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In the midst of His judgment on Israel, God was merciful to His people and provided a number of things for them:
1) in His mercy God established watchmen, such as Ezekiel, to warn the people (Ezek. 33:7);
2) before exercising His judgment, God sent His angel to mark out His seeking ones, those who sighed and groaned over all the sinfulness and evils in the city of Jerusalem, so that they would not be killed (Ezek. 9:4);
3) God preserved and kept a remnant among those who were scattered in captivity (Ezek. 6:8-9);
4) God Himself was a temporary sanctuary to His scattered and captured people (Ezek. 11:16);
5) God promised those in the captivity that one day He would bring them back to the land (Ezek. 11:17), to serve Him on the mountain of the height of Israel (Ezek. 20:40), which typifies the resurrected and ascended Christ;
6) for the hope and encouragement of His people, God prophesied that Christ would come as a twig that would become a cedar tree (Ezek. 17:22-23), as the scepter of Judah (Ezek. 21:10), as the One who has the right to inherit the kingdom of Israel (Ezek. 21:27), and as the horn of the house of Israel to deliver them from all oppression and bondage (Ezek. 29:21).
The final result of God’s judgment on Israel will be to cause them to turn to Christ and to gain Christ so that Christ will be everything to them (Zech. 12:10; Rev. 1:7). Because Israel will be joined to Christ, Israel will ascend from being lowly to being very high, having Christ as the authority to surpass all the nations and authorities on earth. Because of Christ, the nation of Israel will be restored, and Christ will be the King (Isa. 2:2-4 and notes).
