God Resurrects Israel :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds’” (Jeremiah 33:12).

Ezekial 37:1-14

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

9 Also 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 breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’”

We are continuing our look at God and His commitment to Israel. There have been so many issues along the way, with misinterpretations and verses taken out of context and the fact that we underestimate the commitment of God to Israel and, in turn, us. God cannot break His promises to Israel and the commitments He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Today, we will look at a prophecy made about Israel coming back from the dead after a long time of ‘death.’ In this context, Ezekiel is in Babylon, living there as a part of the exiles who have been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. They would be there for 70 years, and in the process, God sends two sets of prophecies, one to Daniel (see chapters 7-9) and then a series to Ezekiel. We will look at this particular one today and see that it was fulfilled in the last generation, and we see the results of its fulfillment today.

As Jesus was preparing his disciples for His death, He made a prediction about the Temple in Jerusalem that was fulfilled in AD70 by General Titus of the Roman army; Matthew 24: 1-2,

“As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings. ‘Do you see all these things?’ He replied. ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.'”

Between AD70 and about AD135, the Jews from Israel were scattered throughout the whole world. They went to every continent and country to find refuge. The nation was dead. A few stragglers lived in the area, and war after war was fought for control of Israel. We have examples of the scatterings from the lives of men like Phillip in Acts 8; we find Jews living in Galatia, Ephesus, and Rome; and just about everywhere Paul went as a missionary, he was able to find Jews. Even my little Barbados is home to one of the oldest synagogues in the world. We are thousands of miles from Israel.

Notice in the prophecy that the bones come to life in stages; in verse 8, we get the sinews, then the flesh, then the skin, and then in verse 9, the breath.

In the late 1800s, the British established the British Mandate that would begin to rebuild Israel; there were just 56,000 Jews living in Palestine by the end of WW1. By 1945, there were just under 400,000 Jews living in Israel. And by May 14th, 1948, just over 500,000 (CJPME.org) Jews lived there when the nation of Israel was declared to be an independent state by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. He is the architect behind the modern state of Israel. God, of course, was the one who actually put it all in place.

President Harry S. Truman was the first head of state to recognize Israel as an independent state. In 1967, during the Six Day War, the Jews regained control of Jerusalem, and on May 14th, 2018 (exactly 70 years, one generation) after the declaration of independence, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and began plans to move the US Embassy there. In 2021, the last time we had a count, there were almost 9.4 million Jews living in Israel, and there are more returning to live there every day. Israel is a thriving economy filled with medical and agricultural advances. They sit on one of the largest natural gas finds in the world. Slowly but surely, just like the prophecy in Ezekiel, life came back to Israel, and she is here to stay.

Just in case we are not sure about whom the prophet is speaking, God makes it clear in verse 11, “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” There can be no doubt as to the subject of this prophecy, and we can see the nation of Israel today, and many have traveled there as tourists. The country came back to life, not just back to life, but came back gradually in stages, as described in Ezekiel 37. We can see this tangible fulfillment of prophecy more than 2,000 years after it was spoken.

Let us finish up our thoughts today with a look at Ezekiel 37:21-23. Here, we see two more promises made to Israel.

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”

God will unite them into one nation again. When they went into captivity via Babylon and Assyria, there were two kingdoms – the Northern and Southern – but God promises that they will be one again. Today, there is only one Israel. But He goes even further. God promises, in the context of the future, that they will be His people and He their God. They will no longer follow after idols and strange gods. Jesus is coming soon to fulfill this just as sure as we see Israel alive and well in front of our eyes, according to Ezekiel 37.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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Joys and Challenges of Being a Guest Speaker: Part 5 :: By Paul J. Scharf

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

We’ve been looking at some practical issues related to being a guest speaker in a local church. These concepts have been examined with a view toward encouraging those who are involved in some type of itinerant ministry—as well as those who receive them into their churches.

In this final installment, we’ll consider a subject that is distinct from but related to those that we’ve looked at previously. It is again presented in the hope that it will be of some help to those who, like me, are attempting to grow in these areas of ministry.

Conferences & Exhibits

If you are involved in traveling for some type of ministry, it is likely that you will be setting up a display table in churches on a regular basis, and also that a number of conferences will be among the most significant events on your calendar each year. These may range from national conferences with very large numbers in attendance, to state or regional conferences with a few dozen people or less, down to a local church conference that will vary according to the size of the congregation.

In my experience with The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry—as well as overseeing exhibits for other ministries for roughly 15 years before that—I suppose that I have encountered almost every variable there is when it comes to exhibiting at churches and ministry conferences. Here, I must credit my wife Lynnette, who often does much of the work in setting up our table—and greeting people there. We’ve learned some very important lessons along the way.

I always want our table to look neat, orderly, attractive and inviting, and we’ve actually received some good compliments regarding that from other exhibitors. When it comes to placing literature on the table—if I were to use a food analogy—I used to set it out like a Thanksgiving feast. Since the days of COVID, however, I have found people taking many fewer paper items with them. Of course, this is especially true at conferences where the majority of attendees have traveled by air. So, to extend the analogy, I will often set my table up now to resemble more of a fast-food meal.

It can be difficult to measure the impact of exhibiting at a conference. There are some events, however, for which I believe that having a regular presence is vitally important for The Friends of Israel and for me personally. Some of these are national conferences that have been entrusted to my care on behalf of the ministry, and it is essential to maintain those connections. Beyond such specific events, I find that it is rarely worth paying for an exhibit—particularly if the cost is prohibitive.

Now, I believe that the best thing that you can do to make your exhibit a success is to set it up early. Often, this will mean arriving before the official start time if people are already around, or at least as soon as the stated time. If you are allowed to select your location, you obviously want to be near the front of the line. (As a side note, unless you are at an extremely large conference, having an exhibit in a location that is secondary to the main site is not usually worth the effort to set up and manage a display table.)

Here is where I learned an important lesson. I was setting up my table at a national church conference during the time when people were officially registering and entering the facilities—long before the first session was to begin. It hit me, right then and there, that I had completely missed it! The hours between the opening of registration and the first session are pure gold for an exhibitor. This was when the people were coming in and walking past the exhibits … and had time to examine them. If you are using that time to set up and your exhibit is not in final form until the sessions begin, you’ve probably already missed your best chance of the entire conference to attract attendees to your table. They’ve already perused the exhibits on their way in during those precious opening hours—and they may not be back.

Once the conference begins, I do not feel bound to my table. I have found, first of all, that it is very important for me to manage my time strategically, especially during a multi-day event. In addition, I actually intend to be out talking to people in different locations, and find that to be much more fruitful than simply waiting for them to come and find me at my table. To avoid any missed opportunities, I display a printed sign with my contact information that always lets people know how they can connect with me.

Of course, exhibiting at a conference is exponentially more productive if I can have a speaking role at the event. Simply setting up a table is a very difficult way to draw a crowd in this day and age—unless you have something pretty spectacular to display.

And, when I am speaking in a conference, that obligation obviously takes precedence over my attention to the exhibit in terms of my planning, energy and attention.

A display in the typical church where I speak requires the same structure but involves very different dynamics, as it is usually the only one there. I am thankful again to my wife for taking care of much of that responsibility while I am meeting with people after the service and wrapping things up there. Once more, though, it is still essential to begin early. We will often set our display up on Saturday afternoon, if that is at all possible.

What have you learned that you can share regarding conferences and exhibits?

***

Paul J. Scharf (M.A., M.Div., Faith Baptist Theological Seminary) is a church ministries representative for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, based in Columbus, WI, and serving in the Midwest. For more information on his ministry, visit sermonaudio.com/pscharf or foi.org/scharf, or email pscharf@foi.org. Thanks!