EZEKIEL 47-48 ISRAEL IN THE MILLENNIUM2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 47-48 Israel In The Millennium

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

We're picking up right in the middle of God revealing to Ezekiel things about the Millennium. Now, the Millennium is a time period that is yet to take place. We've talked about it a lot on Sunday mornings because it's in regards to, or the Millennium is the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

Currently, we're living in what we call the Church Age, and that will come to an end with the rapture of the Church. After that, the earth is going to go through seven years of tribulation, but that seven years will come to an end when Jesus returns and sets foot upon the earth. He will put an end to the battle of Armageddon that's taking place, and then He will establish His kingdom here on the earth for 1,000 years. That's called the Millennium.

During that time, Jesus will be on the earth ruling and reigning for that thousand years. Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for that time. And during that time, the earth is going to be renewed and restored to what it once was without the effects of sin.

There's also going to be a temple there in Jerusalem. And we spent quite a bit of time in Ezekiel studying that and looking at all of the different aspects of the temple and the walls and the land around it. And we'll talk a little bit about that today as well. And so there's going to be a temple. It's going to be kind of the center of the earth. And the inhabitants of the earth in that day will come to Jerusalem, come to the temple to worship God. And they're going to be able to come to the temple and worship God.

and to praise Him there, and they will be inhabiting all the ends of the earth during that time.

Now as we're finishing up this portion, Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48, Ezekiel has been dealing with that millennial period, that millennial kingdom. And really this portion, as it was being received by the Jewish people as Ezekiel is writing and sharing these things, this would have been a huge encouragement for the Jewish people.

Because as Ezekiel is writing these things, while these things are going on, the Jewish people are held in captivity in the nation of Babylon. Their nation...

The nation of Judah, the nation of Israel, it was conquered. Their temple was destroyed. It was just completely wiped out. The land now is uninhabited. There's nobody in Israel as Ezekiel is writing these things. The people had rebelled against God to such an extent to

to such a degree that God brought judgment upon them. He gave them opportunity to repent, sending Isaiah, sending Jeremiah, sending these other prophets ahead of time. And for a couple hundred years, God was reaching out to them and calling them to repentance.

But they refused and insisted on rebelling against God to the point that God allowed Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to come and destroy Jerusalem, the nation of Judah, the temple, and carry all the survivors away captive back to Babylon. And so they are, at this time, as Ezekiel is writing this, they're several years into this captivity. And they're finally realizing that

Oh my goodness, what have we done? Look at what our sin has caused us. They're finally waking up and realizing we did experience judgment. We experienced the penalty for rebelling against God. And as they are aware of this, as it begins to dawn on them, it begins to sink in what has happened, you can imagine how discouraged they might be.

How difficult it would be for them to realize that they are in this miserable place because of their own actions. It's their own fault. They've refused to listen to God. They've rebelled against Him to this point. But as Ezekiel is writing here in chapters 40 through 48 about the millennium, this would be a huge encouragement for them because essentially what he's saying is God still has a plan for you.

He's not done with you yet. He hasn't given up on you. You're not lost completely. He still has a plan. And so the Jews would be encouraged at that time as they're in captivity. And Ezekiel is writing about this future time when they will inhabit the land once again and the temple will be built and the Lord will be there. It's going to be a glorious time. It would be an encouragement to them, a reminder that

Even in the depths of the consequences of sin, God hasn't given up on them. And as we look at these things, I hope that you would be encouraged as well. If you are in the middle of experiencing the consequences or the effects of rebelling against God, you need to know it's not the end. God's not finished with you. He can still do a work and He still has a plan if you will just turn to Him.

And so as we pick it up in Ezekiel chapter 47, we're going to start in verse 13. We covered up to verse 12 last week, and so we'll pick it up in verse 13. And we're going to be talking throughout the whole evening tonight about the land of Israel and the borders and the sections that will be divided during that millennial kingdom. One quick side thing. Royce, I'm sorry, could you start the video recording? Thanks, bro. All right, Ezekiel chapter 47 verse 13, it says this.

Thus says the Lord God, These are the borders by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. You shall inherit it equally with one another. For I raised my hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance."

Here in verse 13 and 14 of chapter 47, God is now beginning to describe the territory that will be given to the Jewish people during this thousand year reign of Christ. And so he's going to be describing the borders, the perimeters and the extent of this land. He says, these are the borders and you're going to divide it as an inheritance equally.

And so between all the tribes of Israel, the land is to be divided equally. Each tribe is to get an equal portion of the land that God has given to them. He said, Joseph, however, shall have two portions.

Now Joseph, if we can take a moment and go back and revisit the history of the tribes of Israel. First of all, you remember that there was Abraham. And God called Abraham. And God told Abraham that He would bless him and give him many descendants. And that through Abraham, that the whole world would be blessed.

And that is through Jesus Christ, who is of the descendants or the lineage of Abraham. He is of the Jewish people. And so Jesus, of course, is a blessing to the whole world because whoever turns to him will be saved and will not experience eternal judgment. But God called Abraham. He told him he would bless him. And then Abraham had a son. His son was Isaac.

God extended the same promises, the same promise of blessing, the same promise of the land that God was giving to Abraham, carried on to Isaac. And then Isaac had a son named Jacob. And Jacob received that same promise, that same promise of land, that same promise of blessing, that same promise that the Savior would come as one of his descendants.

Well, then Jacob had 12 sons and the children of Israel are made up of the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob. And so I have a quick example here on the screen or a quick chart of the lineage of Jacob. And so Jacob, if you remember, he had two wives, Rachel as well as Leah.

And so Rachel and Leah gave him children, but also he had two concubines that were the maidservants of his two wives. And you remember the story, the account there in Genesis, there was kind of a competition, you know, who could have the most kids. And so they, you know, were trying to have a lot of kids. And so they ended up with 12 kids.

And so you start out, the firstborn was Reuben, and then Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. And then Rachel, she had two children only, Joseph and Benjamin. And then Bilhah had Dan and Naphtali, and then Zilpah had Gad and Asher. And so these are the twelve children of Jacob.

Now, you remember how Joseph went into Egypt ahead of the family because his brothers didn't like him and they sold him into slavery. And God worked it out where, you know, he was able to, Joseph was able to save the family from starvation and provide for them a territory in the land of Egypt. And so in Egypt...

While Joseph was away, his father thought he was dead. Joseph gets married. He has two children, Ephraim and Manasseh. And these two children, later on when Jacob gets to Egypt, he claims them as his own. And so when we talk about the 12 tribes of Israel, sometimes we're talking about just the 12 sons of Jacob, but many times we're talking about 13 tribes because Jacob,

Jacob claimed Ephraim and Manasseh in place of Joseph. And so that's why Joseph gets a double portion because he claimed those two children as his own. And so the land that is going to be divided is going to be divided into 12 portions of

Because Levi, we'll get to that in a few minutes, Levi, the tribe of Levi, where the priests come from, and the Levites who serve at the temple, they don't get an allotment in the territory because their inheritance is to be with the Lord and serve the Lord around the temple. And so there's...

12 tribes, as far as the land is concerned, is going to be divided equally among them. Joseph gets a double portion because Jacob took his sons as his own. Now he says there in verse 14, he says, You will inherit equally with one another, for I raised my hand in an oath. God says, I made a promise. I made a promise to Abraham that I would give him this territory. And so God is here going to fulfill his promise to Jacob.

to Abraham as well as Isaac and Jacob. In Genesis chapter 13, verse 14 through 17, you can read about that promise where God tells Abraham that He will give him all the land, all the territory as far as His eye can see from where he was. And so we'll see in just a moment the extent of the land that God had given to him.

What we are reminded of as we look at these things this evening and all the different dimensions and things that we'll be talking about, we're reminded of the fact that God is faithful to His promises.

Think back. How long ago was it that God promised Abraham to give him this land? And he did give him that land. His descendants lived there for a little bit of time until they rebelled and Babylon came and conquered them. And then now they're back in the land after being apart and separate from the land for a couple thousand years. But they're in the land with great wealth.

The millennium, though, will be the final fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham because they will inhabit the land in peace. And there won't be war. There won't be threats against them. They will inhabit the land in peace.

And so what we see here is God saying, look, I'm going to be faithful to my promise, even though it's several thousand years later, God's promise is going to be fulfilled. And God's word is going to be proven true. And that's something that we need to reflect on this evening as we consider these things. God's promises are true. You know, very rarely does God work...

or fulfill things and promises in our lives in the time frame that we would prefer. Usually, God works according to His own time frame and His own timeline, and we wonder and we doubt and we question and we worry and we get all worked up over the timing of the things that are happening and why God is allowing these things and so on and so forth.

We forget that God's promises will be fulfilled in His own time. We can rest assured that they will be fulfilled. We have many promises from God. We looked at on Sunday morning the promise of eternity, the promise of heaven, the new Jerusalem, all of those things that God has in store for His followers.

That is a promise that will be fulfilled, that it is going to happen. And even if it takes thousands of years for it to come about, God will be faithful to fulfill His promises. It doesn't matter how long it's been. Sometimes we kind of give up, don't we? It's like, man, the Lord showed me that, the Lord spoke that to me. I would have thought this would have happened a long time ago.

God will fulfill His word. He will fulfill His promises. And He's proving that as He's giving these prophecies here in Ezekiel chapter 47 and 48 about the land that He had promised to Abraham. Well, now He goes on to describe the borders of this land. Verse 15,

He says,

You got a clear picture of what he's talking about there, right?

No, of course not. He lists all kinds of cities and some of these are difficult even this day with archaeology and everything to determine and know exactly where he's talking about. But we do have a general understanding of what God is describing here. And so the north, of course, is there at the top of the screen. And so the great sea is the Mediterranean. That's along the western side of the land of Israel.

There in the middle, you have that Sea of Galilee and then the Jordan River, which goes all the way down to the Dead Sea. And so this is, you know, the land of Israel. And that red line across the top is that north border that he is describing. And some of the locations are exact. Some of them are the best educated guesses of the scholars. But you get the idea, get the picture. It's that general region that that's going to be the border, the limit of Israel.

of Israel in those days. Now that goes through what is currently Lebanon, as well as Syria and those regions. And then he will describe the east side in verse 18. It says, On the east side you shall mark out the border from between Haran and Damascus and between Gilead and the land of Israel, among the Jordan and along the eastern side of the sea. This is the east side.

And so the east side begins, of course, up in the north and goes down, cuts down, down to the Sea of Galilee, goes down along the Jordan River, around the Dead Sea, and then down just south of the Dead Sea. Then he describes the south side in verse 19. The south side toward the south shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribah by Kadesh, along the brook to the great sea. This is the south side toward the south.

And so that's what we have pictured here. Tamarod would be down a little bit south of the Dead Sea and then from down there. You see that blue dot in the bottom left? That's where the waters of Meribah are. And so it goes on over to there. And then the west side, verse 20, "...the west side shall be the great sea from the southern boundary until one comes to a point opposite Hamath." This is the west side.

And so basically the Mediterranean Sea makes up the western boundary of the land of Israel for Israel.

this millennial kingdom. Now this is a little bit bigger than the nation of Israel today. Currently Israel does not go as far north but it goes much farther south which south of that right now is just a lot of desert. But this is going to be the borders of the land of Israel during the millennium. Now I probably should point out that during the tribulation period and at the end of the tribulation the

The scriptures, the book of Revelation describes all kinds of earthquakes and divisions and lots of...

events happening where things are moving around and so the landscape as we look at it today and describe it on the map today may not be identical or may not be exactly what will exist in that day because the tribulation period will contain some really intense

judgments and catastrophes like the world has never seen before. And so the geography will probably change between now and then, but this gives you a general idea of what the land of Israel will be like during that thousand-year reign of Christ. And again, what he is promising to these people who currently they have no land, they're in captivity, he's promising them, look, this is the land that I've set apart for you.

And it's going to be given to you. You're going to inhabit this land during that glorious time of the millennium or the thousand year reign of Christ. Going on to verse 21, it says, Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

Verse 2.

And so now God speaks in regards to the strangers who are living with them. Now, going back to our studies on Sunday mornings, and if you haven't been with us, I apologize, but we talked about the 144,000 of the Jewish people that will exist during the tribulation period and how God will protect them, He will seal them, and He will bring them through that seven-year tribulation.

And so those 144,000, it's 12,000 from each tribe, will survive the tribulation period and go into the millennium.

It will be these 144,000 along with whoever else happens to survive through the tribulation that will inhabit this millennial kingdom, the thousand year reign of Christ. And so the land is going to be divided. Again, there's going to be 12,000 from each tribe at least who survive. And so the land will be divided between them and given to them. But also he makes reference here to the strangers, right?

Now the strangers most likely are the other believers who survived the tribulation period who go into the millennium with them. And so they're going into the millennium and they're going to be given an inheritance as well, different portions and allotments of land.

in the places where they're staying or with the groups that they've been with. And so people, as they turn to Jesus during the tribulation period, will be kind of grouping together with, teaming up with the Jewish people. And as they head into the millennium, they'll be allowed to continue along with them and to populate the land that God had promised to the Jewish people.

And so he gives a provision here for the strangers, the Gentiles, those who are not of Jewish descent, but they will be living with them in that time and they will get a portion of land as well.

As we move on into chapter 48, now he'll begin to divide this whole land, these borders and allotment of land that God has promised to them to each of the tribes. Verse 1 it says, Now these are the names of the tribes from the northern border along the road to Hethlon at the entrance of Hamath to Hazar-Enon, the border of Damascus northward in the direction of Hamath. There shall be one section for Dan from its east

Verse 2. Verse 3.

Verse 7,

And so what he's describing here is the allotments of land that are to be given to each of the tribes or each of the families that have descended from the children of Jacob. And so here's what it might look like in making these divisions. First of all, you have Dan at the farthest north. Then you have

and then Naphtali, then Manasseh, then Ephraim, then Reuben, and then Judah. Now these are kind of just estimated boundaries. Again, they're going to be given equal allotments of land, according to what he said there in verse 13 and 14 of chapter 47.

And again, the geography will probably be significantly different by that time. But to give you an idea of what it might look like, what it might be like, each of them will get a piece of land. And the thing that he is careful to present or point out to Ezekiel is that their portion is from the east border.

I'm not afraid of the dark

It'll be more like squares, okay? They have solid blocks. Okay, I know when I'm in Dan. I know when I'm in Asher. I know when I'm in Naphtali. You know, it's not confusing and it's not difficult to navigate. And so this will be the allotment of land in the northern part of the land of Israel. And so he starts from the top. He works his way down. And now as he goes down,

Beyond the tribe of Judah, he's going to be describing a specific section of land that's devoted to the Lord and there's some certain things that are going on there. We talked about this quite a bit last week and so we'll just be hitting the highlights as we go through these things again. Verse 8, it says,

By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be the district which you shall set apart 25,000 cubits in width and in length, the same as one of the other portions from the east side to the west, with the sanctuary in the center. Verse 9. The district that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width.

To these, to the priests, the holy district shall belong. On the north, 25,000 cubits in length. On the west, 10,000 in width. On the east, 10,000 in width. And on the south, 25,000 in length. The sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the center. It shall be for the priests of the sons of Zadok who are sanctified, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray.

And this district of land that is set apart shall be to them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.

And so what God is describing here is that middle section right there just above the Dead Sea. You see that little square with the red dot in it? He's describing that section right there and the land around it in the next following verses as well. And so what we have here on the screen now is kind of a zoomed in portion. It looks a little bit different because it's what we used last time when we talked about it. But you have the Mediterranean there on the east, the Dead Sea in the Jordan on the east,

East rather. The West is the Mediterranean, I apologize. And then you have this block of colors here. Now, what God is describing here in verses 8 through 12, he's describing the land that's dedicated for the priests. Now, those red, green, and purple blocks all together, that makes a square, 25,000 cubits on each side. It's a square of land. It's

set apart as the district for the Lord. And each one of those colors represents different things that are happening within that land that God has set apart. And so the green section is what is being described here in verses 8 through 12. This is the land for the priests.

And so here in this green section is where the priests are able to live, they're able to be, but it's also where the temple is. And so the temple that will exist in the millennium will be right in the center of that green section and that's where the priests will work, that's where they will live, that is the land that they will be able to occupy.

Now it's the specific order of priests who are the sons of Zadok, it says there in verse 11, who were sanctified and who kept God's charge. There were priests who turned away from the Lord during the reign of the nation of Judah. There was

a split, if you remember, between the northern portion of Israel and the southern portion of Israel. And during that time, there was priests who turned away from the Lord. Several other times throughout Judah's history, there were priests who began to serve other gods and follow other gods. And so the priests who stayed faithful are the ones who will be able to inhabit that area and be able to serve the Lord as priests during the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Now as we consider that, I think it's a good reminder for us, an important reminder, although we might not like to consider it, but the effects of sin are long-lasting.

And so we see here that the descendants of Zadok, those who were faithful to the Lord thousands of years ago, their descendants are reaping the benefits of their faithfulness to the Lord. And so as we are faithful to the Lord, it is more than just this life that we're affecting. It's more than just...

Right now, 2011, 2012, 2020. It's long-lasting. The effects can be long-lasting. And in the same way, the effects of sin are long-lasting because those priests who turned away from the Lord, their descendants...

thousands of years later, are not able to serve in a capacity that they could have had their forefathers been faithful. And so what we see here, it's a lesson that is hard for us to learn because we don't see it right in front of our eyes. You know, you stick your finger in a light socket and you get zapped and you learn your lesson, right? You touch a hot, you know, pan on top of the stove and you learn your lesson. It's an immediate effect.

But if you do something and there's no immediate effect, you may even be told that it's wrong or you may even know that it's bad for you, but it's not an immediate connection for us. And so we don't immediately think, oh, that's bad or that's wrong because there's no quick response. There's no quick consequences to the action.

But the reality is when we practice sin, when we turn away from the Lord, we may not be struck with lightning in that instant, but the reality is the effects will be long lasting in our own lives, but also may impact our children and their children and their children as a result of the things that we did. And so there's an importance for us to stay faithful to the Lord and to be faithful to walk with Him and to not turn away from Him.

Because it not only affects our own life, but the lives of the people around us and the lives of the people who come after us. Verse 13...

Here in verse 13 and 14, now he's describing the land for the Levites.

So the priests are the ones who actually serve in the temple offering the sacrifices. The Levites are the ones who take care of the other things around the temple. They stand guard. They bring the water. They do all of the manual labor that goes along with it. And so this section of land that's being described here is that red portion across the top. It's 25,000 cubits wide.

or long, depending on which way you're looking at it, and 10,000 wide. And so the red portion, the green portion, are both 25,000 cubits by 10,000 cubits. And these are the portions that are given to the priests. They're in the green, and the Levites, they're in the red. Verse 15.

And so here in verse 15, and we'll go on through verse 19, it's describing the actual city of Jerusalem and the land that's given to it. And that is that purple section at the bottom. That's the 5,000 cubit portion that's

And so it's 25,000 by 5,000 cubits in length and width. Verse 16. These shall be its measurements. The north side has 4,500 cubits. The south side has 4,500 cubits.

And the east side 4,500 and the west side 4,500. The common land of the city shall be to the north 250 cubits, to the south 250, to the east 250, and to the west 250. The rest of the length alongside the district of the holy section shall be 10,000 cubits to the east and 10,000 to the west. The

And so what he's describing here in verses 15 through 19 is in this purple section, right in the center of it, there's going to be the city of Jerusalem. And so what he's describing here in verses 15 through 19 is in this purple section, right in the center of it, there's going to be the city of Jerusalem.

And the city of Jerusalem is going to be quite large. It's going to be 4,500 cubits on all sides with 250 cubits, which is about 300, 400, about 400 feet perimeter on the outside of land and kind of the approach to the city. And that is the direct center of this purple portion, the land that's given to the city. And then on either side of the city, there's going to be fields.

And there's going to be crops that are grown there and fruit trees and vegetables and those types of things. And all of the fruit and the things that are grown there is going to be provision for the city. And so that's what he's describing here in verses 15 through 19.

Now we look at this and we go, okay, that's interesting. That's more than I wanted to ever know about the Jerusalem of the millennium. But again, for the people who are hearing these things and Ezekiel is sharing these things with, this would bring great comfort and hope because there they are. Right now, Jerusalem, it's demolished. Their temple is demolished. There's nothing there. It's desolate. There's nothing growing. There's no inhabitants. It's just left open for the wild animals.

And so what God is reminding them of is, I still have a plan. I'm still going to be faithful to my promise. I'm not done with you yet. I still have a future for you. And this is what I'm going to do. Verse 20.

The entire district shall be 25,000 cubits by 25,000 cubits, four square. You shall set apart the holy district with the property of the city. So that, again, the red, green, and the purple all together, it's 25,000 cubits on all sides. This is the set apart area to the Lord. Verse 21. Verse 21.

The rest shall belong to the prince on one side and on the other of the holy district and of the city's property next to the 25,000 cubits of the holy district as far as the eastern border and westward exit, westward next to the 25,000 as far as the western border adjacent to the tribal portions. It shall belong to the prince. It shall be the holy district and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the center.

Moreover, apart from the possession of the Levites and the possession of the city, which are in the midst of what belongs to the prince, the area between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin shall belong to the prince. And that can be a little bit confusing. So again, looking at the screen, that blue section is what was just described there in verses 20 through 22. This is the section. This is the land that's given to the prince.

The prince, we don't know exactly who this prince is. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. It could be Jesus. Some suggest that could be David. Some suggest that I think more likely it's another type of ruler that will be in that day during the millennium that we really don't know much about.

But that land will be given to him and that will be his territory and he has certain responsibilities that go along with that. He has to make provision for the feast and those types of things. And we dealt with that a couple weeks ago. And so that's the land that's given over to the prince. Verse 23. Verse 23.

Verse 1.

And so going back to our overview here, adding in those bottom ones, you have Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad. And so the land is there.

The borders that God has set. This is the portion that He is going to give to them. The northern tribes will have their portions. Again, it's going to be from the east side to the west side. They'll have the whole block of land. And He started from the north. Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah. Then He described to us that middle section where the prince has property...

And so the descendants of all of these sons of Jacob...

will inherit land in that territory and the land will be divided up according to the number of descendants and the inhabitants that are there and that is what they will live or that's where they live that's where they will work during this thousand year reign of Christ verse 30

These are the exits of the city on the north side measuring 4,500 cubits. The gates of the city shall be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates northward, one gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, and one gate for Levi. On the east side, 4,500 cubits, three gates, one gate for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, and one gate for Dan.

On the south side, measuring 4,500 cubits, three gates. One gate for Simeon, one gate for Issachar, and one gate for Zebulun. On the west side, 4,500 cubits with their three gates. One gate for Gad, one gate for Asher, one gate for Naphtali. All the way around shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is There.

Here in verses 30 through 35, he's now describing the city of Jerusalem and the gates that will exist all around the city. The gates will each have the name of one of the tribes of the nation of Israel. So he describes the north gates. The north gates will have the names of Reuben, Judah, and Levi.

Then the east gates will have the names of Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. The south gates will have Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. And the west gates will have Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. And so Israel, the nation of Israel, the tribes of Israel will be represented on the gates that are around the city of Jerusalem.

Now, what's interesting about this is we just taught on Sunday morning, Revelation chapter 21. And you remember we talked about the new Jerusalem that descends out of heaven. And that new Jerusalem that descends out of heaven is, well, it's square, just like this one is described as being square.

It's much larger than what's described here, but it's the same shape. It's kind of got similar properties. And the New Jerusalem has a gate or a wall that goes around it. And there's three gates on each side, the north, the south, the east and the west. And so what we see here in Ezekiel chapter 48 is the Jerusalem that will exist in the millennium will be kind of a foreshadow of the

The New Jerusalem or what we would normally call heaven. And so it's a model of, it's a picture of what is yet to come for those who are inhabiting that thousand year reign of Christ. So they will head into Jerusalem. They'll head in through one of those gates, either on the north or the south or the east or the west. And they'll be reminded, they'll be looking forward to the New Jerusalem that is about to come. The eternal home that God is preparing for his followers.

And so these names that are written on the gates, it's not specified in Revelation 21 which names are where, but I would suggest to you that it's going to be the same. The north will have the same names, the south and the east and the west will all have the same names because it's a shadow of, it's a model of the new Jerusalem that God has created that will be the Jerusalem of eternity.

Well, there at the end, he says, the name of the city from that day shall be the Lord is there. And that's really the highlight. That's kind of the most exciting thing about this whole chapter and this whole description. Okay, so the land and its description and its borders and the divisions, that's pretty interesting. Okay.

We've talked enough about that. But the point here that God is making and that He is sharing through Ezekiel to the people is that the name of the city will be changed. That the name of the city will be, the Lord is there. The whole excitement about this place is not the gates. It's not that it's square. It's not the color of the buildings or anything like that. The whole excitement about...

The millennial kingdom is that Jesus will be there. He will be ruling and reigning there in Jerusalem. He will be there. The Lord is there. That's going to be the name of the city. People will say to one another, let's go see the Lord. Let's go spend time with Him. And they will go to Jerusalem to be with Jesus.

They'll worship at the temple. They'll be practicing and living lives much like you and I are familiar with today. But they will be able to go into Jerusalem because the Lord is there to see the Lord, to be with the Lord. Now again, this is a little bit exciting for us as we look at it. It's interesting. Okay, this is what's going to happen for the millennium. But for the people of Ezekiel's day, this would really blow their minds.

You remember earlier in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel had the vision where the presence of God left the nation. The glory of God left the temple. There in Ezekiel chapter 10, we saw that. He left. Why? Why did God leave? Because the people insisted on rebelling against God. Because they refused to turn and repent.

He was calling out to them for them to turn from those false gods, to turn from those things that were keeping them from Him. But they insisted. They said no. In fact, very clearly and blatantly, I think it was in Jeremiah's ministry, as Jeremiah was calling them to repentance, the people responded very clearly, no, it's too hard to serve the Lord. We're going to do what we want to do.

We're going to live life our way. We're going to do what we want to do. And so they kicked God out of Israel is really what happened. As they insisted on rebelling, they refused to turn to follow Him and to listen to what He was asking them to do and calling them to do. And so they're in the place that they're in at that point because of that. They're in captivity because of that, because of their rebellion against God. They're down. They're

They're realizing, look what we've gotten ourselves into. And here God gives them some hope. He gives them a glimpse of the future that He has in store for them. He says to the nation, I'm not done with you yet. I haven't cast you off forever. There's some today that teach that God is done with Israel, that they had their chance, that was it. He has no plans for them ever again. But we see here in Ezekiel chapter 48, among other portions,

God still does have a plan for Israel. And even though they're a nation now, they're basically an atheistic nation. They're not serving God as a whole. There's individuals who have turned to the Lord, but as a whole, they're not serving the Lord. The Lord is not there in the way that He will be there during the millennium. And so God is reminding them. He's letting them know, listen, I'm not done with you. I haven't given up on you.

I'm going to be there in your midst in that day. The work is going to be incredible. It's going to be glorious. Throughout the book of Ezekiel, we've studied a lot of different things. The first part of the book was really devoted to the prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem. The people were in denial. Even though they had heard from God and God had sent prophets and said, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed unless you turn and get right.

The people were in denial. They were saying, no, God would never allow this. It could never happen. We could never experience that kind of judgment because we have the scriptures and we have the temple. They were very religious, but they were also very rebellious. And so although they went to church, they went to the temple, they practiced Judaism, they had no real relationship with God. And outside of the temple, they would worship all of these other gods.

Not only would they do that, but then they would bring those other gods into the temple and they would worship God as well as these other gods that they were worshiping. Their hearts were divided. And so God, through Ezekiel and many other prophets, promised the fall of Jerusalem. And that's what we saw in chapters 1 through 24. God speaking through Ezekiel, telling the people, listen, this is a result of your rebellion. Jerusalem is going to fall. The people would say, no, no, no, we don't believe it. We don't receive it.

But now, in the later portion of Ezekiel, it's already happened. It's taken place. Now they're realizing the truth of all of those things they've heard for so long. And as they realize the truth of all of those things that they heard for so long, now they're wondering, is God done with us? Is it too late? I want to encourage you this evening, just like God used Ezekiel to encourage the Jews of that day. It's not too late. God's not done with you.

No matter what you're going through, no matter what you're experiencing, no matter what kind of things are happening in your life, and probably they're happening because, well, you've ignored what God has asked. You've ignored what God has said. Many of the problems, many of the difficulties, many of the trials that we experience in life are brought on by ourselves because we don't like to listen to what God says. We like to do things our own way.

And as we experience those things, it's very easy to be discouraged and to think, why bother? I blew it. God's done with me. I wouldn't receive myself back. Why would God want me back? But here God tells the Jews, and He reminds you and I, He's not done with us. He's faithful to His promises. Paul tells us in Philippians 1, verse 6, that we can be confident of this thing, that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Listen, when the enemy tries to tell you, make you think that God's done with you, that he's fed up with you, remember what Ezekiel told the Jewish people. He's not done. God still has a plan for you. He has a plan to bring you to completion, to bring you to where the Lord is. That's Jesus' desire. It's always been his desire. He wants that relationship with us.

Jesus said, I'm going away. Remember in John 14? And if I go away, I'm going to go prepare a place for you. And then I'm going to come and get you and receive you unto myself that you can be where I am and I can be where you are. And we can always be together. That's what Jesus wants. That relationship, that closeness with us. So we need to be reminded this evening. God's not done. No matter how far you've fallen, no matter what depths you've dug yourself into, God's not done with you. But in order for Him to do the work,

In order for Him to do the work, we must know that He is the Lord. Throughout all the prophecies that we've been studying through Ezekiel, all the prophecies and promises of judgment, as they were in rebellion against God and God says, this is what's going to happen, He would always say throughout all those prophecies, over and over again, we saw it so many times, He would say, then you will know that I am the Lord. Because for Israel, it took complete judgment,

Complete destruction for them to finally recognize that He is the Lord. Although they knew intellectually and they would say, Yes, Jehovah is the Lord. Yahweh, He is the Lord. Yes, He is God. He is the Lord. They would say that with their mouths. They knew that intellectually, but their lives were not lived that way. They didn't live as if He is the Lord.

Because they disobeyed him. They disregarded him. They didn't pay attention to what he said. They didn't seek him for his advice or counsel. They lived life the way that they thought they should live it, doing whatever they wanted to do, spending time however they wanted to spend it, worshiping whatever gods they wanted to worship. And so although they knew intellectually that he is the Lord, and they went to church, they went to the temple, their lives, they were not devoted to the Lord.

And so God says, I'm going to bring this judgment upon you and then you will know that I am the Lord. Now they could have repented. They could have realized, you're right. Yeah, look at my life. Look at how I'm spending my time. Look at the things I'm doing. You're not the Lord of my life. I need to get things right. They could have woken up and made Him the Lord of their lives at that point. As God was pronouncing these judgments, it was an invitation to repent. But they didn't. And so they had to learn the hard way.

And so the question for you and I this evening is, do you know that He is the Lord? And what will it take for you to know that He is the Lord? The reminder that we have this evening that God is faithful to His promises, that He's not done with us, that even when we're in the depths of, you know, the results of the consequences of our sin, God's not done with us. But will you know that He is the Lord? Will you finally wake up? Will you finally realize that

I've been wasting my life serving all kinds of other gods. Will you finally realize I've been neglecting God? Will you finally realize He is the Lord?

And He must be first in your life. And He must be first in your heart. He must have your ultimate devotion. He must be your supreme passion. He must be the pursuit of your life. And everything in your life must center around Him. He is the Lord. When will you know that? What will it take for you to know that? What will it take for you to finally live your life in submission to Him? What's it going to take for Israel,

It took years of rebellion and pain and misery followed by years of judgment and consequences for their sin for them to finally realize He is the Lord. For you and I, we have the opportunity. God's faithful to His promises. He chastens the ones that He loves. He will complete the work that He began in us. And we can be willing participants, submitting to Him, devoting our lives to Him, getting rid of the junk and the things that we know they are not to be part of our lives.

Or we can be unwilling participants and we can resist and we can fight and we can ignore and we can think, it's not going to happen to me. We always think that, right? We're the exception to every rule. It's not going to, oh yeah, it might have happened to them or it might have happened to that person. That guy deserves it, but not me. When will you know that he is the Lord? When will you finally surrender and devote yourself completely and wholly to him?

The worship team is going to come up and lead us in a couple songs. And as they do, let's take some time to reflect on that. That's the theme of the book of Ezekiel. And so as we come to the end of this book, we need to consider, is He the Lord of my life? When will you know? What will it take? I would encourage you as we worship the Lord together this evening, right now, make that decision.

For Him to be the Lord of your life. Don't wait for all of the consequences of rebellion and ignoring Him. You don't have to learn the hard way. We can determine, we can decide, we can turn right now to the Lord. And it doesn't matter where you've been and what depths you've plummeted to. God still has a plan for you. And He's faithful to His promises. And He's not given up on you. It's still time. Right now, you can get back right in the center of God's will by turning your heart, turning your life

devoting yourself once again to Him completely. Let's worship the Lord together.