Ezekiel 39:23

And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel, here chiefly representative of the Church of God in the Old Testament, went into captivity for their iniquity, not because the enemies, in their own power, overcame them; because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, withdrawing His merciful and almighty presence from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies, so that their captivity at that time, and all the evils which befall them at any time, are the punishments of the Lord; so fell they all by the sword.