its detestable things and all its
• 44:00
  abominations from there. That was Chapter 11, verses 17
• 44:05
  through 818. And then he continues to talk
• 44:09
  about how that, you know, was a prophecy that was fulfilled.
• 44:17
  I guess I'll read this part that happened beginning with the
• 44:20
  decree from Cyrus. But as we read further, we
• 44:23
  realize that this prophecy is talking more about more than
• 44:27
  just about a return from exile. God said He will give them one
• 44:30
  heart, and I will put a new spirit within them and take the
• 44:33
  Stony heart out of their flesh and give them a flesh, a heart
• 44:37
  of flesh that they may walk in My statutes and keep my
• 44:41
  judgments and do them, and they shall be among people, and I
• 44:44
  will be their God. Verses 19 through 20.
• 44:47
  That didn't happen during the first return.
• 44:49
  That kind of commitment will not come until later.
• 44:52
  I've always talked about near and far fulfillments, and I
• 44:54
  believe those classifications work when we are looking, when
• 44:58
  we're looking at the future through the prophet's eyes.
• 45:01
  But today we live in a unique time of history when more and
• 45:04
  more prophetic predictions are being realized.
• 45:07
  So I want to introduce the classifications then, now, and
• 45:12
  soon to come. For most prophecies about
• 45:15
  Israel, there was the near fulfillment that took place back
• 45:19
  then. Many of them, especially the
• 45:21
  ones we are looking at in Ezekiel 36 through 7, also have
• 45:26
  a current quote, our generation fulfillment fulfillment a now.
• 45:30
  But there are still more that clearly remain in the future for
• 45:35
  the those future events. My optimism has me rejecting the
• 45:40
  instinct quote Not yet, which could mean anything from one to
• 45:47
  1000 years. As I take note of Geo
• 45:51
  geopolitical shifts and the alliances being formed, and as I
• 45:56
  see Israel back in the land, thriving and approaching a time
• 46:01
  of unprecedented peace, I feel safe in upgrading the statutes
• 46:06
  of Ezekiel's quote Not yet. Prophecies too soon to come.
• 46:15
  These next two chapters of Ezekiel are wonderful to read,
• 46:19
  and they include prophecies from all three categories.
• 46:22
  For many years they were they were interpretive stumbling
• 46:26
  blocks, particularly to those who so saw no possibility of a
• 46:32
  reconstituted Israeli nation. But for those of us in this post
• 46:37
  1948 generation, Ezekiel 36 through 37 are celebrations of a
• 46:44
  God who has fulfilled His promises in fulfilling his
• 46:47
  promises, and very soon will fulfill the rest.
• 46:53
  So there's a lot more about current events and fulfilled
• 46:58
  prophecy #1 prepare the land for the Israel's to turn, return
• 47:03
  fulfilled prophecy #2 gather Israel from the nations.
• 47:08
  And there's a lot of historical information there.
• 47:13
  And so I will let you read that from the book.
• 47:17
  And then the next part that we'll talk about relates to
• 47:22
  chapter 37, which is really interesting because this is, I
• 47:27
  love the way Amir wrote it in his book.
• 47:29
  So hope you come back for the next chapter because it's even
• 47:34
  more, it's much more exciting than this one.
• 47:38
  And if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe so you can stay
• 47:42
  in the word every day or mostly daily.
• 47:45
  And if this was beneficial to you or you think somebody else
• 47:48
  would appreciate it, please forward this to someone else.
• 47:51
  Thank you.