Hi Steve
I will try once more to answer your questions.
Ezekiel 37:1-14: 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,
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.
3: And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4: Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5: Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6: And 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.
7: So 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.
8: And 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.
9: Then 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.
10: So 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.
11: Then 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.
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.
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.
Ezekiel wrote this prohecy approx. 600 yrs. before Jesus while the House of Judah was being taken into Babylonian Captivity. The House of Israel had alread been taken into the Assyrian Captivity.
The reason the twelve tribes had been taken into captivity was because they had turned from God and were spiritually dead dry bones.
In all of the prophecies of the Old Test. God speaks of both a physical restoration of the Israelites from their Babylonian and Assyrian Captivities and the spiritual restoration that would occur when Messiah came. The physical restoration was always symbolic of the real restoration that would occur with the coming of the Messiah.
To understand the prophecies of the Old T. you have to have a knowledge of the Scriptures, of ancient Hebrew history and of secular history. Without this knowledge, you cannot tell if these prophecies have already been fulfilled and you will spend a lot of time trying to make them fit endtime history.
The physical restoration of the Babylonian and Assyrian Captivities occured under Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerrubabel. In approx. 500 B.C. the Jews from the captivities were restored to the land of Israel and the Temple rebuilt and the Levitical Sacrifices reinstituted. This restoration fulfilled the many prophecies concerning the physical restoration of Israel to their land.
The real and spiritual restoration where the dead bones were given life by the Spirit of God occurred when Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. All the real Jews, those with the faith of Abraham, receive the Holy Spirit and their dead dry spiritual bones were raised from their spiritual death.
Now let us examine the Scrptures that you quoted.
"Ezekiel 37:1-14: 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,
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.
3: And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
God was showing Ezekiel this vision while the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon and Assyria. The main cause of the captivity had been the spiritual dryness of the Israelites. Ezekiel knew the spiritual condition of the Jews at this time and when God asked him if these spiritually dead people could be raised from their condition of "dead dry bones", Ezekied could only answer God, "thou knowest".
Then God moves to show Ezekiel that he would indeed revivify spiritually dead Israel.
4: Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5: Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6: And 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.
7: So 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.
8: And 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.
Again God tells Ezekiel to prophecy unto dead and dry Israel symbolized as dead bones. God says He will cause breath to enter into them. This is the pouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Remember, the first Pentecostal experience was an exclusively Jewish experience. It was the Jewish Apostles and disciples who were gathered together to experience the beginning of the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy. God symbolizes this restoration by talking about restoring the sinews and flesh on the dead bones. This was the period before the day of Pentecost when the Apostles, disciples and followers of Jesus had not yet received the outpouring of hte Holy Spirit. There was not breath in them---no power and authority to preach the Gospel. When God poured out the Holy Spirit he gave the Jews spiritual life as well as the gifts of the spirit so they could go out and convert the pagan world. This was the flesh and sinews restored to the people of the faith of Abraham and given the breath of life..
Another thing to remember as we look into these prophecies is that the real Israel of God--those who truly had the faith of Abraham---was alwasys a small remnant in the Old Test. Paul carefully teaches us this when he refers to the 7000 real Israelites during the days of Elijah who had not bent the knee to Baal and who still held the faith of Abraham. There were only seven thousand real Israelites in those days but there were millions of physical Israelites. It was the same thing during the days of the Jewish Apostles.
9: Then 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.
10: So 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.
This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the giving of spiritual gifts that causes the weak and fearful Jewish Apostles to be full of the "wind" as they go forth to convert a pagain world to Christianity.
There were hundreds of thousand of Jews converted in the first century. This was the greatest remnant of true Israelites (those with the faith of Abraham) that physical Israel had ever produced. This was the fulfillment and culmination of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New Covenant in Jesus's Blood.
11: Then 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.
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.
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.
The words, "our bones are dried and our hope is lost.", illustrate that the Israelites of Ezekiel's day understood the dead and dry bone condition of their hearts.
" And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land:"
This is Jesus baptizing the Jewish first fruits with the Holy Spirit. When the Jews received the Holy Spirit, they entered into the Kingdom of God.---their real promised land and heavenly Jerusalem.
Christ has fulfilled all things and established His Kingdom upon His Crucifixion, Resurrection and Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
________
The greatest difficulties in understanding the Old Test. prophcies in these last days is an ignorance of the Sciprutres and in particular and ignorance of the the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah and the fullness of the restoration that occurred under Jesus and the Chruch.
May the Lord open the eyes of your understanding according to his will.
In the love of Christ
Emile |
