UPDATED 15 January 2025: Eschatology Today has been over Deuteronomy 29:4 several times. It's the baseline of why Israel has been through what it has been through to this very day, as Paul has said, for the most part. And we've looked at Ezekiel 39:29 several times as well and what its near future fulfillment will mean for Israel, also as made clear by Paul in Romans 11.
Most of us question how Israel gets from the start in Deuteronomy to the ultimate fulfillment revealed by Ezekiel. This is where the LORD directed my attention this morning to reading Ezekiel 36, especially from verse 16 and onwards which also prophetically reveal how Israel is renewed in a covenant relationship with the God of their fathers. Israel will look upon "Him whom they have pierced."
The current situation is actually not of much concern, we already know, again thanks to Ezekiel 28:24-26, how it turns out. We also should know that in this 77th year of Israel's regathering in the land that it is all so very near, as is our own "blessed hope" of the Harpazo. It's virtually palpable.
UPDATE 17 January 2025: Now for the necessary update to this SITREP.
Deuteronomy 29:2-4 (NKJV)
Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day."
This is repeated once again in Isaiah 29, and again by Paul in Romans 11. And in keeping with the context there is the aftermath of the Battle of Gog of Magog found in Ezekiel 39:21-29 where LORD God says, "And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel."
Finally, there is Ezekiel 36:16-37 which is quoted below in its entirety to bring home the point of how and why Israel will be restored into a covenant relationship with the LORD God.
The Renewal of Israel
"Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock."
This then explains the how and why of Israel returning to the covenant relationship with the LORD God. Given the time frame discussed above, we also know when this will take place in the near future.
Marana'tha!