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First in a Series of Important Prophetical Messages
1RS
By Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
F OUR chapters of Ezekiel, 36-39, present a great moving picture o f Israel—past, present, and future: Israel past, idolatrous and disobedient to God; Israel present, scat tered among the nations in chastisement for her sin; Israel future, restored and blessed in the millennial reign of Christ, her Messiah and King. (See also Rom. 9-11 for another clear outline of Israel past, present, and future.) Israel's Dispersion— God's Chastisement for Her Apostasy The enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are our’s in possession . . . they have made you desolate . . . an infamy of the people . . . a prey and derision ••• ye have home the shame o f the heathen [“ heathen” in all o f these verses means “nations” ] . . . when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings . . . Wherefore I poured my fury upon them fo r the blood that they had shed upon the land, and fo r their idols wherewith they had polluted it : And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the coun tries : according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name (Ezek.36:2-20). What an indictment! A t least three times in this passage God states that Israel “ profaned” His “ holy name.” Further more, God reminds His apostate pepple that for His “ holy name’s sake” He will restore Israel, that the nations may know that He is the Lord. Now when God told Ezekiel that He had “ scattered” His people, He meant exactly what He said. It has been stated, on good authority, that there is not a nook or cranny on the face o f the whole earth where the Jew is not found. If you go to the northern ice fields o f Alaska, you will find the Jew. If you sail through the tropical isles of the southern seas, there you will find the Jew. In the heart of Africa, on the plateaus of Tibet, and on the streets of New York City, London, Jerusalem — everywhere you see the familiar and unmistakable face of the Jew. For hundreds of years, Israel had tried the patience of her long-suffering God before He scattered that nation through out the world. Read the books of Moses, from Genesis through Page Six
Deuteronomy, to see the many failures and the incessant mur- murings of the people, even while God was leading them from Egypt to Canaan with a mighty hand. Read the Book of Judges to see the repeated apostasies, with the consequent punishments sent by Jehovah, in order to turn His people from their backslidings. Remember the times almost without number when the kings of both Judah and Israel did “ that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” I tell you, my friends, the mercy and long-suffering o f Israel’s God—and our G o d - cause us to marvel. But apostasy followed apostasy until finally God scattered Israel‘ among all the nations under heaven. And for more than nineteen weary centuries, the Jew has trodden from pillar to post, finding no rest for the sole of his foot. Truly he is “ the wandering Jew.” No country is his home, yet he is found in every land. No race assimilates him, yet there is no people with whom he does not live a troubled existence. How aptly does Deuteronomy 28:64-67 describe this dispersed, persecuted, wandering people: And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: bu t' the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing o f eyes, and sorrow o f mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance o f thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! fo r the fear o f thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and fo r the sight o f thine eyes which thou shalt see. Because it is so up-to-date, this paragraph might have been clipped from a modern newspaper, but it was written by the Holy Spirit, through Moses, more than fourteen hundred years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem! It is a picture of the centuries-old Jewish wanderer, with no country, no home, no rest, no assurance of life, with only a trembling heart and a fear o f death. It is a picture of God’s chastisement— child- training —for Israel because o f her complete failure to love and serve Him. What a lesson is here for us, my friends, and for those who spurn the offer o f God’s mercy through Christ! T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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