God Warned Judah

Like any human parent, before God punishes, He WARNS of consequences for disobedience. He carefully explains the terms—what will trigger the punishment—so there can be no misunderstanding what will happen. God’s prophets always foretold His purpose.

Here is how God inspired Jeremiah to warn the House of Judah on His behalf: “Thus says the LORD; TAKE HEED to yourselves, and bear no burden on THE SABBATH DAY, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on THE SABBATH DAY, neither do you any work, but hallow you THE SABBATH DAY, as I commanded your fathers.... But if you will not hearken unto Me to hallow THE SABBATH DAY, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on THE SABBATH DAY...”—and if Judah disobeyed, “... THEN WILL I KINDLE A FIRE IN THE GATES THEREOF, AND IT SHALL DEVOUR THE PALACES OF JERUSALEM, AND IT SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED” (Jer. 17:21-22, 27).

Judah rejected God’s warning. Since God does not warn in vain, here is the price they paid: “Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, and burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire” (Jer. 52:12-13).

Make no mistake—God brought this captivity!

Why Jewish People Have Retained Their Identity

The modern world knows who the Jews are. Have you thought to ask why? Why does the world believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people? This must be understood.

The answer: the Jews have retained the Sabbath. They do not keep it holy, nor as God instructed, but they have not switched to Sunday, or Friday, as have professing Christians and Muslims. They have generally retained the Sabbath.

The Jews, therefore, have not become lost! They know who they are. As we saw one historian put it, “More than the Jews having kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews!” How true! The other Ten Tribes became lost to history because they rejected what Judah, at least in overall principle, retained.

But with all this comes an irony. Again, the world has come to believe the Jews—EXCLUSIVELY—are God’s chosen people. Virtually no one talks or wonders about the identity of the other tribes. They have become almost entirely forgotten. Yet today they number between perhaps 500-600 million!

This is why it is so vitally important that you carefully read AMERICA AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY. It will leave you incredulous, because many of you reading this are part of modern Israel. The Bible identifies the British Commonwealth peoples as Ephraim. America is descended from Manasseh. Both these nations descended from Joseph. The remainder of the Lost Ten Tribes are generally the nations of North-western Europe.

These nations have been deceived into believing they are Gentiles. They are NOT! They are as Israelitish as are the very Jewish people themselves!

God’s Sabbath day is binding—and even more so on the modern nations of Israel—our peoples. While we have seen that Gentile Christians today must keep the Sabbath, because they are spiritual Israelites, it is doubly vital for the modern nations of Israel to understand that the One who says, “I CHANGE NOT!” (Mal. 3:6) commands to keep the Sabbath.

Now we must learn what is at stake for the modern nations of Israel, if they do not obey God’s Sabbath, while there is yet time in this age.

God’s Warning to Israelite Nations Today!

Millions of professing Christians have the attitude of Israel and Judah—that God does not really mean what He says. But God DOES mean what He says!

God used the prophet Ezekiel to warn today’s modern descendants of Israel of these same things. We will see that God outlines the consequences of disobeying His Sabbath MOST PLAINLY!

DARK HORIZON: War, death, disease and famine: These are the devastating, grim results of rebellion against God—and are prophesied to come upon the modern descendants of ancient Israel. Source: National Archives and Records Administration

Source: National Archives and Records Administration

Ezekiel was sent with a special warning from God to the House of Israel, not Judah. Here is what God told him: “Go speak unto the House of Israel” (Ezek. 3:1). This is vital to understand, because Ezekiel lived over 100 years after Israel had been taken into captivity. Ezekiel himself was a Jewish captive—a slave—in Babylon. There was no way for him to deliver his message directly to the House of Israel at that time.

Let me say this plainly. Ezekiel could not personally deliver the message to the lost tribes of Israel, because they were already in the land of Assyria, on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Also, they later migrated to North-western Europe, with the Assyrian migration to modern Germany, settling in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, France, Belgium, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and America, among others. They were outside his time and beyond his reach.

Understand! God knew that the nations of Ephraim and Manasseh would rise to national prominence after 2,520 years of punishment. He also knew they would learn nothing from their punishment and, having lost their identity, would continue Sabbath-breaking and widespread idolatry, among other national sins. Yet, a loving God always warns before punishment. Recall that Ezekiel was told to “go” to Israel.

It is the responsibility of this Work of God to bring this warning to you NOW! What you are reading here is the fulfilment of an astonishing prophecy, which started with the ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934.

Time is running out. I pray you will heed this WARNING!

Ezekiel 20:1-49

We will focus on chapter 20 of Ezekiel, verse-by-verse. This chapter begins with God recounting to “certain of the elders of Israel” His repeated warnings to cease their rank idolatry. We pick up in Eze 20:10-12. Notice how it parallels the Exodus 31:12-17Sabbath covenant: “Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes, and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them MY SABBATHS, to be a SIGN between Me and them”—why?—“that they might know that I am the LORD that SANCTIFY them” (Ezek. 20:10-12).

God reminded Israel that the Sabbath was His identifying sign as the God who set them apart. Eze 20:13 describes Israel’s approach to His Sabbath: “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: They walked not in MY statutes, and they despised MY judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them: and MY SABBATHS they greatly polluted: Then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them” (Ezek. 20:13).

OBEYING GOD REAPS MANY BLESSINGS: When Christ returns to set up the kingdom of God, the modern-day descendants of Israel will have learned from their punishment. They will then wholeheartedly follow God and obey His laws—including the Sabbath command. As a result, the Israelites will reap many blessings, such as an abundance of cattle and livestock…
Source: USDA/NRCS

Source: USDA/NRCS

Notice God’s repeated use of the pronoun “MY.” This is important. Next, God pleads with the following generation of Israel: “But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe THEIR judgments, nor defile yourselves with THEIR idols: I am the LORD your God; walk in MY statutes, and keep MY judgments, and do them; and hallow MY SABBATHS; and they shall be a SIGN between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezek. 20:18-20).

It is important to make a crucial distinction at this point. Some get confused about God’s use of the words “MY” and “THEIR.” Grasp this. God is not condemning His own Sabbaths in the same breath He is condemning Israel for polluting them. The problem was that Israel would not keep GOD’S Sabbaths. They wanted to keep their own statutes and their own judgments. (Recall Mark 7:7-9, and how so many worship Christ in vain as they hold to the “traditions and commandments of men.”)

In Ezekiel 20:21, God plainly said, “They polluted MY Sabbaths!” Of course, Israel paid a terrible price for what they did: “I lifted up Mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries” (Ezek. 20:23). Why? “BECAUSE they had not executed MY judgments, but had despised MY statutes, and had polluted MY SABBATHS, and their eyes were after their FATHERS’ idols” (Ezek. 20:24).

God never leaves any doubt as to exactly why His purpose is carried out as it is. It is important to Him that people keep His Sabbath—it makes a difference to Him!

…prosperous farms, yielding fresh, ripe fruits, vegetables and grains. Obedience always brings the abundant life. These blessings and many more will come to all nations of the world when the true God reveals Himself to mankind! Source: USDA/NRCS

Source: USDA/NRCS

Tsosw-farm3_small.jpg‎
Source: Free Stock Photos/USDA

Source: USDA/NRCS

Eze 20:33 speaks of God’s “FURY poured out”: “As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you” (Ezek. 20:33). Now compare Revelation 16:1: “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the WRATH OF GOD upon the earth.” God’s FURY always refers to the SEVEN LAST PLAGUES!

This proves Ezekiel 20:1-49 is a prophecy for our day, involving the MODERN NATIONS OF ISRAEL. Invariably, similar Old Testament prophecies referring to Israel depict her modern descendants in national captivity—SLAVERY!

This—captivity and slavery—will soon come upon OUR peoples nationally. I cannot repeat this strongly enough. Prophecy says this will happen ONE MORE TIME! Ezekiel’s prophecy continues with a description also found in Jeremiah 23:7-8. Now continue in Ezekiel 20:1-49, with Christ’s promise to gather His people back to Him: “And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out [on the world and nations who took her captive]. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face” (Ezek. 20:34-35).

You may scoff or sneer at this, but not for long!

Israel was given a unique opportunity by God to become an example unlike any other nation. Notice: “He shows His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. HE HAS NOT DEALT SO WITH ANY NATION: and as for His judgments, they [other nations] have not known them” (Ps. 147:19-20).

Israel defaulted on their responsibility. God cannot ignore this. Now notice Amos 3:1-2: “Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will PUNISH YOU for all your iniquities.”

Look around you. All that you see will soon change—DRAMATICALLY! People you know and love are being spoken of in this prophecy. Think about it. Meditate on it—and hear this WARNING from God through Ezekiel, and through this book, TO YOU! The voice of Herbert W. Armstrong, like Noah, Elijah, and John the Baptist, spoke out alone to a world that largely ignored him. Will you hear my voice, or will the pull of the rebellious majority of mankind around you be too strong, causing you to receive what is foretold to come upon them?

Yet God pleads with all who will listen. He told Israel, “Hallow My Sabbaths.” Continuing in Ezekiel 20:1-49, here is how He pleads similarly with YOU: “Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord GOD. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: And you shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 20:36-38).

The future carries a wonderful, happy ending for the peoples of Israel. God promises to reveal Himself to them. When Christ returns, establishes His government—and gathers His people—here is what happens: “And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall [yet future] bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall you remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein you have been defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O you HOUSE OF ISRAEL, says the Lord GOD” (Ezek. 20:42-44).

This depicts the millennium, when Christ will rule in righteousness and equity. He will gather the Israelite survivors of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord and bring them back to the land He has reserved for them. This time, Israel will obey.

YOU can be spared from all that is prophesied to happen soon to the nations of Israel. What will YOU do? Will YOU keep God’s Sabbath? Will YOU receive His identifying SIGN?

I pray you have eyes to see and ears to hear the strong, PLAIN WORDS of this book!

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