Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

Ezekiel’s vison of our time and after the two houses of Israel have returned to the Promised Land.

The prophet Ezekiel’s prophecies are like that of Hosea, mainly aimed at the house of Israel whom YHVH scattered into the nations of the world because of idolatry. What Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 36 is about what is busy happening with returnees from the house of Israel at this very time before Messiah’s return after which YHVH will unite the house of Israel and the house of Judah as described in Ezekiel 37 and discussed in more detail, later in this sermon. We start reading about it from Ezekiel 36: 17 – 20, as follows: “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. (18) Therefore, I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. (19) Also I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. (20) When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of YHVH; yet they have come out of His land.’

Ezekiel continues to show us how our heavenly Father is busy calling us from the nations where we are in exile and He is cleaning us up in preparation to return to the Promised Land in verses 21 – 27 of Ezekiel 36, saying: “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. (22) Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Adonai Elohim, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. (23) And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am YHVH, “declares Adonai Elohim”, ‘When I prove Myself Set-apart among you in their sight.” (24) For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. (25) Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean (this shows that after we have been immersed into Messiah’s saving name, our past sins are forgiven since He paid the penalty for our transgressions by dying in our place on the cross); I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. (26) Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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 you will be careful to observe My ordinances (or Judgments).” Ezekiel shows us in verses 28 – 38 how our Father will take us back to the Promised Land as He promised our fathers in the faith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in this way: “And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your Elohim. (29) Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.  (30) And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, that you may not receive again 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 in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. (32) I am not doing this for your sake,” declares Adonai Elohim, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!” (33) Thus says Adonai Elohim, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. (34) And the desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passed by. (35) And they will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ (36) Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, YHVH, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, YHVH, have spoken and will do it.” (37) Thus says Adonai Elohim, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them; I will increase their men like a flock. (38) Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am YHVH.”’”

At the completion of the regathering of the house of Israel by Yahshua at His return, YHVH will join us together with the house of Judah to become the united nation of Israel as prophesied in Ezekiel 37, where He instructs Ezekiel in verses 16 - 17, saying: “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions (meaning the tribe of Benjamin, and the tribe of Levi who resides in Judah)’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, His companions.’  (17) Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.” YHVH also informs Ezekiel to tell the sons of His people, what the meaning of this prophesy is in verses 19 – 23, as follows: ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand. (20) And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. (21) And say to them, ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; (22) and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms.”’ YHVH the Elohim of Israel continues in verses 23 – 25, saying: “And they will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their Elohim. (24) And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes, and observe them. (25) And they shall live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons, and their son’s sons, forever; and David My servant shall be their prince forever.” One King will be king and shepherd over the united nation of Israel consisting of all 13 tribes. The words ‘My servant’, ‘David’ ‘King’ and shepherd’ are all Messianic pointers to Yahshua the Messiah, a ‘son’ of David. At this point the tribes will no longer be divided into two kingdoms as they were after King Solomon’s death (another son of David).

We see further that even though Yahshua will be the King of kings, King David will be our prince, under Him, as YHVH promised in amongst other Psalm 89: 34 – 37, saying: “My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. (35) Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. (36) His descendants shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before Me. (37) It shall be established forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful.” It is for this reason that we and all Jews recite the following prayer three times every new moon (transliterated in Hebrew as Rosh Chodesh), as follows: “David King of Israel is alive and enduring” This is also when YHVH will conclude the new covenant of peace with the united nation of Israel, as witnessed in verses 26 – 28 of Ezekiel 37, in this way: “And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. (27) My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their Elohim, and they will be My people. (28) And the nations will know that I am YHVH who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” Believe it or not, Judah and Israel will become one nation once again, thereby fulfilling the promises made to the patriarchs, the matriarchs and Israel’s prophets of truth. These promises state that all 13 tribes will remain eternal, just as (YHVH)’s covenants, Laws and truths found in Torah. Those who believe that this is true, but that only a remnant of called out ones of Ephraim will become spiritual kings and priests under Yahshua, without a remnant of our Jewish Brothers are in for a major surprise as Isaiah witnessed in Isaiah 66: 20 & 21, saying: ‘Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering (first fruits) to YHVH, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says YHVH, just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of YHVH. (21) I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites, says YHVH.’

Brethren, I know some of us who have been following the way of Elohim since the early 1970’s and who have heard these promises of the re-gathering and re-unification of the two houses of Israel for many years, have started doubting whether it will happen as YHVH promised. In fact some have stopped following the way of Elohim, but we know that YHVH our Elohim cannot lie and the He will indeed fulfill, His prophesies, as He ensures us in Malachi 3: 6, saying: “For I, YHVH, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob (all thirteen tribes), are not consumed.” In addition Ezekiel further tells us in a prophecy in Ezekiel 38 & 39, showing where the tribes have already been gathered on the mountains of Israel and lived peacefully, when once again they will be attacked by outside forces, despite being under Yahshua’s direct rulership. There have also in recent years been groups, who because they do not know Elohim’s plan of salvation for all mankind and do not fully understand what the Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles picture, taught the war of Gog and Magog mentioned in Revelation 20 to be the same war as the one mentioned in Ezekiel 38 & 39. They do not understand that there will be a second attack of Israel after Satan is loosed again after Messiah’s millennium rule, after which there will be a second resurrection during which time YHVH will open the minds of everyone who ever lived to understand the Scriptures as recorded in Revelation 20: 12[1], and as also confirmed in Isaiah 25: 7 – 9[2]. Similar to those in the first resurrection, those in the second resurrection will only be judged after they are fully informed of the truths in Elohim’s word. That is when they will be able to make an informed decision as to follow Elohim’s way or not. Those who choose Elohim’s way will live out the rest of their lives, totaling one hundred years as per Isaiah 65: 17 – 20[3], after which they will be judged. But the fact that we are free moral agents ensures that each individual will be allowed to make his/her own decision, one way or the other. Those who choose the way of get rather than Elohim’s way will ultimately be destroyed completely as recorded in Malachi 4: 1, as follows: “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze[4],” says YHVH of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

The war discussed in these two chapters of Ezekiel takes place in the land of Israel, not as some falsely believe in the United States, Britain or in Europe. Inconceivable as it may sound this takes place in the Promised Land after Messiah’s return. There are those who teach that there will not be flesh and blood human beings during the millennium. However, not only will the survivors of the coming Great Tribulation live on into the millennium as flesh and blood human beings, they will also have children. In addition this prophecy clearly shows that the rebellious peoples of Gog and Magog will also live into it. The point is that the millennium will be mankind’s seven thousandth years on the earth, picturing the Sabbath during which there will ultimately be peace for all who are still alive without Satan’s presence. What is prophesied in Ezekiel 38 & 39 is the final great rebellion this earth will experience at the beginning of the millennium, but there will be another at the end of the millennium when Satan is loosed for a little while as per Revelation 20: 7 – 9[5]. We see from verses 2 – 7 of Ezekiel 38 that it is YHVH who draws out the remnant of the nations from the ends of the earth to prepare for this final conflict to show all people still alive that He is the One who is in control, in this way: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog and the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, (3) and say, ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. (4) And I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; (5) Persia (Iran & Iraq) , Ethiopia (Africa), and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; (6) Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops – many peoples with you. (Immediately prior to Messiah’s return, Elohim will use the Russians, Chinese and their companions to punish the beast power in Europe and as a result of their success; they will become haughty and will also need correction by Elohim.) (7) Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.’” We see from verse 8 that at that time Israel will already dwell securely on the mountains of Israel, as follows: “After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.” Yes, the united nation of Israel will dwell in peace at that time, but will also be totally unprepared for war.

Gog and Magog will see how YHVH blessed His people and they will also want to live under such peaceful conditions, but will obviously want to do so, on their own terms. The prophecy of the last great rebellion continues in verse 9 – 14 in Ezekiel 38, YHVH saying: “And you will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.” (10) ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan, (11) and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely; all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gates, (12) to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world (meaning Jerusalem).’ (13) Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’”  YHVH tells Ezekiel to prophesy and say to Gog in verse 14 - 16: ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? (15) And you will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;  (16) and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about in the last days that I shall bring you against My land, in order that the nations may know me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.” It is absolutely beyond belief to think that even after Messiah’s return, when peace and abundance will begin to spill over into the rest of the world that these people will even think of going up against Him and His people.

To help us understand that YHVH knew all along that this final battle with Gog will occur, He says in verses 17 – 23: “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel (as per Isaiah 5: 26 – 29; 34: 1 - 6), who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? (18) And it will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares YHVH Elohim, “that My fury will mount up in My anger. (19) And in My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. (20) And the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. (21) And I shall call for a sword against him on all My mountains,” declares YHVH Elohim. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. (22) And with pestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him; and I shall rain on him, and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (23) And I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am YHVH.”’ We see here that Elohim has a purpose for bringing these nations to fight against His people. In the last part of the quoted section above, we see that YHVH gets His message across to rebellious mankind, by the only way some will learn – through punishment, pain and suffering. That is when the nations of the world will finally understand that He is the Almighty!

This fantastic millennial prophesy is continued in chapter 39, YHVH telling Ezekiel in verse 1 - 8, saying: “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; (2) and I shall turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. (3) And I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dash down your arrows from your right hand. (4) You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops, and the peoples who are with you; I shall give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. (5) You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken, declares YHVH Elohim. (6) And I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am YHVH. (7) And My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am YHVH the Holy One of Israel. (8) Behold, it is coming and it shall be done, declares YHVH. That is the day of which I have spoken.” Elohim will achieve something here which has not occurred before; all the nations will ultimately come to realize that He is YHVH the Elohim of Israel. The number of those killed will be innumerable and only a remnant of these attackers will survive as witnessed in verses 9 – 11, in this way: ‘Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears and for seven years they will make fires of them. (10) And they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,’ declares YHVH Elohim. (11) ‘And it will come about on that day that I shall give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off the passers-by. So they will bury Gog there with all his multitude, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog.’

YHVH will allow Israel to plunder these people, but they will also be called upon to bury the dead, as recorded in verses 12 – 15, as follows: ‘For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. (13) Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself, declares YHVH Elohim. (14) And they will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. (15) And as those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.’  YHVH even tells Ezekiel to inform the birds of the air and the beasts of the field that they will eat the flesh and drink the blood of the mighty men of war of Gog and Magog. They will be glutted at His table with horses and charioteers and all the men of war.

In verses 21 & 22 YHVH says: “And I shall set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. (22) And the house of Israel will know that I am YHVH their Elohim from that day onward.” Here we see again that it is only the house of Israel that needs to know that YHVH is their Elohim, since the faithful in the house of Judah already knows Him. YHVH is making a point in this prophesy and by the action that He is going to take against Gog and Magog, to show the remaining nations of the world why the house of Israel went into captivity, as confirmed in verses 23 – 29 of Ezekiel 39, in this way: “And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. (24) According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them. (Yes,  the house Israel who are mostly to be found  amongst Christianity today, do also not truly know the visible image of the invisible Elohim, the word of Elohim, the one they refer to as J*e*s*u*s, whom they say has abolished His Father’s Torah, without realizing that He is in fact the embodiment of Torah.) (25) Therefore thus says YHVH Elohim, “Now I shall restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel (all 13 tribes); and I shall be jealous for My holy name. (26) And they shall forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. (27) When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations.  (28) Then they will know that I am YHVH their Elohim because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. (29) And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares YHVH Elohim.”

These facts are recorded in the Scriptures to give us hope in what has been prophesied and we can know for certain, that even if we die in faith in Yahshua we shall live again at His coming, provided we live out the rest of our lives serving and obeying YHVH and His Torah for our good. The unbelieving ‘dead’ can easily be identified – since they are the ones who never verify the catechisms drummed into them, whilst they were parking their mindset and character in the Babylon of confusion located in the wilderness of falsehood, better known as Churchianity. They are forever searching fictions and fantasies and will never find any truth about the one and only Elohim, who blesses those who obey Him and His teachings and have faith in His coming kingdom, when we will finally be His spiritual children. It is vitally important that instead of trying to do away with Elohim’s Torah and to dispute that our Jewish Brothers in the land of Israel and those who attend services in the Orthodox synagogues to be found in most major cities in the world are the house of Judah of the Scriptures, we should pray that YHVH ensure that they will retain possession of the Land of Israel, until Messiah comes, when the dead in Messiah will be raised and we join them on the mountains of Israel as Messiah’s bride. Praise YHVH!

 

[1] Revelation 20: 12, ‘And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened (meaning the books contained in the Scriptures will be opened to their minds); and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.’

[2] Isaiah 25: 7 – 9, ‘And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and YHVH Elohim will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for YHVH has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our Elohim for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is YHVH for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation (Yahshua).”’

[3] Isaiah 65: 17 – 20: ‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing, and her people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred shall be thought accursed.’

[4] Revelation 20: 15, ‘And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.’

[5] Revelation 20: 7 – 9, ‘And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore (since those who remained after the war at the beginning of the millennium will again have increased over the thousand years of peace, to a great number). And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.’