It's good to be with you this evening. Please now turn with me in God's holy word to the book of the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 37. You're probably familiar with the first half of this chapter, the vision of the valley of dry bones, but this evening we will be looking at the second half of this chapter, verses 15 through 28 of Ezekiel 37. We'll also be reading a second passage from Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 through 8. Let us hear God's holy word. The word of the Lord came to me, 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. and join them to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, Will you not tell us what you mean by these? 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 it with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 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. 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. They shall not defile themselves any more 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. 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. 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. I will make a covenant of peace with them, and 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. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God. and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. Please now turn with me to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 through 8. 21, 1 through 8. Once again, let us hear God's holy word. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. For the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. So ends the reading of God's word. I think that all of us understand that sometimes one thing is used to represent another thing. It's simply illustrated even for our children in the simplicity of the toys that they play with. A little boy's soldier represents a friend or playmate. Obviously they aren't the real thing, but in the absence of someone else to play with or a multiple number of people to play with, that little soldier or a girl's little doll can drink tea, listen to a story, shoot a rifle, hide from the enemy, just like the real thing. The dollar soldier, or pony, or transformer, or whatever it is, represents someone to play with. Likewise, we've come to understand that even our relationships with other people should look like and remind us of our relationship with God. The parent-child relationship, represented both as a mother hen with her chicks and a father who disciplines his son, should look like the relationship of the heavenly father to his sons and daughters, whom he has adopted in Christ. And the husband-wife relationship should look like the relationship of Jesus to his bride, which is his church. Here at the close of Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel is to hold up a simple illustration of one broken relationship that God promises to restore. The restoration of that one relationship is then used to point far beyond itself to the restoration of many other broken relationships. Here in Ezekiel 37 verses 15 through 28, I would like us to see unity portrayed and unity realized. As a whole, Ezekiel 37 is an elaboration on Ezekiel 36 verses 24 through 29. In those verses, God promises to gather Israel from the nations to which it has been scattered and return it to the promised land. He promises to wash Israel clean from all its uncleannesses, which include its sin and its idolatry, its violence and sexual immorality. He promises to give his people new hearts pointing to regeneration and to put his spirit in them for their sanctification so that they will obey his laws and his commands. He promises that they will live in the land and that he will be their God and they will be his people. beginning in the very familiar first half of Ezekiel 37 and its description of long dead bones brought back to life. God fills out the way in which he will fulfill his promises. He will raise the dead and make them live again by the power of his spirit. The new life described in those verses brought about by the spirit working through the proclaimed word of God points beyond itself to the physical resurrection of God's people. Here in the second half of chapter 37, God further declares that he will renew his covenant with Israel by reuniting all of his people, giving them one king, restoring them to the land, cleansing them from sin, and making them holy so that he can dwell with them forever. Unity portrayed, verses 15 through 19. The word of the Lord came to me, 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 of the house of Israel associated with him. Following his vision of prophesying to the very dry bones in the valley full of dead to make them live, God commands Ezekiel to do something quite simple in comparison. It's quite an astounding prophecy that he is told to make to those bones in chapter 37. It rivals the parting of the Red Sea in magnitude, that a valley of the dead, not of The dead with flesh still on them, but a valley of bones would be made to live and to breathe again. That's quite an astounding prophecy in the last of its kind in the book of Ezekiel. And following it comes this very simple illustration. Throughout this book, Ezekiel has been called upon to illustrate many things in his physical person. He was told to live on starvation amounts of food, to illustrate all of the years that Israel had been in sin and rebellion against God. He was told on another occasion to break through the wall of his own house to illustrate the way that King Zedekiah would escape from the city of Jerusalem. So in comparison to those illustrations through his life, this is pretty simple. Hold up two sticks. Put them end to end in your hand and make them look like one stick. All he has to do is to take these two sticks, write on one for Judah and the people of Israel associated with him, and write on the other for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and the house of Israel associated with him. Ezekiel was then to join the sticks end to end and hold them in his hand in such a way as to make them appear to be one stick. It's like one of those things that a little six year old does, a little trick. See, I have these two broken sticks. Now look at them. They're one in my hand. Except this was no trick to be done. It was to illustrate the thing, the miracle that God was going to bring about. Since the sticks had the name of Judah and Joseph written on them, we might think that the meaning of the sign should have been obvious. One says Joseph. One says Judah. They're joined in the hand and made to look like one. We'd think that's pretty obvious. Everybody should be able to look at that and figure out what's going on here. But it was not obvious. God says to Ezekiel, they're going to ask you what it means. Because they're not going to be able to figure it out. You see, the northern kingdom of Israel that the stick of Joseph represented, headed by the tribe of Ephraim, had broken away from the kingdom of Judah 400 years before this prophecy. 400 years. That's a long time. That's a long time even in our comprehension of history. 400 years had passed. Further, that northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrians 150 years before this prophecy. 150 years, not 20, not 50, not 100. 150 years have passed since the northern kingdom of Israel has been destroyed by the Assyrians and scattered among the northern parts of Mesopotamia. To think that its people could be found and identified, let alone restored and brought back to the land, was unimaginable. That's why they're going to ask, what do you mean by this sign? Therefore, knowing that the exiles with Ezekiel will ask him what the sign means, God says that Ezekiel is to tell them that God is going to take the stick that represents Joseph, referring primarily to Ephraim and the tribes associated with him, and join it with the stick of Judah and make the two sticks one in God's Tell them that I am going to make the two sticks one in my hand, God says. Placing the name of Joseph as a reference to Ephraim on the stick together with mentioning tribes of Israel, God is eliminating the confusion that would have been created by a reference to the former northern kingdom. God is making it clear that he is not referring to the former kingdom that was once called Israel. Instead, he is referring to all those tribes from the north. that once associated with Ephraim in its rebellion against the rule of David's grandson, Rehoboam. Although there have been a number of suggestions as to what Ezekiel might be referring to by the word translated stick, including rulers, staff, based on the Septuagint and the apocryphal book of Ben Sirach, we should probably think of sticks or tribal staffs at the most. not rulers' scepters. Ezekiel most often uses this word, stick, here to refer to trees under which the Israelites practice their idolatry. And on one occasion, he uses this same word to refer to a piece of useless vine, which represents Judah, that's not even worth burning in the fire, let alone making something from it like a tent peg. In the last chapters, he's going to use this same word to refer to the boards out of which the temple will be constructed. Therefore, as I said, it's probably best to just think of sticks or a tribal rod, perhaps. Back in Numbers chapter 17, when the tribes of Israel were in the wilderness, there was a rebellion by some of the people of Israel against the exclusive appointment of Aaron's line to be the only priests. So God instructed Moses to get a staff or stick from each of the tribal heads and to write the name of each tribe on each staff, then place those staffs before the Lord in the ark. During the night, God caused Aaron's rod to bud and to blossom and grow an almond, showing that he was chosen to be God's priest. God's promise here is that he is going to reunite these tribes, whether it's a stick or a staff. He is going to reunite these tribes of Israel in his hand by portraying the sticks representing the leading tribes being joined as one. Humanly impossible, God portrays his promise to reunite the tribes of his people. Although some descendants of the northern tribes had migrated to Judah in the days before and after the fall of the northern kingdom, this promise is a promise for something far more. At least in part, its fulfillment begins in the spread of the gospel to the Samaritans by Jesus during his earthly ministry and by the apostles in their obedience to Jesus' command in Acts 1.8. To be Jesus' witnesses beginning in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria. and then to the ends of the earth. Its fulfillment is completed as the gospel is proclaimed and embraced by Jew and Gentile throughout the earth. Through the preaching of the gospel, Jesus gathers all of God's elect from all of the nations, Jew and Gentile, and makes them one in his hand. Unity realized, verses 20 through 28. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 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. The Babylonian exiles that are with Ezekiel have been there now It depends on which wave of exiles that a particular person was taken out. But they've been in exile now, at the time of this prophecy, for say a decade or two, probably two decades. They have never considered the reuniting of the tribes from the north and the reunite with Judah. gone for 150 years, who could imagine that those lost people, those lost Israelites, could even be found? Separated for 250 years before that, and often at war with the southern kingdom of Judah, the exiles would have viewed the descendants of the northern tribes as nearly foreigners. And this is exactly the way that the Jews did view the Samaritans in Jesus' day. following their return to the land and up until the exile, up until 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem. However, God had not let the Israelites of the north to be forgotten. They are frequently mentioned by the prophets for their sins as a sister with Judah, both before and after Ezekiel. The exiles themselves, as it is clear from the vision of dry bones and stated in verse 11, have lost all hope of ever being restored themselves. For God to make the improbable promise of restoring the northern tribes sends the message that he is going to not only restore the exiles as he has promised, but he is going to do far more than they can ever imagine. God begins by making the explicit sign, making explicit the sign which Ezekiel has portrayed, the sign of the sticks. pointing to the fulfillment of one simple promise, the restoration of unity between the tribes of Israel, an unimaginable thing. But then he goes on from there. He not only promises the rejoining of the tribes, he promises that he will bring everyone back to the land, meaning their inheritance. It is there on the mountains, on the land in the mountains, that promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God will make that people into one nation, he says, ruled by one king over them. No longer divided, they will be united as one people ruled by one king. Further, God says that he will cleanse them from all of their sins of idolatry and from all the other sins which they have committed. He will cleanse them and they will know that they are his people and that he is their God. The promise made by God here is almost numbing. But to be even more explicit, God makes clear the connection here between the covenant promises of the past and this promise. The king who will reign over them is none other than David. That is, God's chosen king will be restored. Not Zedekiah, not any of Josiah's sons, but David himself. Further, the people of Israel will be changed. They will obey God's commandments. They will live in the land given to Jacob. They will live there forever. And David will reign over them forever. God will establish a covenant of peace with them that will last forever. His holy dwelling place will be with them forever, He says. And He will be their God and they will be His people. And all of the nations will know that He is God because He has made Israel holy and He lives in its midst forevermore. The exiles whom Ezekiel is addressing had lost all hope of everything. They'd lost hope of their inheritance. They'd lost hope of ever being returned to the land, of ever being the people of Israel again. They'd lost hope of even having a relationship with God. And truly, in the hardness of their heart, one might even say that they didn't want God to be their God any longer. But God is making it clear that he is their only hope. If they are to have hope for anything, it can only be found in him. He is their only hope for restoration from exile. He is their only hope to be a kingdom again. He is their only hope to once more be God's people, but to have those things, it will be on his terms and his terms only. He will keep his covenant promises to Abraham and to all the tribes of Jacob and to David, but they must be a people who have been cleansed from sin and obedient people, a people who have been made holy by him. If one were to look for a historical fulfillment of these promises, At any time between the time that they were made and today, one would be very disappointed. When were the Northern tribes ever restored to the land of Canaan? There were a few, as I said earlier, a few who migrated both before and after the fall of the kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. And then, of course, there were those Samaritans, those people of mixed heritage who were part Israelite, part people who had been moved to that land by the Assyrians in their conquest. But where would one ever find the kind of fulfillment that's spoken of here in this particular passage. This has even led some conservative commentators to suggest that this is a false prophecy. One commentator calls it the only false prophecy of the Old Testament. But he calls it that. However, consider the timing of the fulfillment and duration of these promises. God says they and their children's children will dwell in the land forever. David will be their prince forever. God will dwell in their midst forever. These promises were never meant to be fulfilled except in Jesus Christ. whose death on the cross cleanses his people from all their sins, whose spirit sanctifies us through and through, and in whom we are recreated in Jesus' image in righteousness and holiness so that one day we will be those people who obey all of God's commands. The fulfillment of this promise has begun, yes, but it is not completed. Until that day when the dwelling place of God is with man forevermore and Jesus is in our midst reigning over us. With His ascension and reign, we now have Jesus Christ, the Davidic eternal Messiah reigning over us forever. We have Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile made into one body, one bride, one church, through Jesus, who is our peace. We have Jesus, who through the Spirit has promised to be with us until the end of the age, and who will dwell with us forevermore in a new heaven, a new earth. the inheritance given to his people by our God. Without Jesus, there is no hope. With Jesus, every hope is fulfilled because he is our hope. Our hope, like that hope for Israel of old, is not in immediate fulfillment. It may not even be in fulfillment that takes place in two millennia. of Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. But it will be fulfilled. In John's revelation, he sees 24 elders, 12 apostles, and 12 tribal leaders of the people of Israel. John's vision includes the elect from all 12 tribes. Jesus is our hope for a church united in Him made up of all of God's elect from every tribe of Israel and from the nations. Jesus is our hope for cleansing from all our sin. He is our hope for the sanctifying work of His Spirit in our lives. Jesus is our hope for being made into a people ruled by Him, protected and defended by Him, and comforted by Him so that we will never again sin against our God and Savior. Jesus is our hope for being the temple of God, his sanctuary. Jesus is our hope for dwelling in a new heaven and new earth promised by our God. Jesus is our hope for having God to be our God and for us to be his people. The promise that is given here concerning the church, and most of all concerning the church in the new heaven and new earth, when believers of every age are united in the service of the Savior forever, is put in terms that the exiles could understand, in terms they could understand. It is described to them in terms of an analogy so that both you and they can understand it. It's as simple as God rejoining two separated sticks in his hand and making them one. What God's people could not do for themselves on account of their sinfulness and rebellion, God is here promising to do for them. God has kept his word. He sent his only begotten son of Jesus Christ into the world. Jesus is both the son of David and God himself living in the midst of his people. He is our inheritance, our peace, and the one who makes us holy. By the grace of God, those of you who are not descended from Israel, are part of those nations which have seen what God has done and now believe that he is the Lord. By that same grace, you are made members of the true Israel of God through Jesus Christ to whom you are united. What we must see here and what we must understand is that this passage is about more than the promise of a united Israel. With its declaration of God dwelling with them and its double mention of God's sanctuary in their midst, and its double mention of God being their God and they being his people, we must see that this is a promise of union, of the union and communion that exists between God and his people. The union of two sticks, twelve tribes, pointing far beyond itself to the joining of God and his people. being made into one people, having God himself reign over us in the person of his Davidic Messiah, Jesus Christ, being washed clean from our sins by means of the justifying work of Jesus Christ, and being made holy by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, are simply parts of the greatest of all blessings, that God is our God and we are his people. In our communion with him, We have received all of the benefits of His saving work, but more than that, we have really and inseparably been united to Jesus. We are His and He is ours forever, like branches to a vine, like a body to a head, or ideally like a wife to her husband. We are in Him and with Him and He is in us and through the Spirit and with us, our God, His people. For them, the sign of unity began with something as simple as two sticks. God's covenant promises were to be their hope and your hope. They are our hope for the seemingly impossible, that God is your God and that you are his people. And what is more, they are promises which he makes and fulfills on his terms. He has washed you clean from your sins. He makes you holy by the work of His Spirit. And He lives with you forever because He has made you His sanctuary, His dwelling place, His temple, His house. With the keeping of such promises in Christ, how can there be any feeling of hopelessness or despair? Are you facing cancer? Or possibly death? Jesus raises the dead to eternal life. Because of employment or government or the economy, does it seem as if you will lose or might lose everything? I know seminarians don't have to worry about that. They don't have anything left anyway. But does it seem like you might lose everything or not have anything? Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He rules over all forever. broken relationships with parents or with children, Jesus unites forever those who were once at war. Jesus is your hope because he has united himself to you and you to him forevermore. Let us pray.