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Man, so Ezekiel chapter number 37 is a very famous chapter, the Valley of the Dry Bones. And before I jump into this chapter, I just want to kind of situate it in this part of the book of Ezekiel, because we're getting into some stuff that has significance for end times Bible prophecy. So chapters 38 and 39, I just want to point out to you, are the famous chapters about Gog and Magog. And then when you get to chapter 40, there's a total gear change, and you enter a totally different section of the book, where you have this discussion of a new temple, and like a building plan for a new temple. And that's what we're going to see in chapters 40 through 48. But in chapters 38 and 39, we have Gog and Magog, okay? So look at the beginning of chapter 38 in verse 2, it says, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog. Then in chapter 39 verse 1, it says, Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog. Now what is the significance here? Well, the only mention of this, Gog and Magog, is here in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then again in Revelation 20. And in Revelation 20, the battle of Gog and Magog is described as happening after the millennial reign of Christ. So after Christ reigns for a thousand years, then the Bible talks about a final rebellion, and it calls it Gog and Magog, which is clearly signaling the reader I'm talking about back in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, because that's the only thing that he could be referring to in Revelation 20 when he says, you know, Gog and Magog, the only teaching on this is Ezekiel 38 and 39. That's what he's pointing to. That's going to become important in a few moments here as we look into chapter 37, but I just want you to comprehend the fact that Gog and Magog is mentioned in Revelation 20 as taking place after the thousand year reign of Christ, and that this is the only Old Testament scripture it could possibly be referring to, because this is the only mention of Gog and Magog is Ezekiel 38 and 39. Now with that in mind, we're going to approach chapter 37, okay? And chapter 37 is another passage that the Zionists and the pre-tribulation rapture crowd will try to twist in order to try to put the square peg into a round hole, and what they will try to do is teach that Ezekiel 37 is somehow fulfilled in 1948 by the Jews coming into Israel and forming the Jewish state. I'm going to show you that that is completely wrong, it's impossible, it doesn't fit the context of the scripture at all, and when you look at this with me tonight, it's going to be as plain as the nose on your face, okay? So let's look at it right now together. It says in verse 1, the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones and caused me to pass by them round about and behold there were very many in the open valley and lo they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? So dry bones, meaning these people have been dead for a long time, the flesh is all gone, the bones are completely dried out, there's just no life left at all, and he's saying, you know, Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel's answer is, oh Lord God, thou knowest, he's like, don't ask me, I don't know, you tell me. Now here's the immediate application. Remember Ezekiel is preaching during the Babylonian captivity and the dry bones represent the nation of Israel, it's over, it's done, no more nation of Israel, they've been scattered into all nations, they've gone into captivity, and the immediate application of this prophecy is that God is going to resurrect the nation of Israel in their lifetime, right? Because the captivity is only going to last for 70 years and so the nation of Israel is dead and dried out but God is going to resurrect the nation, okay? But then there's also a secondary application, a dual fulfillment, because there's also an actual future literal resurrection of literal dead bodies coming out of the graves at the second coming of Christ, there's going to be an actual resurrection. So we have an immediate shadow fulfillment where the nation gets resurrected and then we have a future fulfillment of literal bodily resurrection, okay? So keep that in mind as we look at this. So it says in verse four, again he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live and I will lay sinews upon you and will bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone. Now this is pretty weird, you know, it's easy to read over this but stop and think about this. Ezekiel's brought to a valley with just a bunch of bones and he starts preaching the word of God to these bones and next thing you know the bones start assembling themselves into skeletons. That's pretty freaky if you think about it, okay? Now there's also another application you could say that God's word through the preaching of God's word brings life to the dead because people that are unsaved are dead and they're trespasses and sins. What is it that gets people saved is the preaching of God's word. God's word actually brings life to the spiritually dead. So the skeletons assemble but then it doesn't stop there, it says in verse eight, when I beheld lo the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above but there's no breath in them. So first the skeleton's a symbol which is where the song comes from, Ezekiel saw them dry bones, right? The leg bones connected to the foot bone, who knows what I'm talking about in the song? All right, very good. We're among friends here, we all know the song. Hear the word of the Lord. So basically it's saying here that not only did the bones assemble into skeletons but they get covered in like muscles and tissue and flesh and skin but they're still not alive. They're bodies now but there's no breath in them, there's no life in them, right? Then said he unto me, verse nine, prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy son of man and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds of 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 up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Remember this is the interpretation that I just gave you a few moments ago. These bones are the whole house of Israel, behold they say our bones are dried and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. Basically what are they saying? We're doomed, we're never going to be a nation again, Israel is over, Israel is not a thing anymore. This is the immediate short-term application, you're going to be a nation again, the nation's going to be resurrected and this would happen in their lifetime, many of them, okay? Because this is a short-term thing. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, verse 12, thus saith the Lord God, behold O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. So there are two applications here. One is the symbolic shadow fulfillment which is basically just saying I'm going to resurrect the nation. You know we would use that language, right? Like hey, I'm going to resurrect this idea that I had or this company failed, we're going to resurrect this company or something. It's not a literal resurrection of a dead body but it's figurative. So that's what's going to happen in the short-term is that Israel as a nation is coming back from the dead but there's also a future literal interpretation of this where he says I'm going to cause your dead bodies to come out of the grave and come into the land because what did Jesus tell the 12 disciples and I've reminded you of this so many times but I repeat these things because they're so important that Jesus said in the regeneration that the 12 apostles would sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So that means that when the dead in Christ rise first and we which are alive and remain are caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. It's not just New Testament saints that are resurrected, it's of course every saved person who's ever lived including Old Testament saints. In Acts chapter 2 when Peter's preaching he says David is not ascended into the heavens. David's sepulcher is with us until this day. So in Acts chapter 2 had David been resurrected yet? No. Daniel in Daniel chapter 12 is given a prophecy about the tribulation and when he talks about there's going to be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation and so forth. And when the prophecy is given to Daniel in Daniel chapter 12 about the tribulation and about a resurrection then at the end he talks about those days, the 1260 days, the 1290 days, the 1335 days and he says at the end of all that, at the end of the book of Daniel, but go thy way Daniel for thou shalt rest, I hope I'm quoting this exactly right, but he says something to the effect of thou shalt stand in thy lot. You're going to rest in the earth but then you're going to stand in your lot at the end of the days. So when is Daniel being resurrected? Daniel's being resurrected in the end times. When Christ comes in the clouds and the dead in Christ rise first. Did you know that Daniel is in Christ? Well he's Old Testament. Guess what? Anyone who's ever been saved or ever will be saved is saved through Jesus. I don't care if it's Adam and Eve, they're saved through the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world because how can anyone be saved any other way? There is no other way. If there was another way, Jesus wouldn't even have to die on the cross. Jesus died on the cross for people even before him. He died for those before him and for those after him and so the Old Testament saints are also in Christ and they will be resurrected in the end times. That didn't already happen. There's a weird teaching out there that says that the resurrection already happened at the time of Christ. It's wrong. Acts 2, he said, David, his sepulcher, go look at it, his dead body's in the grave. His sepulcher is with us under this day. He's not ascended into the heavens. How can you get any clearer than that? And so guess what? Nothing's changed from Pentecost until now. David's bones are still in that grave. So in the end times, if all of the saved resurrect in the end times, not just New Testament saints but Old Testament saints as well, wouldn't that include all the saved people throughout the history of the Old Testament nation of Israel? Would that include saved people from Reuben, saved people from Gad, saved people from Asher? So basically it makes perfect sense that in the regeneration, which is another word for the resurrection, that the 12 apostles would sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel because they're going to be resurrected along with the saints. And just as we will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years, so will the Old Testament Israelites be resurrected, 12 tribes and the apostles will be ruling and reigning over those 12 tribes. Look, I don't know what kind of a reward I'm going to get in the millennium. I don't know what kind of a reward you're going to get, but I'll tell you one thing right now, I'm not going to be ruling over like the tribe of Gad or something because that spot's already taken by the 12 apostles. Hopefully the Lord tells me to be over somewhere cool, but I don't mean the weather. I want to be somewhere warm, but I mean somewhere cool. So I don't know, maybe because I was joking around the other day that with one of my pastor friends, I was joking around that I'm going to lose rewards in heaven by pastoring in Arizona because Arizona is just such an awesome place. So God's going to be like, well, you had your reward, you got to be a pastor in Arizona. Some people had to pastor in Texas, some people had to pastor in these other states. You're living it up over in Arizona. So I was joking around that maybe in the millennium, God's going to make me rule and reign in Siberia or something because I got to be in the nice place now. But anyway, that was just a joke. But the bottom line is that in the regeneration, we're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ, but it's going to be all nations, all Kindreds, all tongues, but it's also going to be Israelites from the Old Testament that were saved that are going to be in the Promised Land. So you could take this quite literally for the end times, couldn't you? In fact, you have to because you say, well, I don't know, Pastor Anderson. Well, later in the chapter, you'll see that it has to be the end times because look what it says. I will open your graves, verse 12, and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Is he literally going to do that in the end times or what? Yeah, he's literally going to bring them out of the graves. So there's a figurative interpretation of back then, right, 400, 500 years before Christ, he's going to resurrect the nation. But then there's a future fulfillment where he's going to resurrect the nation. Literal dead bodies coming out of the grave. So he says, I'll bring you into the land of Israel, verse 13, and you shall know that I'm the Lord when I've opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord. Now here's what the Zionists will say, oh, this happened in 1948. Now in what way, shape, or form did this happen in 1948? It's garbage because was there a bodily resurrection? Nope. Well, figuratively. Okay, but here's the thing, he says, I'm going to put my spirit in you. Do the Jews over there in Israel, do they have God's spirit in them? Now what about the short-term fulfillment, the people that came back with Ezra and Nehemiah, you know, the spirit of the Lord was among that group. They weren't indwelled the same way that New Testament believers are. But God's spirit was in that group, and God was leading, and that was a spiritual crew that was led by the spirit of God. Okay, that's the difference. This doesn't fit 1948 at all, and I'm going to prove that to you as we go further through this. So verse 15, the word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in thy hand. So this appears to be a miracle that Ezekiel is going to perform, which Ezekiel doesn't really perform a lot of miracles in the book of Ezekiel. He sees a lot of visions, but this appears to be an actual miracle that he's going to perform where he, in the presence of the elders of Israel, is going to take a stick, and he's going to write Judah on it, he's going to write Joseph on the other stick, and he's going to put them together, and they're going to become one stick in the presence of them. So this seems to be a miracle that Ezekiel is performing. And so what is meant by this? Well, Ephraim is the biggest, most important tribe of the northern kingdom. So sometimes the northern kingdom is just kind of referred to as Ephraim. And then the southern kingdom, the main tribe of the southern kingdom is Judah, so it just is sort of known as Judah. But we actually know that it's a division of ten tribes and two tribes. Because remember, when the kingdom is taken away from Solomon's house, and Rehoboam and Jeroboam end up being the two kings that succeed Solomon, if you remember, the prophet who confronts Jeroboam tears up the garment and says, here, take ten pieces of the garment, and I'll keep two. And basically it's like, you're going to take ten tribes, Jeroboam, and two are going to be left for David. Because basically we just don't really count the Levites in that reckoning. So basically you have the two tribes of the southern kingdom end up being Judah and Benjamin. Those end up being the two southern tribes. And then obviously most of the Levites end up doing the southern kingdom as well. And then you've got the ten northern tribes, because there's two tribes for Joseph, because there's Ephraim and Manasseh. That's one way of looking at it. So bottom line, though, when he says Ephraim and Judah, he's talking ten northern tribes, those are the companions, and the two southern tribes. Because remember, the ten tribes, they went into captivity to Assyria, and they never came back, for the most part. The two tribes, the southern kingdom of Judah, they went into Babylonian captivity, and they do come back in the days of Ezra and Yemiah. That's why in the New Testament, the Jews, why do you think they're called Jews? Why aren't they called Israelites? You want to know why they're called Jews? Because they're from that southern kingdom of Judah. In fact, if you're reading your Bible in Genesis, you're not going to find the word Jew in Genesis. You're not going to find Jews in Exodus. You're not going to find Jews in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. No Jews in Joshua. You won't find any Jews in the book of Judges. No Jews in the book of Ruth. There aren't any Jews in 1 Samuel. Nope. No Jews in 2 Samuel. You know, you get all the way to 2 Kings 16 before you get to Jews. You want to know why? Because at that point, you've split into the southern kingdom of Jew-da and the northern kingdom of Israel. And in fact, if you look up those early mentions of Jews in 2 Kings 16 and 17, you'll find that the Jews are fighting against Israel. When that word is first used, it's differentiating Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel. Does everybody see that? So are the 12 tribes of Israel ever called Jews when they're one nation? No. The Jews are the southern kingdom of Judah, which is predominantly Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. But obviously, there are some people from the northern kingdom who left the northern kingdom because it's too ungodly. So they came down to the southern kingdom. So you're going to have little handfuls of people from Asher and Issachar and Simeon. But those people are a very small minority. The lion's share is just really just Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. That's why the apostle Paul is of the tribe of Benjamin. And rarely in the New Testament do you see people of other tribes being in that crew with the Jews. So why am I making a big deal about that? Well, because the point here is that there's going to be a reuniting of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. There's going to be one nation of Israel that's going to be northern and southern because they split after King Solomon and they never got back together. Once they split and were ruled by Rehoboam and Jeroboam respectively, they ended up trying to conquer each other a bunch of times. The southern kingdom wanted to conquer the northern kingdom or vice versa. But the kingdom was never united again. It was always split until the northern kingdom pretty much ceased to exist when the Assyrians came in. And then now they're in the Babylonian captivity. So he's prophesying that not only are they going to come back from the Babylonian captivity and be a nation again, but the 10 tribes are also going to be reunited with them into one nation. Now look, that has not happened yet. That did not happen back then. That certainly didn't happen in 1948. You don't see 1948 being a mix of Jews of the southern kingdom with the 10 lost tribes. That's not what it is, my friend. Show me the Reubenites, Gadites, Simeonites, Issacharites, Zebulonites, Asherites over in Israel. They don't exist. Nobody is identifying that way. The people over there are from the tribe of Europa mainly, the tribe of Poland, the tribe of Germania, or of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Judah, Benjamin, and Levi in their own minds, and I'm sure some of them are, but a lot of them are of the tribe of white boy. The tribe of Blarney. So basically, you've got this prophecy about Ephraim and Judah coming back together with all their companions of Israel, and this is going to happen again in the regeneration when the dead bodies literally come out of the graves. Is it going to be a reuniting of the 12 tribes? Let me remind you again, what did Jesus say? Twelve apostles ruling over the 12 tribes of Israel in the regeneration. So that's a literal fulfillment of what we see here of a restored 12 tribe kingdom. So it says in verse 18, And when the children of thy people will speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows. So what does he mean? He is the last of the northern kingdom, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before thine eyes, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. That's the short-term fulfillment, right? The shadow fulfillment, the near-term, I'm going to bring them from the lands where they're scattered. But there's also a future, more literal fulfillment of coming out of the graves, and all twelve tribes are going to be represented in mass amounts, okay? Here is the short-term shadow fulfillment again of just, I'm going to gather them from among the heathen, I'll make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. Now the shadow fulfillment, it's true that, yeah, when they came back into that geographic region of Palestine, you know, that whole region there is where they live, and there's no other competing Israel nation, there's just the Jews coming there. And is there a handful from the northern tribes? For sure, because when you get in the New Testament, for example, you have Anna the prophetess, okay, and she's from a northern tribe. You have like two people mentioned in the whole, you know, New Testament that are from those northern tribes, you know, the Samaritans are a little bit, you know, of a mix of some of those northern tribes. But the bottom line is that there's not really a strong fulfillment of this in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, of all the 12 tribes getting the band back together, and all the 12 tribes are here, and it's one, you know. Now you do have one single nation, and they do, you know, possess the land without another competing Israel or something, I mean, okay. But the real bonafide fulfillment comes when? In the end times. Now you have zero fulfillment of this in 1948, zero, because at least in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, you got a handful of people from Issachar, you got a handful of people from Asher and Simeon, as we see evidence of in the New Testament, one individual here, one individual there. So you have at least a shadow fulfillment there of a little bit of a representation of those 10 tribes. But my friend, there is no one on this planet today who is a Reubenite. There's no one on this planet today who's a Gadite. There's no one on this planet who's an Asherite. And here's what the Zionists will counter with. They'll try to say, well, you know, God knows who they are. We don't know who the Reubenites are, but God does. Now again, in the first century AD, you still had people who were still a Reubenite. They still knew that about themselves. They still identified as of Asher or whatever, but it was dying because they'd been in captivity for like 500 some years. They'd been scattered. There's very few left. Nowadays, the number is zero, my friend. There are no pockets. There's not some pocket in India of like, hey, this tribe, these are some Reubenites they've been here the whole time. And they're still Reubenites, you know, and they know that. No, they've been assimilated into all nations for almost 2,000 years, had they been totally assimilated. See, James can still say in James chapter 1 verse 1, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. And the Zionists will love to bring that up, but that was almost 2,000 years ago, my friend. And so, okay, yeah, you could still talk about the remnants of 12 tribes being scattered, but that was a long time ago. And for many, many centuries now, those 10 tribes are totally gone. And this attitude that says, well, God knows who they are, that's not a real tribe if just God knows that they have that DNA. Because let me explain something to you. We all have that DNA because when you mix 10 tribes in with the general population for 2,000 years, we would all have that DNA now. It would be mixed into literally every... So that means if you're going to take that logic that says, well, God knows who they are, then basically, okay, he could really just pick any 12,000 people on this planet virtually and say, okay, here's a tribe of Reuben. He just grabbed any 12,000 people, red, yellow, black, and white, and say, this is Gad. That's stupid. Then the tribe loses all meaning at that point because they have been assimilated into literally every nation under heaven. Every nation. I'm talking about Korea. Okay, Brother Jay, whether you like it or not, I'm talking Korea, I'm talking India. They've been scattered... God said they'd be scattered into every nation. And if you actually look at geography and demographics and history, you'll find that there are literally Jews in every country of the world. Because there's just been enough time and they literally went everywhere. After 2,000 years, some Reubenite went to Korea like 2,000 years ago. Prove me wrong, okay? So they're all mixed, all right? Everybody's mixed in. And I proved it mathematically in marching design. You want to know what's funny about that math? Is that no one has been able to challenge me on that math. Some people who are just mathematically challenged have laughed at it because they laugh at that which they don't understand. And I have not received a serious challenge on that. That movie came out in 2015 and that was a pretty bold claim that I made in that film. But I proved it mathematically beyond any shadow of a doubt. And you know what? No one has given a serious challenge to that. You know why there hasn't been a serious challenge to that is because there can't be a serious challenge to it because it's so obvious. Such a concrete math problem that it's just like you can't argue with. I mean the numbers are mind blowing but folks if you actually grab a calculator and know what you're doing, you'll see that what I said is true, okay? And so therefore they have been fully assimilated into all of the human population. And folks it's so dumb to think that people have just been so isolated throughout history. It isn't true because man loves to explore. Am I right? I mean human beings have an innate desire to explore and push them. So don't tell me that all these people just sat still for a thousand years. No they didn't because humans are always just walking into the sunset and just not stopping. That's how people are. That's how people have always been. Somebody's always gotten on a boat and just taken some crazy trip. Somebody's always just walked 5,000 miles and just, you know, that's just how humans are. They just do stuff like that. And you say that's impossible. There are athletes and stuff that have run coast to coast across America in a matter of a few months. They've gone a 4,000 mile track across the U.S. in a mere matter of months on foot. People throughout history have taken those kind of journeys all the time because humans love to explore. We love conquest. Why do you think people are into the space program? Why do you think people wanted to go to the South Pole, climb Everest? That's how humans are. This is who we are as people. And so people have always been mixing and traveling and whatever. I'm getting a little bit off on a tangent, okay. So let's get back to this. The point is there's a shadow of a fulfillment of this in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah of one nation. But the real reunited 12 tribe one nation is in the end times, okay. In the regeneration, that's the key word. It's not 1948 because we don't have 12 tribes. We don't have Ephraim going on in 1948. But I'll prove it beyond any shadow of a doubt in a moment. So it says in verse number 23, neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and will cleanse them. Socially be my people and I will be their God. Again, shadow fulfillment back then when they came back from the Babylonian captivity, they no longer had a problem with idolatry which is why you don't see Jesus preaching to the Pharisees and Sadducees about idols because they weren't a problem. They had other problems. So the shadow fulfillment back then, well, certainly in the end times when it's a regenerated resurrected glorified nation of Israel, they're certainly not going to be doing idolatry. They're not even going to be sinning because they're going to be resurrected in their glorified bodies at that point, okay. But here's the real smoking gun that we can't be talking about in 1948. But we can be talking about Ezra and Nehemiah as a shadow fulfillment and we can be talking about the end times as a literal fulfillment. David, my servant, shall be king over them. Is that what's going on right now? Is that who's ruling them right now? Has at any point David ruled them from 1948 until 2022? Has David ever been ruling them? No. But in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, guess who they had ruling them? A son of David, didn't they? His name was Zerubbabel. So you have Zerubbabel governing them in the return from the Babylonian captivity. So you have a son of David shepherding the people, ruling over the people. Okay, what about in the regeneration? Jesus is going to be reigning over them in the regeneration and Jesus is the son of David. So this is proof that we're talking about the second coming of Christ. Because how else can David reign over them? Well, you say, well, it's just Zerubbabel. Okay, Zerubbabel is a great shadow fulfillment, but let me prove to you that this has to be talking about Jesus and cannot be only talking about Zerubbabel. Because it says, David, my servant, shall be king over them. And they also have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant. Again, here's a good shadow fulfillment of this in Ezra and Nehemiah. Wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children forever. And my servant David shall be their prince forever. Now look, folks, why would anyone be Jewish in 2022? It's truly mind-blowing that Judaism would have any members, because wouldn't they have to admit that basically every prophecy that their prophets prophesied has failed? I mean, think about it. If you're going to be Jewish, if you're going to throw out the New Testament, you know what you're going to have to say? Ezekiel is a failed prophet. And by the way, I've heard Jews say that Ezekiel had a lot of failed prophecies. I've heard devout Jews talk about the failed prophecies of Ezekiel. And Joel's failed prophecies. And you know, Daniel's prophecies, well, they failed. You'd have to believe that they all failed. Because the fulfillment of David ruling over them forever is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the son of David, and he shall reign forever and ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Same thing in Daniel. Daniel talks about there being an everlasting kingdom with the Son of Man coming in the clouds. It literally says coming in the clouds, the Son of Man, the Messiah, right? Daniel. Okay. It's fulfilled in Jesus. Now, did Zerubbabel or his descendants rule forever? No. Because we know that they were completely annihilated as a nation in 135 AD. You know, the Romans came in and destroyed the temple in 70 AD. But in 135 AD, they were annihilated as a nation, to where not even one person, not even one person of Israel was in Jerusalem after that. Because the Romans made it illegal for the Jews to set foot in Jerusalem, none of them could set foot there for hundreds of years. So that stopped in 135 AD. Who's the son of David now ruling over them? They don't have one. So why would you believe the book of Ezekiel if you don't believe in Jesus? Now, if you believe in Jesus, you love the book of Ezekiel. But if you don't believe in Jesus, the book of Ezekiel makes no sense, because it's promising something that didn't happen. It's promising that when the children of Israel come back to the Promised Land, David's going to rule over them, he's going to rule forever. Well, that didn't happen back then, did it? It's going to happen in the future, because we believe in Jesus. So it says, my servant David shall be their prince forever. What does that have to do with 1948? No son of David. And that situation that they've got going on over there in the Middle East is not going to last forever. Because we know the Antichrist is going to come, and he's going to make it all desolate and whatever. But let's keep reading here. It says, moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, by the way, it's the New Testament, the New Covenant, by the way. I will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forever more. I'll set my sanctuary, sanctuary means holy place, it's a reference to the tabernacle or the temple. I'll set my sanctuary in the midst of them forever more. Now what did the Zionists do? The Zionists claim that Ezekiel 37 is about 1948. Chapter 36, they look at that with their Zionist glasses on, with their pre-Tribber glasses, and they're like, 1948. Chapter 37, 1948. So then, here's what they do next. Because this is 1948 for them. They then say that the battle of Gog and Magog happens before the millennium. Yeah. I've got the book in my office, Charting the End Times by Tim LaHaye. So Tim LaHaye is one of the guys behind the Left Behind book series, films, and so forth. And in Tim LaHaye's book, Charting the End Times, he has the battle of Gog and Magog before the millennium. Because he basically has 1948 in chapter 37, and then we roll into Gog and Magog in 38 and 39. There's just one little problem with that. The Bible says it's after the millennium in the only other place that it mentions it. In Revelation 20, after the thousand years are expired, then the battle of Gog and Magog takes place. You know, there's a little detail there. But because they see chapter 37 as 1948, the Zionist state being founded by the United Nations, Gratis the Rothschilds, in 1947, 1948, now all of a sudden the Gog and Magog comes next. That's why at the beginning of the Left Behind movie with Kirk Cameron, you know you've seen it, okay? At the beginning of that stupid movie, the first thing that happens is a bunch of planes are like bombing Israel and get blown out of the sky. Who knows what I'm talking about? Come on. Every head bowed, every eyes closed. Hey, guess what? That weird scene at the beginning that's sort of just like apropos of nothing, and you're kind of wondering like, what does this have to do with the rapture? All these planes just being blown out of the sky. That's Gog and Magog. A little nod to Gog and Magog courtesy of Tim LaHaye, who's coming up with this stuff. Okay. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Now look, now that we've read Ezekiel 37, can you see any way that this is 1948, or wouldn't it make way more sense that it's the bodily resurrection of Israel that Jesus talked about, and wouldn't that make way more sense since everything fits? Everything fits perfectly. And then we roll into Chapter 38, Gog and Magog, perfect. Millennial reign of Christ, David my servant is reigning over them forever, then we roll into Gog and Magog. That's actually what Revelation teaches. It fits like a glove. Why don't you like it, Tim LaHaye? Because they want it to be pre-Trib, they want it to be Zionism, and so they doctor everything to fit that. But really, if you just look at it, it's a bunch of bones coming out of the grave and resurrecting. That fits perfectly with the resurrection. David my servant shall reign over them. That fits perfectly with the second coming of Jesus. Twelve tribes. That fits perfectly with, again, the regeneration. Twelve actual tribes. Not just this amalgamated mass of redhead, blonde people called Jews. It's actually the twelve tribes. Everything fits. But here's what's so dangerous about the pre-Trib rapture doctrine or the Zionist doctrine that's out there. Even the Preterist doctrine, post-millennial doctrine. You say, who cares what people believe about the end times? Here's the danger, is that many of these end times views are getting people ready for the Antichrist. Because stop and think about it. Let's say we take the Tim LaHaye view for a moment. Let's just totally just shut off the actual front part of our brain where all the higher reasoning takes place. Let's just do a virtual lobotomy real quick. And then let's just believe for a second that Ezekiel 37 is 1948. I know it's hard, but see if you can just find your reptilian brain. Do this in the cerebellum or something. But here's the thing. Let's say 37 is 1948, right? Yeah, this happened in 1948. It's great. Israel. Okay. Everybody there? Mentally? Okay. Now, when we read this, it says that they shall know. He says in verse number 27, my tabernacles shall be with them. And he said before that, I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. Here's the thing about that, is that if you're thinking that this is fulfilled in 1948, them coming back to the land, then now you're expecting the sanctuary to be among them. That sanctuary to be built, and it's going to be built forever and it's going to be great. So what happens when they start building a third temple in Israel? What if like five years from now, they start rebuilding the temple? If you're in this kind of Zionist mentality, you're thinking like, this is so great. It's a fulfillment of prophecy. And in Marching to Zion, you remember Tex Mars tells a story about that lady that donates money so that they could rebuild the temple. And he's explained to her, like, do you realize that that temple is going to be used by the Antichrist and everything? And she kind of just paused for a minute and she was like, well, I just feel like I'm helping fulfill Bible prophecy. And he's like, yeah, you are, you know, you're helping bring in the Antichrist. So I mean, do you see how that could be a dangerous view to be excited about this so-called nation of Israel and, oh, it's going to be great. They're going to build the temple. Oh, and isn't it going to be so exciting when they start offering sacrifices in the temple? Folks, Jesus is the lamb slain once for all. Offering a sacrifice is blasphemous at this point because you're basically saying Jesus isn't the final sacrifice offered once. But these Zionists, they get excited about the temple being built. They get excited about sacrifice and everything. Even if they're pre-trib and expecting the rapture, well, here's the thing about that, though. These people, they're more into Zionism than they are in the pre-trib rapture. They're more married to the Zionist pro-Israel view than they are to the pre-trib rapture. So they could easily be tricked, especially if they're not saved. Because remember, it's not just saved fundamental Baptists that have been duped by the pre-trib rapture. Many people have been duped by the pre-trib rapture, like Pentecostals and other denominations and evangelicals in general. The people where we knock the door and ask them if they know they're going to heaven and they're like, I think so, I'm a pretty good person. So they're not even saved, those people. And like I said, a lot of saved people believe in the pre-trib rapture because they've been duped. But a lot more unsaved people believe in it because it's a Hollywood movie, for crying out loud. The bottom line is that if these people are more into being a Zionist than anything and more pro-Israel than anything, it's going to be pretty easy to get them excited about the temple and Israel and to just kind of get them to shift their thinking into thinking like this is Jesus, this is the second coming, it's already happening, there's peace on earth, here's the temple, my servant David is ruling over them forever, here we are. Folks, that's what's going to happen. I mean, people are going to fall for the anti-Christ. The Bible says that he'll be so smooth that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. And so people are going to fall for this guy. Evangelicals are going to fall, but I don't believe anyone who's actually saved will because he said if it were possible, he'll deceive the elect. The elect aren't going to be deceived, but a lot of other people are. So can you see how these wrong views about Israel in the end times could lead people to get sucked into the hype of Israel, we got rid of that, you know, that Merkah went in and got rid of that darn mosque, and now we can build the temple, the right temple. And then it's like, oh, it's going to be forever, David my servant. And they're going to think that the anti-Christ is Jesus. Folks, anti-Christ means in the place of Jesus Christ, that's what it literally means. He's an imposter, he's a fake second coming. Now let me tell you the end times position that is like preparing people for the anti-Christ even better than Zionism, better than the pre-Trib rapture. I'll tell you the number one preparation for the anti-Christ is post-millennialism, okay. And this is becoming a popular thing in a lot of circles. A lot of the Baptists that are Calvinists are getting into post-millennialism, a lot of Presbyterians and people like that are getting into post-millennialism. And here's what this doctrine says. This doctrine basically teaches that the world's going to get better. And basically like Christ, basically it's post-millennial because it's like Christ comes after the millennium. But they don't believe in a real millennium. It's like a figurative millennium, like Christ is reigning right now type of a thing. And again, however I explain this, people are going to say I'm explaining it wrong because there's a bunch of different millennial views, a bunch of different post-millennial views. But there's this kind of idea that the gospel and Christianity is going to take over the world and then Christ returns. That's the basic gist of it. Whereas we believe things are going to get worse and worse and worse. And I mean when the Son of Man comes, is he going to find faith on the earth, you know. I mean basically it's going to get worse and worse and worse. And then Christ comes and fixes everything. They believe that Christianity is going to triumph and then Christ will. Think about how bad this is. They're basically just like ready for Christ to return then as we evangelize more and then Christ returns. Folks, they're like just perfectly primed to believe that the anti-Christ is Jesus because they don't even believe that there's going to be a literal anti-Christ like going into the temple and declaring himself to be God. They don't believe in that. They just believe that Jesus is going to return. Things are going to get better and then Jesus is going to return. I mean post-millennialism is perfect, perfect for falling for the anti-Christ. Because you hear, I mean I literally, I see these post-millennialists on my Facebook feed. Here's the kind of stuff that they post. Oh, I'm so glad I believe in a theology where I'm looking for Jesus instead of looking for the anti-Christ. It's like, okay, say that again slowly, you know. Even fundamental Baptists will use that same rhetoric, you know, they're looking for the anti-Christ, I'm looking for Jesus. They're looking for the undertaker, I'm looking for the upper taker, amen. And they, you know, that same rhetoric, but I mean the post-millennialists, they're flat out saying like, well, I'm so glad my theology is not anticipating the anti-Christ, we're just looking forward to Jesus. Isn't that so cool? Yeah, it's so cool to look forward to Jesus except the anti-Christ is coming, idiot, and you're going to think he's Jesus. Does everybody see the problem? But it's so funny, people can say this with a straight face. Like my theology is better because I'm looking for Jesus and you're looking for the anti-Christ. Yeah, it sounds like your theology is perfect for someone to fall for the anti-Christ who claims to be Jesus. I mean look, if the anti-Christ doesn't come before Jesus, what's even the point? If you're going to be an imposter, you've got to come first. It'd be like if Jacob came in after Esau already got the blessing and he's like, all right, dad, I'm Esau. You think it's going to work? The whole point of Jacob taking the blessing from Esau is that he had to come first. He had to be the first guy in there. So guess who has to come before Jesus? The anti-Christ. That's why the day of Christ is not at hand because there must come a falling away first and the man of sin must be revealed, the son of perdition. The anti-Christ must come first. But the post-millennialist is like, that's not my theology, I'm just looking for Jesus. Okay, well, it'll be fun to watch you fall for the anti-Christ, okay, because you think, you know, well, what anti-Christ, it's just Jesus' second coming. You know, you've heard that anti-Christ shall come, that's what the Bible says. And even now there are many anti-Christ, but there's going to be one big capital A anti-Christ that's coming. And so does everybody see how these could be dangerous where you're looking for Jesus and you're not looking for the anti-Christ or you're looking to the current state of Israel to last forever or you're looking for a temple to be built there that's going to last forever and that it's going to be God's sanctuary, it's going to be great, these are dangerous things. And you say, well, the pre-tribbers won't fall for it because they're just expecting you to disappear first, but here's the thing, they're not going to disappear though. So because they don't disappear at that point, they're going to have to rethink that part for sure. Once all hell breaks loose and they're like, well, here we are, they're going to be open to whatever. They're going to be so confused and discombobulated, you know, and then at that point they're going to try to watch After the Tribulation on YouTube and it's going to be totally banned from YouTube, you know, and they're going to be trying to find that DVD. But the point is, they're going to be so confused and discombobulated whereas we going in with a knowledge of scripture that the rapture comes after the tribulation and that the anti-Christ is coming, that Israel is a fraud as we see it now, and that it's the anti-Christ who's going to be behind this whole, you know, daily sacrifice thing and that ultimately, you know, both the institution of the daily sacrifice is not of God. And then it's going to be ended by the anti-Christ. But folks, it was not of God in the first place, okay? It's going to be basically the anti-Christ beating up on unbelieving Israel. I mean, that's just bad on bad. Does everybody see that? And so, this is why it matters. I'm glad to have the opportunity tonight to just go through Ezekiel 37 verse by verse because didn't, I mean, we do really need to read this last verse because we didn't read it yet, but my tabernacle also shall be with them, yea, I will be their God and they shall be my people, and the heathen shall know, and this is the best part. How could I have not read this? And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore. And again, to the Tim LaHaye types, that's going to be when the temple is built, the one that the anti-Christ is going to sit in. That's when they're going to know that I sanctify people forever. Because that's what they think this is about. We know it's about what? We know it's in a shadow about Ezra and Nehemiah, that period, but we know it's about something that takes place at the beginning of the millennium, well after the anti-Christ and his ilk have been smoked at the battle of Armageddon, we're talking about the millennium, okay, but can you see how this verse 28 is just the downfall of these people who believe wrong on this? Now look, we read every word of it, I mean, folks, was I really, did I really have to work that hard to convince you? I mean, you know what, this should be considered like a vacation day for me, like, I shouldn't even get paid for this particular sermon because it's so easy to preach, it's like taking candy from a baby up here, like, I'm not even working, like, anyone could have come up and preached this sermon, because the point is, folks, that did I really have to work that hard to show you that that's not 1948, or was every verse screaming at you, this is not 1948, this is the millennium, right? It was like shaking you and slapping you and telling you, like, no. So folks, I'm not up here having to do a bunch of work to try to get you to see this because it's clear. Chapter 37 is so clear, but yet, they will still say it's 1948, why? Because they'll look at two verses, you think they're gonna take you through the whole chapter? What they're gonna do, they're just gonna read a verse, you know, the nation of Israel says that they're dry bones, but these bones are gonna live, and in 1948, all the heathen knew that God was among them, you know, that's basically what they're gonna do. They're gonna just cherry-pick a couple statements, but reading the entire chapter, it's impossible, okay? Go ahead and pay me for tonight anyway, but anyway, no, I'm just saying, but anyway, let's probably just have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for the chance to study on Wednesday nights, Lord, these more advanced books like Ezekiel, Lord, and Lord, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit so that we can understand your word, even some of these more cryptic passages, although this one's not that cryptic, Lord, but thank you so much for people that come out on Wednesday night in the middle of the week and stop everything to hear your word preached, I pray that you'd bless every single person who's here, give them safety as they go their separate ways, and just give them a successful week in each situation, Lord, bless them for coming to church on Wednesday night, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.