What does Israel lose when they are outside the promised land?
Outside the promised land, Israel is described as nothing: without a temple, without a priesthood, and without an altar. They are hopelessly out of touch with God, likened to dead people in graves among the Gentile nations. God restores them to life by bringing them back to their homeland.
Les teaches from Ezekiel 37 that when Israel is out of the land, they are in the graves, which is how God refers to the Gentile nations. Out of the land, Israel is a nothing: no temple, no priesthood, no altar, and hopelessly out of touch with God. The Word calls their habitations in Gentile areas graves, like a dead people so far as God is concerned. But God brings them back to life by bringing them back to their promised land. In verse 12 He says He will open their graves and bring them to the land of Israel, their homeland. Les also notes the vision of the two sticks: one for the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, and one for the southern kingdom, the two tribes, put together to become one stick.