THE PROCEDURE OF THE LORD USED IN THE JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL

THE PROCEDURE OF THE LORD USED IN THE JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL

"And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:"

"But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts."  Ezek. 20:35-37, cf. Mal. 3:2-5

•  There will be Immediate and Direct Evaluation of the People of Israel

vs. 35 "Face to face"

• There will be Individual and Personal Evaluation of the People of Israel

Ezek. 20:27 "Pass under the rod"

Jer. 33:13 "Under the hands of them"

Lev. 27:32 "Passeth under the rod"

• There will be Intuitive and Disciplinary Evaluation of the People of Israel

vs. 37 - "The bond of the covenant."

Jer. 31:31-34 "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

 Here He declared the opportunity for human restoration. He said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which sent Me draw him," (John 6:44) and He was careful to explain that every man is drawn of the Father sooner or later in some way. He quoted from the ancient prophets, saying, "It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God." (John 6:45) When we turn to the prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah from which He quoted these words, we find that in each case the declaration was made when the prophet was singing of the restoration of the lost order, "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." (Isa. 54:13; Jer. 31:34) Continuing, our Lord revealed human responsibility in the words "Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto Me." When men are drawn of the Father, not all who hear will come; but all who hear and learn will come, The movement which issues in the restoration of a man  from his degradation must come from God, and from Him alone; but every man is so appealed to, every man is so drawn of the Father; and human responsibility is that not of hearing alone, but of learning, and obeying, and answering. cp. 1 Cor 2:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 John 2:20