Now the title of this message
is simply this, Two Made One. Two Made One. In the first part
of this chapter, Ezekiel was given a vision of the valley
of dry bones. Can these bones live? What a picture in this vision
of the salvation of God's people Can these bones live, these dry,
dead bones? And the answer was, O Lord God,
thou knowest. And then the command was issued
forth to preach to the valley of dry bones. Preach to these
bones. And then God set forth in his
power and his promise and his faithfulness, he said, I will
cause breath to enter in to you, and you shall live. And that's
a great picture, a great Old Testament picture and lesson
object lesson in that sense of the vision of the new birth you
must be born again what he was doing in this chapter 37 was
illustrating the truths that he had brought forth in chapter
36 concerning the time of the Messiah and the new covenant
that God was going to form a nation a new nation But it wouldn't
be like the old nation of Israel under the old covenant, which
covenant was conditional upon them, which said, God said, I
will, if you will, and which they failed, giving us a testimony
of our own sin and depravity so that we who come to know the
Lord by his grace and power might be ever thankful that our salvation
is not on us, but on Christ. And so he illustrates that with
the valley of dry bones. Now, in this passage that we're
looking at tonight, he gives an object lesson in this two
sticks that he mentions. And what you see there is an
example of what Paul wrote in Hebrews 1 and verse 1. When he
said, God who at sundry times in diverse manners, different
manners, various ways, spake in time past by the fathers,
or unto the fathers by the prophets. These are the various ways that
God spoke to them through visions, through types, through pictures,
through objects lessons. But these are the, this is an
object lesson. He told him, look at verse 15,
the word of the Lord came again unto me saying, moreover thou
son of man, take thee one stick and ride upon it. The riding
upon a stick or a rod was common. You can You might be able to
recall the writing when God caused Aaron's rod or Aaron's stick
to bud. They had to write the names on
them. And he was showing there that Aaron and the tribe of Levi
was to be the priestly tribe. They were to be the ones chosen
of God, not the other tribes. And they wrote his name and Aaron's
rod budded. And that kind of thing is not
new in scripture. But he says, you take this one
stick and you write on it, for Judah, and for the children of
Israel, his companions. And then take another stick,
here's the second one, write upon it, for Joseph, the stick
of Ephraim. Now that's very significant,
and I'm gonna show you that tonight if I can get to it. The stick
of Ephraim, and for all the house of israel his companions he's
talking about a family here his companions that's his family
and it's a united family he says in verse seventeen join them
one to another or uh... into one stick take these two
sticks and bind them together and they shall become one in
thine hands so here's ezekiel the prophet writing these names
judah and Israel and then Joseph and Ephraim in Israel and he's
brought them together and he's holding up the two sticks and
they appear as one and then he says they're going to ask you
this question what does that mean Ezekiel what does it mean
verse 18 when the children of Israel thy people shall speak
unto thee saying wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by
these and I think that's significant too because you know a lot of
people they try to take things and give their own interpretation
to it but God whenever he has something to say to his people
by revelation he tells us exactly what he means well here's what
you say to them look at verse 19 saying to them thus saith
the Lord God this is what God says it means this is not Ezekiel's
opinion we're not going to Try to get, well, what do you think,
brother so-and-so? Or what do you think, sister
so-and-so? It doesn't matter what you think. Thus saith the
Lord God. Behold, I will take the stick
of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim. Now, why the stick
of Joseph? Why is it in the hand of Ephraim?
He said, it's in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel
and his fellows, and put them with him, even with the stick
of Judah. Now, you know, Judah, the kingdom
was divided. You know all about that. Judah,
the Southern kingdom, Israel was the Northern king. Make them
one stick and they shall be one in mine hand. Talking about God's
hand. God alone can bring these two
sticks together. One in God's hand. One in the
hand of Christ. And he says in verse 20, These
sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their
eyes. Let them see it. This is a public announcement. He says, Say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I'll take the children of Israel from
among the heathen, whether they be gone, and will gather them
on every side. Every side means north, south,
east, west. And bring them into their own
land. Well, what is Israel's land? Well, most people would
just settle down into Palestine, that geographical area there. And there is a limited, temporal,
temporary fulfillment in that geographical area, but not the
ultimate now, not the eternal, not the spiritual fulfillment.
That comes through someone else, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll
see that. Verse 22, I'll make them one nation in the land upon
the mountains of Israel, And now notice how he describes this
nation on the mountains of the house of Israel. How does he
describe it? Well, he says, one king shall be king to them all.
Now, who do you suppose that's talking about? Well, you know
who it's talking about. It's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the King of kings. He's talking about a united nation
under the headship of Christ. He's certainly not talking about
King Herod. He's not talking about a prime minister or anything
like that. Talking about Christ. And he
says, they shall be no more two nations, not divided. See, neither
shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all. This
is a thorough union under this one king. Verse 23, neither shall
they defile themselves anymore with their idols. Now, let me
tell you something. Any religion that brings a sinner
unto God in any way but by the grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ is idolatry. Without Christ, that's all we
are is idolaters. We either worship self or images
of self. But you understand that now.
So this, he says they're not going to be idolaters anymore.
They're going to serve Christ. They're going to trust Christ.
We read about it in Isaiah 26. They're going to trust in Jehovah. the Lord God Jehovah. And he
says, nor with their detestable things, that's the elements of
their idolatry, the implements of their idolatry, nor with any
of their transgressions, the way that it's put in the scripture
has to do with their worship, their worship, there'll be true
worship. Remember what Christ told the woman at the well, God
desires true worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. The
only way that's going to come about is through Christ. And
he says, I'll save them out of all their dwelling places. Where
they settled down into idolatry, God's going to save them out
of that. That's what that means. People settle into idolatry.
You think about religion today, you know, why do people go to
church in a specific place? A lot of them don't even know
what they believe or what really the doctrine is. They just, this
is where we've always gone. That's their dwelling place,
see? They just settled down into it. There's no questioning, there's
no seeking. And he says, wherein they have
sinned and I will cleanse them. You see, there's the cleansing.
Remember back over in chapter 36, he said, I'll sprinkle clean
water upon you and you shall be clean. Now, how does that
happen before God? Only by being washed in the blood.
Are you washed in the blood? The soul cleansing blood of the
Lamb. Nothing else will cleanse us.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? You see, nothing else is gonna
do that. So he says, now here's the covenant language. Now look
at verse 23. Here's the covenant. And this
is the marriage covenant of the everlasting covenant of grace.
He says, so shall they be my people and I'll be their God.
God in union with his people. The marriage union of Christ
and his people. And then he identifies their
king. And this is messianic language.
This is the Messiah. David, my servant, shall be king
over them. Now he's not talking about a
resurrection of King David of old, Jesse's son. No. He's talking about the greater
David. He's talking about he who David typified. He who King
David prophesied of. He who King David trusted, the
greater David. Remember Peter at Pentecost,
he made this very clear when he quoted David talking about
the resurrection. He said David wasn't talking
about himself. When he said, I will not suffer
my holy one to see corruption because David was in the grave,
his body. So he's talking about Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. And he says, they shall have
one shepherd. Christ said, I'm the good shepherd. I'm the great
shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. They
shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes. And
to do them, that's the covenant of grace. That's the gospel of
God's grace. That doesn't mean they're going
to be perfect people in themselves and do everything right. No,
they're sinners saved by grace, but they're going to walk in
the grace of God, according to the gospel of how God saves sinners. And they'll dwell in the land
that I've given unto Jacob my servant. Well, what is their
land? Well, I'll come back to that. But what are these two
sticks, these two rods represent? Well, you remember back over
there in chapter 36, when he asked the question, or chapter
37 rather, when he asked the question about these dry bones,
who are these dry bones? And the answer comes forth and
then that he's talking about the whole house of Israel. Who
is Israel? Well, that's what we have to
see from the context and from the meaning as it applies to
what Christ is giving Isaiah here to prophesy of. The word
Israel, as you know, means those who have prevailed with God.
How does a sinner prevail with God? by coming to, trusting in,
submitting to, and pleading the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe
that Israel here refers to all the redeemed of the Lord, the
saved, all who are eventually brought to faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what I believe. Now, again,
as I said before, that does not exclude physical Israel. because
the scriptures clear that out of that nation there's always
been a remnant according to the election of grace and there will
continue to be a remnant somebody says well i'd just believe it
sometime in the future the whole physical nation of israel will
be brought to see christ and to believe in him well i don't
believe the bible teaches that but i'll tell you what if i'm
wrong about that that's okay with me i'd love to see that
happen when you I'd love to see the whole physical nation of
the United States of America come to see the glory of Christ,
wouldn't you? I'd love to see any physical
nation be brought by the new birth to see Christ. But what
I think this is, I believe this is speaking of all who believe
the gospel, all who trust Christ and rest in him. And I want to
give you a few things to consider in order to see that. The first
thing you need to consider is Old Testament prophecy itself,
which speaks of God's elect and the glorious hope of the future,
which a multitude of scriptures always tells us that it is a
remnant of every nation, both Jew and Gentile. And we could
go to a lot of scripture, but I don't have time to go to all
that I've got marked down. But let me just give you a few.
Turn over to the book of Zechariah. Turn to Zechariah and look at
chapter 8. And this will just give you somewhat
of an idea. Zechariah chapter 8. And look
at verse 22. This is a prophecy of the last
days. A prophecy of the latter days.
And listen to what it says in Zechariah chapter 8 and verse
22. He says, Yea, many people and
strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem
and to pray before the Lord. And thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
in those days it shall come to pass that 10 men shall take hold
out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt
of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you. Now speaking of the conversion,
of the Gentiles. God's elect among the Gentiles. Go to Isaiah chapter 11. I'll just show you a couple of
these because time won't allow us to do it all. But look at
Isaiah chapter 11. This is that passage of scripture
which is talking about the peaceable kingdom of Christ. We're going
to talk about that more in chapter 38 when we talk about Gog and
Magog. He's talking about the peaceable
And listen to what he says here in verse one, there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Now who's that talking about?
That's a prophecy of Christ. The coming of Christ into the
world to do his great work. What a glorious day that is. But look in verse 10, he says,
and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand
for an ensign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. And you can read the rest of
it. But also in this chapter here, it also goes down and mentions
Ephraim too. Remember in our text, it talks
about Joseph and the stick of Ephraim, the stick of Joseph,
which was given to Ephraim. Look at verse 13. It says, well,
verse 12, he says, he shall set up an ensign for the nations
and shall assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth, north,
south, east, and west. The envy also of Ephraim shall
depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim
shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim." Those
are going to be brought together. They won't trouble each other.
There'll be no friction as far as the gospel is concerned. That
just gives you an idea. And then go back to the passage
that I read at the beginning, Isaiah chapter 26. And what I'm
giving you tonight is just a smidgen, as it were, of the multitude
of scriptures when it speaks of the connection, the coming
of the Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom, that it's always
in light of both Jew and Gentile coming to a saving knowledge
of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah 26 and look down
at verse 15. He says, thou hast increased
the nation. Oh Lord, thou hast increased
the nation, multiplied the nation. Thou art glorified. Thou hast
removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. Remember, this
is a nation that covers the earth, not just one segment of land.
What nation is it? Go back to the passage that I
read in the opening, verse one. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah, we have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Now we're going to
learn later on in chapter 38 that the nation, the city that
he's describing is a city that doesn't have walls and gates
physically, but it does have walls. What are they? God appoint
for walls and bulwarks, salvation. The wall The wall that surrounds
us and protects us is salvation. Who is salvation? Christ, you
see. It's not a physical thing. It's
a spiritual kingdom. And he says, verse two, open
ye the gates that the, what? Righteous nation. Now a righteous
nation is a nation of people who are made righteous in Christ.
A righteous nation is a nation of people who follow Christ and
obey him, not in order to be saved, but because they already
are. Which keepeth the truth, the truth as it is in Christ.
The gospel may enter in. And then he describes in verse
three, thou will keep him in perfect peace. Peace, peace. You remember the false preachers?
What was their message? Peace, peace. But there was no
peace. This is peace, peace, when there
is peace. And why? Whose mind is stayed
on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord
forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So that's
what it's talking about. These are these prophecies. And
like I said, consider these prophecies. And you can go to so many scriptures. Just use your concordance or
look in the middle of your Bible, the number of scriptures that
you can go to. The second consideration is the
New Testament teaching. Now I'm not gonna go to all these,
but I will go to Galatians chapter six. Turn over to Galatians six.
The last time I pointed out passages such as Romans chapter two, Verse
28 and 29, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but He is a
Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is not that
of the flesh, but of the heart. Alright, that's a spiritual circumcision.
And then I pointed out in Romans chapter 9 where He said, They
are not all Israel which are of Israel, but the children of
the promise are counted for the seed. And then who are the children
of the promise? In Galatians chapter 3, 26 through
29, it's those who follow Christ. That's the children of the promise.
Well, look here in Galatians 6, 14, Paul writes in verse 14
of Galatians 6, but God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. Now, there's the motto of a believer. That's the expression of our
heart. God forbid that I should boast or have confidence in anything
or anyone but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is my salvation. He's my assurance of salvation. And so he says in verse 15, for
in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature, a new creation. In other words, it doesn't matter
whether you're Jew or Gentile in this matter. It's, are you a new creation
in Christ? Where did that new creation,
where was it established in time? At the cross. We'll look at that
in a moment, Ephesians 2. We'll look at verse 16. And as
many as walk according to this rule, this doctrine, this teaching,
what? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. Peace be on them. That's the
peaceable nation. Mercy, God's been mercy and upon
what? The Israel of God. There's the
Israel of God. That's God's Israel. And then
we can think about Philippians 3.3. You don't have to turn there.
Remember what Paul said? We are the circumcision. We worship God in spirit. We
rejoice or glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh. So look at all the New Testament teachings. on this
subject concerning what the prophet is saying here. But somebody
asked this question, if you look back at Ezekiel 37, and even
prior to that, we saw, doesn't it say it's gonna bring Israel
into his land, their land, their own land? Well, isn't that just
talking about physical land? Well, there is a, Temporal, temporary
fulfillment of Israel being brought back to the land, the physical
nation. They did come back 70 years in captivity and they came
back under the decree of King Cyrus and Zerubbabel, you remember
he was the one, he was the one from the tribe of Judah that
was put in charge of them. He was kind of like their governor,
their overseer. He really wasn't the king. And
then they never did really have another king. Because they were
under foreign domination. But Zerubbabel was of the tribe
of Judah. He was a type of Christ, bringing
his people out of captivity and into their land. But let me ask
you this question. Where is the true Israel's land? All right? Where is that land?
Well, look over with me. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11 I could read
a lot of passages out of this, but let's just He's talking about
Abraham here And incidentally this everything that he speaks
of has to do with that covenant with Abraham ultimately Look at he's talking about Abraham
and Sarah and And all the rest of them here that he said they,
verse 13, they all died in the faith not having received the
promises but having seen them afar off, that's the promise
of the coming Messiah. All right? He says they were
persuaded of them, embraced them, confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, foreigners on the earth. Verse 14, for they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country,
a land. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from which they came out, they might have had
opportunity to return, but now they desire a better, a better
country, a better land. That is in heavenly. Wherefore,
God is not ashamed to be called their God. Remember he said,
I'll be your God, you'll be my people. For he hath prepared
for them a city. What city is he talking about?
Well, look over across The page to Hebrews chapter 12, and look
at verse 22. Continue on the thought. When he says, you're not come
to Mount Sinai, verse 22, but you're come unto Mount Sinai,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels. to the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn. That firstborn is important.
Christ is the firstborn among many brethren which are written
in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of
just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant. That's the land that we're seeking. That's the land of God's true
Israel. We could go on with that. In fact, just look over at verse
14 of chapter 13 since we're right there. It says in verse
14 of chapter 13, for here on this earth have we no continuing
city, but we seek one to come, heavenly. That's Israel's land. So you have the Old Testament
prophecy to consider. You have the New Testament teaching
to consider. And then thirdly, you have the
significance of these two names back here in Ezekiel 37 Remember
he talked about look look back at Ezekiel 37 verse 16 Moreover
thou son of man take thee one stick Right upon it for Judah
and for the children of Israel his companions Judah's the royal
tribe the kingly tribe Christ is called the lion of the tribe
of Judah in it And then take another stick and write upon
it for Joseph the stick of Ephraim. Now Joseph was a type of Christ.
You remember that? How Joseph was taken captivity
and taken down into Egypt and arose to power by the providence
of God. All of it he said to his brothers
that he might save much people alive. He's a type of Christ.
And then he says the stick of Ephraim and for all of Israel
his companions. Now, you remember the tribe of
Joseph was divided into two tribes. Joseph had two sons. Manasseh
was the elder son. Ephraim was the younger. When the nation Israel split
apart after Solomon, in the northern kingdom, the 10 tribes that went
to the north, Ephraim, the tribe of Ephraim, took the lead. And
so there is a sense in which Ephraim here represents the ten
northern tribes, the tribe of Israel, which had already been
destroyed and scattered by the Assyrian Empire. But consider
some things that I want you to look at. I want you to go back
to Genesis 49. And I think if you'll look at these, it'll be
profitable to you. Genesis 49. Now you remember
You remember when Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, was
on his deathbed, and he's blessing his sons. Alright? And you remember who the firstborn
is? His name was Reuben. Reuben was
the firstborn of Israel, of the twelve sons. But Reuben, being
the firstborn, he was to rightfully get the birthright. The firstborn
male child was to get the birthright. But the birthright was taken
away from Reuben. And you know who it was transferred
to? To Joseph and his sons. Look there in Genesis chapter
49. Look at verse 3. Israel, Jacob says, Reuben, thou
art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength,
the excellency of dignity and the excellence of power. but
unstable as water. Thou shalt not excel, Reuben,
because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defiles thou
it, he went up to my couch." And what he did is he had relations
with one of Jacob's wives, and they had a child. And so the
birthright was taken away from Reuben. Well, it was given to
Joseph. Now as I said, Joseph was a type
of Christ. And what happened? Joseph's sons
received the birthright that was taken away from Reuben. They
received it through Joseph. The birthright was given to them
through Joseph. And you know what's happening
there is the Lord is spelling out through prophecy and type
gospel truth there. Joseph as a type of Christ, the
birthright comes through him. Our birthright of salvation and
blessing that we have in spiritual ways in salvation comes through
Christ. And so he's spelling that out.
But look down at verse 8. You know this passage, Genesis
49. He says, Judah thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise. Judah there, that's the kingly
tribe. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before
thee. Judah has the preeminence, you see. Judah is a lion's wealth. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down, he couched as
a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall be the gathering
of the people be. Now that's a prophecy of Christ. The gathering of the nation shall
be to Judah. And as you know, Christ came
through Judah. Again, a type of Christ. But
what was the significance of Ephraim in all that? I want you
to turn with me back to Genesis 48. Now I'm going to conclude
with this because, like I said, there's so much information here.
I want you to read this in closing. What is the significance of Ephraim,
Joseph? Now Joseph is a type of Christ.
Ephraim what's the significance of Ephraim? Well look at Genesis
48. Well you remember before Jacob blessed his 12 sons Remember
what happened here. This is in verse 8 look at verse
8 Joseph brought his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob
for a blessing And Manasseh was the oldest, Ephraim the youngest,
and it says in verse 8, And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said,
Who are these? Now, his eyes were dim. He was
almost blind. Joseph said unto his father,
They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he
said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I'll bless them.
Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not
see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them
and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph,
I had not thought to see thy face, and lo, God hath shown
me also thy seed. I not only see your face, but
I see your children. And Joseph brought them out from
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the
earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim the youngest now, in
his right hand toward Israel's left hand. In other words, he's
wanting his father to bless Ephraim with his left hand because Ephraim
was not to get the birthright. See, that would be the right
hand. You understand? And Manasseh and his left hand
toward Israel's right hand and brought them near to him. And
Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's
head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's
head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
So here's what Israel did. He went like this. He put his
right hand on Ephraim the younger and his left hand on Manasseh
the elder. Well look at verse 15. He blessed
Joseph and said God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk. This is all covenant see, covenant
language. The God which fed me all my life
long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil.
Remember he wrestled with the angel. That was Christ. Bless the lads, and let my name
be named on them in the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac,
according to the covenancy. Let them grow unto a multitude
in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his
father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased
him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's
head unto Manasseh's head. Joseph's saying, Father, you're
wrong here now. You're doing this wrong. And
Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is
the firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his hand.
And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it.
He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But
truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he. Look at this
line. And his seed shall become a multitude
of nations. What's going on there? Well,
Judah had the preeminence, that's already been established. Judah
was kept intact as a nation, but Ephraim, out of which would
come many nations, received the birthright. Let me read this
to you, 1 Chronicles chapter 5, verse 1. It says, now the sons of Reuben,
the firstborn of Israel, for he was the firstborn, but for
as much as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given
unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel. And the genealogy
is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed
among his brethren. Judah has the preeminence. Of
him came the chief ruler, the king. Out of him came Christ. But the birthright was Joseph's.
through Ephraim. Through Ephraim. Out of Joseph
came a multitude of nations. You know, Joseph married an Egyptian
woman. These two boys, Manasseh and
Ephraim, their mother was an Egyptian. But it's not the purity
of the blood here that's the issue. You know, even in the
physical line of Christ, there were Gentiles. Talk about Ruth,
for example. Talk about Bathsheba. But here's
what it's talking about. Judah, as a nation, was kept
intact all through their history, even during all their captivities. Judah was kept intact until Christ
came. Now, Joseph and Ephraim, they
were assimilated into the Gentile world and virtually lost as any
physical identity at all. So what's happening here? What's
God saying? He said, out of these nations
that came through that, that conquering, that assimilation,
out of those nations, I'm going to gather my people under Christ,
under Judah. A royal line fulfilled by Christ,
the line of Judah, a multitude of people fulfilled in the redemption
and regeneration of God's elect, Jew and Gentile, spiritual Israel. And it all goes back to that
promise that he gave to Abraham. Out of thee will come kings and
nations. You see, what this is all about
is the birthright of a spiritual nation over here in Ezekiel 37. It's the birthright of a nation
which comes by virtue of our firstborn brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In verse 24, he says, David,
my servant, shall be king over them. And they'll have one shepherd,
and they shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes
and do them. David, his servant, will be their
prince. He will establish an everlasting
covenant. We'll pick up there next time.
I'll go over some more information on that concerning the prophecy
of how it's all fulfilled by virtue of the merits of the obedience
unto death of Christ and all of God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation received the birthright through him. Just
like Ephraim received it. All brought together. We have
a spiritual birthright. You know how the birthright comes
to us? It comes to us first by redemption. redeemed by the blood
of the lamb and it comes to us by birth. You must be born again
or you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. All right.