“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all;
Jesus said exactly that
They are not restored today, they are still in sin..
True. But you're left something out that cannot be left out:
Ezekiel 36:1 - 37:14 is not talking to, or about Judah/the Jews/the house of Judah, but to/about the 10 tribes of the house of Israel that was judged in 725 B.C, exiled, and became scattered among the nations.
NONE OF THEM WERE JEWS, AND NONE OF THEM ARE JEWS. Their descendants assimilated with the nations, and have intermarried with Gentiles to this day, to the extent that no one can prove he is a genetic descendant of one of those 10 tribes - and even if he could, he would have mixed ancestry.
The first time the house of Judah/the Jews is mentioned in the prophecy, is in Ezekiel 37:16:
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions (the two tribes of the Southern kingdom of Judah + the Levites): then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions (the 10 Northern tribes of the Northern kingdom of Israel):
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 ¶And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 ¶And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
ONLY NOW DOES GOD START SPEAKING OF BOTH NATIONS AS ONE NATION:
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
QUESTION TIME:
1. Which of the two kingdoms - the house of Israel and the house of Judah - are the Jews?
2. Who are the others?
BOTH NATIONS WILL BE BROUGHT BACK INTO THE LAND:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
"The house of Israel" being spoken of BEFORE Ezekiel 37:16 are not the Jews, the house of Judah. They are these people:
(The following prophecy was fulfilled circa 725 B.C - over 100 years before Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon and the hosue of Judah/the Jews were exiled in Babylon):
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name No-mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel. But I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
Judah/the kingdom of the Jews continued to exist. The rest of the Israelites ceased to exist as a nation (one nation before God):
8 And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9 And He said, Call his name Not-my-people. For you are not My people, and I will not be for you.
10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
11 Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head.
Paul quoted Hosea, including all Gentiles in Christ as he quoted the prophecy as being fulfilled IN CHRIST:
24 whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also of the Gentiles/the nations?
25 As He also says in Hosea, "I will call those not My people, My people; and those not beloved, Beloved."
26 And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them. "You are not My people; there they shall be called sons of the living God." -- Romans 9.
Only those who have an obsession with one of the 12 tribes of Israel only (the Jews) will always remain blinded to the prophecy's full meaning.
UNDERSTAND: THERE IS NO JEW AND GENTILE IN CHRIST. IN CHRIST THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE. THE TWO STICKS - ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL - ALL ISRAEL - BECOME ONE IN CHRIST.
25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I have taken away their sins."
The house of Israel and the house of Judah are BEING joined into one stick in Christ ever since He made the new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah - Jeremiah 31:31 when He took away their and our sins - Matthew 26:28.
No one will ever fully understand the prophecy in Ezekiel until they understand the basis for it, and BELIEVE God when He says "in Christ there is NEITHER Jew NOR Gentile."
Not much hope of that while Christians have an obsession with only the tribe of Judah and consider only the tribe of Judah to inherit the promises God made to Abraham. The inheritance is Christ's and ALL those "sticks" who are in Him through their faith in Him.
@Keraz is the only other person I've ever seen in these boards who understand this and acknowledges it.