By: Dale Weckbacher
Ezekiel 37:4-5
Again He said to me,
"Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of
the LORD! 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause
breath to enter into you, and you shall live.
NKJV
Taken literally, Ezekiel 37:4-5 could be viewed as the
storyline for the latest zombie movie. A
trailer for this thriller could go something like this, “Zeke, a frustrated
prophet comes upon a mass grave of dry bones.
In his frustration he speaks to the bones and they suddenly come alive,
causing havoc and destruction on a global level.”
Obviously, Ezekiel 37:4-5 is not a prophecy that we should
interpret literally. The language used
is figurative designed to cause visualization some grand coming event. In its context, the passage speaks of the
return of the Jewish people to their homeland after their Babylonian captivity
but we can also interpret it to mean the restoration of the nation of Israel
after a lengthy exile, which occurred in 1948 after nearly 2000 years of
dispersal among the nations of the world.
We can also interpret the passage spiritually to mean the restoration
that comes about when one accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. No matter how we interpret this passage it is
designed to bring comfort to those in captivity either physically such as
Israel experienced or spiritually being held captive in our sins.
In his book, "a Rabbi looks at the last days," Rabbi Jonathan
Bernis cites the modern day return of the Jews to Israel as the second reason
we know the last days are near. I have
to agree for as we look at world events since the return of the Jews to Israel,
we have seen,
1)
Israel and the Middle East becoming the focal
point of world events – It seems that every major issue in the world today
revolves around the Middle East. With
its abundance of crude oil and with the world economy dependent on affordable
energy, the Middle East possesses incredible power over the price of
energy. As such, countries of the world,
especially those in western civilization must negotiate oil prices with nations
and people that are not friendly with western culture. Radical Islam with roots in the Middle East
hates Israel and any nation friendly to them, considering them Infidels. Nations like the United States that contain
large Jewish populations must continually balance their allegiance with Israel
against the need to maintain the security of their people from terrorism and
the maintenance of affordable crude oil.
With this increased attention to the Middle East and especially Israel,
God is able to show the world his love for his people as Israel is continually
protected from harm.
2)
Prophecy coming alive – Jeremiah 17:24-26 speaks
of people coming from all over to bring sacrifices to Jerusalem and speaks of
the city remaining forever. Isaiah 9:7
speaks of the throne of David having no end.
Isaiah 9:6 speaks of the birth of a special child who will have the
government upon his shoulders. Scripture
describes this special Child as Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, and Prince of Peace. Throughout history,
we have never seen a leader meeting all of these requirements for this leader
can only be Jesus Christ. With the
return of the Jews to Israel, the Jews are now in place and God is beginning to
prepare them to receive their King, something already occurring which we will
see in next Saturday’s posting.
3)
Overwhelming proof that God keeps his promises
to his people – the nation of Israel has a history of rebellion against God,
the ultimate of which is their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah 2000 years
ago. Israel has paid dearly for its
rejection but God has never, and never will, reject them. With their return to Israel in 1948, God is
demonstrating his mercy and grace to the world.
Since we have all sinned and rejected God (Romans 3:23) the mercy God
has shown to the Jews, the people who rejected His Son, shows us that God will
always extend His hand of mercy to anyone reaching out to Him.
The return of the Jews to Israel is exciting and brings hope
to Christians for it points to the eminent return of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It also means that the time is
short for us to reach out to non-believers with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. As we reach out to these people,
the enemy may tell them their sins are too great and there is no way God can
love them. However, all we need to do
today is point to Israel and all the times they have rebelled against God. We can show them that even though they
committed the ultimate act of rejection by rejecting God’s only Son, a merciful
and graceful God has brought them back to their land and is beginning to reveal
Himself to them as Jesus their Messiah.
An alternative movie trailer based on Ezekiel 37:4-5 could
go like this, “Mourning over the captivity of his people, Zeke rises up and
speaks to his dead nation and watches as they rise up and return to the land of
their fathers. As they possess their
land, they begin preparations for the return of their once rejected and now
eagerly awaited King, Jesus Christ. The
enemy of the nation, Satan, not wanting to have the people’s mighty King return
attempts to destroy the people using the kingdoms of their neighboring nations
but their God mightily and miraculously protects them until he returns to
establish His Kingdom.” I believe this
movie trailer is a more accurate portrayal of the prophecy of Ezekiel and provides
a better portrayal of what is presently occurring with Israel in these last
days.
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