Celebrating the birth of Christ...The Incarnation of Christ was the beginning of the fulfillment of the promises God had given the Patriarchs and the ancient Israelites through their Prophets. St. John tells us that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies in Ezekiel about the redemption and regathering of Israel as well as the prophocies in Jeremiah about the new covenant. All wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ Jesus.
1. The prophet Ezekiel foretells that God would regather and reunite the House of Israel and House of Jacob under the eternal sceptre of righteouness of the son of David, the Messiah. This New Covenant would establish the children of God in their eternal homeland of the Kingdom of God forever.
[Ezek 37:21] then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land;
[Ezek 37:22] and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two
kingdoms.
[Ezek 37:23] They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
[Ezek 37:24] "My servant David shall be king over them;(the Lord Jesus) and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
[Ezek 37:25] They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children's children shall dwell there for ever; and David my servant
shall be their prince for ever.(the land of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God, the daughter of Zion)
[Ezek 37:26] I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for
evermore.
[Ezek 37:27] My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[Ezek 37:28] Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore."
2. Jeremiah foretells of the days when God would regather and redeem his people under his Kingship and turn their mourning into joy. This was clearly fulfilled in Christ.
[Jer 31:10] "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
[Jer 31:11] For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
[Jer 31:12] They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the
herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
[Jer 31:13] Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
3.St. John writes about Jesus's fulfillment of the promises in Ezekiel and Jeremiah with the words:"He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. These inspired words from St. John forcefully tell us that the promises in Ezekiel and Jeremiah are fulfilled.
[John 11:52] and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
[John 11:45] Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
[John 11:46] but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
[John 11:47] So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
[John 11:48] If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."
[John 11:49] But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all;
[John 11:50] you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."
[John 11:51] He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation,
[John 11:52] and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
[John 11:53] So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.
[John 11:54] Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.
[John 11:55] Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
[John 11:56] They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
[John 11:57] Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Let all Christians glorify and praise God our Fahter forever for fulfilling his words. He has redeemed and regather his people, the children of Abraham, from all lands where they are scattered. All glory and honor to God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit now and forever.
The antichrist dreams of Zionism being enacted today in modern Israel are the works of Satan to divert God's Children from the heavenly Kingdom that God has already established in Christ.
Emile |
