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shall perish from t he priest"
(verses 25-26).
Yes, wben this comes, our peo–
ple fi nal ly wi ll cry out for a true
prophet or minister of the Eterna!
God-but it will be too late! For
then shall have come the time spo–
ken of by the prophet Amos, when
there shall be a famine of hearing
the words of the Eternai-{Amos
8:1 1)-an e nd o f tr ue gospel
preaching. Al ready the people and
thei r paid ministers have turned
their eyes and ears from God 's law.
Notice chapter 11 of Ezekiel's
prophecy.
It
is a message addressed
to the House of Israel (verse 5).
" ...
1
will bring a sword upon you,
saith tbe Lord God. And 1 will
bring you out of the midst thereof,
and deliver you into the hands of
strangers, and will execute j udg–
ments among you. Ye shall fall by
the sword ... " (verses 8-10).
When? It is future from the time
Ezekiel wrote, and it has not yet
happened since then. God says it
will happen!
Chapter 12, verse 11: " ... they
shall remove and go into captivity."
It
is yet future- and it is the
House of Israel. Not Judah.
When? "And they shall know that
1
am the Lord, when
1
shall scatter
them among thc nations, and dis–
perse them in the countries" (verse
15). The expression "They sbaJJ
know that
1
am the Lord" is used
repeatedly through the book of
Ezekie1-always referring to the
time of the Second Coming of
Christ, and l srael's final restoration
back to her original land . Many
prophecies show that the modero na–
tions descended from ancient Israel
are to be scattered in this 1atter-day
captivity when Christ comes to re–
store them back to that land.
People Won' t Believe lt
Always the true prophets and min–
isters of God have stood almost
alone and opposed by the over–
whelming majority in 1srael. That
is Israel's history of old.
It
is true
today.
The 13th chapter shows t he
declaration of the popular ministry
of this day in Israel-in America
and Britain.
"Son of man, prophesy against the
prophets of Israel ... Woe unto the
foolish prophets, that follow their
4
own spirit, and have seen nothing! O
Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes
in tbe deser ts. Ye have not gone up
into the gaps, neither made up the
hedge for the house of Israel to stand
in the bat tle in the day of the Lord"
(verses 2-5).
It
is speaking of the
soon-coming "Day of the Lord"–
not sorne ancient event! " ... they
have seduced my people, saying,
Peace; and there was no peace ..."
(verse 10).
Our nations were not chosen for
special favors. We were chosen for
a service and righteous life we have
failed to perform. Every time Israel
of old disobeyed God , departed
from bis laws and ways and went
in to the pagan customs (as we have
done today, actua lly deceiving
ourselves by call ing those customs
"Christian"), they were invaded
and conquered. Has God changed?
Ezekiel catalogs our sins-ou r
customs and ways that seem right
in
our
eyes bu t that are contrary to
God 's laws and an abomination in
his sight. Sorne of them he men–
tions in the 8th chapter.
And cbapter 22: "Thou hast de–
spised mine holy things, and hast
profaned my sabbaths," says the
Eterna! (verse 8). " ... thou hast
taken usury and increase, and thou
hast greedily gained of thy neigh–
bours by extor tion, and hast forgot–
ten me, saith the Lord.... And I
will [not
did,
but
wi/1]
scatter thee
among the heathen, and disperse
thee in the count ries, and will con–
sume thy filthiness out of thee"
(verses 12, 15).
"Her p r iests [prophetical l y
speakjng of modero Israel] have
violated my law, and have profaned
mine holy things: they have put no
difference between the holy and
profane, neither have they shewed
difference between the unclean and
the clean [Lev. 11 ], and bave hid
their eyes from my sabbaths, and
l
am profaned among them" (verse
26). Our people today can' t see
where these things make any dif–
fe rence. Bu t Ezekiel says the
preachers have deceived the people,
and led them astray. They have
condoned all these things, until the
people have lost God's pure TRUTH!
Chapters 25 through 32, Ezekiel
digresses to prophesy against a num–
ber of foreign gent ile nat ions who
have come in direct contact with Is-
rae!. In Ezekiel 33:11, the prophet
returns to pleading with the House
of Israel. " ... Turn ye, turn ye,"
God pleads, "from your evil ways;
for why will ye die, O house of Is–
rael?" Here, too, Ezekiel is again set
a watchman to warn Israel- AMER–
ICA ANO BRITAIN TODAY-at the
time when this prophesied foreign
sword is coming. Ezekiel wrote the
message-but it remains for us to
whom God has revealed it today to
actually shout and proclaim it to the
people. God help us to be faithful in
this solemn and grave commission!
In the 34th chapter, God tells him
to prophesy against the ministers of
our land. They have fed
themselves and not the
flocks. They have
preached what people
wanted to hear
( JI
Tim.
4:3-4) in order to get
their salaries.
The Coming of Christ!
And now the Eternal
inspires the prophet to
come to the solution.
"Thus saith the
Lord God; Behold , I
am against the shep–
herds; and 1 wi ll re–
quire my flock at their
hand, and cause them
to cease from feeding
the flock . . . . Behold,
I , even
1,
will both
search my sheep, and
seek them out. ... And
will deliver them out of
all places where they
have been scattered in
the cloudy and dark
day [the Day of the
Lord- yet future]. And
1
will ... gather them
from the countries, and
will bring them to their
own la nd, and feed
them [spi r itual food]
upon the mountains of
Israel by the rivers, and
in all the inhabited
places of the country"
(Ezek. 34:10-13).
Christ himself-for
he is the Eternal-shall
come and rescue our
people , not only from
the coming captivity
and dispersion, but
from the false Baby-