Bible lesson for Aug. 25

— Ezekiel 34:26

Many gracious promises of God seem to apply only to the kingdom of Israel, but Jesus the Messiah announced and demonstrated that God's people included Jews and Gentiles. The Apostle Peter included everyone when he wrote, “Christ also suffered for sins once for all” (1 Peter 3:18). The Book of Revelation reports that the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross was in behalf of “saints from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

Ever since Jesus came and died for all, millions of people around the world have accepted Jesus the Messiah as their Lord and Savior, and they have experienced the showers of blessing that God promised. God has sent rain upon His people in season, and their fields have yielded fruit in abundance. God has freed millions from bitter oppression, though perhaps millions more around the world still need freedom from their slaveholders. Millions have experienced the showers of blessing God has sent to those who trust Him, for God declared, “The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them” (Ezekiel 34:27).