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The Bible Breakdown
Ezekiel 36: The Greatest Comeback Story
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, ezekiel, chapter 36, and today's title is the Greatest Comeback Story. The Greatest Comeback Story. I'm so happy to tell you that the pivot is finally happening and God is going to start talking about the restoration of Israel. I'm so excited to get into this today, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1:If you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to Ezekiel, chapter 36. And while you're doing that, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people doing wonderful work and I'm going to tell you, the more we dig, the more we find. And, by the way, don't forget if you would like to receive a link to these videos and podcasts every single day to your text messaging. That way, you don't have to pull up your app and do all the different things. You can text RLCBIBLE as one word RLCBIBLE to 94000, and you will get those every morning to your inbox. Okay, all right. Well, once again, if you have your Bibles. In Ezekiel 36, as always, don't forget, the overall goal of Ezekiel is to remind us of God's promise of renewal, and we've been on this long journey. It's been long and you and I have grown closer together as we have looked at so much negative. God's just broken heart, ezekiel's very unique way, as God has inspired him, of telling about this. And now, man, we are pivoting and it is awesome God's going to start talking about this restoration, this renewal has finally come, and so, if you have your Bibles and you're ready, I want to jump right into Ezekiel, chapter 36, as we talk about the restoration of Israel. You ready?
Speaker 1:Ezekiel 36, verse 1, says this Son of man, prophesy to Israel's mountains, give them this message. O mountain of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says. Your enemies have taunted you, saying aha, now the ancient heights belong to us. Therefore, son of man, give the mountains of Israel this message from the sovereign Lord. Your enemies have attacked you from all directions, making you property of many nations and the object of much mocking and slander. Therefore, o mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord.
Speaker 1:He speaks to the hills and mountains, ravines and valleys and to ruin wasted, long deserted cities that have been destroyed and mocked by the surrounding nations. This is what the sovereign Lord says. My jealous anger burns against these nations, especially Edom, because they have shown utter contempt for me by gleefully taking my land for themselves as plunder. Therefore, prophesy to the hills and mountains, ravines and valleys of Israel this is what the sovereign Lord says. I am furious that you have suffered shame before the surrounding nations. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
Speaker 1:I have taken a solemn oath that those nations will soon have their own shame to endure. But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people, for they will be coming home again soon. See, I care about you. I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops planted. I will greatly increase the population of Israel and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people. I will increase not only the people, but also your animals. Oh, mountains of Israel, I will bring people to live on you once again and I will make you even more prosperous than you were. And then you will know that I am the Lord. I will cause my people to walk on you once again and you will be their territory. You will never again rob them of their children. This is what the sovereign Lord says.
Speaker 1:The other nations taunt you, saying Israel is a land that devours its own people and robs them of their children. But you will never again devour your people or rob them of their children, says the sovereign Lord. I will not let you hear those other nations insult you. You will no longer be mocked by them. You will not be a land that causes the nations to fall, says the sovereign Lord.
Speaker 1:Then this message came to me. Oh, my goodness, I miss this. Praise the Lord. I'm going to read this again, because here we go, as only Ezekiel could say. Can we just get this out of the way? He's one of a kind. Okay, the Lord inspired one of a kind. All right, one of one. Here we go. Verse 17 son of man.
Speaker 1:When the people of Israel were living in their own land, they they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me, their conduct was as unclean as a woman's menstrual cloth. Verse 18,. They polluted the land with murder and worshiped idols, so I poured out my fury on them. Verse 19, I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived Verse 20,.
Speaker 1:But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name, For the nation said these are the people of the Lord, but he couldn't keep them safe in their own land. Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations. Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the sovereign Lord I am bringing you back, not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my own holy name, to which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my own holy name, to which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is, the name on which you brought shame among the nations.
Speaker 1:When I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord, for I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. The filth, your filth, will be washed away and you will no longer worship idols and I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart, and I will put my spirit in you and you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. You will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people and I will be your God. You will cleanse. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain and I will send no more famines on your land. I will give you great harvest from the fruit trees and fields and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land or its famines.
Speaker 1:Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the sovereign Lord, I am not doing this because you deserve it. Oh, my people, israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done. This is what the sovereign Lord says. When I cleanse you of your sins, I will repopulate your cities, the ruins will be rebuilt. The fields that you still I empty in desolate and pain, in plain view of everyone, will again be farmed. And then, when I bring you back, the people will say this former wasteland is like the garden of Eden abandoned and ruined cities now have strong walls and are filled with people. Then the surrounding nations that survive will know that I the Lord, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. Like a flock, they will be as numerous as the sacred flocks that fill Jerusalem streets at the time of their harvest. The ruined cities will be crowded with people once more and then everyone will know that I am the Lord. Wow, god is saying time's up. I am about to do a new thing. I'm going to take out that stony heart. I'm going to put in a heart of flesh and it's going to be awesome. I am going to bring you back from a long way.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, but I love a good comeback story We've heard stories of. Was it several years ago at the Olympics when the United States beat the sure winners, the Soviet Union at the time, to claim gold? How many times NFL Super Bowl, tom Brady, over and over and over again, leads a comeback. And we love those NBA finals, even basketball, college basketball finals. There's just something amazing about an underdog story or as a comeback story and it just makes everything so great, and we love celebrating those, but have you ever thought about the greatest comeback story you know of is yours.
Speaker 1:It's what God wants to do in all of us, because at some point I would dare say maybe I'm wrong. If so, please let me know in the comments down below. If you're the exception, I dare say that all of us, according to God's word, have said we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, and so when we sinned, we deserve judgment, we deserved the penalty of our sin, which is death. But the Bible says God demonstrated his great love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. And so if you receive Jesus, then the greatest comeback story in the world is that you are headed to hell, now you're on your way to heaven, and that God is doing more in you than you probably realize. And so when is the last time you have thought about the fact that that you were once headed to hell and now you're going to heaven? Now, if you don't have Jesus in your life, that's a problem, and you need to give your life over to him, and this is as straightforward as ABC. Accept that you're a sinner, believe that Jesus died on the cross and that his death and his resurrection was sufficient for your salvation, and then C confess your sins to him, receive his forgiveness and enter into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're a Christian, but you don't think of your story as a comeback story because your eyes are clouded and crowded by the current issues you're going through, and I'm not in any way trying to downplay whatever difficulty you're going through. Everyone has a private battle that only they know about. What I am denying is that that is all that has happened in your life, because if you have Jesus, the greatest comeback story you know of is your story that God, in his mercy, has set you on a path toward life. So what would it look like today if you focused a little bit less on your private battle and you focused on thank you, jesus, that I'm on the right road and I'm headed in the right direction?
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you have done more in our lives than we realize, and that doesn't mean that we don't celebrate you, but I think sometimes it's that we forget how worthy of celebration you are. I pray that today, god, that you will remind us that we may not be where we wanna be. But, man, praise the Lord, we're not where we used to be and we'll realize that the greatest comeback story is what you have done in our life. We celebrate that today. In Jesus' name, we pray amen, amen. Well, let's say this together. God's word says in Ezekiel 34, verse 14, I will put my spirit in you and you will live again. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for one of the most famous scriptures in all of the Bible Ezekiel, chapter 37.
