Congregation Book Study, Week of February 7-13, 2022, Chapter 20, Paragraphs 1-8, Underlined Answers.

Congregation Book Study, February 7-13, 2022, Chapter 20, Paragraphs 1-8, Answers Underlined.

Congregation Bible Study (30 min.): rr chap. 20 paras. 1-8 and video.

1, 2. (a) What instructions does Jehovah give Ezekiel? b) What questions are we going to answer?

In the year 593 before our era, Ezekiel receives a vision that reminds him of what happened some nine hundred years ago, at the time of Moses and Joshua. Back then, Jehovah told Moses what the boundaries of the Promised Land would be, and later explained to Joshua how that land would be divided among the tribes of Israel (Num. 34:1-15; Josh. 13:7; 22:4, 9). And now something similar happens again. Jehovah instructs Ezekiel and the exiles to divide the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel (Ezek. 45:1; 47:14; 48:29).

What message did this vision convey to Ezekiel and the other exiles? How does he encourage us as servants of God today? Will you have larger-scale compliance in the future?

A vision with four guarantees

3, 4. (a) What four guarantees did Ezekiel's last vision give to the exiles? b) What guarantee are we going to analyze in this chapter?

The last vision Ezekiel receives spans nine chapters of his book (Ezek. 40:1-48:35). This vision gave the exiles four encouraging assurances about the restoration of the nation of Israel. What were those guarantees? First, that pure worship would be restored in the temple of God. Second, that the restored nation would be led by righteous priests and shepherds. Third, that all who returned to Israel would inherit a part of the land. And fourth, that Jehovah would be with them , would reside among them again.

Chapters 13 and 14 of this book explain what the first two guarantees were: that true worship would be restored and that the people would be led by righteous shepherds. In this chapter we will focus on the third guarantee: the promise to inherit a part of the land. In the next chapter we will discuss the promise related to Jehovah's presence (Ezek. 47:13-21; 48:1-7, 23-29).

“This land […] is divided among you as an inheritance”

5, 6. a) According to Ezekiel's vision, what territory would be divided? (See the drawing at the beginning). b) What was the purpose of this part of the vision?

Read Ezekiel 47:14. In the vision, Jehovah tells Ezekiel of an area of ​​that land that would come to resemble the “garden of Eden” (Ezek. 36:35). Then Jehovah stated: “This is the territory that you will divide as the land inheritance of the 12 tribes of Israel” (Ezek. 47:13). “The territory” to be partitioned was the land of Israel to which the exiles would return and which would be restored. Then, as it appears in Ezekiel 47:15-21, Jehovah goes on to explain in great detail what the borders of all that land are.

What was the purpose of this part of the vision? The description of such well-defined borders assured Ezekiel and the other Jews that their beloved land would indeed be restored. How it must have encouraged the exiles that Jehovah gave them that guarantee in such a graphic way! But did God's people really receive a land inheritance? Of course yes.

ILLUSTRATION: 

A river flowing into the sea. The river crosses the land to be divided.

7. a) What happened from the year 537 before our era? And what reminds us of that? b) What will we analyze next?

Beginning in the year 537 BCE, some fifty-six years after Ezekiel received the vision, thousands of exiles returned to the land of Israel and occupied it. Those historical events remind us of something similar that God's people today have experienced. It can be said that they have also received a piece of land. In what sense? Jehovah allowed his servants to enter and occupy a spirit land. That being so, the restoration of the ancient Promised Land can teach us much about the restoration of the spiritual land that God's people enjoy today. But before we see what it teaches us, let's analyze what leads us to the conclusion that a spirit land really exists.

8. (a) With what other nation did Jehovah replace the nation of Israel? b) What is the earth or spiritual paradise? c) When did that land come into existence, and who has settled in it?

In a previous vision, Jehovah indicated to Ezekiel that the prophecies about the restoration of Israel would have a greater fulfillment. That would be after his "servant David," Jesus Christ, began to reign, which occurred in 1914 (Ezek. 37:24). By that year, the nation of Israel had long since ceased to be God's people. That nation had been replaced by another: spiritual Israel, made up of Christians anointed by holy spirit (read Matthew 21:43; 1 Peter 2:9). But Jehovah not only replaced the nation of Israel with a spiritual nation, he also replaced the literal land of Israel with a spiritual land or paradise (Isaiah 66:8). As we saw in chapter 17 of this book, that spirit land is a spiritually secure situation, an environment where the remnants of the anointed have been worshiping Jehovah and performing their spiritual activities since 1919 (see Box 9B “And Why? 1919?”). Over time, the “other sheep,” people hoping to live on Earth, also began to settle in that spiritual land or paradise (John 10:16). Although this paradise continues to spread today, only after Armageddon will we receive all its blessings.