In the previous rotulus, we delved into the Historic Wars. It was recalled how that the nation Israel fought many wars in recent times same as the days of old and how that God gave them victory in those wars. We walked through the 6-Day War, Yom Kippur War (Holy War) among many others. It was miraculous how God gave them victory round about them. The theme, “God’s end-time dealings with Israel” is to walk Israel through history and convey by the scriptures, expectations for Israel at this end of time.
Ezekiel 37
Today, being the hey-day of the prosperity gospel, this portion of scriptures have been carnally interpreted. We have seen many “Church Programmes” tagged “Dry Bones Shall Rise Again” and all the emphasis was on the flesh, prosperity, health and wealth, business and breakthroughs. However, for the end-time eagles with the eye-salve of revelation, we see the scriptures in the light and application in which God wants us to use it. The truth here is that from Ezekiel 36 to Ezekiel 48, events are sequential. In Ezekiel 36, God begins the promise of the restoration of Israel. Ezekiel 37 is highly prophetic and deals with the restoration of the Jews to their land. It is a prophecy that spans a period of time as we shall see.
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
—Ezekiel 37:1-2
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
In The Spirit of the Lord set Ezekiel down in the valley full of dry bones. The process by which these bones became very dry is what we will look at. However, we must first state that these bones are the whole house of Israel ().
also support the fact that this chapter deals with the Jewish restoration. In the natural, it is not when a bone is thrown away that it dries up instantly; the drying up takes up a period of time and this is the house of Israel who rejected the Messiah. As a result of this, God threw them out of the land of Israel and ever since then, until this 20th century, they have been going through a period of dryness. The dry bones imply lifeless (not physical but spiritual life), devoid of God, for as these Jews were thrown out, they began to lose their Jewish identity, became void of the knowledge of God and we see this evidenced in their rejection of the fishers () whom God sent to begin the process of restoring them to their land. When Israel rejected Messiah, that was the death of the Nation indicated by the dry bones.12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
—Ezekiel 37:12-14
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
“I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live.” This breath is the spirit of God by which God would restore His people, Israel. Immediately after the Holocaust, the Jewish people that remained saw that their only hope of surviving was to return to the land of Israel. Yes, through the workings of the fishers and the hunters, God caused them to be awakened, just like the prodigal son who came to himself and said I will now return.
The Sinews, Flesh and Skin
In 1948, the Jews returned to their land for the first time since AD70 and just as the restoration of the church was in stages () so is the restoration of Israel for God. It did not put sinews, flesh, and skin in one day.
Sinews in the physical deals with muscles and this imply strength. Yes, the Jews were weakened after the Holocaust and for God to restore them, He must first strengthen them again. This represents the laying of sinews upon the dry bones.
Flesh deals with fatness in the physical and this implies the riches of the land Israel. For when the Jews returned, the land was in a mess by reason of the Arabs who occupied it. The land was left unattended to and desolate thus it became desert. In a short space of time after the Jews returned, they worked on their land and today are the best agricultural Nation in the world. As such, the riches of the land began to be restored. The prophets prophesied of this.
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
—Isaiah 51:3
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
—Ezekiel 36:34-35
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
The Skin has to do with the Nation’s identity. After the return of the Jews, God restored the national identity of the Jews. In 1967, they recaptured the old city of Jerusalem and with Jerusalem recaptured, it sets in motion the day of Jerusalem as recorded in Psalm 137.
In all of these, we see the fig tree of Matthew 24, as God began His end-time move for Israel.
Ezekiel prophesied as instructed and in , we see an exceeding great army. This definitely takes us to the battlefield.
This exceeding great army consist of the supernatural host led by Michael, the Prince of the people of Israel () and the tribe of Judah, for Judah is the war tribe. This takes us to the effective war of Psalm 83 which is popularly known as the Miracle War. This war must be fought in order to trigger the battle of Ezekiel 38, 39. Every war that had been fought by the people of Israel with God on their side has always been miraculous yet there’s something particular about this war of Psalm 83 that we need to look into closely.
Navigate to the next rotulus: “The Miracle War”
Leave a Reply