The Ezekiel Warning

The Lord Jesus in the Olivet prophecy told His disciples: 'And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to ALL THE NATIONS, and then the end will come.' (Matthew 24:14). Similarly, Jesus commanded His disciples to make 'disciples of ALL THE NATIONS' in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. Therein lies the link between the good news of the Kingdom of God and making disciples OF ALL NATIONS in these last days.

Following from my previous blog regarding the Work of God in these last days, I mention about the Ezekiel Warning from Ezekiel 33:1-9 and Ezekiel 3:17 about a watchman's warning to the House of Israel just before the coming Great Tribulation that will come upon planet earth with destruction like never before. The House of Israel consists of the Jews (from the Southern Kingdom of Judah) and the descendants of the 'ten lost tribes' (from the Northern Kingdom of Israel). While the former are mainly in the land of Israel, the latter are primarily the Anglo-Saxon people scattered throughout Europe, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand today. Many in the House of Israel have no idea of their identity, let alone what lies ahead for their destiny. The Ezekiel Warning is meant primarily for these people and the church has a vital role to play!

The vast majority of the House of Israel have never been warned of what prophecy lies ahead for the descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel. These sons of Abraham, probably numbered in the hundreds of millions worldwide, have no clue of what is coming upon their land and on their peoples. This generation alive today is probably the most rebellious and idolatrous likened to the days of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-30). The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:6-12 warns in typology of similar past events recorded for our learning.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 9:27-28 quoted from Isaiah 10:20-23 about the remnant of Israel who will return to the Lord and to the land of their fathers. After shaking off the enslavement from the Assyrians and the Babylonians, the House of Israel is under a different kind of bondage - the systems of the world under the control of Satan who is the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4) which has blinded them from the truth of their identity and destiny for over two-and-half millennia!

But a time will come (in the Millennial Age after Christ' Return) when they will be freed from all these enslavements as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 52:2, 'Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!'

During World War II, the Jews from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were enslaved by the Germans (of the Aryan race who are primarily the modern descendants of Assyria). Some six million Jews were massacred in death camps throughout Germany and Poland such as Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald. My wife and I visited the Holocaust Histroy Museum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem just last December. It was really touching as I view the photographs and film clips and hear the testimonies of some of the survivors. A word of comfort brought to mind from the prophecy of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:3 that the Lord 'will gather His flock out of all countries where He have driven them, and bring them back to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase'. Such is their future and hope.

Following in verses 5 and 6 of the same chapter in Jeremiah, the Lord says, 'Behold, the days are coming, That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King (Jesus Christ) shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days (the Millennial Kingdom of God) Judah (Jews) will be saved, And Israel (Israelites -the lost ten tribes) will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS'. Their (House of Israel) hope and future is the soon coming Government of God to be established on planet earth where there will be peace and righteousness with the Prince of Peace on the throne. The prophecy of Jeremiah 29:11 ('to give you a future and a hope') will be twice fulfilled (duality of prophecy), the first upon the return of the Jews (fulfilled) and next the return of the House of Israel to their motherland!

God's warning to the House of Israel is repeated in Ezekiel 6:6-8 about the coming punishment of their rebellious and idolatrous ways. Only a remnant (one-third - Ezekiel 5:12) will be saved during the coming Great Tribulation. Again in Ezekiel 20, God's warning to His people of the coming punishment for those who refused to repent of their sins. In fact, the warning is so severe that in Amos 8:11 it states, 'Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the word of the Lord'!

Some people from within the church will be called of the Lord to warn the House of Israel that are presently scattered in various lands. The Day of the Lord is coming to strike the earth in the last year of the Great Tribulation (the wrath of God). Will all those who hear the Word of God take heed and take action to repent while there is still time? Only the overcomers and the faithful will be counted worthy to escape all these things (Luke 21:36c).