I will be their God and they will be my people
Allow me to begin by saying that our scriptural views and beliefs must conform to scriptures themselves, rather than bending scripture to match our presuppositions, pet dogmas and bad interpretations.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive study on this topic but it is meant to be an effort that is focused enough to bring some clarity to some of the conflicting and contradictory messages taught in modern day Christianity.
This prophecy and promise is mentioned many times in the Old Testament:
Our first reference contains something quoted almost word for word in Ezekiel 37:26-28, 2nd Corinthians 6:16 and Revelation 21:3.
Leviticus 26:12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people
Jeremiah 7:23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people; and walk you in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
Jeremiah 11:4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so will you be my people, and I will be your God;
Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah: and they will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return unto me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah 30:22 and you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Jeremiah 31:1 at that time, said Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
According to Jeremiah, this promise and prophecy "I will be their God and they will be my people" coincides with the bringing in of the New Covenant.
Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be my people:
Jeremiah 32:38 and they will be my people, and I will be their God:
Ezekiel 11:20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they will be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 14:11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord Jehovah.
Ezekiel 36:28 and you will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 37:23 neither will 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 dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so will they be my people, and I will be their God.
Place this next scripture right next to Revelation 21:3 and see if you don’t agree that they mirror each other.
Ezekiel 37:27 my tabernacle also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. – Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God.
Ezekiel 39:22 So the house of Israel will know that I am Jehovah their God from that day and forward.
Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, it will be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God.
Doesn’t “it will be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God” sound an awful lot like Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” and Galatians 3:26 “For you are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus”
Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, you are my people; and they will say, you are my God.
Zechariah 2:11 and many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and will be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent me unto you.
Zechariah 8:8 and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They will call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people; and they will say, Jehovah is my God.
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God.
The majority of modern day Christianity sends forth a conflicting and contradictory message; some want us to believe this promise and prophecy has been partially fulfilled, yet others within Christianity says this has not yet been fulfilled at all, but what do we find mentioned numerous times in the New Testament?
The writer of Romans specifically recalls this promise and prophecy from Hosea.
Romans 9:25 as he said also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which was not my people; and her beloved, that was not beloved.
Romans 9:26 and it will be, that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there will they be called sons of the living God.
Twice, Paul references this OT Prophecy relating to when "God would be their God and they would be his people" as a present day 1st century reality.
1st Corinthians 3:16 don’t you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
This next verse specifically mentions the 3 constituent elements mentioned in Ezekiel 37:26-28 that would coincide with the resurrection.
2nd Corinthians 6:16 and what agreement has the temple of God with idols? (1.) For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and (2.) I will be their God, and (3.) they will be my people; which again, we see in Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, (1.) the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and (2.) they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, and (3.) be their God.
Didn’t Ezekiel (37) specifically mention that this would accompany the resurrection of the whole house of Israel (37:11) that is also referred to as the binding of the two sticks (37:16-23)?
The writer of Hebrews even recalls this promise and prophecy (Noted in Jeremiah 31) being specifically related to the New Covenant; also please note how this transitions from the divided houses of Israel and Judah to the singular “House of Israel” that is reflected in the “binding of the two sticks” in Ezekiel 37:16-23.
Hebrews 8:8-13 For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the (divided) house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, said the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the (united) house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people: And they will not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all will know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he says, a new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and grows old is ready to vanish away.
Are we supposed to believe that what was “decaying” and “growing old” nearly 2,000 years ago, is still “decaying” and “growing old” nearly 2,000 years later?
This promise and prophecy “I will be their God and they will be my people” is inextricably linked to the New Covenant and Christianity simply can not say the New Covenant has come but this promise and prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.
Luke 22:19-20 and he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, and this cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you.
Do we now call Paul a liar for saying this was already true in the 1st century? Are Christians prepared to say Jesus likewise lied in saying his 1st century disciples were partaking of/in that New Covenant in that upper room?
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Copyright © 2014 Jerry Wm Bowers Jr.