Ger-07 Ezekiel 37 — Art Katz

I feel like a visitor from another planet, and yet we have to come together in agreement. I have to bring you into my reality, you need to be inducted into my perspective, which is not the statement of an egotistical man, but a prophetic man who believes that his perspective is God's, and if he did not believe that, he would not be speaking, because to speak is not a carnal pleasure or delight, it's an anguish of soul.

It's the paroxysm of birth, because this is more than a sermon, this is an event, once and for all, that will not be given again, that in one speaking, concluding with delight, you need to be brought into a mystery, the mystery of Israel and the church, which if you do not comprehend it as mystery, you do not comprehend it.

The Mystery of Israel and the Church

That's what Paul said, I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery brethren, unless you become wise in your own conceit. There's a consequence for the failure to apprehend this mystery, and as I travel through the world, I see that the church is in that indictment, in that failure.

Not only the churches that are indifferent to the destiny of Israel, but even those churches that seem to endorse and to express an enthusiasm for Israel, so long as they are operating from only a human perspective, even in their well-meaning intention for present Israel, they fall short of the mystery, and fall short of the glory.

One of my Messianic brothers who is critical of me, has said recently, Art ought to be speaking to Israel. His message is not for the church, but for the Jew. Yes, may the Lord grant that opportunity and privilege.

But the greater truth is this, and it's the reason for which Paul was made an apostle to the Gentiles. Superbly equipped as he was to be, by every reckoning, the apostle to the Jews, Hebrew of the Hebrews that he was, the strange logic of God, he's appointed the apostle to the Gentiles.

Why? Because the issue of Israel is the issue of the church, not the issue of Israel itself. Israel must be necessarily depleted, emptied out, void of any ability to save itself. Or we Jews would love that privilege, but it's not one that can be given us.

Because God is wanting to make a statement to the world, about the issue of man himself, in his own presumption, to think to affect his own destiny, out of his own strength, independent of God. Israel is God's textbook for the world.

And what is Israel? What is the Jew? I am one. I know this people. We are the exemplification of man. Who else could take a waste land, and within the space of half a century, create a modern state? Who could take a dying liturgical language, and make it the national Sprache?

Who could take that little, slim piece of land, and make it a high-tech civilization? And the military power, of first-class stature, oh, if only it could succeed. What a demonstration to the world, of what we Jews can perform, of what it is of which we are capable, and you would admire us greatly, as you already do, and want secretly to be like us.

You like the heroic and human element, the heroic and human, and miss the point of God entirely. You are celebrating the wrong thing. You are making an idolatry of man. And it is for your sake, as well as their sake, that this idol must be brought down, all the way down, into death.

Israel’s Necessary Death and Resurrection

So brace yourselves. The worst is yet to come. Don't think that Israel will recover, and it will regain its stature, and it will resolve its present difficulties. I'm telling you, with all the authority that I have in God, which is considerable, that these difficulties will increase.

They come from the hand of God himself. They issue out of the very nature of our own sin, our misplaced trust and confidence in the arm of the flesh. You need to understand the mystery of Israel, because Israel will be reduced unto death.

But brother, if that's true, then what of the promises? That they are to bless all the families of the earth. That out of their Zion is to go forth the law, and the word of the law out of Jerusalem. How can they die and all these grand promises be fulfilled?

Only through their death, where the promises of such a magnitude and kind, that they can only be fulfilled out of resurrection, life and power. You're going to witness the death and resurrection of a nation.

The first in the history of mankind. Or we have known resurrection personally. And even that is really the question. Have we known resurrection personally? Or have we only subscribed to the truth of a doctrine?

And are living effectually beneath it or outside of it? That's the issue. Not Israel's resurrection, but yours. For as we will see from the text today, Ezekiel 37, this is the time of Ezekiel, as you have sung it, and a death is coming to those bones.

Let's turn to that text. The resurrection is coming to those bones, as Ezekiel 37 writes. Seven years ago I preached exactly this message in Israel. Seven times. Three times in Jerusalem. The last time in a community of the most prominent detractors.

The most notable adversary. And you should have heard the shrieks and the outcry. Cats, you haven't changed. You're as loveless as ever. A fantastic boiling over. I wondered if I would come out alive.

Yes, prophets will still be stoned. Not by the world, but by God's own people. Well, what was the title of your message? Ezekiel 37. The Valley of Dry Bones. The Necessary Death and Resurrection of Israel.

It's not an option that you can pray that Israel might avoid. If you in your misguided humanism are praying for the improvement and the amelioration of Israel's conditions, you might find yourself praying against the mind and the will of the Lord.

How do we pray for the peace of Jerusalem? It's not going to be a little 30-second religious service. To pray with comprehension and the understanding of the mystery of a death that is necessary, cannot be circumvented nor avoided, is to pray that death, is to pray for the fulfillment of God's design, or there'll not be a real peace without it.

The Son of Man and the Prophetic Church

So, what is extraordinary about this chapter? There's another object of God's intention other than Israel itself. A strange entity called the Son of Man. And as much attention is given to the Son of Man in this chapter as to Israel itself.

For indeed, that is the mystery. God will not himself directly raise Israel from its death. Son of Man, you prophesy to the bones. Why? Because it's a symbolic statement of God's intention for the church in the last days.

Not a sentimental church. Operating from humanistic premises. Wanting Israel to improve. To be alleviated of her present difficulties. But the church that prophetically understands. God is the author of these distresses.

They issue out of the very rejection of God. And must bring their own consequence. Even unto a death. But death is not God's final word. His final word is restoration. From the dead. Not as we were before our death.

But in the newness of life that resurrection brings. For it is only in that newness that we can bless all the families of the earth. Although you would have been satisfied with much less. You would have been satisfied with their success.

And that they might impress the people of the earth. Rather than bless them. Extraordinarily. As a nation of priests. And a light unto the world. Paul said, I'm a man born out of time and out of joint.

What did he mean by that? What you see in me. As apostle to the Gentiles. Who does not withhold the whole counsel of God. And with tears and pleadings going from house to house in public places day and night.

Taking the Gentile church to my heart. As a father, as a mother, to nurse it. That when it's time for me to end my earthly tenure. And I call for the elders of the church at Ephesus. And they come instantly.

At inconvenience. Because I have called. And they know that nothing that issues for me is in any way arbitrary. And I tell them that they will see my face no more. And you know what manner of man I was with you from the beginning.

Not withholding anything of the whole counsel of God. And they knew. And they bowed down and they prayed with him. And wept. That they would not see his Yiddishe Geschichte again. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Such an affinity, such a love, such a mutuality. Between Gentiles and a Jew. Who did a proud Pharisee. Who by every reckoning should look down his Jewish nose with contempt and disdain at the Goyim. Loving the Gentile church as his own soul.

And sacrificially giving of himself. What you see in me, he says. Is something in advance of the time. I'm symbolically representing the apostolate of Israel itself. Think of the blessing. Of a whole nation of Pauls.

Filled with the Spirit. The love of God. Giving himself sacrificially. To the Gentile nations. Little wonder that Paul calls this. Life from the dead. And indeed it must be life from the dead. The death is already in process.

Israel’s Crisis and the End of Human Self-Sufficiency

It's coming. The nation is being troubled exceedingly. It has never dealt with problems of this kind. You can fight the opposing nations on the battlefield. But what do you do with fanatical children who make themselves living bombs?

There's no answer against this. This is of another dimension and kind. Beyond that which is rational. This is demonic. There's no answer from the natural responses of men. And it will be our undoing. Brother, when did the Lord quicken this text to you?

In the day that the Intifada began. About eight years ago? Ten years? When the first stone was thrown by the first child. I knew in my heart. This is the beginning of the end. That God himself will raise a crisis beyond Jewish ability to solve.

And it must necessarily be so. God is waiting for something from Israel. Not what it can perform in its ability. But what it will cry out in its desperation. In verse 11 of this text. Where we're told that these bones are the whole house of Israel.

And they themselves say. What has not yet ever been said. In the Nazi time. In the time of the Maccabees. The time of Rome. The time of Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. We have never ever nationally said this.

We are the perennial optimists. We are the ultimate human optimists. Yes, we can come out with the tattooed numbers on our arms. But give us a few years. And our children will be going to private schools.

And we will be prosperous once again. We are the self-sufficient. We can rise from any devastation. We've done it again and again. We, we, we. Not human ability. Unaided by God. God is waiting for something.

And it's the only thing for which he waits from Israel. We are cut off. Our bones are dried up. Our hope is lost. We are cut off completely. When a Jew will say that. When a Jewish nation will say that.

You can understand that it has been brought to the end of all human possibility. It's an end to which you would not desire to be brought. And indeed you have not been brought. And that's why you're falling short of the resurrection.

You have not yet any necessity to live in that realm and dimension. Because you have not yet come to the end of your human possibilities. All the more because you're German speaking. Jewish, all too Jewish.

In your mentality. In your confidence in man. In your social confidence. A shared arrogance. Little wonder you want for them to succeed. It's exactly what you desire for yourself. And therefore you fall short.

Of the glory of God. Therefore the mystery of Israel. Is the mystery of the church. God has in mind something more than Israel being raised from the dead. Great as that is. There's yet something equally great or greater.

The transformation of the church itself. Prepared for its own eternal destiny. By the very crisis that comes to it through Israel. Son of man. You prophesy to these bones. Son of man. Can these bones live?

You happy and hymn singing and hand clapping charismatics. All the choruses that you have sung so bravely. And the banners you have waved. Okay. You prophesy to these bones. You couldn't even pray last night.

When I gave you invitation. To stand with Israel in their extremity. And to be fitted to be the agents of their rescue and their restoration. And I invited you to pray loud. In the hearing of witnesses.

And in the powers of the air. Who have never been challenged nor threatened in Innsbruck since its inception. And have looked at the best of what we can present as the church. And yawn in our faces. What else is new?

So what's your program now? Jesus we know and Paul we know. But who are you? You're just a religious entity. A Sunday culture. Well meaning, well intending. Heads and shoulders over most. But still not a threat.

Because you're not in the life. It's only the life of God. That terrifies us. So long as you continue in your humanity. Gifted and inspired. Capable of so much. Religiously and humanly. You're of no consequence.

It's only God who terrifies us. That one who was raised from the dead. And exalted on high. Anything less or other. We're not even obliged to know. We're only obliged to acknowledge that which is authentic.

That which is apostolic. That which is prophetic. That which issues out of the life of God. But so long as there's a church that is unwilling for the death. And thinks it does God's service to acknowledge the truth of resurrection as doctrine.

And continues to perform out of its own humanity. They're not obliged to recognize you. Nor to oppose you. You fall short of the mystery. To demonstrate to the principalities and the powers of the air.

The manifest wisdom of God. Israel will compel you. Two birds with one stone. You say that in German? Two birds with one stone. The same stone that brings Israel to its end. Of its own presumption, its own hopes.

Our hope is gone. What is our national anthem? Hatikvah. The Hebrew.

The hope. The national anthem.

But hope in what? The state. Man. Not God. How shall we bless all the families of the earth? This is a necessary death. Brother, how then shall we pray? If our well-meaning prayers might find us in opposition to the ultimate purpose of God.

Praying by the Spirit for Israel’s Restoration

How then shall we pray? Not humanly. Not religiously. Not mechanically. But by the Spirit. For only the Spirit knows the mind of the Lord. I'm not familiar with that dimension. I'm even uncomfortable even to consider it.

I'm after all a proper Austriaker. I touch the Spirit at a distance. But to come into the realm of Spirit. To be beside myself. To pray the prayers of God. Rather than my own. This is fearful, threatening, unfamiliar.

But it is the normative intention of God for all mankind. God is bringing Israel into the death, not only for her sake, but for your sake. To compel you to come unto the prophetic ground. To come into the authority of God.

To prophesy that those bones might live. Not out of your wishful thinking. Or your humanistic hope. But out of the actuality of prophetic reality. Not in yourself individually. But corporately. To the entire body.

Has become a Son of Man company. That can be commanded. That can prophesy. In the authority of God. Brother. How do we get from where we presently are? Sunday service oriented. Unwilling even to come out for the evening services to hear the prophetic man.

The religion of convenience. How do we go from that to what you're describing? Through suffering. Every prophet has such a history in God. They are dealt with severely. It's a private history, not known to others.

After all, to speak and to be as his mouth. To bear the counsel of God before men. Especially men who have been warned not to have him. Because you will encourage antisemitism. Turn the church away from the support of present Israel.

And you know all of these rumblings and threats. And I still require to stand and to speak. Knowing that we should be held accountable. For every word that proceeds from our mouth. Not to sermonize. But to bring the word as an event.

On one Sunday. To induct an entire body. Into a framework of understanding. That will affect and radically alter everything. The end of convenience. And the beginning of radicality. Of an apostolic and prophetic kind.

Which was ever and always our calling. Which we would not have recognized. Nor been willing to receive. Or suffer the sacrifice to obtain. If we were not commanded to prophesy to those folks. Can you understand why Paul ends his remarkable statement in Romans 11.

With this great ecstatic prayer? Oh the depth of the riches. Both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Who is in his counselor. Who shall give to him and shall be given again. For of him is this mystery.

And through him is its fulfillment. That through him might be the glory. Forever. You dear, precious, naive, sentimental, and shallow kinder. Have you understood the glory of the church? As being more than the object of our enjoyment.

Or the purveyor of programs. Unto him be glory in the church. By Christ Jesus. Word without end. Throughout all ages. And your call to the last age. And to a final transaction. A historic calling. Beyond your ability to perform.

Israel’s Restoration and the Coming Kingdom

Austrian, German though you are. And unless you perform it. Israel remains in her death. The nations do not receive the blessing. The Lord does not come. The kingdom does not get established. For we are told in the book of Acts chapter 3 verse 21.

The Lord is contained in the heavens. Waiting for something. A self-imposed restriction. Who could come at any time. And who's already king. But he's waiting for the place of his enthronement. On the holy hill of Zion.

On the throne of David. As a son of David. When all that the prophets have spoken of the restoration of Israel shall be fulfilled. Israel's restoration from the dead. Is the Lord's coming. The kingdom being established.

The law going forth out of Zion. To all nations. And I marvel at the faith of God. Not that he's expecting anything from Israel. God forbid. Or Israel will be throughout the millennium boasting of itself.

Rather than being humble, broken and contrite in gratitude. That though it's whole history is full of apostasy. That we have blasphemed his name in every nation where he has driven us. Still because of what he is in himself.

Still because of what he is in himself. And not what we are. Where he raised us. And restore us. And honor us. And exalt us. Above all nations. That out of our Zion. His law shall go forth. It's not a revelation of Israel's virtue.

It's a revelation of God. All the more because of Israel's inability. The glory of God is served by Israel's apostasy and failure. Not her success. And yet. What is the key? Your faith. Your obedience.

When you're commanded to prophesy in one mind, one heart, one soul, one will. That those bones shall live. Do you even desire that? Think on that. Remember the older brother? Wasn't happy to celebrate the return of the prodigal son?

He wanted to be the only son of the father. And let that erring son be lost to the consideration of God. So father, what are you making a big fuss about? This son has misspent all his substance. And you're celebrating his return?

You're running to meet him? To put a ring on his finger and a cloak on his shoulders? And make him a god again? You never did that for me. And I have always been faithful. Beautiful. I've come to church every Sunday.

It's a resentment. A jealousy. The sense of competition that this returning your brother represents. So deep. So deep. He could not enter into the celebration. And the father had to chastise him. Don't you know that all that I have has always been yours?

Do you really know that? That you are deeply accepted in the beloved. And all that he has has always been yours. You don't have to be jealous for Israel's return. As if it's going to detract from your prominence.

You have a greater glory and destiny than Israel. Yes, they have millennial blessedness. A child dying at the age of 100 will be considered abnormal. Their fruit will replenish the earth. Nations will come up annually to pay homage to Israel and to her God.

She will be honored above all nations. But you will have glorified bodies. You will ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. You will rule and reign with him from heavenly places. You have nothing of which to be jealous.

Your glory is greater than Israel's. You will even be married to the Lord. And be a co-regent with him over his own creation. As the bride of Christ. Forever. Brother, how is it that we didn't really know these things?

Didn't expect these things. For to have a glimpse of such an eternal glory as this, as our destiny, that would have affected our present. That would have profoundly influenced the way we live now. If we could have seen the eternal promise, we would be able to bear all suffering and all inconvenience.

But we were fixed in time and culture. Now Christianity became a succession of Sunday services. We didn't understand. We didn't have the prophetic freedom. We didn't see the mystery. So, how does this chapter begin?

The Valley of Dry Bones and Leaving Christian Comfort

The hand of the Lord came upon me and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down. Into the midst of a valley full of bones. And you dear children, this is how it must begin for us. We need to be brought out for our present level of comfort and convenience.

Our conventional views of the church and of Israel, which in no way has put us in conflict with the world. And has allowed us to continue as respectable Christians. And still have a place in the world and in its pleasures and comforts like everyone else.

Until your view of Israel threatens that stability. And radicalizes all the issues of your life. You have not yet understood. You have not yet been called. The hand of the Lord has not yet come upon you to bring you out and down and into the midst of the valley of dry bones.

You would not have come otherwise into that valley. Because the valley is a place of depression. And we're the overcoming happy saints. Our faith is measured by our prosperity. We can believe for a BMW or a Cadillac.

The whole mentality of our contemporary Christianity is antithetical to suffering. It doesn't want to go down. It doesn't want to be brought into death. Into the ugliness of the truth of Israel's condition.

It would rather believe its own wishful thinking and hopes. Because it can't bring itself to the truth of its own life. Because truth is painful. Truth is demanding. Before it's a glory. Unless we're willing to come down and see as God sees.

Not as we would wish something to be. Not as we would desire for something to be. But as it in fact is. Neither can we speak for God. Because we'll not see with God. As he sees. The truth as it in fact is.

About Israel and about everything. Which is painful before it's glory. This is prophetic. And you have no stomach for it. Why am I pleading with you? Why am I brought here? Because unless there's a son of man company in this city, in this nation.

Unless that the church of all nations, the remnant church rises to this constituency and stature. Israel is without hope. Odd what it would be speaking to Jews. No, odd what it would be speaking to the church.

For the church is the key to Israel's restoration. When it will come into it's prophetic stature. From where it presently is. Through sacrifice. Suffering. The dealings of God. The formation of a body.

That is of one mind, one heart and one will. Not mechanically stamped off a production line. But brought into an alignment with the mind of God. Where all of our subjective fancies. All our personal opinions.

That have to be dealt with. At the cross of Christ Jesus. You must become sons and daughters of Israel. Or Israel remains in her grave. Son of man, can these bones live? Is God mocking and taunting the prophet?

Or revealing something? And still not enough to believe that those bones can live. And I'll tell you what kind of a fool I am. There are times when I have preached this message. No two times ever the same.

I'm not in command of this text. I'm not in command of this text. This text is in command of me. And I don't know how it will be expressed. Until I stand and open my mouth. With sighings and groanings.

Knowing that preaching itself must be a resurrection phenomenon. And you must be raised from your death by this word out of my mouth. What if we cannot succeed in the communication of the vision through the word?

How shall you through the word out of your mouth raise those bones? If God cannot out of my mouth raise you, how shall you be raised to speak to the bones? This is more than a Sunday service. This is a historical moment whose time has come.

And you could not bring yourself out of your convenience to come in the weekday meetings. Such is the condition of the church. And yet it is God's whole dependency and trust. Can these bones live? The prophet said, Lord, thou knowest.

He couldn't bring himself to believe that they could live. Because the crisis of Israel was beyond even his prophetic faith. As it is beyond yours. We have got to come into another faith through resurrection.

Baptism, Death, and Newness of Life

The faith of the Son of God Himself. For whom nothing is impossible. I have preached this message and taken out of my attache case an actual dry bone. And I pass it through the congregation as I'm speaking.

And it decomposes and crumbles in the hands of God's people. Talk about death. Talk about dry bones. Very dry bones. This is going to take ultimate faith. Ultimate obedience. And a faith that can only work by love.

Not your schmaltzy sentimentality for Israel. It's only for your sake. And the warm feeling that gives you. It's entirely without power. In that faith that works by love. Not of a human kind. But that issues out of the life of God Himself.

When you are in that life by virtue of your own resurrection. So let me ask. Have you ever been resurrected from death? When was that supposed to have taken place, brother? In your baptism? Weren't you buried with Christ in a burial unto death?

Or did you only get wet? Was this a religious obligation? That affected nothing? Because you had no real desire to taste death. You wanted to continue in your own life. But in an improved condition. It's not a game that God plays.

The resurrection unto newness of life waits upon the death of the natural life. And as even a child can tell you. Death is total. Or it's not at all. Even now. If we had the baptismal font ready. And you knew that it was unto death.

How many of you would enter? What of your retirement? What of your bank account? What about your hopes for the future? What about your grandchildren? What about the man you hoped to marry? You're too young to die.

Too beautiful. Too attractive. Too gifted. And can't you serve God on that basis? Can't you live? Keep those kids in their seats. As many of us were buried with Christ with a baptism unto death. So many of us have been raised with him.

Unto a newness of life. No longer to live unto ourselves nor for ourselves. Moment by moment. As we reckon ourselves dead to ourselves. But alive unto God. In Christ Jesus. Never has the issue been more critical than now.

The prophet cannot acknowledge that these bones can live. He's come to an end of even his own human prophetic reckoning. And it's an end to which he must come. If he's to prophesy. Not out of his previous propheticness.

But out of the life of God with which he is joined with the very act of obedience. Coming down and into the bones. And speaking at the command of God. He is reiterating the obedience of Jesus himself.

Christ’s Identification with Israel’s Death

Who came down from heaven. Son of God. Holy, holy, holy. Into the sins of Israel. The degrading sins of an apostate nation. And was baptized into their burial. Identified himself with their shame. Because he was brought down and into.

An identification in death. And as he came up out of those waters. The heavenly dove came upon his head. And a voice from heaven. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. For in coming down as he has.

From the place that he might have continued to enjoy. The dignity appropriate to his deity. He came down into the condition of men and their sins. Totally degrading. To be identified with them. That his word to them might be from the father.

And raise them from their sins. So the prophet who has come down. And the very obedience of coming down. The father joined something to him. By which he can prophesy to the bones. That they might live.

There's a dimension that waits us. Without which we cannot bless Israel. Nor the nations. It is the gift of the life of God. The prophetic life. The authority. The power. The love. That he gives us in the obedience.

Of our willingness to come down and enter. What we have every reason to avoid. The truth and the ugliness. Reality. Of Israel's condition as it actually is and must be. And the truth of all of our condition.

Holiness, Culture, and Prophetic Discernment

Even that of our children. Our culture. Our society. With its earrings. With its tattoos. Even on our children's bodies. In Christian families. What that represents before God. Is another kind of seeing.

This is not the fad of a moment in culture. This is a demonic seizure. Of a coming in even to the temple of God. Where he himself will be worshipped as God. By taking upon ourselves. Those signs and gestures.

That we think innocuous and meaningless. And indicate his possession. But brother, I've not felt anything since I've had my ear pierced. Maybe a strange momentary sensation. Wait. The devil will call for it.

At a later time. When you least expect. You will be compromised. By the mindless act you have performed. Because you have not understood your culture. Prophetically. I want to pray for such a church. Holy as he is holy.

Separated from the world. Not just in its outward things. In its very essence. In the world but not of it. A separated people. With a holy calling. And an ultimate destiny. That is established now. By your faith.

And your corporate faith. To be such a son of man. Who can be commanded. Not when you feel like it. When you're most spiritual. But when you are least spiritual. When you're highest you feel like that.

Like me on Sunday morning. Before you. Or the first night that I had opened my mouth. I never feel like it. I'm never spiritually in the mood. Or else it would put me in the driver's seat. That my mood and my temperament should affect God's purpose.

I'm dead. Dead with God in Christ. Until his life is revealed. Obedience children. If we knew what is hanging on this moment. How the powers of the air are observing us. And trembling. For they have never been so threatened as they are in this present moment.

For if you say yes to God. That you want your baptism to be made effectual. That you recognize it as a burial unto death. That you desire that death. Because you know that in me is no good thing at all.

It's not just your defects that you're willing to bury and crucify. Not just your defects. Your virtues. Not the worst of what you are but the best. For that is what restrains. And holds back the total possession of your vessel.

That you might be a son and daughter of the resurrected. You're still clinging to the natural life. I'd much prefer to make trips to Israel. Plant trees. Attend the Feast of Tabernacles conference. Pinch the cheek of a Jew.

And still come back to your life. As you know it. As you desire it. And want to continue. Any relationship with Israel that leaves your practical life unaffected. And unfettered. Falls short of God's intention.

Israel is an ultimate requirement. It calls us into death. How shall we speak a resurrection word to death? Wishful thinking will not do it. Sentimentality will not do it. The faith of God and the love of God.

Our life of God. That He gives to those who come down and into death. That alone will save Israel. Bring the king and his coming and his glory. Nothing else. That's the mystery. Let me pray. Pray with me.

A Prayer for the Church to Become a Prophetic People

Lord, I believe with all my heart. That a historic moment of time has come to this people. This is the appointed time. This is the set time to favor Zion. And as we say in America, the ball is in their court.

There's no way that this mystery will be fulfilled. If this people choose to continue in their present lifestyle. That is modest and makes no radical requirement. Israel shall remain in her death. And the nations will be cheated.

Of the Pauls who would have come to it. The nation of priests would have been a light into their world. But they remain in their death. And must remain. Until the resurrection word of God comes. Not from God himself.

But from the church of When it is commanded. And I obey. Not because it feels like it. In the moment that he calls. As one voice together. All of its subjectivity and opinions crucified. And totally aligned with God.

An agent of his salvation for Israel. And the route to our own eternal glory. To rule and reign with him. As the very bride of Christ. Lord I bless this congregation. That you have raised up. Through this precious young man.

A true work. And everything till now has been preparation. Nothing has been a vain investment. You have brought them from face to face. To be able to hear such a word as this today. And to receive it.