Inheritance Promised Ezekiel 47:13-23 November 23, 2014 www.wordforlifesays.com Please Note: All lesson verses and titles are based on International Sunday School Lesson/Uniform Series 2010 by the Lesson Committee, but all content/commentary written within is original to wordforlifesays.com unless properly quoted/cited) Introduction: In an article I previously published titled You Belong it reads: And ye are Christ s; and Christ is God s, 1 Corinthians 3:23 Do you remember the playground days? Groups over there playing on the monkey bars. Groups over here playing hopscotch. Another group hovers in a corner laughing and joking with one another. Children match up in pairs to go down the slide together. Run, tag, you re it! Then there was the one child who was a bit shy. It s not that he/she didn t want to play with the others, they didn t quite know how. Fear of rejection has kept them to themselves, content to read on the park bench or swing and play a solitary game. Feeling like you don t belong. Well, we ve all been there I think. It doesn t feel good. Feeling like an outcast while the rest of the world buddy s up and goes about their business makes one feel like a castaway; a loner on a desert isle. What is harder to deal with is when one comes to the body of Christ, the Church, and still feels in isolation. They still have a sense of being a wallflower, watching everyone else getting on just fine while they just occupy their own small, private space.
Thank God, we are not alone! We are not outcast! We are not rejects! WE BELONG! We belong. Oh, how important are those words to the lonely soul? We belong. How many times has the hurting heart needed to hear that they are not by themselves in this life? We belong. We are part of something greater. We belong! Ye are Christ s! He has secured membership for you and I. He has redeemed us and set in a place to be called His own. We are now jointheirs with Him, we are connected with Him, (Romans 8:17, KJV). We belong! But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, (1 Peter 2:9, KJV). We belong! But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, (John 1:12, KJV). We belong! For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, (Galatians 3:26, KJV). We belong! Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God, (Ephesians 2:19, KJV). We belong! And, on and on and on it goes. We belong! We are not alone! Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19, NKJV). WE BELONG! Get that in your spirit today! Go through your day knowing that God loves you and He treasures you. He cares for you and you are secured you in Him. For God is with the generation of the righteous, (Psalm 14:5, NKJV). YOU BELONG! Playground cliques do not apply! YOU BELONG! (www.wordforlifesays.com)
If you are in Christ, God has a place for you in His promised inheritance regardless of what anyone else thinks or says. Every word of God is true. Every word of God reveals the majesty of who He is even if the words to the natural eye seem to just express mere outlines of boundaries. In these boundaries are the unfolding and revealing of His promises to be inherited by all His people. Galatians 3:28 tells us, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22, 29 support this by saying, Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference... Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. If we are in Christ, we may seem like a stranger to some, but to God we are part of His family and partakers of the Inheritance Promised. Ezekiel 47:13-14 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. 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. Today s lesson is a continuation of last week s lesson. As a matter of fact, it picks right back up where we previously stopped. This set of verses begins with some of the most reassuring words in the Bible: Thus saith the Lord God. With those words come authority and power. As previously stated in other lessons God is the author of this message. The words and visions that Ezekiel will pass on are not his own concoction of ideas, rather a fulfilling of hope that lay up ahead for His people. To believe in the possibilities of what can be one needs to judge the source as reliable or not. A lot of people put a lot of dependence on that which is unreliable and untested. But God, and all that He does is sure. He is the source of all possibilities.
This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Here, in this portion of text we find the word shall repeated twice (and many times more in the rest of the lesson). It is imperative to gain an understanding of the significance of that word when dealing with what God has to say. Shall means it s going to happen. It speaks of the authority of the author of the words to make happen what was said to happen. What s going to happen here is their inheritance begins to receive some definition and specifics to it. Borders are defined according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Borders operate like good neighbor s fences. They show lines of delineation between property and allows to keep what is there s set aside from all others. If God, whom the Bible declares, Set all the borders of the earth, (Ps. 74:17), how much more can He allot and distribute to them what He had promised was theirs. Here, their allotment was according to the twelve tribes of Israel. All of God s people were destined to partake in His inheritance. In Joshua 1:6 Joshua was encouraged as he was give the responsibility to divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. God, in this future inheritance and restoration of His promise divvies up what is to be given to whom. The twelve tribes of Israel are according to the children of Israel aka Jacob. His sons gained the inheritance that God longed promised Abraham saying, I am the LORD that brought thee out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give thee this land to inherit it, (Gen. 15:7). Levi was left out of this natural allotment because as Deuteronomy 10:9 states, Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him. According to Ezekiel 48:8-14, God has their future allotment taken care of also. Verses 11-12 of that same chapter states, It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok (see previous lesson: The Vision of the Altar Provides Hope for more details); which have kept my charge... And this oblation of land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
Rather, Joseph shall have two portions. Joseph, while in Egypt, fathered two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, (Gen. 48:1, 9). Jacob blessed Joseph s two sons as inheritors of land in lieu of an allotment of land under Joseph s name. Jacob explained to Joseph, 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. 48:5); and as such, entitled to part of the inheritance in their own names. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another. In previous land divisions, land was allotted and determined by lot to the size of the family. Numbers 26:53-55 describes it as, Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him. Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. But, here in today s lesson, the inheritance would be split evenly amongst all twelve tribes: ye shall inherit it, one as well as another. I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. This has been the long-standing promise of God (symbolized by He lifted His hand in an oath). For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, (Heb. 6:13). Everything comes back to God s promises that stand sure and endure the test of time. Those in captivity and beyond have something extraordinary to look forward to. God s promises of inheritance extend from here all the way to eternity. This land shall fall unto you for inheritance. It will happen as He said it would. Ezekiel 15-21 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward. The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side. So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. This set of verses is a geographical nightmare in that some of the places named can t be, well.... placed on a map as we know it today. With that being said, we see here a definite future plan in store for God s people. Captivity would not always be there story. I can imagine the original hearers of this message getting excited at the prospect of promise blooming once again in the lands for them. One more time they would be home and one more time tribes would be identified as rightful owners of specific plots or parcels of land. The community of God s people gathered together in one place; in one region... priceless! In the above verses we see the land be measured out starting from the north, then to the east, south and lastly, the west. If you would do a little further study into Ezekiel 48, there you would see the actual division of those lands given out according to specific tribes. It is said that the outline of the divisions of the land are very similar to that of Numbers 34. (The best way to get through this section is with a map on display to be able to show students as much as possible with general locations of the places we do know of. Don t just show places but name some events that occurred in said regions to really bring the lesson alive for students.)
Ezekiel 47:22-23 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. And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD. It s great when God s promises overflows. Here, we see not just those of the tribes of Israel being blessed by God, but the strangers are going to reap the same rewards as God s people for hooking up with them and Him. Isaiah teaches, Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD... Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people, (Is. 56:5-7). All people! Part of the original promise given to Abraham was, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, (Gen. 22:18). Paul teaches in Ephesians, That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, (Eph. 3:6). There is a place for me; there is a place for you in God s inheritance! It s promised! All we have to do is be on board with God s plan of salvation and we are there! Awesome! Conclusion: Paul further teaches, Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, have no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is out peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, (Eph. 2:11-14, emphasis mine; see also Col. 3:11). We have a part in the Inheritance Promised.
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