Ezekiel 12:16

But I will leave a few men of them, the prophecy thus merging into the usual Messianic promise, from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, these people representing the Church of God on earth, that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come, frankly confessing their transgressions and vindicating the punishment of God upon their sins; and they shall know that I am the Lord. It was the Israelites in truth who were led to repentance by God's punishment; and they were also the ones to perpetuate the knowledge of Jehovah, the God of the covenant, to their children after them. The Lord has always had His children on earth, at times even in the midst of heathen nations.