God’s People Restored Again
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Key Verse: “I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.” Selected Scripture: |
AN IMPORTANT PART OF the restoration of a people is found in the fact that it is necessary for them to undergo certain changed conditions. To make a full recovery, it is necessary for them to not only abandon idolatry, but they must obtain a change in heart condition. “A new heart also will I give you.” (Ezek. 36:26) This will eventually lead to a new mind and a new disposition favorable to God and righteousness.
The prophecy of this lesson belongs to a future time. In corroboration of this, we refer to Romans 11:32. Here the Apostle Paul shows that fleshly Israel, not having properly sought the new heart and right spirit of the Lord, was unprepared to receive the Messiah. Instead, they rejected him, and crucified him. The Apostle shows us that, as a result, only a remnant was gathered out of Israel to be of the ‘bride class,’ and that the nation as a whole stumbled into blindness. However, their blindness shall be removed, “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”—Rom. 11:27
It is this covenant of the Lord to Israel to ‘take away their sins’ and to give them a new heart that is being referred to in our lesson. Their recovery from blindness will mean nothing less than life from the dead. This nation, after rejecting our Lord and being blind to the fulfillment of the prophecies made to their fathers, shall soon come to know him.
If God can show his mercy to those who turned away from him and crucified his son, it will mean also the extending of Divine blessings to all according to his promises. So all of Israel shall be saved—recovered from blindness. “Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”—Ezek. 36:28,29
The removal of the stony heart and the giving of a new heart will not be an instantaneous work. The method by which it will be accomplished is explained in the words, “So all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them.” (Rom. 11:26,27) God has appointed a day for blessing Israel and ultimately blessing all the families of the earth. It will be accomplished by instructions in righteousness; for the glorified church with Christ its head will be the great prophet or teacher of mankind. Israel’s past experiences will serve as a preparation for their blessing in the kingdom. All mankind shall then come into harmony with the kingdom, and will be counted as children of Abraham, and of the true Israel of God. They shall be as the “sand which is upon the sea shore.” (Gen. 22:17) The day is coming when the words will be fulfilled, “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.”—Jer. 31:34