When Kingdoms Fall

 
When Kingdoms Fall Pt. 17, The Biblical Story By Pastor Dan Kennedy © June 29, 2014 www.pastorkennedy.com In recent messages we have been studying an overview of the Scripture. We have called this series, “The Biblical Story”. This series highlights over thirty Biblical events, which reveal God’s Plan of Redemption for mankind as recorded in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. We began with God’s Creation of the world, and have reviewed the lives of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the Children of Israel wandering through the wilderness and how the LORD brought them into the Promised Land. We have recently been working our way through several prominent Old Testament prophets and kings of Israel, and now are at the conclusion and fall of the divided kingdoms found in the final chapters of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Recently we looked at the lives of nine good kings and what made them great, but unfortunately the majority of the forty kings of Israel and Judah were very carnal and wicked. Under the negative leadership of many of those kings, the Jewish People had sinned against God more egregiously than even the pagan nations that previously occupied the land, which God had vomited out, because of their gross defilement. Indeed, most of these kings stopped worshipping the God of heaven and had led the nation instead, to embrace the opposite of Who He IS, subjecting themselves to worship pagan gods, including worship of the sun, moon, and starry host, with all of their depraved, sacrificial rituals. Today in our Biblical study, we find the timeline to be at a very somber and serious moment when God allowed Babylon to bring judgment upon His own Chosen People, Israel. This was the time when God allowed His Temple and beloved city to be decimated, because of the Israelites’ sin. WARNING. I am going to give a WARNING about this message right now. The message today may confront you. There will be an appeal, especially at the end of the message for those who have ears to hear the Voice of God, to turn from their sin – if they are living in sin, and repent before God. If the nation of Israel had repented as God sent the Prophets into their lives to call them out for their sinful ways, they would not have suffered such tragic humiliation, defeat, suffering, and death. God would, most likely, have saved the nation from their destruction as He had done many times previously! Stop reading now if you need to repent and do not want to be confronted by the Scripture, about your ways! The Moment We Realize Judgment or Death is Imminent Can you imagine what the inhabitants of Samaria and Jerusalem thought when they finally comprehended that God was judging them instead of saving them? That they were on the threshold of either perishing, or being taken into harsh captivity? What happens in that brief moment of time when our mind finally comprehends with intense certainty, the collapse of everything around us… • That all which we had worked sacrificially to build – all our life’s work, was going to fail miserably and be destroyed before our own eyes? • That an F-5 tornado was screaming directly toward the dream home we had spent years building and would be decimate by it – possibly with us in it, in a matter of minutes? • That the farm which sustained several generations of our family had suffered devastating drought for three seasons in a row – this being the greatest year of loss; the bank would not loan us money for crops and living expenses, and our family land and personal livelihood would be wiped out in a matter of days. • That we were trapped in the upper floors of a high-rise building, the electricity had just snapped off, it was pitch black, and we were being tossed around like matchsticks while a major earthquake was starting to topple the building? • That terrorists had somehow commandeered our airplane and were flying the plane straight into a targeted building? • That we rounded a corner only to be confronted by a head-on collision? • That an atomic bomb had just been set off in a nearby city, we can see the massive plume and begin to feel the turbulent rage of the red-hot inferno of winds lashing out in every direction, but we have nowhere to go to safely protect ourselves from the blast or nuclear fall-out? We just stand there…emotionally shocked! • That the nation in which we lived could no longer be protected…that our lives could no longer be spared, and that our country was unequivocally doomed to be taken over by a hostile people wanting our certain death and our nation’s destruction? • That we were having a massive heart attack, or terminal stroke? • Each of us will one day face the immediate prospect of death! (This is the very reason we are seeking to build our lives on a sustainable spiritual foundation through Jesus Christ and an understanding the Scripture.) What Do We Comprehend before a Catastrophic Fall? Often, Nothing! Individuals and nations often seem oblivious to the signs of coming disaster…the reason for oblivion could be either all-consuming corruption, naive innocence, or blindly deceptive ambition. Matthew 24:37–39 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. A Nation Falls Before the fall of Jerusalem, the king of Judah acted pretty secure about life. He backed out on his oath he had sworn in God’s Name, to the king of Babylon, and kept living as carnally as he pleased, in defiance against God – but his defiance against God and Nebuchadnezzar only lasted so long. Without warning, he was faced with a three-year siege by his enemies, which devastated the city and brought the king and his people to their knees from acute and desperate famine. He and his army tried to escape at night, but they were caught and dealt with severely by the Babylonians. His defiance of God, woven together with the corruption of the kings before him, culminated in Jerusalem’s fateful destruction. God is not mocked. When Jerusalem fell in 586 BC, everyone in the city faced his or her personal “moment of reality”. Each person clearly understood they were facing either imminent death or the dreaded terror of bondage as captives, as the enemy army swarmed into and then decimated the city, indiscriminately slaughtering captives, and brutally imprisoning others to wait for a grueling 1,600+ mile march back to Babylon…in a potential death-march probably taking four to six months by foot. It is sobering to realize that the fall of Jerusalem began years before its actual destruction. Manasseh’s corrupt reign 100 years before Judah’s last king decisively finalized God’s coming judgment on the land. (Note: How do the actions of our forefathers profoundly affect our lives and our children’s lives – for good or for evil? How will our actions break evil patterns, or cause dire distress or greater blessings for future generations?) 2 Kings 21 - Manasseh Reigns in Judah 21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. 10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.” 16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. … Some 80-90 Years Later…Devastation on future generations of kingdoms because of Manasseh’s sins 2 Kings 24:2–4 2 And the Lord sent against him (King Jehoiakim, 608—597 BC) bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh (697—642 BC), according to all that he had done, 4 and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. The Final Destruction of Jerusalem 10 to 15 years after King Jehoiakim, and some 100 years after Manasseh’s evil reign, including the wicked reigns of other kings (mixed together with a few good kings… from which God also gleaned His own), the patience of God had come to an end, and He brought judgment and destruction on Jerusalem. God’s vengeance was poured out on the generations of those who had brought suffering and wickedness on so many others, and eternal judgment brought its own finality in each individual case. 2 Chronicles 36 Jerusalem’s Looming Destruction 11 Zedekiah (Judah’s final king) was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. 2 Kings 25 Fall and Captivity of Judah 25 And in the ninth year of his (Zedekiah’s) reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 2 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon. 2 Chronicles 36:17-21 Jerusalem Captured and Burned 17 Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. This was the first destruction of Jerusalem. But God had mercy on His people. Under the declaration of Cyrus, King of Persia (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra), Cyrus sent the first group exiles led by Zerubbabel back to begin rebuilding Jerusalem. The rebuilt Temple was completed in 516 BC – to fulfill the 70 years in exile, of the broken “Sabbatical Years”, as prophesied. Much later, during Jesus’ time, as a favor to the Jews, King Herod extensively renovated the 2nd Temple, which had originally been commissioned by Cyrus. From then on it would then be called, “Herod’s Temple” – until its destruction. Alas, due to Israel’s relapse into sin again and her rejection of Jesus Christ as her Messiah, Jerusalem and God’s Temple were once again destroyed in AD 70 by the 10th Roman Emperor Titus (for his victory over the Jewish Rebellion Titus was awarded the Arch of Titus in Rome – which has been the inspiration for many “Archs of Triumph”, most notably, the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, France). Following the second destruction of their city and Temple, for two thousand years, the Jewish people were scattered to the four winds over the earth, and millions suffered untold tragedy through those years, most notoriously recorded in the Holocaust. God miraculously reestablished the Jewish Nation once again in 1948, when the Jewish people had their own home once more and became one nation again! Since then Israel has amazingly flourished – even though sworn enemies still surround her, threatening to “push her into the sea”. What social reasons are often cited by historians, as why kingdoms and nations fall? Discounting catastrophic natural disasters or terrorists attacks, what are the steps that would outline the gradual destruction of a person…or the fall of a nation? • A deteriorating welfare state? • Economic collapse? • Military defeat? • An inferior educational system? • A leadership crisis? • Terrorist attacks? • Moral and/or Religious corruption? What Biblical Reasons can attest why people might fail, and why kingdoms and nations fall? Ephesians 2:1–3 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 5:3–12 3 But • sexual immorality and • all impurity or • covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be • no filthiness nor • foolish talk nor • crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that • everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or • who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. • 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. Romans 1:18 God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Colossians 3:5–10 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: • sexual immorality, • impurity, • passion, • evil desire, and • covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: • anger, • wrath, • malice, • slander, and • obscene talk from your mouth. • 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. One Day There will come a day when we will have the crystal clear realization that this is the day…this is the moment when we will face God. It will either be the moment before we are snatched away in death, or when we comprehend that we will be facing the progressive and slow hand of the reality of death. We will realize that, with all certainty, our time on earth is over and we are facing death. We can choose to prepare for that day right now, or we can brush it aside and continue on our merry way, seemingly oblivious to that which is certain…like those in Noah’s day. Repentance, before God, is an option for ANYONE, not just “good” people! Ahab and Manasseh – the Worse Kings in Israel, Took Steps to Repent – and God heard their cry! 1 Kings 21:25–29 Ahab’s Repentance 25 (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. 26 He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.) 27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. 28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house.” Manasseh’s Evil Reign 2 Chronicles 33:9–13 9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. Manasseh’s Repentance 10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. One of the Vilest Nations of that Day Repented before God and was spared! Jonah 3 Jonah Calls Nineveh to Repentance 3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The People of Nineveh Repent 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. If the vile kings Ahab and Manasseh, who were critically instrumental in the destruction of Israel because of their sinful ways, were repentant to God and found forgiveness in His Eyes, can’t you or I also find forgiveness before God through the Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus’ Blood? The catastrophic consequences for the sins of Ahab and Manasseh were not set aside…Israel came to a terrible destructive end, but God heard the personal cry of these men’s hearts…as did all those in Jerusalem and Israel who humbled themselves and repented from their sins. If our heart is condemning us because of the guilt of our sin, shouldn’t we cry out to God for His forgiveness and cleansing through the Sacrifice and Blood of His Son? Dear Father in Heaven, I know that the life I am living, either secretly or in plain sight, is not a life pleasing to You! You know me. I cannot hide anything from you! I repent from my sin and humble myself before You – just as those did who repented in Bible! I ask for your forgiveness and cleansing from my sin, through the Sacrificial Blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son, which He shed for me on the Cross. Please forgive me oh God. I trust in the Blood of Jesus Christ for my cleansing! Break the power of the enemy in my life, in the Name and Power of Jesus Christ! I ask that Your Holy Spirit fill my life and give me the power to live as I should live, to be pleasing to You! In Jesus’ Name, amen. Addendum Hope: Israel is being Restored, and one day will be Fully Restored After two thousand year, following the second destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Israel became one nation again May 14, 1948, as the beginning of the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. One day the nation (I believe, during the Millennium), will be totally restored with Jesus Christ being fully recognized as their true and rightful Savior, Messiah, and King! All of God’s earthly promises to Israel will be fulfilled at that time. Zechariah 12:10 Looking on Him Whom They Have Pierced 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Zechariah 13:1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. Ezekiel’s Prophecy Regarding the Restoration of Israel Ezekiel 36–37 36 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient heights have become our possession,’ 3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, 4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, 5 therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. 6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. 8 “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. 9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10 And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. 11 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. 12 I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children. 13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ 14 therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. 15 And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.” The Lord’s Concern for His Holy Name 16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. I Will Put My Spirit Within You 22 “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. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 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. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. 33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it. 37 “Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” The Valley of Dry Bones (A prophesied national resurrection of Israel) 37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 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.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” Promises for Israel: I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My People 15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” http://www.pastorkennedy.comshapeimage_1_link_0