THE LAND WILL BE REDISTRIBUTED

Text: Ezekiel 47:13-48:35

Focus: Ezekiel 47:13,14,21,22; 48:1,10,11,21,23,31-35

During the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, the Promised Land will be divided among the tribes of Israel. Jerusalem will be the City of God and Christ will control government and religion from there. God WILL KEEP HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC , JACOB AND DAVID.

The Land of Promise:

Gen 12:5 says  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
Gen 12:6  And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
Gen 12:7  And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Heb 11:8 says  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:9  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

The Throne of Promise:

2Ch 7:18 says  Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

Psa 132:11 says  The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; [Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne].
Psa 132:12  If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.
Psa 132:13  [For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation].

Isa 9:6 says  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Isa 9:8  The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

Luk 1:32 says  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Luk 1:33  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

*****”REMEMBER GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS WORD!

The land will be divided so that the Temple area stands separated from the rest!

*****It would be good to remember a couple of scriptures:

Psa 122:6 says  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Gen 12:3 says  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

OUR TEXT:

Eze 47:13  Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
Eze 47:14  And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: [concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers]: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.

THE PROMISE OF DOUBLE PORTION TO JOSEPH WILL STILL EXIST DURING THE MILLENIAL REIGN:

Gen 48:3  And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
Gen 48:4  And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
Gen 48:5  And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Gen 48:6  And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

WHY? BECAUSE OF WHAT HIS BROTHERS HAD DONE JOSEPH GOT THE RIGHT OF THE FIRSTBORN SON, A DOUBLE PORTION.

Now we know that at the time of Ezekiel there were only two tribes left, Judah and Benjamin. The Northern tribes, the other ten tribes, had been taken away many years ago by the Assyrians. This happened about 722BC.

God will not forget about any of the tribes of Israel. Some still say the lost tribes of Israel but God knows where every one of His children are at, at all times.

*****THERE IS A BIG DISPUTE IN PALESTINE OVER WHO OWNS THE LAND BUT NO MATTER WHAT IS SAID, THE BIBLE SAYS GOD GAVE THIS LAND TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL!

In fact the name Palestine means the “land of the Hebrews”.

GOD CREATED THIS WORLD AND GOD OWNS IT ALL.

Gen 14:19 SAYS  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of [the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth]:

Psa 24:1 SAYS The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Psa 115:16 SAYS  The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: [but the earth hath he given to the children of men].

Luk 10:21 SAYS  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

*****WE CAN SEE GOD HAS GIVEN EVERYTHING TO CHRIST JESUS!

AGAIN OUR TEXT:

Eze 47:21  So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
Eze 47:22  And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, [and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel].

God told Abraham how big this land would be.

Gen 15:18 SAYS  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

But we know that when Jesus Christ returns and there will be at least one earthquake and the land will certainly change so it will be interesting to see where these two landmarks will be then. There is an awful lot of land between the Nile river and the Euphrates river right now.

In verse 47 we see a couple more things.

If we realize that this is the time of the Millennial Kingdom then we can see something special in these verses.

*****WE KNOW THAT THIS IS AFTER THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH. WE KNOW THAT THIS IS AFTER THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. WE KNOW THAT THE GLORIFIED BODY OF THE SAINTS WILL CHANGED AND AS FAR AS CHILDREN BEING BORN THE CHURCH WILL BE AS THE ANGELS:

Mat 22:30 SAYS  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Mar 12:25 SAYS  For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

*****NOW NOTICE THAT LIVING AMONG THESE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THERE WILL BE SOME PEOPLE THAT WILL BARE CHILDREN.

SO WE SEE:

1.) We have Christ Our Lord ruling:

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

2.) We have the Saints of God:

Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

3.) We have the regathered Children of Israel:

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and [will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee].

The Prophesy of the Second Coming.

4.) Now we have strangers, Gentiles, living amongst these children of Israel and having babies.

These will be exciting times.

BUT WHAT ELSE DO WE SEE?

Rev 20:7 SAYS  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

*****WE CAN SEE THAT GOD WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO GO ON INTO ETERNAL LIFE WITHOUT FIRST BEING TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL. SATAN WILL BE RELEASED FOR A LITTLE SEASON.

THEN HIS END AND THE WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT:

Rev 20:10  And [the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone], where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

*****WE CAN SEE NO MATTER WHERE YOU READ IN THE BIBLE, IT WILL NOT CONTRADICT ITSELF!

OUR TEXT:

Eze 48:1  Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.

Eze 48:23  As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.

The division of Israel at this time will be according to tribal identification and nothing else. The only thing that matters is the tribe of your ancestors.

****The four sons of Leah and Rachel are given the lands closest to the Temple and the sons of Bilpah and Zilpah are given the lands farthest ot the North and South.

*****NO INDIVIDUAL MERIT, WEALTH OR TALENT IS INVOLVED. THIS IS SIMPLY A BIRTHRIGHT SELECTION. MEN MIGHT NOT KNOW THEIR ANCESTRY BUT “GOD ALWAYS DOES”.

GOD KNOWS WHAT FAMILY BELONGS TO WHAT TRIBE.

*****IN A LIKE MANNER GOD KNOWS HIS CHILDREN IN THE CHURCH TODAY. WE MAY FORGET FROM TIME TO TIME THAT WE ARE BORN AGAIN AND SAVED BUT GOD WILL NEVER FORGET.

*****AREN’T YOU GLAD OUR SECURITY DOES NOT DEPEND ON US, AND THAT “IT DEPENDS ON GOD”!

What else do we see? THIS IS AN INHERETANCE, IT IS NOT A REWARD FOR WHAT WE HAVE DONE. THIS IS NOT PART OF THE REWARDS YOU WILL RECEIVE AT THE BEMA SEAT NOR IS IT FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOR MAKING IT THROUGH THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. IT IS SIMPLY GOD KEEPING A COVENANT PROMISE JUST AS HE SAID.

THIS IS NOT THE ETERNAL LIFE THAT WILL COME LATER AFTER THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM PROMISES OF GOD.

OUR TEXT:

Eze 48:10  [And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation]; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof.
Eze 48:11  It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

Eze 48:21  And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; [and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof].

What we see in verse 48:10 is that the Priests are given some land. This was not done in the division by Joshua. But 48:11 says what we also see is that only those that are descendants of Zadok are now considered for priesthood. He was the one that stayed true to King David at the time of Absoloms rebellion. It is that group that will serve in the Temple of the Lord. Don’t let those measurements fool us. It appears to be about one hundred square miles. About half the size of Israel now. And 48:21 says The Temple will be square in the middle of this land.

*****THIS DIVISION OF THE LAND IS BASED ON THOSE THAT WERE FAITHFUL TO THE LORD. THEY WILL BE THE CLOSEST TO HIM. I BELIEVE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST ALSO FITS THIS CATEGORY AND THE SAINTS OF GOD WILL BE EVEN CLOSER THAN THEY.

Rev 19:7 SAYS  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 SAYS  And to her was granted that [she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white]: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Rev 19:14 SAYS  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, [clothed in fine linen, white and clean].

THE SAINTS OF GOD HAVE BEEN WITH HIM SINCE DEATH AND THE RAPTURE.

Rev 1:5 SAYS  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6  And [hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father]; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

IT DOESN’T SAY THIS IN THE PROMISES OF THE MILLENIAL KINGDOM TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

OUR TEXT:

Eze 48:31  And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
Eze 48:32  And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
Eze 48:33  And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
Eze 48:34  At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
Eze 48:35  It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

These gates are not the gates of New Jerusalem, but they will have the same name. There is a good reason for this for it shows us that salvation is of the Jews. It is the Jew that preserved the “Word of God”. 

*****WE CAN ALSO SEE THAT ANY GENTILE THAT WALKS THROUGH THOSE GATES CAN READILY SEE THAT SALVATION IS OF THE JEW.

Jesus told the woman at the well:

Joh 4:20  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: [for salvation is of the Jews].

*****YOU SEE WHEN GOD CALLS SOMEONE OR SOME NATION FOR A CERTAIN TASK HE WILL SEE THAT THAT TASK IS COMPLETED BY HIS OWN POWER.

*****WE CAN BE THAT VESSEL FOR THE LORDS USE IF WE JUST COME TO KNOW HIM AS SAVIOUR. GOD CHOSE ISRAEL OUT OF ALL NATIONS TO BRING FORTH HIS WORD AND THEY DID.

Rom 5:20 SAYS  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. [But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:]
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, [even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord].

Rom 11:29 says  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

*****THERE ARE TIMES IN OUR LIVES WHEN IT SEEMS ALL IS LOST BUT THIS IS NEVER TRUE ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE, NO MATTER WHAT SATAN TRIES TO TELL YOU.

Joh 14:2 SAYS  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

*****JUST AS MUCH AS WE BELIEVE IN OUR SALVATION AND THE RAPTURE, AND THE TRIBULATION PERIOD AND THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM WE CAN BELIEVE THIS VERSE ALSO.

WE WILL SPEND ETERNITY WITH OUR LORD JESUS, IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME.

WE CAN BE CERTAIN THAT EACH ONE OF GOD’S PROMISES WILL COME TO PASS JUST AS HE SAID THEY WOULD.

LET’S PRAY!