Take your copy of God's Word and open to Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel. We'll begin reading this evening in verse 15. Ezekiel 37 verse 15. 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 one to 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 with it 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 I 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, 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." So God made a unilateral covenant with Abraham and his descendants. That's a one-sided covenant, you might say. I will do this, God says. God says, "'I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.'" God said that to Abraham in Genesis 22, verses 17 and 18. God had also promised David that He would raise up one of his descendants, one of David's descendants, to reign on his throne, David's throne, over this planet forever. God said in 2 Samuel 7 to David, "'When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." These were wonderful promises, not only affecting Israel, but riches for the world, Paul writes in Romans 11. But now, Jerusalem has fallen, the city has been leveled, the temple has been destroyed, and Ezekiel finds himself as a prisoner of war in Babylon along with other Jewish exiles. There is no visible light at the end of the tunnel. Some of the Jews, understandably, were saying then in verse 11 of this chapter, Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are indeed cut off. They didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. They didn't see any way for God's promises to them to be fulfilled. Surely God had some other plan, some plan B or something. But as we saw last week, Their circumstances, which they were seeing with their own eyes, should not have been the foundation for their faith. God's promises to them should have been the foundation for their faith. Jacob preached verses 1-14 the last time we were here, a popular passage that is often construed as something other than what it clearly says. Ezekiel was carried away in a vision to a valley full of long-dead, dried bones, and he was told to preach to those bones. Bones that God brought to life. And it says that they stood on their feet, an exceeding great army. They lived, the Word of God says. By the way, I recently listened to a two-part series on that passage and the pastor preached it essentially as a metaphor for the Great Commission. The problem with his sermon is that he had his own interpretation for the first ten verses and forgot that God had an interpretation for those first ten verses in verses 11 through 14. Just for the sake of transparency, that guy that preached those two sermons was a professed premillennialist, as odd as that sounds. He actually took a passage that supports his position and misused it. It's odd, but that's what happens. Go figure. Who knows? But look, we're not left to wonder as to the meaning of Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. God Himself gives us the interpretation. Look at verse 11. Then he said to me, God said to Ezekiel, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we're cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will open your graves, raise you from your graves, O my people. I will bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves, raise you from your graves, O my people. I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, I will do it, declares the Lord. Look, that's clear. Crystal clear. God's promises to Israel remain intact, but they are not based on Israel's faithfulness, because they've been everything but faithful throughout their history, and that's been a major point that has been made in the book of Ezekiel up to this point. Now God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remains intact, not because Israel is faithful, but because God is faithful and for no other reason. That's why the Abrahamic covenant cannot be fulfilled through the keeping of the old covenant law. It can't happen. That has already passed. They had their opportunity to keep the law and they didn't. They said they would, But they didn't. All the law did for them is the same thing the law does for us. It just exposes our guilt and tells us we can't earn our salvation. One of the primary themes in the book of Ezekiel is that God will bring His promises to Israel to fruition through the new covenant. By grace alone, through the work of His Son and our Savior Jesus at the cross. Now our eschatological opponents often accuse us of believing that God's promises will be fulfilled through Israel's faithfulness to the Old Covenant law, but that's not what I believe. There may be some premillennialists that believe that, but I vehemently deny that I believe that. All of God's promises will be fulfilled through the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant law. Now the passage before us this evening explains much the same thing as we saw in the previous passage about the dry bones. In fact, Lamar Eugene Cooper writes this, quote, "...these verses present a new vision that is a sequel to the vision of 37, 1-14, and an extension of Ezekiel's message of national resurrection." I think you could probably see that as we read through our text this evening. My title for this sermon is One Nation Under God. That ought to get some listens on Sermon Audio right there, hadn't it? One Nation Under God. In this text, God's not talking about the United States. God promises to reunite the northern and southern kingdoms, plant them in their homeland under the rule of one king, Jesus Christ. Alright, let's work through the text. Verse 15, "'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.'" We've seen quite a number of these visual sermons that Ezekiel acts out through the book of Ezekiel here. This is the last one. This is the final visual sermon. Here, Ezekiel was instructed by Yahweh to take two separate sticks and to write the name of the southern kingdom on one for Judah and to write the name of the northern kingdom on the other for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. Now if you know your Bible, then you know that the United Kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms, north and south, after the reign of David's son Solomon. The reason is because Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was stubborn. That's the reason. I'm not going to go into all the history, but you can go read that. This was around 950 BC. It could have been a little bit before, a little bit after. There's some disagreement among scholars, but it was around 950 BC. That means that the kingdom of Israel had been divided for some 400 years. when Ezekiel was ministering to his generation. And these two sticks represent that 400-year period of this division. I'm sure you'll recall, though, the northern kingdom fell to Assyria and was exiled over a hundred years before the southern kingdom was taken captive into Babylon. So they've been gone. They've been off their land when Ezekiel was ministering here. All of the tribes are still considered Israel, God's chosen people, but they had been two separate countries for about 150 years longer than the United States has been an independent nation. Long time. Long time. Reunification was unlikely. at least in their minds, especially since the northern kingdom had essentially been absorbed into the surrounding people groups by this point. Nevertheless, reunification, as unlikely as men may believe it to have been possible, is precisely what God promises here. Notice verse 17. of these sticks, God says, join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say, 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 with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in My hand." Obviously, Ezekiel was to perform this visual sermon publicly, which would draw this inquisitive question from the crowd, will you not tell us what you mean by these? What do these two sticks mean? What does reuniting them mean? What are you trying to preach to us in this? Yahweh, God, declares that He is going to do the impossible. He is going to make the northern and southern kingdom into one united nation again. And I'm reminded of Jesus' words to the disciples when He was talking about the salvation of the rich in Mark 14, when He said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. That's precisely what we see here. Listen, the Jews were completely without power to accomplish what God says here is going to happen. The North and the South were under foreign control, dominated by foreign nations at this point. They had no means to bring this about. None. Impotent describes their power at this point in their history. They didn't have any power. But God is all-powerful, omnipotent. He has all power. And to Him, Isaiah 40 says, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as dust on the scales. Behold, He takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Assyria and Babylon were quite the opponent for Judah and Israel, but they were no match for our God. God can bring to fruition what they could not even imagine as a possibility. No problem for God. Then notice verse 20, When the sticks on which you ride 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. And they shall no longer be two nations, and no longer divided, into two kingdoms. This has been the ongoing message of Yahweh in Ezekiel to His exiled people. You will be restored to your land and it will be permanent restoration. Well again, God is clear, I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel. Not two nations any longer, not a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. No, one nation, one united nation. But more than that, one king shall be king over them. They shall no longer be two nations, no longer divided into two kingdoms. We've seen this message already before in the book of Ezekiel back in the In the Good Shepherd passage of Ezekiel 34, God said in verse 23, I will set up over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd. You see why the religious leaders were so angry with Jesus when He said, I am the Good Shepherd. He meant He's the one from Ezekiel 34. Who, by the way, if you look at the context there, is Yahweh Himself. Without a doubt, David refers to David's greatest son, the promised Davidic descendant of 2 Samuel 7, which I read earlier, and 1 Chronicles 17. Here's what 1 Chronicles 17 says. To David, when your days are fulfilled, to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from him who was before you." Speaking of Saul, but I will confirm him in my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.' Two nations then would become one nation again and under one king, Jesus. That's the point. Verse 23, 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 their backslidings in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." This verse is actually key. not just in this passage, not just in the book of Ezekiel, not merely in the Old Testament, but even in the message of the New Testament. This verse is extremely important. Let me remind you that the Bible is one book, one uniform book with one message, one theme or meta-narrative, we might say. The New Testament does not reinterpret the Old, it just completes the message of the Book. The message of salvation by grace alone, then, is found in both Testaments. That's the only way anybody has ever been saved. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Nobody's ever been saved by the keeping of the Old Covenant Law. And we've seen the prophecy of the New Covenant a number of times in Ezekiel. I can't even mention them all. But I've been quite surprised at how often New Covenant language appears in the prophet Ezekiel's writings. Now look, we may disagree over some issues in this book and that's fine, but we ought to be able to find common ground on the New Covenant and salvation through it. Back in chapter 36 verse 24, look back there, it's not probably on the page before where you're at right now. Here's what it says, chapter 36 verse 24. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you. You shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. and I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be My people, and I will be your God." That's the New Covenant. That's what that's speaking about. And just like every instance of the New Covenant, every reference to the New Covenant in the Old Testament, there is this future land promise of Israel right there alongside it. Nevertheless, they will not, listen to me now, they will not regain their land by their faithfulness to the Old Covenant law. That ship has long sailed. It can't be. On the contrary, God will cleanse them. By sovereign grace, God will cleanse them. And that through the work of Jesus on the cross at Calvary. At this point that we live today, the Jews need to repent of their maltreatment of their Messiah, trust Him for salvation, but even that will come only by God's sovereign grace to them. Most recently, in the section Jacob looked at last week, we read it just a second ago, look back at verse 14 in chapter 37. I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live. And I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I've spoken. I'll do it, declares the Lord." That's the new covenant. That's what that's speaking about. They're not going to earn this by the keeping of the old covenant law. God's going to give them this by grace through Jesus. Look, that's just two examples of many that could be offered in the book of Ezekiel that reference the new covenant. And through the New Covenant, through Jesus, God says here in our text that He will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them and they will be His people and He will be their God. This is a key verse here in this passage to show that even Israel's salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. It's not by works. And then God promises again of this coming Messianic Davidic king. Notice verse 24. My servant David shall be king over them. They shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules, 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." Again, this Davidic king clearly refers to David's greatest descendant. We know him as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, our Lord and our Savior. One nation under God, under Messiah Jesus, will last forever. That means no end to it. They will never again then be a divided kingdom. They will never be run off their land again. But there's more. Verse 26, I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set them in their land, and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This covenant of peace is just another way of referring to the new covenant. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. The them here is contextually the United Nation of Israel. They will possess the land God has given them forevermore. And God's sanctuary, His dwelling place as He defines that, His dwelling place will be with them forever. You know, it's interesting if you look at Revelation 21, speaking of the eternal ages, this is precisely what you see. The New Jerusalem, on whose gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel are inscribed there. And what do we read about that city? It has no need for light, because God is the light of that city. And it says in Revelation 21-24, by its light, the new Jerusalem's light, which is God Himself, by its light will the nations walk. That's eternity. That's the eternal ages. By its light will the nations walk. Listen, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. and its gates will never be shut by day." There will be this peace there. There will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations in the eternal ages. We're not given a lot of information about the eternal ages, but we are given that. There will still be nations, nations outside the New Jerusalem, and in some way they will bring offerings, maybe we might call them thank-giving offerings, the glory and the honor of the nations into the city. It is interesting as you study the book of Revelation, there's quite a number of parallels, similarities between Ezekiel's prophecy and the book of Revelation. Anyway, so when God says forevermore, here's why I quoted the eternal ages here in Revelation 21. When God says forevermore, I think we probably do well just to take it as forevermore. I mean, when God says that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life, we latch on to that word everlasting. We should latch on to it here too. And what's God's purpose? Why is God going to do this? We aren't left in the dark. Look at verse 28. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, I am the Lord, who sanctifies Israel. He doesn't say the nations will know Israel fixed their problems. No. He says the nations will know that I Yahweh sanctified Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore." Here's what Israel had never been right here. They were supposed to be a light to the nations, but they weren't. They had actually dishonored God's name among the Gentiles. Romans 2.24 says that. Ezekiel says that. In fact, in chapter 39, we're going to see that God is jealous for His holy name and He will vindicate it. Listen, you may throw off on another human being and they may not be able to vindicate their name, but God can vindicate His name and He will. There's actually a major point back in chapter 36. If you're there, look back at verse 23. There, God says this. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you, the Jews, have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. God's name, God's reputation, we might say, according to the book of Ezekiel, will be vindicated when He sovereignly restores Israel to her land and regenerates her, enabling them finally to be the light to the Gentiles that they were supposed to be all along. God will effectually make that happen. Look, either the words in this chapter mean what they say, and God's going to reestablish a repentant Israel, and Jesus is going to reign over the world from Jerusalem, or they mean whatever we want them to mean. That's literally our two options that we have to decide. We can take it as it reads, or we can make it mean something other than what it says. To me, these words seem awfully straightforward. They meant something to the original audience. And honestly, I feel like we're on dangerous ground when we begin saying the Bible doesn't mean something it clearly says. Just listen to the promises of this passage. Here's what's promised. God says He will gather Israel from the nations. He will restore them to their land. the two nations will reunite to form one nation. One king, the Davidic Messiah, will reign over this reunited Israel. They will never be divided again. They will never serve idols again. They will be cleansed and brought into a personal relationship with Yahweh through the New Covenant. They will walk in obedience to God. God will establish a covenant of peace with them. He will multiply them and fill the land with descendants. They will live in prosperity. God will dwell among them. And all of this will be a light to the Gentile nations. There's just nothing about this passage that fits the church. I mean, it's easy to say the words, this is now being fulfilled in the church. I've had that said to me. But it's a lot more difficult to explain precisely how all of this is being fulfilled in the church, at least in the ways that this passage we've looked at this evening outlines. For what it's worth, New Testament writers quote the Old Testament with regularity. Thank God they do. we aren't left to wonder. And they never, not even one time, do they explain that the promises to Israel are being fulfilled in the church. They had the opportunity, but they don't do that. On the contrary, they continue to offend God's faithfulness to Israel His chosen earthly people. Paul, somewhat famously in Romans 11, writes this, I ask then, has God rejected His people? The context there, by the way, will show that he's speaking of Israel. By no means, Paul says, for I myself am an Israelite. The descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the scriptures say of Elijah?