We ended Part 1 with a question: What causes the future crisis that returns God back to Israel and His protection of her?
This is a crisis that the entire world will witness…
We’ll build toward the answer in Part 2.
But first, here is a recap of Ezekiel chapter 36’s key points because humanity cannot control a zealous LORD God whose nation:
- Israel is the object of global gossip and whispering.
- Israel has had to endure global mockery.
- Holy city—Jerusalem—as been repeatedly attacked, looted, abandoned, and laid desolate.
Therefore the LORD God:
- Vows to mock the nations surrounding Israel, while His people flourish in their land.
- Promises to turn toward Israel, rebuild it, and increase it.
- Promises to lead His entire nation back over the mountains to occupy their land. At that time the mountains, hills, valleys and rivers will welcome them, and the people will be treated better than they ever were before.
- Promises that His people Israel will KNOW that He is THE LORD GOD.
- Promises that His people Israel will know that they defiled their own country with their lifestyles and behavior when they repeatedly chose to worship other gods instead of their LORD God.
- Promises that He will not do these things for His nation Israel, but He WILL do these things TO REPAIR HIS REPUTATION that was soiled by the nation Israel when they were scattered throughout the world.
- Promises that the world will understand that God is LORD,
- And He alone is holy,
- And before their eyes He will purify Israel so that they are cleansed from their impurity.
- The world will witness Israel’s desire to worship no other gods except the LORD God.
- The world will witness God giving His people a new heart that will cause them to WANT to worship Him alone.
- He will place His Spirit in His chosen people, and they will WANT to live by His regulations and decrees.
- The world will witness God deliver His people from famine—as the world starves, Israel will experience abundance.
- God promises that His people Israel will remember all their horrible lifestyle and behavior practices and they will hate themselves for their sin against Him, for He proclaims that all His goodness will be done STRICTLY FOR HIS REPUTATION.
- The last promise from Ezekiel 36 is that the LORD God will rebuild their land, their cities, their fields and pastures, and the desolate wasteland of the current Israel back to the Garden of Eden! And then He will increase their population, so that they will know that “I AM THE LORD.”
Here is Ezekiel 37:1-10:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered: “O LORD God, You know.” Again, He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I AM the LORD.” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘thus says the LORD God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
God placed Ezekiel so that He was in a valley filled with long-dead people whose bones were very dry. God made Ezekiel walk among the bones to prove none lived and also to show there were a great many. God did something interesting, too. He asked Ezekiel if long-dead people could come back to life and of course, that answer would be a hearty NO!
Unless, of course, there is an uncontrollable God. Knowing that his God is uncontrollable, Ezekiel answers prudently.
Having satisfied the reader that the bones are many, very long dead, and unable to come back to life by themselves—or by any other means—God commands Ezekiel to call them back to life again! And he obeys. The noise of a vast valley filled with bones assembling must have been incredible. Scripture does not state this fact, but there, upon the ground, the bones assembled PROPERLY—rattling loudly as they came together from some incomprehensible form of energy.
Once assembled, the bones were equipped with sinews and flesh and skin, but they lay there with no breath in them—no life. And certainly no Spirit!
So God told Ezekiel to continue in his task and bring God’s breath from the four winds, and the vast army came to life AND STOOD UP. Thousands upon thousands of them to make an exceedingly great army.
Verses 11-14:
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, “Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I AM the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.
During Ezekiel’s time (this was written about 586 BC) the nation of Israel was separated into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, and ruled by separate kings. In this passage Ezekiel is prophesying that God will bring the nation together. It has, partially. On 14 May 1948 Israel declared their independence, and gained full control of the old city Jerusalem during the Six Year War in 1967. Many Jews returned to the land, but not everyone.
So we have a large people group who believe their hope is lost, and that they are cut off from their promised land forever—and prior to 1948 this was true. God absolutely separated Israel from their land for almost 2000 years, to punish the people for their lifestyle and behavior choices against Him.
But in this prophesy God wants the nation to understand that He will fully reunite them. It’s interesting though, because God is talking about bringing them home from their graves, which indicates that the national-heritage ‘dry bones’ of Ezekiel 37 has only been partially fulfilled by the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence. We know this because:
- the current nation of Israel is much smaller than the ORIGINAL promised land,
- Israelites are still scattered throughout the world,
- and God has not yet filled the entire nation of Israel with His Spirit—as He said He would in Ezekiel 36.
Lastly, the nation Israel and the entire world still does not know that the LORD God is who He claims to be.
Then in Ezekiel 37:15-28 God turns away from the prophesy of the dry bones to explain Israel’s final destiny. In the future, the entire nation will be gathered from across the world where they currently reside, and they will be united under one King—the root of Jesse, King David’s dual predecessor and heir, God’s One and only Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. God will be with His entire nation on earth forever! He will make a peace covenant with Israel to prosper them forever. God will set His sanctuary, His tabernacle in Jerusalem forever.
And all the world will know that the LORD God will sanctify Israel and they will be in His sanctuary forever.
So…right now Israel occupies their land. They were living and thriving there until 7 October 2023—albeit surrounded by their enemies. Obviously, since then many things have escalated. That is understood…
But what event is prophesied in the Hebrew Tanakh (OT scripture) that causes Israel to wake up and consciously and INTENTIONALLY realize they desperately need the protection of their LORD God?
Ezekiel 38 and 39 offers some answers…