Until the day when the truth of God, the word of God as revealed in the Bible, can no longer be written, spoken or heard (Amos 8:11-12), the Church of God will continue its responsibility, its commission to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14), the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1). In fulfilling its commission, the Church of God is like a modern-day “Watchman” (cf. Ezekiel 3:17-19; Ezekiel 33; Jeremiah 6:17-19) to the modern-day children of Israel, those peoples specifically within Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia. In fulfilling its commission, the Church is to preach as a witness and warning of the events that will specifically, actually occur to these nations and of the events to occur to the world as a whole, explaining the reasons why, from God’s perspective, these prophetic future events will take place.
Jesus Christ commissioned the Church to “go into the world and teach all nations” all things that He taught (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15). In addition to this world encompassing command, Jesus Christ instructed His disciples to go specifically to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matthew 10:6).
It was “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (cf. Ezekiel 34:11-16); known today as “the Ten Lost Northern Tribes of Israel,” for which Jesus Christ had and still today has great concern. The salvation of the Children of Israel is of vital significance to God, a dominant theme in the Scriptures and a primary purpose behind the coming of Jesus Christ (cf. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 5:31 – “to give repentance to Israel”). Not to be forgotten, the gentiles (all the nations) will not be left out (cf. Jeremiah 16:19-21; Isaiah 49:6; 60:1-5; Luke 2:32; Acts 4:12; Acts 10:34-36). All humanity, all nations, all people are included in the whole plan of salvation and redemption (cf. John 3:16), which God, by the council of His own will, has determined the order of things.
From the beginning of His ministry until the day He went back to His Father’s throne, Jesus Christ emphasized repentance, requiring His disciples, His Church to preach and to teach the same. The primary objective, the central focus of the gospel message, of the witness and warning message, is repentance from sins and transgressions, emphasizing God’s forgiveness.
“Now after John was put into prison [because John had stood tall and preached of sin and repentance cf. Mark 6:17-29 and Matthew 3:1], Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand: Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).
“It’s not healthy people who need a doctor, rather sick people do. Go learn what is meant by the scriptures, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifices:’ for I am come not to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance” (cf. Matthew 9:12-13).
“And he said, Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem: there is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me” (Luke 24:46-47 New Living Translation).
“The times of this ignorance God winked at but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).
Repentance is the central theme, a consistent, unwavering message expressed in both the Old Testament (e.g. Ezekiel 18:23, 32; Ezekiel 33:11) and New Testament (e.g. Matthew 4:17, 9:12-13; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3, 5; Luke 15:7,10; Acts 2:38; Acts 26:18; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:25-26; 2 Peter 3:9). With great emphasis, the command from God, from Jesus Christ is that the message of repentance, as a witness and warning, must go out to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” and to all nations.
Jesus Christ commissioned the Church of God to continue in the same path as the prophets of old, preaching repentance. The age-old question God has asked and still asks today is obvious and evident throughout the Scriptures. “Repent, for why will you die?”
Just as Jesus Christ did through the prophets of old (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-11), so He still does today through His Church, crying out specifically to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. “Therefore I will judge you O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways [his or her particular self-chosen lifestyle], says the Eternal God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions [sins, misbehavior, wickedness and disobedience]; so iniquity will not be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30). “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from (repent of) his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will you die, O House of Israel” (Ezekiel 33:11).
The witness and warning message of repentance is required to go out to the Children of Israel. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the House of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1). Likewise Micah 3:8 – “to declare unto Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sins.”
The message of repentance is so important to Jesus Christ; notice what He warned the Watchman would happen if the Watchman failed to preach the witness and warning message of repentance. Still today, God warns the Watchman: “if you don’t warn the wicked to turn (to repent) from his wicked ways, that wicked person will die of his or her sins, but you, the Watchman will be guilty of the blood of the sinner” (cf. Ezekiel 3:17-19, Ezekiel 33:6,8). God holds the Watchman directly responsible and guilty, if the Watchman does not preach the witness and warning message of repentance, if the Watchman does not warn the wicked to repent from their wicked, sinful ways (i.e., lifestyle, behavior, and attitudes).
It is clear, as revealed in the book of Revelation, that the House of Israel and all the nations will be warned and the true message of repentance will be preached. As a result of that preaching, we see that during the time called the “great tribulation” and the Day of the Lord there will be a collection of peoples, 144,000 (symbolically) from the children of Israel and those called a “great multitude” (Revelation 7), composed of people coming out from “all nations, and kindreds and peoples and tongues.” The Word of God reveals that these people repented and are given white robes, washed white in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. How did this happen?
Obviously, at some point in their lives, they heard the true message of repentance, as preached by the Church of God, the gospel, the witness and warning message, instructing them of the need to repent. They repented. They were baptized, receiving the gift of God’s Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). They were washed, purged, purified, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7). The witness and warning message of repentance was preached. They heard; they understood; they repented and were forgiven, being “saved.”
Too much is at stake to ignore the witness and warning message of repentance; especially as it pertains to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” The day is coming when God will “lay the land desolate and shall destroy the sinners out of it” (Isaiah 13:9). God will “punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity” and God will “cause the arrogancy of the proud [haughty] to cease and will lay low [humble] the haughtiness [pride] of the terrible [ruthless]” (Isaiah 13:11).
Of the modern-day House of Jacob, the children of Israel, “the lost sheep of the House of Israel,” God says, “all the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say disaster will not overtake or meet us” (Amos 9:8-10 NIV). The reality of sin and its consequences needs to be revealed in plain and simple language to those who God calls, “My people.” It is understood “my people” are the modern-day Children of Israel (both the Southern and Northern Tribes), and specifically those known as “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
Prophecy reveals the events that will occur to the modern-day children –– the descendants –– of Israel. As Jesus Christ said, “All things which are written will be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22). All prophecy written will happen. Whether you want to believe it or not is immaterial. What the Word of God says will happen, will happen. And for a necessary reason, these things will take place.
The books of prophecy consistently use the terms, “In the last days,” “in the end time,” “at the time of the end,” “in the latter days.” All these refer to the time in which we live now and the time soon ahead. God reveals the reasons for the judgment He is bringing upon “the lost sheep of the House of Israel,” the peoples to whom Jesus Christ said must hear His witness and warning message of repentance.
This message reveals the reasons, from God’s perspective, why the modern-day Children of Israel will lose their national and personal blessings and be rejected by God. “For my people are foolish. They have not known me; they are sottish children; they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge” (Jeremiah 4:22).
Continuing in Jeremiah 5, “Their transgressions are many and their back-slidings are increased… the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Eternal … They have belied [opposed, denied] the Eternal and say, It is not he [He doesn’t exist], neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see the sword or famine; and the prophets [the preachers, the modern-day Christian and Evangelical ministers] shall become wind and the word [God’s truth] is not in them… Wherefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, because you speak this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O House of Israel says the Eternal: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know, nor do you understand what they say. “But this people have a rebellious heart. . . your iniquities have turned away these things [God’s blessings] and your sins have withholden good from you… The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people love it that way…”
“Hear the word of the Eternal, you children of Israel: for the Eternal has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land… by swearing, by lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out and blood touches blood … my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of God]” (Hosea 4).
Among the children of Israel, within their modern-day nations, God characterizes them as follows: “there is a conspiracy of her prophets [Evangelical minsters] in the midst thereof, they destroy lives, they preach for money, to feed themselves and their families. The priests [Christian minsters at large] have violated my laws and have profaned mine holy things and have put no difference between holy and profane. They have shown no difference between clean and unclean. They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths and God is profane among them. The princes (elected officials) are like ravening wolves to shed blood and to destroy and to get dishonest gain. The people of the land use oppression, exercise robbery, have vexed the poor and oppressed the stranger wrongfully” (Ezekiel 22).
It is painfully evident, specifically, within the cities, towns and villages of the nations wherein dwells “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” among governing bodies, communities, households and families (genuine or contrived); among businesses, social institutions, and among every religion that corruption, sin, and disobedience to God is evident and fully expressed. Righteousness, honor, respect for life and for others, including the “strangers among you,” is woefully absent. The truth of God is lacking and the true witness and warning message of repentance is for all intents and purposes non-existent among the churches (Christian or otherwise) blanketing the nations in which “the lost sheep of Israel” dwell.
The “lost sheep of the House of Israel,” when measured up to the teachings and doctrines of Jesus Christ (all things that He taught; Matthew 28:20), are painfully short in obeying or performing. Jesus Christ spoke volumes when He taught “those things which come out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man. For out of the heart comes forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, theft, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:18-19).
Well said the prophet Hosea (5:5), “and the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah shall fall with them.” God is not mocked; you reap what you sow (cf. Galatians 6:7). As long as the modern-day Children of Israel reject God and sow the seeds of sin and disobedience, they will reap corruption which will result in their destruction (Ezekiel 18:30) and ultimately to the time of their captivity, becoming refugees, taken away captive, scattered to other nations (cf. Ezekiel 5).
Unless an individual repents and is baptized, converted and forgiven, that individual is simply unacceptable in God’s sight. Henceforth the need for the Church of God to fulfill the commission given to it; to preach as a witness and warning, the message of repentance.
God does not desire to see any perish; he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). His desire is that people repent and live. He will take no joy in seeing the nations in which dwell “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” go down in destruction, attacked and decimated. However, as God has declared, if Israel chooses not to repent, then their fate is sure.
God has given the responsibility to the “Watchman” to preach the witness and warning message of repentance, clearly revealing what behaviors, attitudes, lifestyles and ways of life God hates, as opposed to what He has declared is right and good for you; how He expects you to live. Every word of God, every teaching of Jesus Christ stands as a witness of the way, the lifestyle, and the right life God requires every human being to live.
You have an opportunity to repent and escape the sure fate of “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” If you have not yet done so, then for crying out loud, what are you waiting for? Repent! And escape (Luke 21:36) the fate that is sure to come!
