The Greatest Commandment was said by Christ to Moses!

 This lawyer knew the law! I always believed that Jesus was the first to state The Greatest Commandment and the "one like unto it": Love God and love others. However, these have always been the Greatest Commandment and its corollary! A corollary is "something that naturally follows" (Meriam-Webster Dictionary).

Luke 10:25 "And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."

It is questioned by Jesus to the lawyer? "What is written in the law?"  The lawyer's answer was one idea, but two laws: The commandment is "thou shalt love the Lord thy God" and the corollary (something that naturally follows) is "love thy neighbor". Hence, it's one law because if a person loves God then it's natural that the person must love others. Why? That's what God wants! His Ten Commandments are the statement to love God (Commandment 1-3) and "something naturally follows"; loving others (Commandment 4-10).

What amazed me about Jesus' answer to the lawyer, is that The Greatest Commandment always was! It was hidden, so to speak, in two different places in The Old Testament, but the lawyer put the two together! That was no accident! Jesus was making a point, but he had the lawyer made it for him!

I didn't recognize Old Testament commands acknowledging The Greatest Commandment! Did you? The lawyer was referring to these tow verses:

Deuteronomy 6:5 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Commandment 1-3)

Leviticus 19:18  "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." (Commandment 4-7).

 Jesus made a profound statement:

Matthew 5:17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

Jesus never ever contradicted The Law! There is nothing wrong with the law. What was and is still wrong is that people attempt to obey The Law, but it is done without love!  Although "love" was always The Law, love was confounded by following the letter of it. There is a difference in attitude:

Romans 3:31 (ESV) "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law."

Grace doesn't mean that we Christians don't have to OBEY the law, but that because of love blossoming from grace, the Christian DESIRES to keep The Law. As good citizens in the kingdom of God we pledge our allegiance to our glorious King. That allegiance is our love and we show our allegiance and love by keeping God's Commandments!

John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

This is in agreement with Christ's statement that he came "to fulfil" The Law. Although God always loved us; always did and always will, he did something which was extreme! He died for us so that we are without excuse. That's The Law of Grace. That's the fulfilling of The Law. By not "overthrowing" that law, we are still to follow it, but with a new heart. It's a thankful and loving heart!

I have shown where there is but one law. That "law" is the Law of Love. It's not two laws, but one because if we love God it follows that we love others. That's reinforced by John 15:15. By following God's commandments is how we demonstrate our love of God. Those commandments boil down to one: Love God and demonstrate it by loving others; even your enemies!

Matthew 5:43 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..."

"Loving enemies" is the hard part! It's sometimes hard to love those who love you, but we are commanded to love even those who despise us. I come up short and so do you, but that's where we need to pray for ourselves. Not loving others is pride. World's collide and we all endeavor to protect our own little world. What are we to do? Cut our enemies a little slack! Use the "fruits of the spirit": We are to have charity for them among others. We are to use The Golden Rule:

Luke 6:31 "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

That's being empathetic with them. Not tolerating their sin, but understanding that we too are sinners, just as they are. We may be saved, but that's "God's gift of grace" and we need to be thankful for his grace, not proud in it. As a consequence of our having received grace, the Christian's loving desire for "the enemy" is that they share what we have received! That's how we are to "love our enemies"! We endeavor to see that they have eternal life. That's not done by ridiculing nor cursing, but loving them!

"God's Law of Love" (aka The Greatest Commandment) has always been one law and always will be! When God said "don't eat of that other tree", he was merely stating The First Commandment in different words:

Exodus 20:3  "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

"How is that The Greatest Commandment?" you may ask. God was commanding that his children love only him! No, it doesn't mean that we don't love others, but that we have only one God and we are to love him!  Adam's sin was not in eating of the fruit, but standing there in the presence of the serpent instead of with God eating the fruit of his tree "The Tree of Life". Adam failed to love God and put Satan before God.

"Loving God" has always been the one and only commandment and all others are how we are to love God! When we break one of any of  The Ten Commandments it's as if we've broken them all, but what's worse, by not obeying those commandments we're not loving God. By breaking even one commandment a person short changes "loving God"!

Some would totally ignore works. "Works" are things we do, not to earn salvation, which we can't, but to demonstrate our love. We can't work our way unto salvation by doing "good", but works are the assurance that a person indeed is a Christian. "Faith without works is dead!", according to James. By not showing "works" (obeying the commandments) we are at odds with John 14:15 where we're told to "keep my commandments" to show that we love him!

The theology in opposition to "works" is called Calvinism. Ignoring remorse, repentance, belief, and faith; Calvinists contend that to be saved all a person has to do is "to be"  Under what I consider to be "positive Christianity", to be a Christian, all we have to have is life. But the "negative Christianity" associated with that is that "to be damned" all we have to do is "to be". God chooses us and we play no part in it! Calvinism is deterministic and to most fatalistic! My theology (Christ's really) offers hope. Calvinism only offers the hope that the person is lucky enough to win the "divine lottery" which was held before the world was even created!

Mark 5:17a says "Think not that I am come to destroy the law..."

Jesus didn't come to rid the world of God's Law, but to bring love into fruition! Calvinism destroys God's Law.  Oh, we are to still love God, but Calvinism removed the tools to show our love for God. Obeying the Commandments, in their theology, is a weight to which Christians should not be burdened. For me and for God, simply doing what he wills is not a burden. It's how we love him!

Never take God's Laws lightly. He wrote them on stone so that we know what we are to do to please him. If we don't do these things we have "blame" because that's what the laws are for; so that we are without excuse! The key is "Without excuse for failing to do what"? We are without excuse for failing to demonstrate our love of God! Admittedly, if we obey the law rather than loving God, and by implication others, we are not truly loving God, but in effect making an idol of ourselves. Obeying commandments without loving God is disobeying by breaking the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

The unsaved person who try to be "good" can't because only God is good! That person has placed himself "before God". Whereas, God commands that we love him, the "do-gooder" becomes the High Priest and assumes a role not ordained for him. Just as King Saul assumed an improper religious role, so does the "do-gooder". The focus (aka worship) is on the Self, not on God!

Become a servant to God first. Love Jesus and then obey the Commandments. You don't have any obligation to clean up your act first... come as you are. Those who are forgiven the most will love him the most:

Luke 7:47 "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."

World Tinted Glasses

We are a product of our times. What we are is because of when we are and where we be. For that I am very thankful. Some see that as fate, but there is a divine plan. I'm a piece in the hands of the most knowledgeable and fair player who ever was or ever will be! I'm not an accident nor a mere pawn in an elaborate game. I'm an important piece and without this one piece in the divine scheme all else is changed!

To elaborate on how important one person is, look at this example. Thomas Edison put electricity into practical use, but most important is his invention of the incandescent light. He did this well over one-hundred years ago and we're still using exactly what he invented with some slight improvements I might add! Most of all that I've ever learned has been under the light of Edison's idea. I never had to read by the flickering light of the fire, but Edison made it easy. His lamp burns uniformly and cleanly. It's ideal for seeing in the dark!

But what if even one of Edison's antecedents wasn't there? In 30 generations there are multi-millions of  possible ancestors if there were no intermarriages. In ten generations Edison had 1,024 ancestors providing they were all discreet. If any one of these 1024 had died without issue our their child aborted, Thomas Edison would not have been nor would the incandescent light have been invented at that time! Looking back 30 generations when Edison had millions of ancestors (endless genealogies) if any one of them had been plucked from the divine plan, then the plan would have failed and we could still be in the dark!

Applying the same logic to Jesus, if one of his maternal ancestors had been non-entities, then Mary the righteous virgin would not have been there to bear the Messiah, and if that were true, then Jesus would still be Messiah rather than Savior! Jesus was in the plan too! Without Edison there is not light, but without Jesus there would be no Light! It's possible that we would still be spiritually in darkness.

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Does God wait for us to be before he plans for us? In his divine plan, as all good plans are, your destiny was planned before you even were:

 Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you..." referring to Jeremiah who is no different than us!

We are all part of God's divine plan. I see life through "lenses of hope". I recognize that I'm planned, not necessarily by my parents, but part of the divine plan. I'm here where I am now because that's where God wants me to be!  Each keystroke is a product of what God allows. He knew that I would write of his glory and he knew that thousands of years ago!  I'm writing this because it's part of God's divine plan. When what I write reaches each person it has a cause and effect. It can either produce "good" results or "bad".

 The other day my writing produced a bad result. My intent was for a person to think on their spiritual condition and seek him. Instead of compliance I received, not only rejection, but anger!  That's not what I wanted, but since God is the author of all that we do, he "allowed" undesired consequences. We can ask why God allows "bad' things, but he does. It's because he made us with our own will. Even when the person was angered, God allowed the anger!

It may be that a seed was planted in a field of anger and this anger will continually remind the person and get saved someday. Or it could be that the person has rejected God for the last time and is now reprobate. It's not for me to decide, but whichever it is, it's part of God's plan. Yes, we are all predestined to be children of God, but that reflects only on God's desire that we all choose him over the world.

This is an example of my view through the "lenses of hope"! It's a view where God is in charge of his Kingdom and although I'm a subject of the king, he still rules! On the other hand some wear "world tinted glasses".  People who wear those glasses may not even read scripture. In all their self-wisdom they conclude what's "good" on what they want to be "good". Generally speaking, for them, everything is good as long as they have pleasure and no one immediately dies as a result! Everyone does what is right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6). Those people aren't playing with a full deck because they haven't read the Scripture, they've only perceived it to be what they want it to be:

Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

Clarifying a little for those "wisdom challenged" this means that if you do what's perceived as right in your "world tinted lenses",  your're an idiot! Just because a person can't conceive of being wrong, doesn't make that person right! That's pride and foolish... "foolish pride".

People can see the world with 20/20 vision, but cannot see truth. What's the cure for "blinded by the world"? It's "hope tinted glasses". What's the Rx for "blindness of the world"? The lenses for those "glasses of hope" is Holy Scripture. As you read more and more your vision of the world becomes more distorted, but the view of truth is seen clearly! The world is not as you see it, but is as God planned it. With those new glasses a true view of the world is clearly seen! It's not one of happiness and pleasure, but is a place for learning the will of God! It's not your home, but prepares every person for an eternal home! One may refuse "hope tinted glasses" and be content with those "world tinted". What they see is eternal prosperity, but those glass distort truth.

"World tinted glasses" lie. Eternity isn't heaven or even the grave. For those who use those glasses the true view is damnation and agony. With "hope tinted glasses" we can see Paradise! We see ourselves there in joy and awe that we are finally standing there before our creator! Choose your glasses wisely! Be selective which Rx you're using. Some will cheat you outright because their proprietor means to defraud the maker of the lenses. Read the prescription before you pick the wrong glasses!

On Backsliding

A person can "backslide", but if the slide slips all the way to from the time you were "saved" until now, there's a high probability that your salvation was ineffectual to start with! I'll use an example. I found the church records of my Uncle Fred where he was "saved" in 1905. When I pointed that out to him he gave the the date of his true salvation. He admitted that the first time that he was "saved" it wasn't for him, but to satisfy others. Now, that's an honest man!

Some churches view salvation differently, but from a scriptural standpoint it's when you commit your life to Christ! Of course in order to make the commitment there are certain things entailed" 1) Admit one's sins, 2) feel sorrow for sinning, 3) believing in Jesus, 4) accepting Jesus' sacrifice of himself on the cross in your place, 5) repenting to Jesus of your past sins, 6) a public testimony of your salvation entailing baptism and 7) living as much like Christ as can be done. Shortcuts to salvation are ineffectual! That all flies in the face of of scripture and is called "Calvinism".

Sure, God's grace is why we're saved and are free, but we still participate in being saved. It's not just a day when we realize that we have been elected and we can't even resist it! It's a day when we, encouraged by the Holy Spirit "do" things such as exercising our god-given free will!

"Backsliding" is when a Christian isn't living as Jesus would have him live. If asked the backslider will say "I believe in Jesus, but have trouble living a Christian life!" Most backsliders appear to be the epitome of unsaved sinners. Perhaps some, if not most, are! Calvinists believe in "preservation of the saints". That means "once saved always saved" and allows nothing for free will. Saved people are predetermined by God before they're ever born, cannot accept or refuse salvation, do nothing toward responding to God, and frankly, they don't even have to live a Christian life! Neither can they freely choose to remain a Christian. They are forced to go to heaven!

Many Baptist churches teach "once saved always saved". That's a ticket to go ahead and sin and still be a Christian. It shows little faith and no responsibility to live Christlike. At most it's "fire insurance" to keep one out of hell, but realistically it's fire insurance issued by a fraudulent insurer. The person believes they're insured until the day the "house burns" and find out that their claim is denied!

Matthew 7:23 "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (sin)."

Yes, backsliding exists,  but it's not of long duration. It's not a lifelong endeavor! What I mean is that many people who're "saved" never ever live righteously and sin flagrantly. The "old person" was never drowned with baptism and the "new person" was never raised up. Those people go through the motions, but there is never a heartfelt guilt nor sorrow, let alone repentance. All that is left is a wet sinner. Most people who are called "backsliders" are lost to eternity!

1 John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

There are three ways to look at this in all honesty: 1) A Christian's sin is never counted against him, 2) Christians never sin at all, or 3) Christians endeavor to live a holy life and because they seek righteousness, God is gracious enough to overlook occasional sins. I believe it's the latter. His grace is sufficient to cover intentional sin, but it's a race we're running! We are to persevere until the end.

A second type of "backsliding" are those who once believed, but no longer do. They were sincere in their born-again experience, but their faith was robbed by the encroachment of Satan. God puts a hedge around them, but for some reason God allows Satan to pester Christians. That resistance to temptation is how that Christians show that we love him and it's called "works". If we love him, we keep his commandments!

Some Christians fall to temptation. It starts out with little sins and continues until one lives a life as if God's will is important. Their quest for pleasure snuffs out their belief in God. Sometimes it's a false doctrine which deceives them. Whatever, the reason they leave God, that's apostasy and for that there is no cure. Those people become reprobate:

2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

This is how that you know if you're still a Christian or ever were one. You examine yourself! Do you still pray sincerely, still love God and others, still testify to others and fulfill "The Great Commission"?  Is your life more on pleasure than on God. Do you question scripture? Do you ignore scripture? Do you feel hatred for those who talk about Christ around you? There are many other tests; just examine yourself.

If you confess belief, but have no works, some say that you have "back-slidden". Be careful to test whether you were ever born again. There are many who will roast for eternity because they fail to examine themselves in a truthful manner. Also, if one has back-slidden should they not eventually return to Christ? Most don't or so it seems!

"Giving up on God" (apostasy) is extremely dangerous! Here's what is said about those who once believed, but now don't:

Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV) "For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt."

In short, if you were a Christian, but backslid until your death, there is nothing more to cover you because to do so would be re-crucifying Christ! That can't be done because he died to save us once and for all! Backsliding unto death IS apostasy!

So your daddy was a preacher, but your father is the devil?

None are immune from the spell of demonic poison! Some say that "their daddy was a preacher"! All that means is either 1) He taught you right and you refused to listen, or 2) He taught you wrong and you learned wrong. None are saved because their daddy was a preacher nor if they're from a hundred generations of preachers. God isn't impressed with genealogies!

Woe unto the child who was brought up with Godly parents, but rejected their teachings. To respect parents is a command, not an option. They, if Christians themselves, teach the tools which battle the devil.  Many of those who were taught right hate God. Why? Because God through the Holy Spirit doesn't let them pleasure themselves. There are "wrongs" which we're forbidden to do and evil people reject God because they favor evil!

It seems that those who reject the Godly teachings of their parents are most likely to be reprobate!

Romans 1:28 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient..."

In short God gives up on those who fail to listen, or worse yet; listen, but fail to obey! Reprobate means that the rebellious person is foreordained to eternal damnation. Why is that so? They worship their father, the devil:

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do."

Those who do what's right in their own eyes have for a father, the devil. Their daddy may have been a preacher, but their father is still the devil! How should other Christians respond to a reprobate person?

 Luke 9:5 "And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them."

We are to make reprobate people non-persons. They're damned and beyond salvation. Why let them drag us into the same fiery pit? A discerning Christian knows that we're battling forces of evil:

Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

 Why fight such powerful forces? You can't win on your own and most of us have such little faith that to battle with wickedness in high places is self-damning. You just can't do it alone! We would like to think that the person who we love has "good" in them, but if "good" was there, God would not ask us to shake their very dust from off our feet!

People have always been beguiled by what appears "good" or "pleasurable". Even Samson lost his strength from God and became ineffectual because he succumbed to what appeared to be good. Time and again God's people failed him, because they were deceived by the devil himself. Yes, those who are against Christ are antichrists!

As Christians we're called to be "sanctified". That means we're to be set apart from the world. We're not to run with the wrong crowd, especially when the wrong crowd doesn't bend to scripture. By working with those with calloused hearts our hearts can become calloused.  John 8:44 above goes on to say "the lusts of your father ye will do."  Those whose father is the devil do devil's deeds. The prime example of devil's deeds is to pull others away from Christ. A tactic is to destroy what God holds dear: relationships, children, families, marriages, churches and the authority we are charged to follow.

Devil's workers attack you best where he can destroy the most! Nothing is sacrosanct!

Be on guard:

1 Corinthians 16:13 "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."

Sometimes it takes evil awhile to rear its ugly head, but when it does it can destroy! "Watch ye!"

Drinking the Kool-Aid

Those in cults "drink the Kool-Aid" so to speak. This terminology came from "the Reverend" Jim Jones and his Ghana cult several years back. They were dedicated more to Jones and his whacky misrepresentation of scripture than they were to God! At his direction many chose death over investigation by the authorities. People lined up to drink poison laced Kool-Aid (R).

Was the "drinking of the Kool-Aid" based on obedience to God or deceit from the devil? Life is sacrosanct in God's eyes and we're commanded to never kill! Suicide results from a lack of joy in life and God is the joy-giver. He doesn't intend for any of his children to destroy what he has made:

Mark 10:9 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

Jesus responded with this  statement when he was asked about marriage. However, he never qualified this as applicable to marriage only. He said "what... God hath joined together".  The statement applies to any act ordained by God as holy. Life itself is holy and even our very life should never be destroyed!  "Asunder" means that "whatever should never be divided, torn apart or destroyed". Life itself must never be destroyed. That's a command.

Therefore, those who "drank the Kool-Aid" for Jim Jones weren't drinking it for God. They were deceived, as man always get deceived by the evil one! God is pure and holy. He expects us all to be willing to die for him, but he never expects, nor can allow, us to sin in his name. By following God "we're not drinking the Kool-Aid" in an evil sense, but we are to follow him:

Matthew 10:38 "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."

This entire statement, and I'm not minimizing nor denigrating Jesus, could be said "My blood is righteous. Drink my blood." Oops! He said that at the "Last Supper"! Of course he meant to symbolically drink his blood, but he was commanding those at the supper to follow him!  They were to "drink the first century Kool-Aid" so to speak.

We are to "drink the Kool-Aid" of Jesus. We are to follow him without question because he is the Way and only way to salvation.

John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

How is one born-again since he can never re-enter the womb?

 Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

For those who value being saved from punishment, we are made right because we accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus! We must partake of his blood symbolically and thus "drink the Kool-Aid of Jesus". We believe in, accept and do what Jesus tells us to do. In order to be saved we must "partake of his word" (i.e., "drink the Kool-Aid of Jesus").

Warning! Others serve Kool-Aid too. They put it in an attractive package and encourage you to savor it's delight. Those that serve bitter Kool-Aid are emissaries of the devil. They will have you seek pleasure and ignore the will of God. Those Kool-Aid dispensers rebel against God's decrees and think you're silly because you are set apart from the world. God has prepared a place for those who preach false doctrine.They will be thrown in a fiery pit with Satan and his angels!

When one undercuts you relationship with God, they are serving the Kool-Aid of the devil! Don't listen to them because if you are damned with you, friendship doesn't exist in hell! You will hate each other there!

Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Every idol word which we utter, we will be held accountable for saying it. When some mislead others or encourage them to sin, they will be judged. Jesus will do the judging. That seems out of character, but Jesus is the voice of God! Although he loves us and gives every chance for us to accept him, if we don't, he points toward our eternal destiny with a holy gesture; as he cries inside, I might add!

It's those who teach against living holy who serve "the devils' Kool-Aid". Never drink his purple poison!

Girl of Cheese

Little baby still in the womb.
No longer there cared to loom.
A chance she took as a preamie...
thinking of cheese so really creamy.

Born so tiny and having no cheese.
Cheese she sought for her to please.
She loves cheese on anything...
Cheese is the song she loves to sing!

Now she's four and plenty tall.
She loves to play and have a ball!
But now when she has to sneeze...
Watch out!
When she sprays it may be cheese!

Little Emma is cheddar now.
Never eating meat nor fowl.
So often eaten a cheese she became.
A girl of cheese is her fame!

Dry Bones Raised Represent the Living Dead: The Resurrection

I was asked about my take on the "bones" in Ezekiel's prophecy. My thoughts follow:

Scenario: The Hebrew people had been one nation under King David. They were the strongest at that time as they had ever been. David's kingdom had stretched from the  sea to the Euphrates and from Arabia to Turkey. It was the entirety of "The Promised Land" because of the Abrahamic Covenant. After David, the kingdom was split into Israel, the northern kingdom and Judah the lower. 

The kingdom of Assyria defeated Israel and carried them off into captivity. Ten tribes of Israel were lost to history in the dispersion. In effect Israel died and the bones of that kingdom were scattered. Later the southern kingdom of Judah was threatened by the Babylonians and as Jeremiah prophesied, the Hebrews there were captured and taken to Babylon. Few remained in "The Promised Land". Their bones were scattered in a distant land. For practical purposes the kingdom of David died in those days! Ezekiel wrote the following prophecy during the destruction of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom by the Babylonians:

Ezekiel 37 "The hand of the Lord was upon me Ezekiel), and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he (God) said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. 15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23 Neither shall 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 dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

Hence, we have the Ten Lost Tribes.  Most of those tribes lost to posterity were of the line of Joseph and were of the northern Kingdom. Scripture tells us that they assimilated into the society of their captors and took foreign gods. In effect the lost tribes intermarried and became gentiles!  For all practical purposes "gentiles" are non-Jewish people who were pagans. Hence, those tribes died at that time and until this day have never been found! (Mormons for instance claim that they are of those tribes, but that's not factual nor probable).

Some believe that this prophecy was two-fold: about the reunification of the Hebrew people after the return to Zion (Jerusalem) by Cyrus the Great, a Persian king in 538 B.C. However, the ten lost tribes stayed lost. Their bones were never restored to life!

Another thought, in post "Matthew Henry times", was the founding of Israel under one leader in 1948. Again, Jews dispersed from all over the world returned to Zion and the nation was restored to life. It's probably likely that some of the Jews who returned were from lost tribes, but we don't know that or if so, whom.  I really don't believe that the prophecy was about the reformation of the nationof Israel. King David has no part in either of the two scenarios.

Where does it all fit? I believe that Ezekiel saw a vision of the kingdom of God restored by a King of the line of David. This King is Jesus! This vision is about the reconciliation of both tribes of Jews: the lost tribes representing the gentile nation and the Hebrews themselves. Jesus the King is king of all! The bones of all twelve tribes will be reassembled and those bones will live and breath! The two sticks (two nations), the Jews and gentiles will become one under the returning King, Jesus.

Matthew 28:18 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

Revelation 17:14 "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful..."

 And as for Jesus being of the line of David:

Luke 2:4 "And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)"

Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

The King on the order of David will have great power! He will have the power to bring life to dead bones:

 John 11:25 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:"

 Jesus demonstrated his power over death! As he died and yet lives, here he promises those who follow the King will live though they were dead! That's our hope! Our flesh will die and our bones scattered, even becoming dust, but at the resurrection our bones will come together, our sinews reattach, our flesh be restored and we shall live again. The our souls shall be united with our bodies and the winds will reunite our soul with our spirit! This is what grace is all about!

John 6:40 "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Ezekiel apparently had a vision of "the last day" and the "general resurrection" where EVERYONE who believes in the King will be raised up! Everyone includes the two sticks becoming one. Jew and gentile are united under the kingship of Jesus Christ of the line of David!

Bones arise from the dust and life is restored to them. Daniel too had this vision:

Daniel 12:2 "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Like Ezekiel, he saw life come out of the dust. Life that had once lived yet died a mortal death. Daniel saw the resurrection too. There is a caveat! According to Ezekiel "they will be my (God's) people". Those who reject God are not his people! Their punishment, according to Daniel is "shame and everlasting contempt"! All the bones of the dead will be alive, and the soul's of all restored. However, some will have eternal life and others will return to the "spiritual grave". Hell awaits the bones of those who refuse to submit to the King!"

Bones support us all! We take them for granted, but they are the foundation on which the flesh is hung. Admit it or not, everyone cares about the flesh! Some live for pleasure and the flesh is the medium for that. Others live in faith and care about where their flesh resides for eternity. It's all a matter of priorities! Do we substitute carnal desires in exchange for eternal life or do we value pleasure here over eternal solace? The Christian places his hope in eternal joy. Those in rebellion cherish what the devil uses to deceive: carnal pleasure.

Don't take your bones for granted. Care that they shall walk and live again! Care that they support the flesh and carry the lungs which breath and the soul wherein the Spirit may dwell. However, the wise will care about the eternal home of those restored bones! Show that you care: have faith in that long ago prophecy. Have faith in a king likened unto David. Have faith in Jesus!