This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will show myself holy among them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.” (Ezekiel 28:25–26, NIV 1984).
My Musings – In these last days, they have been gathered once again, “from the nations where they [had] been scattered,” but I suspect there is more gathering to yet to come. Once again, they “live in their own land,” but not all the land that God “gave to [His] servant Jacob.” That is yet to come. They have “[built] houses and [planted] vineyards,” but they do not yet “live in safety.” Since the very beginning of their return “all their neighbors [have] maligned them.” But someday, perhaps soon, “they will know that [He is] the Lord their God” when He “inflict[s] punishment on all” of them for what they have done to God’s chosen people.
It is generally acknowledged that this had a once, and will have a future fulfillment, when the exiles returned from Babylon and when Christ will rule from Jerusalem.
My Advice – We, whether a Jew or not, can become part of that future Kingdom now by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. When we do, “we [receive] a kingdom that cannot be shaken, [so] let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.'” (Hebrews 12:28–29, NIV 1984).
Like “a consuming fire” He will “inflict punishment on all” who do not place their faith in Jesus. To “be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'” (Mark 9:47–48, NIV 1984).
Let’s be among the “thankful” when He “send[s] his angels with a loud trumpet call, [to] gather His elect from the four winds, [scattered] from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:31, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 