Title: Happiness in Israel
Contents
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15. Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
16. Son of man, take a stick and write on it Judah and the children of Israel his companions. Take another stick and write on it the stick of Ephraim, Joseph and all the house of Israel his companions.
17. Join the sticks together so that they may become one, and the two will become one in your hand.
18. If your nation speaks to you, saying, Won't you tell us what this means?
19. You shall immediately say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the stick of Joseph and his companions from the tribes of Israel, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and put it on the stick of Judah, and I will make it one stick, and they will become one in my hand.
20. You shall hold the sticks with the writing in your hand in the sight of the crowd.
21. Say to them, Thus saith the Sovereign LORD, I will take the children of Israel from the nations of Ganba, and gather them from all around them, and bring them back to their own land.
22. And I will make them one kingdom in all the mountains of Israel in the land, and one king shall rule them all; and they shall no longer be two peoples, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
23. They will not defile themselves with their idols and their abominations, and with all their iniquity; I will save them from all their places of transgression and cleanse them, and they will be my people, and I will be their God.
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1. Therefore, I, a prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
2. With all humility and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,
3. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4. There is one body and one Spirit, in the same way you were called in one hope of your calling.
5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism
6. God is also God, the Father of all, who is above all and unites all and is in all.
Content
Title: Restoration of Israel
Text: Ezekiel 37:15-23, Ephesians 4:1-6
Leah gives birth to a third son and names him. It contains the story of how thirsty for her husband's love. ‘Levi’ is a noun meaning ‘my husband will be united with me from now on’ (Genesis 29:34). Among those descendants, those who have worthy of this name appear. Moses, the man of God, plays a role in the Exodus, and Ezekiel plays a role in the return from captivity. Their roles also had to do with names. Just as Moses in the Exodus meant ‘to draw out of the water’, Ezekiel’s return to captivity means ‘God strengthens’. God's sovereign providence made them experience a turning point in history. Neither of them had the life they wanted. God's providence was at work in the things that were encountered. And in the end, they will perform their assigned roles. Of course, the subject of that history was God. It was God's providence.
The process of birth, growth, and the roles you play are an important part of your life. However, the important parts make me think that there are many things that do not match their expectations. Moses' parents, Ezekiel's parents, and Moses and Ezekiel all had roles that were not quite what they expected. However, they were lives that had nothing to do with God's sovereign providence in any way. So it should be noted that there is an expectation of God alongside our expectations. It should be noted that there is a will of God besides our will. This is the content of the upper half of the Lord's Prayer. “Hallowed is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9,10). ‘Our name, our country, our will’, etc., must be subordinated to the above spirit. It follows the sovereign providence.
The title of today's sermon, [The Restoration of Israel], was obtained from the Old Testament text (Ezekiel 37:15-23). Ezekiel was born into a priestly family and was included in the Babylonian captivity (B.C.597). In the 5th year of their captivity, in B.C. 593, they received the prophet's calling (Ezekiel 1:2). He performed the role of a prophet for 22 years (Ezekiel 29:17). He was a prophet who had seen many visions, and one of the most representative visions he received was the “vision of the valley of the skull” (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Of course, it means the restoration of Israel. It is restoration through God's absolute sovereignty and power. “It was very, very dry” (Ezekiel 37:2) speaks of the devastation of the valley full of dry bones. ‘Can these bones live?’ (Ezekiel 37:3a) represents the feelings of the captives at that time. The answer to “You know, Sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 37:b) is total trust in God.
There are three ways to recover. 1) by the will and power of God (Ezekiel 37:3), 2) by the word of God (Ezekiel 37:4-7), 3) by the breath of God (Ezekiel 37:8-10). It is reminiscent of the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today's Old Testament text (Ezekiel 37:15-23) is the image of Israel, the chosen people, who will be restored according to the meaning of the vision mentioned above. a) The unification of southern Judah and northern Israel (verses 16 and 17). b) The restoration of the 12-tribe national community of Israel (21, 22). c) Restoring the status of the chosen people of Israel (verse 23). The next word (Ezekiel 37:24-28) is the Messianic kingdom that will realize the “covenant of peace, the everlasting covenant.” Today's New Testament text (Ephesians 4:1-6) is the concrete realization of the covenant of peace. It is a practice of life worthy of the calling (verse 1). It is a march to ‘oneness’ (verses 2-6). It makes me think about inter-Korean relations as well as other relations. We need to be prepared to follow God's will.