Ezekiel 37

1The 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, 2And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12Therefore 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. 13And 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, 14And 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.
This particularly vivid description of the resurrection of an entire army has a number of implications on several different doctrines. However, I’ll focus on just the ones relating directly to Revelation. Here we have a vision, not of literal resurrection of individuals, but the resurrection of a ‘cause’, the Jews. Having endured captivity they would be returned to their land, free. The resurrection of causes is a central theme of Revelation.
15The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 16Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
God tells Ezekiel to take two sticks. On one he is to write Judah to represent the southern tribes and the other Joseph for the northern tribes. He is then to put the two sticks together and God will miraculously cause them to become one stick.
18And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
Here is where the millennialists go crazy thinking that one day God will bring the Israelite nation back together into all twelve tribes under a single king. But this has already happened. God is not talking about restoring the physical kingdom under an earthly king. There is only one place where the descendants of these two people can be united under one king. We see below where that is and who that king must be.
23Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
David is dead and gone. Coniah can have no descendant of his to sit on the throne in Jerusalem. The physical kingdom of Israel is no more. The partial kingdom of Judah cannot last and will not have another king of David’s line be king. According to Acts 2 and Peter’s sermon there, Jesus Christ is David. This prophecy is then a prophecy not of the coming of both kingdoms out of captivity, but of the establishment of the church.
In this new kingdom under ‘David’ they will never as a nation go after idols or seek the wealth of foreign nations or try to be like the surrounding nations. This new kingdom will be an obedient kingdom in a way that Israel never was. This kingdom is the church of Christ.
25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
So how then does this fit in? It seems confusing at first but then begins to make sense when we read of passages like Psa. 37:11; Zeph. 2:3; Matt. 5:5; 2 Pet. 3:13; and Rev. 21:1. This promised land where David shall be the king for all time is the new order of things, the Christian dispensation. Only when time itself (“ever” is a chronological term) ends will Christ deliver the kingdom up to God and relinquish His throne (1 Cor. 15:24).
26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
This new covenant of peace is the New Testament. It will be a covenant that will last for all time. This new kingdom, the church would be blessed and grow and the temple/tabernacle would be set in the middle of it. The temple was said to be the dwelling place of God. We are the temple of God today and God dwells among us as His church, His kingdom, His sanctified people. Those who are without know of the power of Jehovah God.
These images are echoed in Revelation and yes even throughout all of the New Testament. But there is more. This context leads us into the next chapter and it is in the midst of the arrival of the church, the new Israel that the context for chapter 38 is set.
In Truth and Love,
Category:Apocalyptic