Lessons from a stick

Text Ezekiel 37:15-28 Time 07/10/07 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

f you ask the average Christian if he knows anything from the Book of Ezekiel he may say that he does not know much but he does know Chapter 37. When you question further, however, you will probably find that what he means is that he knows 37:1-14 and the vision of the valley of dry bones. If you ask him about the rest of the chapter, verses 15-28, you may well find that he doesn’t even know what the rest of the chapter contains. Now why is this? There are probably two main reasons. 1. The contrasting visions – one very spectacular and one not. The first features a valley of dry bones which when Ezekiel prophesies is first reassembled and enfleshed and then actually comes alive to form a vast army. The whole thing must have been an amazing sight. The second features a bit of wood – just a stick really or two bits of stick put together to form one. Hardly very spectacular. The latter we could easily replicate ourselves if we wished. The former is something we could hardly even hope to present even in cinematic form. 2. The applications – the first is again simpler, less detailed and perhaps more obviously encouraging. It is a message of hope and of encouragement with obvious applications to various situations of need and discouragement. As we shall see, in the second part of the chapter although it may be more difficult to extract there is a great deal more again here. So we say

1. Be clear about the picture used

Yet again in 37:15 Ezekiel tells us The word of the LORD came to me. He is told by God (16, 17) Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him. Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him. Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. Yes, it's as simple as that – two sticks with names written on them and then joined together.

To fully appreciate this, however, we do need a brief history lesson to explain the significance of the names. It goes back to what happened at the end of the reign of Solomon many years earlier. You recall that although Solomon was a great King he was a hard taskmaster and when his son Rehoboam came along the people pleaded with him for greater leniency. The older and wiser of his advisers could see that this was the policy needed but the younger men in his court took the opposite view and it was these that Rehoboam foolishly listened to. This led to a rebellion under a man called Jeroboam and following a short but bitter civil war, God's people were divided.

In the south you had Judah and little Benjamin, the people of Simeon who were scattered in the land of Judah plus all the Levites who remained faithful to the Temple worship in Jerusalem. Hence the reference on one hand to Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him. This nation had a series of kings after Rehoboam, all descended from him in the same dynasty. Some were bad like him but some, such as Asa, Hezekiah and Uzziah, etc, were good. Eventually, because of Manasseh and other wicked kings they were taken into exile in Babylon. The other tribes all to the north (hence their designation "the northern kingdom") formed a new nation under Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, their first King. A form of false worship was introduced and things basically went from bad to worse. A series of dynasties came and went. In every case the king was wicked. The worst of them was King Ahab who reigned with his wicked Queen Jezebel. Eventually they were carried into exile by the Assyrians some time before the Kingdom of Judah was also exiled. In their land they were replaced by other pagan peoples who brought in a hybrid religion of their own. These are the Samaritans, so called from the capital city of the north. Here the kingdom is referred to as Ephraim. We have belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him. Ephraim, you remember was Joseph's son and the most prominent of the ten tribes was named after him. It is rather complicated, as real life is, but it is good for us to know this material so that we can better understand the Bible, which is the Word of God.

2. Understand the meaning of the picture and what God promises his people

So what about the meaning of all this? Ezekiel is told (18, 19) When your countrymen ask you, Won't you tell us what you mean by this? say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph - which is in Ephraim's hand - and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand. That is the basic promise then. Somehow God is going to gather together the exiled people of God, scattered as they were in Assyria and Babylon and by this time in other places too, and he was going to bring them all together again as one. Now this is quite something. If I have an apple and I cut it in half and then I say I'm going to join the two halves together again you may wonder how I will do it but you can imagine a way. But if I cut and apple in half and throw one half over there and throw the other half over there and then cut it into pieces, then I have a much more difficult task in hand. Ezekiel is told (20, 21) Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says. There is a lot more here than at first meets the eye. By joining the House of Israel together as one, once again, God is going to bring about several great and wonderful changes. They are spoken of here.

I have divided them into six to help us explore them. As we look at these, it is important not to be literalistic about our understanding of them. When he says (24) for example My servant David will be king over them. He cannot surely mean that David is literally going to be raised up to reign as King once more. No, Ezekiel is describing things here that begin in the Old Testament period and that extend into this New Testament period in which we now live.

1. Rescue from exile and return home to the Promised Land

I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. … 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever .... God's people leaving their places of exile and coming back to the promised Land. Picture it. This reunion is going to take place back in the Promised Land itself. It involves two parts – the rescue from exile and then the return to live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. And that is what literally happened. You can read about it in Ezra and Nehemiah. The promise is that They and their children and their children's children will live there forever .... And here we must expect something less literal as in fact they were eventually thrown out of the land again following the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. The answer to this is no doubt in the fact that since the coming of Messiah the people of God has been clearly made up not just of Jews but of people from every tribe and tongue and nation under heaven and so geographical location is no longer the factor it was. Our focus is now not on any location on earth but on heaven, where Christ is, and the world to come. God's purpose was always that the Son of God would come into this world as Messiah. In order for that to happen he had to be born to a people who lived in a certain land under certain laws and customs and who spoke a certain language. It was God's purpose that this people should be the Jews, living in the land of Palestine or Israel, living under the laws set out in Scripture, following various customs and speaking Hebrew (and Aramaic). At this point in history it looked as though this was simply never going to happen. The Jews were a divided people, in exile, finding it very difficult to keep God's law, in a foreign culture and speaking a foreign language. And yet here is the promise that all will be well. And in Christ that promise still stands – the promise of rescue and return. We are as it were, by nature, exiles – exiles from heaven and from God and from all the joy of his promises. But he is willing to bring us back. He is willing to draw us to himself and to his people and eventually to heaven if we will trust in Jesus Christ. And so I say to you "Return. Come back. Know the joy of being back with him and the prospect of eternity in heaven. "

2. Continual unity under one king, Christ

22-25 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. … Take note of verses 24 and 25 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd ... and David my servant will be their prince forever. They will be a happily united people in the land under the rule of King David. This previously divided nation will be reunited once again. Not only that but they will have a king over them. It is worth noting that Israel had no king after the exile. Although on their return the heir, Zerubbabel, was governor, it was foreign kings who ruled. Indeed the royal household fell into obscurity although the information was preserved – we have it in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that show that Jesus of Nazareth through his mother and earthly father was the rightful heir to the throne of David. Here he is spoken of as David himself, the king, the one shepherd, their prince forever. And that is fulfilled in the unity that God's true people have under the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how Jesus prayed on earth - Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be one as we are one. I know that Christians can argue and fight but there is an essential union between them that cannot be lost. They serve the same God through the same Saviour. It is the same Holy Spirit who works in them all. They read the same book and ultimately they will all be in the same place together under the same Great King, Jesus Christ. Is he your king? Are you one with us – one with the people of God?

3. Purity from idolatry and sin and a covenant relationship with God

23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offences, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. It is worth remembering that the history of Israel up until the exile is the history of a people constantly falling into idolatry. Ezekiel learns you remember how it was even going on in the Temple itself. They were surrounded by such things and they often fell into it and into other gross sins also. But after the exile, formally at least, they were not like that at all. They were monotheists of the first order – this is one reason why they resist the idea of the Trinity so strongly. Here that transformation is promised. Again, we must not stop with its literal and partial fulfilment in Israel but see how it points to the saving of many the world over from paganism and idolatry and all the wickedness that so abounds in this world. Have you stopped defiling yourself with your idols and vile images? Have you turned from your offences against God? Call to God to save you from sinful backsliding and to cleanse you. In Jesus Christ you can enter into covenant with God – he will be your God and you will belong to him. I urge you to come and to be reconciled to God today. Call him my God. Ask him to receive you under his gracious covenant today.

4. Careful obedience to God’s Law

hey will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. Again, use your imagination and think of the way when the Jews returned from exile they began again to study and implement God's Law as found in the Scriptures. You know that after the exile the synagogues began and you have the rise of the Pharisees who although they were marred by many faults, at least by the time of Jesus, they were essentially seeking to keep the law of God as they understood it.

In Jesus Christ God's new covenant people are not under the old ceremonial and judicial laws of Israel but the moral law still stands and that they seek to keep. They often fail in that but God is willing to take their sincere desire to keep the law as evidence of following it and being careful about it. If you are not trusting in Jesus Christ it is impossible for you to do even one thing in line with God's law. Again that is why we all need to trust in Jesus Christ.

5. Covenant peace, prosperity and growth In 26 God says I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers. Again, the terms are quite general but you can imagine entering into an ancient covenant perhaps – a conquering suzerain or overlord agreeing terms with the people and agreeing to support them and allow them to prosper. You can imagine them growing in numbers and in prosperity over the years. Again we can see a literal fulfilment following the resettlement of the people in Israel but there is more than that – there is the covenant of peace with God in Christ. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. We are at peace because we are no longer rebelling against god through Christ and because he is no longer angry at us because of what he has done. There is also that peace of God which transcends all understanding that guards the hearts and minds of believers and that peace between them which we have spoken of earlier. As for prosperity, believers may not always be rich in this world's goods but when it comes to the things that count they lack no good thing. All things are yours says Paul to the Corinthians. And in principle they are. It is the meek, I remind you, who will inherit the earth. As for numbers, there are more and more Christians all the time. Every day, more and more people are coming into the kingdom as the gospel goes out in the nations of the world. Today, especially, the Lord's Day, no doubt there will be many people converted in different paces (perhaps here). Christianity's doom has often been spoken of but in fact nothing can stop its growth. Are you a Christian? Are you knowing the forgiveness of sins and the peace and prosperity found in Christ?

6. God’s covenant presence, a witness to the nations Finally and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Picture the Temple that was rebuilt when they returned to the Promised Land. Once again they knew the immediate presence of the Lord there. The Second Tempe wasn't as impressive as Solomon's Temple but it was to that site that Messiah eventually came. When he was just six weeks old, his parents brought him there and Simeon blessed him. He was there again when he was twelve and many times after. There he turned out the money changers and taught the people. He is God incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us. He has now sent his Holy Spirit who is active in all the world bringing God's presence near. He is here now. What a glorious privilege. It is a witness too to the nations. No other nation knew what Israel knew. No religion even promises what we know as believers – Christ in you the hope of glory. You can know it. Come to Christ today.