Title: I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them.

Ezekiel 36:37 Thus says the Lord GOD: I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock.
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In Matthew 6:8, it says, 8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Even though God knows what we need before we ask of Him, God said we should ask Him for what we need in order to receive it from God. Matthew 7:7-8, 7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Ezekiel 36:37, 37 Thus says the Lord GOD: I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. You can see what does God mean by also if you read the Scriptures before, verses 35 and 36. It means, even thought God will do this for them, God is telling them to ask for it anyways. Ezekiel 36:35-36, 35 So they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it. And therefore, it means although the Lord had spoken it and He will do it, we must inquire of Him. God can give it to us even though we do not ask of Him, those who ask will be given. Jeremiah 27:18, 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon. Making intercession to the Lord means praying to God and that is asking to God.

And thus, the Scripture, : I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them means nevertheless ask of Me. Please keep in mind that God speaks His Words when we ask Him.

If we inquire of God regarding all our conducts, everything goes well, but if we do not inquire of God, everything goes wrong. Our God who is our Father wants us to inquire of Him in everything we do. That is exactly the same as our parents feel toward us.

There are many tragedies that happened because men did not ask God before they proceed to do something. The first king of Israel Saul was killed by God because he consulted a medium for guidance instead of asking God.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14, 13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. 14 But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. We must understand the Word of God here, But he did not inquire of the Lord, correctly. It was not that king Saul did not inquire of the Lord from the beginning. He first inquired of the Lord but because he did not get any answer from the Lord, he went and consulted a medium for advice.

1 Samuel 28:4-19, 4 Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.

And his servants said to him, In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor. 8 So Saul disguised and put on other clothes and went to this woman who was a medium and asked for guidance. And finally, this caused Gods wrath on him and he died because of this.

Please do not read the Scripture saying, . 14 But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse, as the past history of Israel. This is a lesson to us teaching us that if we seek other help or advice from someone else just because we did not have our prayers answered after asking God one or two times, this brings death upon ourselves. In our prayer life, this is especially important and is the thing we should be extra careful about.

We must hold on to God until God gives us answer to our prayer. We must offer God prayers with moisture.

Prayers filled with tears, prayers with shedding tears, prayers with tears gushing out from your eyes, prayers with sweat becoming like great drops of blood falling down to the ground, like these, there are many different kinds of prayers with moisture. Among these, Jesus prayed the prayer with His sweat becoming like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:44, 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The prayer of Hanna, the mother of Samuel, was so earnest that people mistook her for a drunkard. 1 Samuel 1:10-14, 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget

Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. 12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!

How long and how earnestly Hanna continued praying before the Lord that when the high priest saw her she looked as if she was drunk with wine! When Hanna offered such earnest prayer to God, her prayer was answered.

When king David was moving the ark of the Lord from the house of Babylon to Jerusalem, because he did not inquire of the Lord, he faced the tragedy of Perez Uzza. (1 Chronicles 13:1-11) David asked God the reason for such unfortunate incident and understood the cause for such incident and when he was brining the ark of the Lord the second time, he brought the ark according to the law of God.

1 Chronicles 13:3, 3 and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.

If we do not inquire of God in all our conducts, we get to add sin to sin. Isaiah 30:1,
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Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD,

Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin; God can answer us only if we ask Him. The great thing about either king David or king Jehoshaphat was that they both asked God before they did anything and inquired of the Lord in all their

conducts and received guidance from God and followed exactly what God had advised them.

2 Chronicles 17:3, 3 Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in
the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, This means Jehoshaphat sought Gods guidance in all his conducts just like David did.

When king Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to go with him against Ramoth Gilead, Jehoshaphat, according to his nature, answered him saying, Please inquire for the word of the Lord today. 2 Chronicles 18:3-4, 3 So Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead? And he answered him, I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war. 4 Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Please inquire for the word of the LORD today. 2 Chronicles 18:6, 6 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him? He is suggesting that they should inquire a prophet of the Lord for guidance before they go on to war.

2 Kings 3:11-12, 11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him? So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

When the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites,[a] came to battle against Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat won the victory over them by asking God and exactly following Gods command.

2 Chronicles 20:18, 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. The king inquired of the Lord with his face to the ground.

2 Chronicles 20:20, 20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. This was Gods answer to Jehoshaphats prayer which Jehoshaphat received after asking God for guidance.

By inquiring of God first and going to the battle against the enemies, Jehoshaphat won the great victory over his enemies and called the place, The Valley of Berachah, The Valley of Blessing.

2 Chronicles 20:24-26, 24 So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies,[d] and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the LORD; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah[e] until this day.

However, such faithful Jehoshaphat faced the tragedy of making the whole nation worship before idols because he did not inquire of the Lord in the matter of his sons marriage and this caused the nation to finally collapse in the end.

2 Chronicles 18:1, Micaiah Warns Ahab

Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.
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This was the incident that sowed the seed of misfortune that caused the whole nation to collapse and be destroyed.

Since Jehoshaphat engaged with the northern kingdom Israel by marriage and since he brought Adaliah as his daughter in law to Judah, idols of northern Israel came into Judah and all the people of Judah worshiped the idols that came from Israel. And because of the seeds of idols which Adaliah had sown into Judah, the nation gets to be destroyed later.

Adaliah whom Jehoshaphat brought as his daughter in law for his son Joram was the daughter of the most wicked king of northern kingdom Israel Ahab and his wife Isabelle who is notorious for being one of three worlds most wicked wives. And she was assessed as one of the most wicked rulers in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Why are the kings, Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah omitted from the genealogy of Christ which symbolizes the genealogy of eternal life? Why are these three kings completed missing from the genealogy of Christ? In Matthew 1:8 it records, 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram,
and Joram begot Uzziah. However, this record is different from the actual historical facts. In the actual historical records there are the records of four kings, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah and Adaliah between king Joram and king Uzziah.

1 Chronicles 3:11-12, 11 Joram[i] his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash[j] his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah[k] his son, Jotham his son, Azariah is another name for Uzziah.

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Although the historical facts show us differently, the genealogy in the book of Matthew omits these three kings, king Ahaziah, king Joash and king Amaziah. Why is that? What is the reason for omitting these kings from the genealogy in Matthew?

That is because all these three kings are seeds of Adaliah whom Jehoshaphat brought from the northern kingdom Israel that worshiped idols. And these three kings did not walk in the path of David, but they walked the path of the wicked king Ahab and brought about Gods wrath upon them.

As I was reading Gods redemptive series, and especially as I read the book 4, I realized and strongly felt that as for marriage, we must follow Gods will and must have the marriage that God wants.

If we have marriage which God does not want, then it will bring about the tragedy that cause either individual, family or nation to be destroyed before Gods sight and that is the lesson which the fourth book of Gods redemptive series is giving us.

The high priest Ezra who understood that the reason for the nations falling into extreme distress and misery was because of the marriage with foreigners whom God despises pronounced that he would not engage in marriage with the people of idol worshiping nations.

Ezra 9:14, 14 should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? This Word of God is emphasizing that if we join in marriage with the people committing abominations, we would bring about Gods wrath upon us and Gods wrath would consume our family and nation until there is no remnant or survivor.

Ezra is known as the author of the book of Ezra and he was the leader of Israel at the time of Israels second return from captivity in Babylon in B.C. 458. He was also a priest and a scholar.

Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. (Ezra 7:1-6)
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He served as a legal scholar of king Artaxerxes and under the command of king Surubbabel, he decided to organize returnees from Babylons captive in order to newly establish laws of Moses for the children of Israel after hearing the news about religious and mental decadence of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon.

His dream was to actualize theocratic government according to the laws of God when he returned to his homeland and that dream was realized by King Artexerxes I. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, on his way by the river of Ahava he fasted for three days and departed from the river on the twelfth day fo the first month, to go to Jerusalem.
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The children of Israel committed abominations not long after their second return from Babylon by joining in marriage with the peoples of the land and among them, the Levites, priests, and heads of family committed even greater transgression before the sight of the Lord. At this time, Ezra took the responsibility for the evil deeds of the children of Israel as the leader of the people and tore his garments and prayed penitential prayer to God on behalf of all the people of Israel.

He was a biblical scholar, a patriot and a man of prayer and faith. He confessed before the Lord saying, O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to

plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. 9 For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. He earnestly prayed to God asking for forgiveness of the evil deeds of the people by His righteousness.

Such movement of repentance which Ezra began among the people brought great impression on the children of Israel and great multitude of people came to join Ezra in repentance. The children of Israel gathered to confess their sins and repent before God. Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.
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At this, Ezra issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem. 9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. 11 Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives. Although it was during the raining season and they had heavy rain, the children of Israel confessed their sins before the Lord and swore an oath of consecration as the chosen people of God by eliminating all those who took the pagan wives. Ezra investigated and made up a list of all those who took for themselves pagan wives and announced their names before the assembly and all those who took the pagan wives divorced their wives according to Ezras advice.

When David became the king of Judah, he became the king of Judah by going up to Hebron after consulting with God.

2 Samuel 2:1-4, 1 It happened after this that David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said to him, Go up. David said, Where shall I go up? And He said, To Hebron. 2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4 Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.

David always won the victory over his enemies by asking God every time before he goes out to the battlefield. 2 Samuel 5:17-20, 17 Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. 18 The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And the LORD said to David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. 20 So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

Some days later, when David faced exactly the same situation, once again, David asked God what he would do. 2 Samuel 5:22-25, 22 Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. 23 Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. 24 And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines. 25 And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba[f] as far as Gezer. The secret to victory is inquiring of God in everything.

If you think that you are being too bothersome asking God for advice in everything and you decide to go with the same advice you got the last time because it is the similar matter, then that is a foolish thing to do.

We do not need to worry about Gods circumstances whether He would be busy or not. God does not feel cumbersome at all no matter how often we inquire of Him. Rather, God is more pleased if we ask Him more. It is same for our parents.

Please do not forget that God gives you different answer each time you ask Him even if it is exactly the same case. He gives you different answers depending on times.

David did not rely on his past experience even when he was faced with the same situation and he did not act according to his past experience.

Once again, he inquired of God and followed Gods guidance in the same matter and that is why David could win the victory over his enemies. What good is it to us if we only read and have knowledge about such fact?

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; I hope you remember the meaning of this Scripture once again and apply it to your life. If you do not obey or follow the Word of God even though you know it, then you get to add the sin of defying the Word of God to the sin of disobedience.

I bless you with the name of the Lord you who are hearing and accepting this Word of God today become the children of obedience who bring down the knowledge in your head to your heart so that you may believe and obey Gods Word and receive the blessing of being abroad the North, South, East and the West and enjoy such blessing generation after generation. I bless you with the name of the Lord you all become such blessings.