- It’s easy to read this passage vaguely. There are some nice phrases in there that you could use as pegs to hang a sermon on. One obvious one is the glory of God returning - it would be easy to write an inspiring sermon off that idea.
- But there is another way to preach this passage and that is specifically. Really digging down into the context of this passage and what exactly it means in that moment for those to whom it was addressed. Now, sometimes preaching a sermon that way makes the sermon more boring, less relevant, because the specific details of this setting are not at all relevant to us. For instance, preaching a sermon on one of the Old Testament chapters concerning how God wanted the tabernacle to be set up could easily fall into that category.
- In this case, though, that's not at all the case. The deeper you get into the specifics of this passage and what exactly is happening here, the more interesting it gets. So we are going to get into the weeds tonight, if that's alright with you. But I think it’s a trip that you’ll enjoy and will find enlightening. This will require us to jump around in the Bible to a bunch of different passages, but I think it will be worth it.
“GOD IS NOT DONE WITH ISRAEL YET”: What exactly do we mean when we say that?
- Ezekiel 43:1-12.
- It’s a phrase we’ve all heard if we’ve been around church for a few years: “God is not done with Israel yet.” And we all say, “Amen.”
- But what does that mean exactly? This passage gives us some compelling details.
- The place for us to start is Romans 11: 1, 11-18, 25. Unpack verse by verse.
- What is the big picture here? (And let me note that this is crucial for understanding the larger picture of what we’re looking at tonight.) It is that we are currently in the church age, which is a great expansion of the Kingdom.
- But while that is all we have experienced during our lives, the Bible paints pictures both of what came before and what is to come. What came before is the long, agonizing up-and-down history of Israel’s covenant and disobedience, which all led to the advent of Christ the Messiah.
- So with that context we can now look at Ezekiel 43 and ask, “What exactly does this passage tell us about what’s ahead?”
DETAILS FROM THIS SCENE:
1. THIS IS MOST LIKELY A PROPHECY OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM.
- When you are dealing with a passage like this there are always going to be a variety of interpretations. Some might say it’s just a wild, incoherent fever dream from an ancient writer. Some will say it’s spiritual truths but nothing that is actually going to happen. Others believe this is a prophecy that is going to happen but might disagree about what it specifically refers to.
- What I think it’s pointing toward is the dominant view among conservative Christians.
- I think this refers to the Millennial Kingdom.
- Now for those who aren’t up to speed on their Revelation timeline, let’s put this in a larger context.
- First we have the Rapture.
- Next we have the Great Tribulation.
- That is concluded by the Second Coming.
- After that we have the Millennial Kingdom.
- Finally we have the Final Judgment and the new heaven, new earth, and New Jerusalem.
- (That, of course, is a very abbreviated version.)
- So what is the Millennial Kingdom? The Great Tribulation is the seven worst years in human history. It is brought to a dramatic close by the Second Coming of Christ. He physically returns to the earth to defeat the Antichrist. That inaugurates a 1,000-year reign of Christ on the earth. Jesus will literally rule on the earth over fallen people. During this time, the people of Israel, because of Jesus’ dramatic rescue of them at the end of the Great Tribulation when they were facing an utterly hopeless situation, will turn to Christ and worship Him.
- Remember we started with “God is not done with Israel yet”? Here we are. Israel plays a big part in the suffering of the Great Tribulation and the redemption that the Second Coming brings.
- At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan is temporarily released from being bound and makes one last foray toward defeating God. Many of the people of the earth rally to him but he fails.
- So what is the point of the Millennial Kingdom? It is that even after 1,000 years of seeing the goodness and wisdom of Christ ruling, some people would still rebel against Him.
- Now, having put this passage in a larger historical context, it’s time to get into the two big things that we learn here about what’s going on in this moment.
2. ISRAEL WILL LIVE FOR AND HONOR CHRIST.
- Ezekiel 43: 7b-11a, 12.
- Unpack the verses.
- vv. 7b - This is an amazing statement. Much of the Old Testament is a repeating story of the disobedience/repentance/obedience/disobedience cycle of Israel. Here, though, we see them finally living for Christ.
- It’s worth pausing to note that this is one way that we know this is a prophecy. We clearly have not seen this happen up to this point, so it’s something in the future.
- vv. 8-9 - They have sinned. Israel has not been where they should have been.
- vv. 10-11a - Let them be ashamed.
- Shame is something that is often dismissed out of hand today as something that is never a legitimate thought or emotion. That is not true. Sometimes it is exactly the right response to an awareness of what we’ve done. That's true here. Israel has not been faithful.
- v. 12 - Holiness is going to be the byword of this area.
- This is true (and we’ll get into this in the next point).
- Maybe go look at Zechariah 8:14-23 (especially v. 23).
3. THE PRESENCE OF GOD WILL DWELL WITH THEM.
- Ezekiel 43:1-5, 7a.
- We see in this passage that the presence of God will return to Jerusalem.
- This passage gives us one main idea but there are really three ways that we can talk about the presence of God being among them during this time.
- First, as this passage points out, the presence of God the Father returns to the Temple. This is important, to start, because earlier in Ezekiel there was prophecy about the presence of God departing the Temple. This was in response to Israel’s disobedience. Now His presence returns.
- As I’ve stated, this passage regards the Millennium, but I can’t help but think about Revelation 21-22 and the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem. Those chapters contain some fascinating details that we recently unpacked in the sermon series about eternity. The point that I want to emphasize here is that the most amazing thing about what we are told there is that God will dwell among us.
- Second, Christ is physically ruling on the earth, so we have the second member of the Trinity present as well.
It is an amazing thing to think of Him actually ruling on the earth and that we get to rule with Him.
- Third, the Jewish people are living for Christ at this point. I can’t say this for sure, but I would presume that the Holy Spirit would be the One empowering them to be able to do that, just as He empowers Christians today.
- So, in all, we have God among His people.
ONE RESPONSE FOR US: Fall facedown.
- Ezekiel 43:3.
- What are we to do in response to all this? This is an incredible vision of what God intends to accomplish among the Jewish people. It’s stupendous in its expansiveness.
- None of us here tonight at Jewish, so in one sense there isn’t a direct application statement for me to make for us this evening.
- I do think, though, that something in v. 3 is worth our attention as a response to the truths of this passage.
In v. 3 Ezekiel sees a vision of the glory of the Lord and his response is to fall facedown. He is in awe, as he should be. This is the right response.
- We have an insufficient amount of awe of God today. We treat Him far too casually, not understanding His majesty and grandeur.
- When we think of this incredible plan that this passage unveils to us, it should inspire awe within us. “What a God to be able to accomplish all this!” “What a majestic sight all this will be to see!” “What a plan!”
- It should cause us to fall facedown before Him and worship in awe.
