Herbert W Armstrong

   I've had an opportunity to walk through the camp a few times, which I have always enjoyed doing very much. Get a special pleasure in walking down the streets and seeing the various tents and trailers and motor homes and the people from all over. And I was thinking this morning how different it is today from a few years ago. I happened to run across one old acquaintance and friend, and said he had been on security duty here one night, and he had been through the camp during nighttime, and how enjoyable and inspiring and pleasurable it had been to him. He said he's not had an opportunity for several years. I think the last time was about 1972. And obviously since that time there has been a marvelous and a very obvious change that has taken place in the church.

   Jesus said, you know, you would know a person by their fruit, or you might say you would know a thing by its fruit. And the fruit of the church, I think at this point, is very good. For a while it was not that way. But thankfully God has cleaned house. God has been setting the church back on the track, and now that the church is back on the track, we ought to make tracks. I hope you understand what I mean by that. We need to start making progress now that we're on the track, to get the work done, to complete the job that God has called all of us to do. Now it's good that we're back on the track, but we need to do more than that. So I hope all of us will be doing our part, whatever that might be.

   Well, as you know, Mr. Armstrong will be speaking to us this afternoon from Tucson by closed circuit television, and he will be explaining the meaning and the significance of this day for the future of mankind, because it does affect in a very profound way, in a very major way, the future of all mankind, and for that matter, all of past mankind.

   This day, of course, gives us a message of hope for the billions who never knew the name of Christ, because there have been billions who have lived and died on this earth who have never even heard, let alone worshipped, the name of Jesus Christ. There are many others, certainly millions, many millions, probably hundreds of millions, and maybe even into the billions who have known the name of Christ, but they didn't know the real Christ. They had heard about a counterfeit Christ. They had heard about a counterfeit gospel.

   The billions whom God has not called in the past, that he is not calling today, are going to have their real chance of salvation in a great resurrection, and at that time they will have their first chance of eternal life and of salvation. God will finally set his hand to save the world, something that he has not yet done. And when he sets his hand to save the world, he will succeed. Now that is good news to me, to me, the very best of good news.

   At the beginning of the 1000 years that you've been hearing about during these last 7 days, we know that God will begin then to save Israel and later the whole world of those who are alive at the beginning of that millennium, those who survived the Great Tribulation, survived the day of the Lord and all of the other things that are attended with that. And the scriptures indicate that only about 1/10 of Earth's population will survive through that time of great trouble. But those who do survive, living on into the world tomorrow, the 1000 year period, the millennium as we sometimes call it, those people will go on and they will have their chance then of salvation.

   But after that 1000 years is over, there will be another resurrection called the second resurrection, referred to in Revelation, the 20th chapter, as a Great White Throne Judgment, which few people that I've ever heard of, if any, outside of God's church understand. And so we're here today to learn in greater detail the events relating to that time, that Great White Throne Judgment.

   Now we as ministers are commanded to give meat in due season. And therefore on these holy days, all 7 of them, we are to explain the significance of the days because each one has an important part in the overall plan of God, the plan of salvation. And this, of course, is the last of those 7 days, those 7 holy days scattered through the year.

   But as a minister speaking on this morning of this last day, I have a bit of a dilemma that I mentioned last night. And that is what part of this important segment of God's plan should I cover? Mr. Armstrong will be speaking on this subject this afternoon, and I don't want to preempt him. I don't know what text he will cover because there are many, many texts, and he will cover it, of course, in his own way, in a slightly different way maybe than others of us might cover it.

   As I mentioned last night in a preliminary Bible study to this service, I have decided to cover primarily one text only, that of Ezekiel 37:1 through 14. But I want to give it to you in context. Now I think all the sermons that I have ever heard over the years on this Last Great Day, and those sermons that I have given, have included the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel, those 14 verses. But generally, without making reference to the context in the book of Ezekiel. And so last night, I began giving, you might say, the context of the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel and what leads up to it, and also for that matter, what follows it in the book.

   So we had a survey last night, a brief survey of the book of Ezekiel. And some of you were not able to be here at that particular time, I would presume. I didn't count to see how many were there. Somebody did, I guess, but I don't know what the attendance was, but I'm sure that we have more here today that were not there last night. So I want to just summarize without turning to the book of Ezekiel, some of the things that I covered last night.

   Ezekiel, the man who wrote this book, was a priest of the family of Zadok. He had been taken captive along with King Jehoiachin of Judah, about 596 B.C. And he starts his prophecy, his book, the Book of Ezekiel, about 5 years later, in 591 B.C. at the age of 30.

   Now his prophecies, the prophecy, the prophecies of Ezekiel have an almost unique aspect that you will not find in other prophecies in the Bible, and that is that he dates each of his prophecies, the day, the month and the year. There are 13 separate prophecies or visions, how we might want to call it, 13 separate dates, 13 separate prophecies. And in addition to those major divisions of the book, he further subdivides them, those sections, those particular prophecies, with subsections. And today I want to cover one particular section, the 12th section of the book of Ezekiel, which includes the thirty-seventh chapter.

   Well, the prophecies, as I indicated, started in 591 and continued on for 22 years to 569 B.C. About this time, the house of Israel had already gone into captivity almost 130 years earlier, a century and 1/3 earlier. The house of Judah, a separate nation, was in the process of going into captivity. And they had been in the process of doing that for several years prior to the time of Ezekiel's beginning the book. This started around 604 B.C. and continued on for 19 years to 585 B.C., and Ezekiel continued to prophesy after that time down to 569 B.C. in the land of Babylon.

   As I mentioned last night, people today confuse this book, the book of Ezekiel, into relating only to the Jews and more particularly to the Jews of the 6th century B.C. But the book of Ezekiel is written primarily for today. The messages that he had, and the people to whom they were addressed at that time did not hear the message.

   People think, as I said, that this book relates to the Jews, not realizing that in 970 B.C., almost a millennium before the time of Christ, the nation of Israel, consisting of 12 tribes, divided into two separate nations. One called the House of Judah, the other called the house of Israel. Each having different tribes, having different capitals, having different kings, different dynasties of kings, a different religion, different priests, different priesthood, different national boundaries, and these two nations sometimes fighting against each other as the Bible clearly shows.

   Most modern scholars and theologians have forgotten that Israel was divided into two nations, and they have remained separate to the present day. As I went on to show in Ezekiel 37:15 to 28, it shows very clearly at the time of the end, at the time of the resurrection, the first resurrection of the saints, at the time when David is going to be resurrected, that the house of Israel, who are still separate from the house of Judah at that time, then become one nation under the resurrected King David.

   Now, the book of Ezekiel was written during the time of Judah's fall, not Israel's fall. And yet strangely, as you look through the book, you'll find that the house of Judah is rarely addressed or mentioned, possibly only 6 times in the book. On the other hand, the house of Israel is addressed 10 times more often. The house of Jacob, of course, which includes both, is mentioned once. So the overwhelming emphasis, as you read through the book, is on Israel, not on Judah. And yet the events that were taking place during the writing of Ezekiel's book related primarily, at least to historical events of that time, related to what was going on in Judah and also in Babylon where he was in captive or a captive.

   I mentioned there were 13 separate prophecies. The first one, as I pointed out last night, starts in chapter 1 and goes through chapter 7, verse 27. It starts out by describing the throne of God that the Jews called the Merkaba. You might call it the divine throne, the throne of Jesus Christ as we know him in the New Testament, or Yahweh as he was known in the Old Testament.

   In that particular prophecy, we next read that the house of Israel was a rebellious and stubborn nation. And Ezekiel had been sent to them as a watchman. However, he never went to the house of Israel to give them the message of this book.

   Next, we saw that the city of Jerusalem was being portrayed by the prophet in a siege of 390 days and 40 days, 390 days against the house of Israel and 40 days against the house of Judah. Jerusalem here being a type and a lesson to both people, both houses of Israel and Judah.

   Now there never from that time until the present has been a siege of 390 days or 40 days of Jerusalem or of Israel or of Judah. That is a prophecy for today. And what Ezekiel portrayed there in that particular period of time is a lesson and a message for us today, because our nation, the United States and Great Britain and some other Israelite nations of the house of Israel, are going to be in a very terrible siege for 390 days, and the Jews, the house of Judah, for 40 days.

   After that, we read about the 3/3, 1/3 dying by pestilence, 1/3 by war, 1/3 by captivity, which is a prophecy again for today, and what is going to happen to our nation in just a few years. And ending in that particular section, we saw that because of idolatry and sins, God was going to bring destruction upon his people Israel and Judah.

   The second prophecy starting in chapter 8 and going on to chapter 19 verse 14 tells us that because of Israel and Judah's sins, the city or the people in the city were going to be killed, except those who were sighing and groaning over the abominations that were being committed in Jerusalem at that time. But that again was a type of what's going to happen in our time. And those who are concerned about the sins and the wickedness of the land and are sighing and groaning over that are going to receive protection.

   We next saw in this particular prophecy again the divine throne of God, the Merkaba, and the various other things relating to the prince of that time, King Zedekiah, various signs for that time, various parables, analogies and allegories that I will not comment about today.

   The third prophecy starting in chapter 20, continuing on through chapter 23 verse 49, tells of Israel's history from the time that they were in the land of Egypt through the time that they were in the wilderness, finally coming into the land of Palestine or of Canaan, and then going on to ultimate captivity and the millennium. It doesn't mention the millennium, but the description there makes it obvious that it's speaking of that. There were also allegories about Samaria and Jerusalem, the ancient capitals of Israel and Judah. So that was the 3rd prophecy.

   The 4th one, starting in chapter 24 verse 1, continuing on to chapter 25 verse 17, describes Jerusalem as a bloody city. But Jerusalem, of course, is a type of Israel and Judah in the end time, and in this time, we find the same things taking place, that in our cities today, the cities are bloody. And I understand from what I've heard just a few days ago that Houston has once again become the murder capital of the world where there is what I think is 30 murders per 100,000, if I recall correctly, of population this past year. They have the terrible distinction of having more murders per capita than any other city on the face of the world. That's in your state.

   Ezekiel became a sign to the people. And he also had messages to Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, and the punishment that were going to come, that will come on them because of their sins against the house of Judah or the Jews.

   Now these first four major prophecies in the book of Ezekiel regarding Israel and Judah are a little bit repetitious, because basically, at least in the main, they mention the sins of Israel and Judah, the punishment that God is going to bring upon them as a result of that, including ultimately a captivity just before the return of Jesus Christ, and then the ultimate restoration of Israel and Judah to their old land.

   Now these events and these prophecies foretell primarily events in our day of a modern siege, a modern destruction, and a modern captivity because of the sins of modern Israel and Judah. I presume all of you have read the booklet, Mr. Armstrong's booklet on the United States and Britain in Prophecy, which of course gives us the identity in our time of both of those nations and their peoples.

   Following this, following the captivity that is prophesied, as I already mentioned, there is going to be a restoration, and David is going to be king again over all of Israel. Other scriptures tell us that under David will be the 12 apostles, and each one will reign over or rule over one tribe of the 12 tribes.

   Now I'd like to go back to just three very brief passages over the section that I have just been describing. First, to chapter 5 and verse 9. And what I want to emphasize here is the time element of the prophecy of Ezekiel to show you that it is not something for ancient time, but it's for our time and the time shortly yet future.

   "And because of all of your abominations," he says, this is chapter 5, verse 9, "I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again." This is speaking of a time of trouble, such as the world has never seen and in particular such as Israel and Judah have never seen. There can only be one such time. It never happened in the past. It's going to happen yet shortly in the future. And last night I gave several other scriptures that refer to this particular time in Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Mark, and I think you might be familiar with the one in Matthew 24:21, which says that there will be a time of trouble such as never was before.

   Now, let's turn next to chapter 13, to chapter 13, verse 5. He speaks here when he is talking about the prophets of Israel or the ministers of Israel who are preaching their own words rather than the words of God. He says, "You have not gone up into the breaches or built up the wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord."

   Showing you that the events that he is describing here relate to the day of the Lord. Now, the day of the Lord is a 24 hour day in which Jesus Christ returns to earth. And in another sense it is a whole year, a day equaling a year, prior to that time and ending with that event. That day of the Lord then following the great tribulation, which lasts 2 1/2 years, 2 1/2 years for the great tribulation, that culminating in the great heavenly signs, and then the day of the Lord, the 7th seal is also called, the seven or the trumpets it's also called. And so the time element that he is referring to here is that time, not 600 years or 500 years before Christ.

   Turn back to chapter 11 and let's notice another point here. Chapter 11 verse 17. He describes here how that the house of Israel, verse 14 and also verse 5, are going to be brought back to the land. And at verse 17, "Thus says the Eternal God, I will gather you," that is the house of Israel, not the Jews, but the house of Israel, the 10 tribes, speaking of the United States, Great Britain, certain countries in northwestern Europe, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and so on. "Thus says the Eternal God, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered," and this is just immediately prior to Christ's return, the end time. "And I will give you the land of Israel."

   They're going to go back to that ancient land. There will only be 10% of them left, but those who are left are going to go back to that land. "And when they come, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations."

   Now the part I want to emphasize is in verse 19 and 20, "And I will give them one heart." They're going to be in unity, in harmony. "And put a new spirit within them." And that is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God. "I will take out or take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them, and they shall be my people and I will be their God."

   Now that's describing things of the millennial period, as we call it, the time when those who live on through the Holocaust that is ahead will become converted and will receive God's Holy Spirit. A time for them to be saved, a time of judgment such as we are in now and as such as this day represents.

   I'd like to continue on just very briefly now concerning the additional and remaining prophecies of the book of Ezekiel. The next one, the 5th prophecy starts in chapter 26. And it describes Tyre and Tyre's ruin. Now there is an ancient Tyre, an ancient city, but it's just a type of a system that is on the earth at the end time. And I think as you read through that story and you compare it with the book of Revelation, particularly chapter 17, you'll see the relationship and the comparison with the modern end time counterpart of that ancient Tyre.

   The 6th prophecy, the 7th, the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th prophecy all relate to Egypt, starting in chapter 29 and continuing on through all these 4 separate prophecies through the 32nd chapter of Ezekiel verse 16. Then in chapter 32, starting in verse 17, the 11th prophecy relates to the Gentile armies and what is going to happen to them and how that they're going to end up in the grave, in Sheol, in the nether world.

   Now we come to prophecy number 12, and that's the one that we want to cover today. That starts in chapter 33 verse 21. But before we turn there to that particular point, I would like to go on and mention the very last prophecy, the 13th prophecy, which starts in chapter 40 and continues on to the end of the book. That, of course, describes in great detail the temple during that period of the 1000 years and also the great white throne after that. The temple of God, the instructions to the priests for that time, and the division of the land of Israel and how it's going to be distributed to all of the 12 tribes. Following that, we find the brief description of a river that flows from the temple. And the book ends by saying, "The Lord" or Yahweh, speaking of the God of the Old Testament, who is also the same as Jesus Christ of the New Testament, the Eternal, "the Lord is there."

   Now let's come back to the chapter that I just referred to, Chapter 33. Chapter 33, because now this is the 12th prophecy. We're going to see now a little more detail than we had time for last night, the events that lead up to chapter 37, which is the focal point for today's sermon.

   In verse 21, chapter 33, "In the 12th year of our exile, in the 10th month, on the 5th day of the month," which was about 584 B.C., "the man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, 'The city has fallen.'" Now the city had fallen some time before this. And the message though had taken quite some time to get to Ezekiel.

   "Now the hand of the Eternal had been upon me the evening before," that is before the fugitive came, "and he had opened my mouth." You want to read more of that story. There are several places that refer to this. The prime one I'll refer to now is chapter 3, verse 26, and apparently what happened was that for 7 1/2 years, Ezekiel was not able to speak. He was dumb. And now at this particular point, as he had already been told in advance of this, some chapters before, that when the word came to him about this, that he would no longer be dumb, unable to talk, and now he would be able to talk. So he says, "So my mouth was open and I was no longer dumb."

   Now that gives us sort of an introduction to this particular section. I'd like to first divide and separate this particular prophecy, the 12th prophecy, in the various sections that Ezekiel divides it into.

   Notice verse 23. It says "The word of the Eternal came to me," and I remarked last night how that Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos, as you'll find in John chapter 1 in the New Testament. He is the Logos, the Word of God. And he also was the Lord or the Yahweh of the Old Testament. And so when it says "the Word of the Eternal came to me," he may have meant that literally Jesus Christ, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, came and appeared to him personally and gave him these words, this message, or maybe it came to him in a vision, or maybe he just heard the words from God. Whatever that might mean, however it might be, you'll notice that ever so often he introduces a section by that, and it divides the various sections.

   There are 5 sections in this particular prophecy, and this begins the first one. Now the second one you'll find in chapter 34, verse 1. "The Word of the Eternal came to me." Another subdivision, another section of this major prophecy. Then chapter 35, verse 1. We see the same thing again. "The Word of the Eternal came to me," the third section. Then if you'll turn on a little bit further to the 5th section, chapter 36 and verse 16, "The Word of the Eternal came to me." And let's turn to chapter 38. Chapter 38. The last, the fifth section. "The Word of the Eternal came to me."

   That divides this particular prophecy into various sections, and the various sections sometimes relate to different things that are going on of this general time of the prophecy. I'd like to comment first before we start back here in chapter 33 with the last section.

   The last section, chapter 38, is the very famous prophecy, chapter 38-39 of Gog and the land of Magog. We're not going to cover this particular prophecy at all, but just to refer to it, and this is speaking of a time after Israel is back in their land safely, after they are at peace with unwalled villages, when Gog in the land of Magog and others with him, Meshech and Tubal, are going to look down there to the land of Palestine, and they're going to envy and covet that particular area, and they're going to go down there with military force to try to take it away. And to take it away from the government of Jesus Christ and the saints, and they're going to miserably fail and going to die in the process as these two chapters recount.

   This is not speaking of the same event you'll find in the last chapter or the middle of the chapter rather of Revelation 20, when Gog in the land of Magog is going to do something else at a different time at the end of the millennium. This is speaking now at the beginning of the millennium.

   With that in mind, I won't say anything more about that particular section. Let's go back to chapter 33 and verse 23 where we come now to this first section, the first section of this prophecy.

   "The Word of the Eternal came to me, 'Son of Man, the inhabitants of these waste places.'" Now remember, in the context of that time, as we just saw in verse 21, the city had fallen. The city of Jerusalem had fallen actually some months before this time. The word had just gotten to Ezekiel, but the city had been taken. The people went into captivity, which of course is another story and another part of the Old Testament. But there were some people left. Jeremiah makes reference to that in the last chapters of Jeremiah, of some of them.

   But the people who were left said, "All the rest of these people have gone into captivity and we few people are left, and surely God has given us this land to possess now that they're all gone." You know, most of the people are gone, so now we can expand. We can have all of these lands and houses and so on that now are vacant.

   But he says verse 25, "Therefore say to them, thus says the Eternal God, 'You eat flesh with the blood,'" which God prohibits. "'You lift up your eyes to your idols.'" You haven't gotten rid of your idols. "'You shed blood,'" they murder. "'Shall you then possess the land? Do you think that you can live this way? And that I'm going to let you have this land?'"

   Continuing, he says, "You resort to the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife," which is very common in our land today. In fact, all of these sins are very common in our land today, he says. "And shall you then possess the land? You think I'm going to let you stay here on this land?"

   And then he goes on to describe here how that those few who were left were also going to die. They were not going to go into captivity as the others had gone into captivity. They were going to die there on the land.

   Then in verse 30, we find God's description of how people looked at the prophet Ezekiel. This is rather common today too as to how people look on the servants of God. So he says, well, the people talk about you here and there. And they say, breaking into the thought in verse 30, "Come and hear what the Word is that comes from the Eternal." You know, some people say, "Well, let's go down to the church. Let's go down to the Worldwide Church of God and find out what's the latest news. Let's find out what the latest word is from the Lord." And you know, thinking of it rather in a humorous way and not maybe believing what is said. Or let's tune in to the World Tomorrow program or broadcast. Let's look at the Plain Truth or the Good News or whatever.

   "And they come to you as my people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say, but they will not do it." Now not only do some come as I just described, but some sit with us week after week, month after month, year after year. They come, they hear the words as I describe it, they come, you know, with their Saturday go-to-meeting clothes and with their big Bibles and with their many children, and they sit, they warm a seat, and they're supposedly a member of the Church of God and they hear what they're supposed to do and then they go home and they don't do it. They will not do it.

   "For with their lips, they show much love." Oh, they may be very friendly on the Sabbath. They've got a friendly handshake, and they're hypocrites. I hope none of you are, but I dare say there are quite a few of you who are. And I say shame on you.

   "And lo, you are to them like one who sings a lovely song." "Wasn't that a wonderful sermon we just heard? Wasn't that a powerful sermon? Wasn't that inspiring?" "With a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. And when this comes, and come it will, then they will know that a prophet has been among them."

   And when these things come to pass, brethren, that is Ezekiel prophesied and that you hear through this church, when they come to pass, then you and the others are going to know that a prophet has been among you.

   Now the second prophecy starts in chapter 34. And here we find described the shepherds of Israel. Now the shepherds of Israel really refer possibly in a dual sense. Now, first of all, we think of a shepherd as a spiritual leader, a religious leader, and that is true. But in another way, and I think we often do not realize this, is that it also refers to a political ruler or a king. One example of that, if you'd like to write it down is Isaiah 44:28, where the pagan King Cyrus, the king of Persia, he was called by God as "my shepherd" because he was a political ruler. He was the king over which, of course, he ruled many nations including ancient Judah. And so as he describes here the shepherds of Israel, I think it probably includes both, not only the religious leaders, but the political leaders of the house of Israel and also maybe of the house of Judah. But he's talking here primarily about his people and he speaks about the shepherds of Israel, not just the house of Israel, apparently both the nations.

   Verse 2, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds. Thus says the Eternal God, 'Woe, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves,'" he says you're supposed to feed the sheep. Now what do you feed sheep? Well, you feed them appropriate diet, and these particular shepherds don't feed the proper diet or of the sufficient amount. And so he goes on to show how that his people, the people of Israel, all 12 tribes, were scattered because there wasn't any shepherd, verse 5.

   But God says, "Well, I'm going to go out and I'm going to seek my shepherds, and I'm going to make these shepherds that have not done what they're supposed to do. I'm going to make them pay for neglecting my sheep."

   Verse 11, "For thus says the Eternal God, 'Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock. When some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness,'" he's talking here about a time of great trouble, the time of the great tribulation of the heavenly signs and of the day of the Lord, when he is going to begin in the day of the Lord to seek out his sheep.

   "'And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land.'" Now, that has not happened. Some people thought that that happened starting in Palestine here back in the early part of the century when some Jews started to go back. That's not what this is talking about at all. "'I will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains in all inhabited places of the country, I will feed them with good pasture.'"

   He continues on this analogy, and he mentions in verse 17, "As for you, my flock, thus says the Eternal God, 'Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep and rams and he-goats.'" Now here he mentions he judges. We find, of course, in I Peter 4:17 that judgment is now on the house of God or the household of faith on the church. It's not right now on the house of Israel or the house of Judah, but it shall be in the future during the millennium. Their judgment will come, and that judgment is a time of trial, not just of sentencing, but of trial.

   And in verse 20, "Therefore, thus says the Eternal God to them, 'Behold, I, I myself will judge.'" And in verse 22, "'I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be a prey.'" You see, God has not tried to save the flock thus far, but he's going to during the millennium, and then in the great white throne judgment, as we'll see as we go on.

   "'And they shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep, and I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David. And he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd, and I, the Eternal, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I, the Eternal, have spoken.'"

   This is speaking then of the millennial period when God is going to judge or as you might like to compare it to the book of Matthew chapter 25, verse 31 to verse 34 tells about how he is going to judge and how that all the nations are going to be gathered together before him. And that's what this is talking about. Only here it's referring primarily to Israel and Judah, not just the whole world.

   Let's get down to the next prophecy, the 3rd prophecy, in chapter 35. "The word of the Eternal came to me, 'Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir.'" Now Mount Seir was another name for ancient Edom, the Edomites. There are other prophecies, several prophecies that relate to the Edomites, but here he's talking about the problem that the Edomites have had with the people of Israel.

   Let's notice it in verse 5. Well, verse 3, "And say unto it, 'Thus says the Eternal God, Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and I will make you desolate and waste. I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Eternal.'"

   Now notice why, "Because you cherish perpetual enmity." There has been an enmity on the part of Edom against Israel from ancient times "and gave over the people of Israel," all 12 tribes, house of Israel, House of Judah, "and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword." Notice when "at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment."

   Now that final punishment takes place just before the return of Jesus Christ during the time of the Great Tribulation. And at that time, again as in ancient time, Mount Seir, the Edomites are going to take advantage of the people of Israel, and they're going to cause great trouble to Israel at that time, and for that reason, God is going to make them desolate. You might look at the book of Obadiah, which is also more on the same subject.

   Verse 10, speaking of this nation of Edom, "Because you said, 'These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them,'" against, of course, God's will and God's instructions. So they're going to have a land that is desolate forever.

   He continues this in chapter 36. Now he's talking about the physical mountains, the physical land of Israel, the land of Canaan, the land of Palestine that God gave to ancient Israel. And he mentions what happens to that land and also in verse 5 he says, "Therefore says the Eternal God, 'I speak in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt that they might possess it and plunder it.' Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel."

   And he goes on to say that the land is going to be given back to Israel. Let's pick up the story in verse 8. "But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home," and they're going to come home at the beginning of the millennium after they are freed by Jesus Christ as a result of the events of the day of the Lord. "For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you and you shall be tilled and sown, and I will multiply men upon you, the whole house of Israel, all of it, the cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt."

   Let's skip on to verse 16. Now we come to the 4th prophecy. "The Word of the Eternal came to me, 'Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their ways,'" and so he says, "'I poured out my wrath upon them and I scattered them among the nations. And they profaned my holy name,'" verse 20, verse 21, "'but I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel,'" the 10 tribes, "'caused to be profaned among the nations to which they came,'" that is, to which they came in their captivity.

   "'Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Eternal God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name.'" And because of his mercy and because of his holy name, he is going to restore Israel to their land.

   Verse 24, "'I will take you from among the nations and gather you from among all the countries and bring you into your own land,'" to the land of Palestine, the land of Canaan, the land of Israel in the Middle East. "'I will sprinkle clean water upon you,'" symbolizing purification and forgiveness of sin. "'And you shall be clean from all your uncleanness.'"

   You see, they're going to come, and as I believe it's Jeremiah described, they're going to come weeping and seeking the way for Jerusalem, coming with a repentant attitude. And when they come with that attitude, then God is going to forgive them for their sins. They're going to be converted and they are going to be receiving God's Holy Spirit.

   "'So I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you.'" Not a heart of stone, but a heart of flesh. We read that a little bit earlier in another chapter. "'A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit,'" the spirit of God, "'will I put within you. And I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.'"

   They're going to live according to God's laws, his statutes. "'And also be careful to observe my ordinances. You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.'"

   Now this, of course, obviously, as you've been hearing over the last few days, is speaking of the millennial period. When Israel goes back to their land, Judah goes back to the land, all 12 tribes, they're going to learn God's ways. The earth is going to be full of the knowledge of God.

   "'And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and will loathe yourselves,'" which certainly is describing people who are repentant, "'for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act,' says the Eternal God. 'Let it be known to you, be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.'"

   "'Thus says the Eternal God, On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt, and the land that was desolate shall be tilled instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by it. And they will say, "This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now inhabited and fortified." Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I, the Eternal, have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I, the Eternal, have spoken it.'"

   "'Thus says the Eternal God, This also, I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their men like a flock.'" Now, starting at this period, there will only be 10% of the people that there are at the beginning of this bad period of tribulation. But now God is going to increase them like a flock, "'like the flock,'" for as it mentions in the margin, the flock of holy things, "'the flock of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men.'" And just like it is at feast time when all the people are gathered together, that's the way it's going to be in the land of Israel. "'They will know that I am the Eternal.'"

   Now, chapter 37 doesn't start with this statement that we had read several other times, "The word of the Eternal came to me." It continues right on. The thought continues. The time context or chronology, you might say, continues, and we've just been reading here starting in the middle of this last chapter, chapter 36, about the millennial period and what it was going to be like there. All of Israel brought back, converted now, and the beauty and the wonder of that particular time when the land is going to be like the land of Eden or the Garden of Eden when utopia will be on the earth.

   And now with that in mind, let's start reading here in chapter 37. But before we read chapter 37, let's consider again the time element of these prophecies that we have seen. We have seen, if you were here last night, and as I reiterated this a little while ago, repeatedly, the sin, the punishment, the captivity, the restoration of Israel and Judah, mentioned from time to time, ending in of course the restoration of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, as Revelation 20 tells.

   We also saw that at that time, at the time of restoration, David, the king of Israel, would be resurrected, and he would be king over Israel again. Other scriptures tell us that the 12 apostles are going to be over the 12 tribes of Israel under David, that there will be peace, prosperity, and happiness throughout the world, not just in the land of Israel. The world is going to be full of the knowledge of God. And to put it in the words of Romans 11:26, which to me are about the most beautiful words in the whole Bible, "all Israel shall be saved." That is what is going to be taking place during the millennium. God isn't a respecter of persons, and when he sets his hand to save Israel, he is also going to save the Gentiles.

   Now those during that millennium, during that 1000 year period, after repentance and baptism, learning God's ways for a lifetime, growing and overcoming are going to inherit God's kingdom. You'll find that, as I referred to it earlier, Matthew 25:31 to 34.

   Now at the end of that time, at the end of the millennium, those who are faithful to God, those who learn God's ways, those who are obedient to God are going to be given eternal life. And those people left to reject God's ways, they're going to be destroyed. You can read about that and what happens with Satan when he goes out and stirs up Gog and Magog in the last part of chapter 20 of the book of Revelation.

   So now at that particular juncture, the earth is uninhabited of human beings. Now the cities are empty. The country is empty. The farms are empty. The earth is empty of physical inhabitants. At the end of the millennium, after the 1000 years are over, after Satan goes out the second time and does his thing, and so on and so forth.

   Now, with that in mind, let's start chapter 37 because this is what happens next. "The hand of the Eternal was upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Eternal, and he set me down in the midst of the valley."

   I've wondered what valley this is, and I don't know for sure. And it doesn't matter what I think as far as that's concerned, but when I read this, I think of a particular valley which is a rather narrow valley, which in some places is only about wide enough for a street or a road of two lanes, just for two cars, you know, to pass side by side, and that's about all. And on both sides of that valley, on the steep sides of that valley, there are cemeteries. And people have been burying dead there for centuries, yeah, even millennia. And I suppose they have buried dead upon dead upon dead. There are probably several layers of dead in those two valleys.

   And that particular valley, you'll find that it's a very popular burying place for Jews, because they believe that the Messiah is going to come there in the future and they want their dead to be there. The Mohammedans also have the belief that at the time of the end, that God is going to come there or something or other, I don't know the exact belief that they have, but anyway, they bury a lot of their dead there at that same place. And those of the Christian faith, a lot of them are buried there as well, because they believe in a resurrection.

   What is that valley? It's the valley of Kidron, also called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And it's between the Mount Moriah where the temple was anciently built and the Mount of Olives. And I've been there and seen that, seen pictures of it and so forth. And when you go over there, if you don't look closely, you might wonder, well, now what's all of that that I see on the hillside. You see that there's a little bit of activity here, a little bit of activity there, and sometimes a little bit far away, so you can't see exactly what's going on and then if you look closely, you'll see well, there are people there and these are graves.

   The valley of Kidron, I don't know, but I would suspect that there are more people buried in that valley than any other place, similar place in the world. And oftentimes when God speaks of a particular geographic location that has an important aspect in regard to prophecy or in regard to his plan, it's related to Jerusalem. And so I've thought that probably it's speaking of that valley, now it may not be, it doesn't matter. Maybe it's just entirely a vision or maybe and I would suppose that Ezekiel was carried forward not just in time, but also he was carried to Jerusalem to this particular valley to see what was going to happen in this time at the beginning of the great white throne judgment.

   Anyway, "this valley was full of bones. And he led me round about among them, and behold, there were very many upon the valley. And lo, they were very dry." Now that's a rather dry climate there and warm climate. But obviously when you read this, he's talking about bones that are not only very, very dry, but they're very, very dry because they have been there a long, long, long time.

   "And he said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' And so I answered and said, 'O Lord God,'" O Eternal God, Yahweh, Jesus Christ, because that's who he's addressing. "'You know.'"

   I don't know, "so you know, again he said unto me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Eternal. Thus says the Eternal God to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you, and I will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the Eternal.'"

   Now he's talking about a resurrection to physical life, because they are going to have breath. They are not spirit beings. These are talking here about people resurrected to physical life.

   Verse 7, "So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone," reminds me of the old Negro spiritual. "And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and the skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Eternal God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.' So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host."

   It sounds like it's almost like an innumerable multitude. The man, you know, just couldn't estimate how many there were.

   "Then he said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.'" Now he's not talking about those who lived and died during the millennium. Who is he talking about? He's talking about all of those of the house of Israel who lived and died prior to the millennium. Now there is a slight exception to that in regard to the third resurrection, which we won't be covering on this day, that relates to another event. But except for that, this is talking about the whole house of Israel.

   "'Behold,'" they say, and of course they're dead and they can't speak, but it reminds one of what God said to Cain about his brother Abel. He says, well, now your brother's blood cries to me out of the ground. Well, that was sort of symbolic, and so it is here. From their point of view, they had been in their graves, some of them for millennia. They didn't get to go to heaven. They didn't go to hell or to Purgatory or to the happy hunting ground, they were just dead. And from their point of view, from the common point of view, there was no hope. They didn't know about the resurrection.

   "'Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are clean cut off.' Therefore, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Eternal God, Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves.'" Now the word resurrection literally means raising again from below. This is talking about a resurrection. "'O my people, and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.'"

   I think he's implying here that many of those of the whole house of Israel were not in this specific valley. There were other places on the earth that they too were resurrected. "'I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will put my spirit within you.'" You're not going to be spirit, you're going to have my spirit. In other words, they're going to become converted. After repentance and baptism, they're going to be converted.

   "'And you shall live,'" and I think it's implied there is not more, not just that you're going to live physically but also that you are going to ultimately live spiritually forever. Or at least in the main because as I quoted to you a little earlier, that "all Israel," but that's what this is talking about. "All Israel, all Israel shall be saved."

   "'So you shall live and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Eternal, have spoken and I have done it,' says the Eternal."

   So here we see a resurrection to life. Last night I read to you in chapter 16 verse 53 about Sodom and how that that very wicked city of ancient time was going to be restored or returned to its former estate, which is speaking of this same time, because God is not a respecter of persons. If he is going to resurrect all of the house of Israel, he is going to resurrect all of the Gentiles. They too, the Gentiles, will be resurrected, including Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities rather of that time, of ancient time. They're going to be resurrected too, and they're going to return to their former estate, and they too are going to have their first opportunity to eternal life.

   God is not a respecter of persons. He will resurrect not only all the Jews and all the Israelites, but all the Gentiles ultimately, and as Jesus said that all who are in their graves are going to come forth. Now they're going to come forth to have the same opportunity that you and I are having today, those that God is now calling. The same opportunity that the people are going to have during the 1000 years, the millennium, to learn God's ways and to follow God. They will have the opportunity to repent, to be converted, to have God's spirit, and finally to be born of God, to be changed from mortal to immortality as we see over in I Corinthians 15.

   Now, what a wonderful time that's going to be. What a joy to contemplate that the dead are going to be brought back to life. And when I think of this, and every time when we come to this particular day, I think of my mother. She was in very poor health all of her life and she finally died at about age 33. A little sister of mine who died at age 8 months. The grandfather who died in his 50s, I don't remember the exact date, but probably about my age, a father who died just a little older than I am.

   My family, I don't know about yours, but my family was a religious family, a devout family. They didn't know the real Jesus, they didn't know the real Christ, they didn't know the real gospel. They didn't know the real truth of the Bible. Really God hadn't called them. And they're going to be resurrected and possibly I just might have an opportunity to show them God's ways for the first time and help them to come to conversion, to repentance and receiving God's spirit. And what a surprise that's going to be for them and all the rest of the people as I'm going to mention in a moment.

   What a world it will be when these people are resurrected. After 1000 years of a millennium, when the earth is like a Garden of Eden, and these people resurrected to an empty world. Empty houses, empty cities, empty farms, as I mentioned earlier, all empty to be filled by the people from this resurrection, the second resurrection.

   They'll be resurrected without sickness, without disease, without impairments, even though those things probably brought their death. But when they're resurrected, even though they're going to be strong and healthy, they're going to have the same old human nature that they had when they died. And they're going to have to overcome that to get rid of it.

   They're going to come alive with a very great shock. Because when they open their eyes, they're going to see that it's not heaven, and a lot of them thought that's where they were going to wake up, not hell, thankfully. Not purgatory, thankfully. Not the happy hunting ground or nirvana or not coming back to life as an insect, because you know people have believed these things, millions and even billions of them over the centuries and the millennia, but they're going to be resurrected to a beautiful earth.

   What a shock. And the first shock may be one of the most surprising. If you read the account in Ezekiel, it doesn't say that they're resurrected fully clothed. And so I imagine there are going to be several billion embarrassed people. Now maybe it won't be that way, but maybe we can speculate a little bit and imagine that. And so I think that God will get their attention. And he'll have some clothes there to put on, but there'll be a lot of other people in the same fix.

   There will be spirit beings, hopefully you and I and all of those that God is calling in this age, plus all of those during the millennial period. All on hand, now spirit beings to explain to them what's happening. To explain where they are supposed to go, what they are supposed to do, and how they are to do it. Spirit beings who have power, you know, that power that we read about over in Revelation 2, verse 26 and 27, power over the nations. Power to say this is the way and then to enforce it. Spirit beings who know the thoughts and the intents of the heart, who can't be fooled, and who will know what people are doing and what is in their hearts, and then be able to show them the right way to go and to quickly correct them lest they go astray.

   Then begins, of course, a re-education process. An opportunity for them to be taught God's perfect ways and His perfect law. An opportunity to sort out the tangled lives that they have, that they have made, the messes that they have made. Their marriages that are messed up. They'll have a chance to have those things straightened out and to learn God's ways, to learn obedience, to come to repentance, to conversion, to receive the Holy Spirit.

   Now there will be a few, of course, who will reject God and His ways, and God will take care of them at the end of this period in another way. But at least the majority of them are going to go God's ways.

   Now as you look around the world today, and for the last 6000 years, by almost any standard, most of the world was not saved. A person who is Catholic recognizes that very, very few Catholics, you might say are saved, end quote, when you consider all of mankind over all of the human history. Or if you're a Protestant, you'll see that very few have been saved, quote unquote, from your point of view. If you are Hindu, it is that way, Muhammedan, Confucius or whatever philosophy or whatever religion or whatever, very, very few from any point of view have been saved. It would seem that Satan won the battle, God lost.

   Except when you look to see what God says. By God's standard, God was not even trying to save the world. He was letting the world go its own way for a period of time. Now, except for those few that God has called in this age who have been converted. All the others were not saved or lost. They were just not judged.

   We though today are being judged. And just as we are being judged now and having our opportunity to prepare for God's kingdom and for eternal life, those people will have that opportunity then. Those dead who are going to be resurrected will have the same chance to be judged and to learn God's way that we now have. Only there won't be any Satan around to deceive them or to accuse or to influence any longer.

   Brethren, a great resurrection is coming. The second resurrection. The Great White Throne Judgment. And this day reminds us in advance of that great event. And to me this is the most exciting, the best news that I have ever heard in my life. I hope it is to you.

   Jesus Christ is going to begin to save the world at the beginning of the 1000 years. He is going to finish that job in the 2nd resurrection in the Great White Throne Judgment that Ezekiel 37 describes. When God sets his hand to do a job, he will do it. And thank God today we're celebrating how he's going to finish that job.