Israel and the Second Coming of Christ

The book of Ezekiel gives us a pretty clear picture of what will happen before Jesus returns to reign in Jerusalem. The first part of the process was when God gathered the people back to the land of Israel, their land, in 1948.(Ezekiel 36:24) Of course, there was a partial regathering after the exile of Ezekiel's time, but now, there is a massive movement of the Jewish people back to the Holy Land. This has never happened in history with any other people. It is a miracle of God, which shows He is not finished with the Jewish people yet.

Ezekiel speaks of the spiritual transformation of the people, too. The Lord assured Him that one day the Spirit would give them a soft heart, a heart of flesh. The vision of the dry bones coming to life in chapter 37 is a grand vision of the moving of the Spirit to revive the people spiritually and to make them into a great army. Then, Ezekiel 38 and 39 tell about a future attack on Israel that will come when nations like Russia, Iran, and Libya, along with other nations, come against them. Could that be beginning even today? I read of the death of the American ambassador to Libya and some of his aides this morning when I checked the news.

All of the signs given by Ezekiel seem to be coming together now. We need to be ready for God's plan to unfold, and we need to have an urgency to spread the gospel while there is still time.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Ezekiel 39-41.