That's it.
Let's have prayer and we'll get over into
the Valley of Dry Bones.
Our Father, again, we're thankful that you've allowed
us to gather and study your word.
We would ask for open minds, receptive hearts
to exactly what you say in your word.
For it's in Christ's name.
Amen.
Ezekiel chapter 37.
Now, as I told someone a while ago,
this lesson will be the same as the
last, except from a different portion of Scripture.
We'll be covering much of the same material
from a little bit different slant.
And, again, that's the way Scripture is set
up.
So, I see no point why we shouldn't
follow the manner in which Scripture has been
written.
And study it again, so to speak.
In Ezekiel 37, first of all, to get
some context, well, let's read a little bit
first.
And then I have the idea behind reading
a little bit first is that I want
to read through about the first 11 or
so verses first.
Then go back and get some context, both
before and after.
And then come back and go through these
verses again, but perhaps a little more in
detail.
Ezekiel 37, beginning in verse 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, 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.
And he said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these
bones, and say unto them, O ye dry
bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones,
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into
you, and ye shall live.
And I will lay sinews, that would have
to do with nerves and muscle, upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, will
cover you with skin, and put breath in
you, and ye shall live.
Oh, I'm seeing some pages turn.
That means people have old school fields.
That's interesting.
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.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and
flesh came upon them, and the skin covered
them above, but there was no breath in
them.
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.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and
the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood upon their feet an exceeding great
army.
Now a question.
What is represented by the valley of dry
bones?
What do these bones represent?
Are we left to our own imagination?
Just keep on reading.
I get questions quite often via email.
People will read something in one of my
books, and will send me a question, and
I look where the question came from in
the book.
I look at the question and find out
invariably that the next paragraph or the next
several paragraphs of questions answered, people don't keep
reading.
In verse 11.
Then he said unto me, Son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones are dried, our
hope is lost, we are cut off for
our parts.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I
will open your graves, cause you to come
up out of your graves, and bring you
into the land of Israel.
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, and shall put my Spirit in
you, and ye shall live.
And I will place you in your own
land, then shall ye know that I the
Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith
the Lord.
All right, we're going to stop at that
point for now.
Turn back to chapter 33.
I want to get a little bit of
context leading into this.
I'm going to very briefly touch on things
in chapter 33, more in chapter 36.
But through chapters 33 through 36, you will
find Israel being dealt with in the sense
of being scattered among the Gentiles because of
sin and disobedience.
These chapters deal with Israel driven from the
land.
They deal with the land being laid waste
and void.
These chapters also deal with Israel one day
being restored, the land being healed.
For example, in chapter 33, go down to
verse 24, right at the end of the
last sentence in the verse.
The land is given to them for an
inheritance.
Now look at verse 28.
For I will lay the land most desolate.
Why?
Because of what God said He would do
if Israel did not obey His commandments.
If Israel fell into sin, idolatry, disobeyed His
commandments, He would lay the land waste.
In verse 29.
Then shall they know that I am the
Lord when I have laid the land most
desolate because of all their abominations.
Now there's no question why He laid the
land desolate.
Because of their abominations which they have committed,
spelled out in black and white.
Now we want to, let me scan very
briefly 34.
Well, one thing in 34.
Look at verse 12.
Down in the verse.
So will I seek out my sheep, will
deliver them out of all places where they've
been scattered in that cloudy and dark day.
Now chapter, everything is not laid out in
one place.
Chapter 33 deals with the land being laid
desolate.
Now when we get to chapter 34, we're
dealing with the people being scattered, driven out
from the land.
Also, before we leave the chapter, note verse
23.
When He does bring them back, I will
set up one shepherd over them.
He shall feed them, even my servant David.
He shall feed them.
He shall be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God.
In verse 25, I will make with them
a covenant of peace.
Now I call your attention to these three
verses because we're going to see exactly the
same thing in the latter part of chapter
37.
Go on over to chapter 36 and let's
read a little bit.
There's something quite important here to understand.
Something that's dealt with very specifically concerning Israel
being driven out among the Gentiles that I
want you to see.
Pick up in chapter 36, verse 17.
And I'll comment as we work our way
through relative to what I want to call
to your attention that I've alluded to.
Son of man, when the house of Israel
dwelt in their own land, they defiled it
by their own way and by their doings.
Their way was before me as the uncleanness
of a removed woman.
Your reference would be back to Leviticus 15,
verses 19 and following, if you want a
reference.
And it's talking about the time of month
of a woman, referring to it in that
way.
In verse 18, wherefore I poured my fury
upon them.
For the blood that they had shed upon
the land and for their idols, wherewith they
had polluted it.
And I scattered them among the Gentiles.
When you run across this word heathen, it's
simply goyim in Hebrew.
It has to do with the Gentiles.
Why they translated it heathen, I have no
idea.
Maybe the translators looked upon them as heathen.
The Jews looked upon them as heathen and
so forth.
At any rate, I scattered them among the
Gentiles.
They were dispersed through the countries according to
their way and according to their doings.
I judged them.
It's here that I want to get into
this ideology relative to something that I wanted
to show you.
Verse 20.
And when they entered in among the Gentiles,
whether they went, they profaned my holy name.
Now, how did they profane God's name in
among the Gentiles?
There's one of the commandments about taking the
Lord's name in vain in Exodus 20.
And we often think of that commandment, for
example, as someone using the word dam and
so forth and using God in connection with
it.
That would be involved, but really it's far,
far more involved.
Sometimes I go into the channels on TV,
and there's a couple of these all religious
stations.
They're both charismatic, and I sometimes turn over
to see who's on.
Sometimes they have somebody worth listening to.
It's seldom, but once in a while you'll
find someone.
And I keep hearing over and over, they're
taking the Lord's name in vain and don't
even realize it.
To take the Lord's name in vain, Lord,
Lord, Lord, like that, Lordy, Lord, Lord, on
and on you go.
I'm giving an illustration.
I trust I'm not taking the Lord's name
in vain using an illustration, but it's just
that would be taking the Lord's name in
vain in that respect.
But there seems to be more involved here.
They profaned my holy name.
Now, how did they profane God's holy name
by being scattered among the Gentiles?
Well, you're not left in the dark.
It tells you.
Notice.
When they said unto them, these are the
people of the Lord, the Gentiles said unto
the Jews scattered among them.
These are the people of the Lord.
They have gone forth out of his land,
the Lord's land.
They have been scattered out of a land
that the Lord had given them via an
everlasting covenant.
Could not God keep them in the land?
And his name was being profaned by God
allowing, he allowed his name to be profaned
for a purpose by allowing the Gentiles to
come in and remove his people into Gentiles'
lands.
Now, let's keep on reading and see some
more of this.
But I had pity for mine holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among
the Gentiles, whither they went.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus
saith the Lord God, I do not this
for your sakes.
Now, there's an interesting statement.
I have not allowed my holy name to
be profaned for your sakes, O house of
Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which
ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went.
That is, the first part of that should
be, I have allowed this, that is, not
for your sakes, I've allowed you to be
taken out among the Gentile nations, allowed my
name to be profaned in that respect.
And verse 23, And I will sanctify, now
notice this, the matter is to be rectified.
And how is God going to rectify it?
And I will sanctify my great name, which
was profaned among the Gentiles, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them.
You profaned it by being there in the
midst of the Gentile nations.
And God states, I have allowed this.
He has allowed it for a purpose.
And the Gentiles shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I
shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Now, let's stop there for a minute.
And I want you to just hold your
place there.
Turn back to Psalm 138.
I want to call your attention to a
verse of Scripture relative to the Lord's name.
And the King James doesn't have too good
of a translation.
I'm not so sure about the NASB and
the NIV, but that's immaterial.
I'll straighten that out, so to speak.
In Psalm 138, I will worship toward thy
holy temple, and praise thy name for thy
lovingkindness and for thy truth.
Now, notice the way the King James reads
the rest of the way.
For thou hast magnified thy word above thy
name.
That seems like a strange thing to say.
And it is a strange thing to say,
because that's not exactly the way the text
should read.
It should read, you have exalted above all
things your name and your word.
They're placed on an equal.
The Lord's name and the Lord's word.
Now look at the matter this way.
We have the written word, and we have
the living word.
Jesus is simply the written word made flesh.
You can't separate the two.
And He has placed all things, His name
and His word, above all things.
He's placed them on an equal.
In other words, the written word, the living
word, His word, it's all combined.
You couldn't place His word above His name.
It really wouldn't be possible.
But you could place them on an equal,
and that's exactly the way the Hebrew text
places them.
Now, go back to, you should be holding
your place in Ezekiel 36.
For I will take you, in verse 24,
for I will take you from among the
Gentiles.
I'll gather you out of all countries, and
will bring you into your own land.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean.
From all your filthiness and from all your
idols will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you.
A new spirit will I put within you.
I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh.
I'll give you an heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you, cause
you to walk in my statutes.
Ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that
I gave to your fathers.
Ye shall be my people.
I will be your God.
I will also save you from all your
uncleanness.
I will call for the corn, will increase
it.
Lay no famine upon you.
I'll multiply the fruit of the tree, the
increase of the field.
Ye shall receive no more reproach of famine
among the Gentiles.
In verse 33.
Well, let's read verse 32.
Again, he's made this statement before.
Not for your sakes I do this, saith
the Lord.
Be it known unto you.
Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways,
O house of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord God, in the day
that I have cleansed you from all your
iniquities.
This is that day out ahead.
After Israel has repented.
After they've been cleansed.
After they've been removed from Gentile lands.
I'll cause you to dwell in the cities
and the wastes shall be builded.
And the desolate land shall be tilled.
Whereas it lay desolate in the sight of
all that pass by.
And they shall say.
This land that was desolate become like the
Garden of Eden.
And the waste and desolate ruined cities are
become fenced are inhabited.
Then the Gentiles that are left round about.
You shall know.
They shall know that I am the Lord.
That I the Lord build the ruined places
and plant that was desolate.
I the Lord has spoken it.
And I will do it.
Now there's.
This is what is leading into chapter 37
that we're going to look at in a
little bit.
It's all about Israel being dispersed because of
sin and disobedience.
Being driven out among the Gentile nations.
And God has allowed his holy name to
be profaned by Israel's very presence among the
Gentile nations.
The nations take a look at Israel among
them.
And they say aha.
The God whom you serve was not strong
enough or is not strong enough to keep
you in your own land.
The land that he gave to you.
God's name profaned in that manner.
God is going to rectify the matter.
Through bringing Israel to the place of repentance
out among the nations.
Then regathering the people to the land.
Restoring the people.
Restoring the land.
Then the nations are going to look at
the whole matter through an entirely different set
of eyes.
From an entirely different perspective.
And they will be as we saw in
Zechariah 8.
People from all nations in that day realizing
the place the Jew occupies in God's economy.
Will go to Israel.
Take hold of the skirt of him that
is a Jew.
Realizing who Israel is.
Now chapters 38 and 9.
Let's very briefly touch on them.
I want you to have context on both
sides of this.
Actually when we go back to chapter 37.
We are going to see a lot of
things in that chapter that we have already
looked at.
In chapters 33 through 36.
Again repetition.
This is the way scripture is set up.
It goes over a matter.
Then it backs up.
Goes over it again from another perspective.
Backs up.
Goes over it again from another perspective.
Another.
It uses the types.
Figures.
Parables.
Metaphors.
Any number of things.
Dealing with the same issue.
To get the point across numerous ways.
In order that you can see it from
these different perspectives.
Put the complete picture together.
See exactly what God is stating.
Here is a picture.
And He shows you this part of it.
He shows you this same part of it
over here again.
Another way.
He shows you this same part over here
again.
Another way.
It is an artist just painting a complete
picture.
In that respect.
In Ezekiel 38.
Now here is a chapter.
Well really two.
Ezekiel 38 and 9.
That backs up and covers material in the
middle of chapter 37.
That is time wise.
What you have in Ezekiel 38 and 9.
Is a northern power.
And two places in these chapters.
38.15 and 39.2. The reference is
made to a nation in the uttermost parts
of the north.
And that would be north of Jerusalem.
Directions in scripture are always relative to Jerusalem.
Now there is no nation north of Russia.
It would have to be that area that
is being dealt with.
Now the Soviet Union has been dismantled.
I know that.
Bear in mind that the southern part of
the former Soviet Union is largely Muslim.
When it is talking about the uttermost parts
of the north.
It is talking about the northern most nation
which is the former Soviet Union.
Now how all of this is going to
be brought together in so far as a
dismantled nation.
I have no idea.
I am not going to surmise.
I recall a statement Adrian Rogers made a
couple of years ago.
Before he passed away last fall.
About the subject how can God or how
will God use a nation dismantled.
And this nation is called the terminology of
a bear is used relative to this nation.
And Adrian Rogers made the statement that a
wounded bear is far more dangerous than a
bear that is not wounded.
So you might give that some thought.
Now there will be this nation will come
down accompanied by several other nations.
And these nations are all Muslim with the
exception of one.
They will be accompanied.
The nations can be identified as Turkey, Iran
to the north.
Then to the south Libya.
And probably the old boundaries that where you
have the Sudan.
I believe there is a neighboring country bordering
the Red Sea today.
In other words you have two Muslim nations
on the north and two or three on
the south with Israel in the middle.
And then they are allied with this northern
power.
But then there is one nation that seems
rather strange.
It is not Muslim at all.
It is not even over in the Middle
East.
And it seems like it is out of
place.
And that nation is called by the old
name Gomer.
Which would be Germany.
Now why would God reach over and take
a non-Muslim nation set over in Europe
and bring that nation over allied with Russia
or what used to be a power associated
or a power in that area which is
what is left of the present, the former
Soviet Union.
Why would God take this nation and bring
this nation down with this northern nation allied
with these Muslim nations?
Well scripture does not give an answer.
But if you look at modern history you
might find an answer.
It was Germany that sought to produce a
Jew free Europe.
Now it could be that God is not
through with Germany.
I will bless them that bless thee, curse
them that curse thee.
The Third Reich was supposed to last a
thousand years.
It lasted twelve years from 1933 to 1945.
And in 1945 it was in ruins.
I mean they had slain millions.
Responsible for six million Jews plus millions of
others in the death camps.
Now it is the six million Jews that
God would have in mind that this might
be a thought why he will bring Germany
down to complete his dealings with Germany in
so far as Genesis 12-3 is concerned.
I don't know.
But it just seems strange that you have
Germany allied with these other nations because Germany
seemingly is over here and doesn't really seem
to fit.
And we were talking during the break about
the east of what was at one time
East and West Germany, a wall up there.
But Ronald Reagan took care of that.
I believe his famous words were, Mr. Gorbachev,
take or tear this wall down.
And it wasn't long until the wall came
down.
Germany was one nation again.
So we're not concerned whether it's East Germany,
West Germany, or what.
It's Germany that will be brought down and
destroyed with these nations on the mountains of
Israel.
Now when will this occur?
It's never occurred in history.
And it won't be during the millennium.
It will have to occur during Daniel's unfulfilled
70th week, during this seven-year period, exactly
the time that this northern power will come
down as described here.
People debate that.
They talk about all kinds of times.
I was probably a little more sure at
one time that it was during the first
year of the Tribulation.
If I were to try to pinpoint a
time, I'd still go with that, but I
wouldn't get all that dogmatic about it.
There's no sense getting all bent out of
shape about Russia, this northern power has to
come down at this exact time and here
and here and here.
There would be reasons for the first year
because they'll be burning weapons for seven years,
which would cover the rest of the Tribulation,
and the first year would be counted as
a whole year.
Things of that nature would enter into my
reasoning.
But it's immaterial.
It's going to happen sometime during the Tribulation,
and exactly what's described in Ezekiel will happen.
God's fury will come up in his face.
This army will be overthrown on the mountains
of Israel, given to the ravenous birds, and
so forth.
So if you want to see the end
of several Gentile powers before the end of
the Tribulation, well, there's one such instance.
God will take care of the rest of
them when his Son returns and overthrows Gentile
world power.
That's the immediate context of chapter 37.
Now when you get into chapters 40 through
48, you move into the Messianic era itself.
In chapters 41 and 42, you have the
temple rebuilt.
And by the way, if you'll notice the
way chapter 40 starts out, let's just read
verse 2 with me.
Chapter 40, verse 2.
And the visions of God brought he me
into the land of Israel, and set me
upon a very high mountain.
Why is a high mountain used here?
In Ezekiel 37, those dry bones are down
in a valley.
But did you know something?
When those bones are restored in the same
chapter, a mountain is spoken of.
Let's just hold that thought until we get
back to chapter 37.
We'll deal with it.
But it starts out this way.
I'll just say this right now.
A mountain, of course, is with reference to
a kingdom.
It's a metaphorical way of describing a kingdom.
A mountain signifies or points to a kingdom.
And we're dealing with the Messianic era, the
coming kingdom, kingdom age, Messianic era.
There's a number of ways to describe it
in chapters 40 through 48.
Now chapters 41 and 42 describe the temple,
which will be rebuilt in the land by
Messiah himself when he returns.
Chapter 43 describes the glory restored to Israel.
Recall that following the Babylonian captivity, the glory
departed the temple before it was destroyed out
to the Mount of Olives and ascended.
There has been no glory in Israel since.
When the glory returns, where does it return?
Back to the Mount of Olives, and then
fills the temple that will be built by
Messiah when he returns.
Not the tribulation temple, but the temple which
Messiah will build.
In chapters beyond that, you find David to
occupy his throne.
And you'll recall that we read about that
earlier in Ezekiel 34, I believe.
And we'll read about it in 37.
David will be raised from the dead, sit
on his own throne in the midst of
his people Israel.
And according to Luke 1, verses 31 and
33, the Lord God shall give unto him,
unto Christ, the throne of his father David.
Both David and Christ are going to rule
in the midst of Israel on this one
throne.
And Christ will also have a dual reign.
He will also rule from his own throne
in the heavenly Jerusalem with his bride.
Alright, well, that is context.
Turn back to 37.
Let's look at the chapter.
Actually, I don't really have to go through
much in the chapter because the context gives
the whole story.
But I wanted to look at the context
so you would see the setting for the
chapter and know that we're dealing with Israel
exactly as it's stated in verse 11.
These bones are the whole house of Israel.
And know that we're dealing with Israel's present
condition and future restoration.
Now, this chapter has been used over the
years in a number of ways.
And Scripture allows a latitude of the nature
for secondary applications.
As M.
R.
D.
Hahn said one time, all Scripture has one
primary interpretation.
Invariably, several secondary applications, and he went on
to say, and usually a prophetic application or
interpretation.
I'm not sure why he said that because
that's built into one of these others.
M.
R.
D.
Hahn, that's just his way of saying something,
so I'll leave that with him.
Now, you may have heard messages using this
chapter as a picture of the church today.
But they had church.
Well, it could very aptly be used in
that manner as in a secondary application.
Now, if you have my book, The Study
of Scripture, you will note that I used
it in a secondary application for a whole
chapter.
I used it, the skeletal, pointing to the
way Scripture begins, a skeletal outline.
And then God adds the sinews, the flesh,
the skin, as you move on through Scripture.
So that's a secondary application.
It's all right to use it that way
as long as you don't ignore the primary
interpretation.
Now, the first part of the chapter.
Let's just read again, and I'll comment as
we go through.
Ezekiel 37, verse 1.
The hand of the Lord was upon me,
carried me out in the Spirit of the
Lord, and set me down in the midst
of the valley.
Again, note, we're down low.
We're in the low country.
We're not out here in the high country.
Now, let me give you an illustration of
what I'm saying.
In Genesis 18 and 19, you don't need
to turn there, but that's the account of
Abraham and Lot.
After they had gone into the land and
acquired the well, they went down into Egypt,
I believe, and acquired some herds and so
forth.
There was a conflict between Abraham's herdsmen and
Lot's herdsmen, and to resolve the conflict, Abraham
magnanimously offered Lot any portion of the land
that he wanted.
Now, bear in mind, I say he magnanimously
offered because this land belonged to Abraham, not
Lot.
It belonged to Abraham and his seed.
But to resolve the conflict, Abraham told Lot,
you look around, any part of the land
you want, you go in that way, take
your herdsmen, I'll go the other way, take
my herdsmen, and the conflict will be resolved.
Well, Lot lifted up his eyes.
He saw all the well-watered plain of
Jordan, and he said, I want that land
down there in the valley.
See, that's what we're talking about, a valley.
Abraham, on the other hand, went in the
other direction, and he went out into the
high country.
He went out into the mountain.
Guess what was destroyed?
And guess who was standing before the Lord
at the time they were destroyed?
See, Lot, because the valley was destroyed, points
to the future destruction of the Gentile nations,
Abraham standing out before the Lord on the
mountain.
Lot wasn't standing before the Lord.
The Lord wasn't down in the valley.
He was out on the mountain where Abraham
was.
The mountain signifies a kingdom.
Abraham went in the correct direction.
Suppose Lot had chosen the mountain.
Well, I don't know what would have happened
there.
I don't want to think about that.
It didn't happen that way, and the Lord
knew it wouldn't happen that way.
I'll leave that within the Lord's omniscience and
so forth.
So I'm just surmising about something that didn't
happen.
But at any rate, you have the destruction
of the plain, and Lot told, escape.
Get out of there.
Escape to the mountain.
This is really what I'm going to be
talking about.
Down in the hill country in Texas, Genesis
19, verse 17, I believe there are five
parts to the verse when Lot was told
to leave.
It's run for your life.
Run for your soul.
It's the word for soul there.
Run for your life and soul.
You can translate it either way.
Don't look back.
There's a second part.
Don't stay in the plain.
What's the fourth part?
The fifth part is if you don't, you'll
be consumed.
There are five parts to it.
I'd have to go back and look.
But they all have to do with staying
in or getting out of the plain.
What type of translation?
Do you have King James there, Jed?
Is it 1917 that states that?
Escape to the mountain.
That's the one I don't know why I
missed that.
That's the important part of it.
Escape to the mountain.
Look.
Run for your life.
Don't look back.
Don't stay in the plain.
Escape to the mountain.
And if you don't, you'll be consumed.
I don't even have to tell you what
that's all about.
It's about the saving of the soul.
There are five parts.
That lends itself real easy to five messages.
That's what I'm going to be dealing with
down in two different places in south Texas
toward the end of next week.
This Saturday I'll be next week.
At any rate, let's keep going here.
In verse 2, And caused me to pass
by them round about, and, behold, there were
very many in the open valley.
Note, there's the bones.
They're down in a valley.
The valley's full of bones.
It states there were very many, and it
states they were very dry right at the
end of verse 2.
They've been there a long time.
They're all bleached out.
Now the question.
He said unto me, Son of man, can
these bones live?
Ezekiel wasn't going to touch that.
Can they live?
Man, there's a valley full of dry bones.
Very dry.
Can they live?
Well, Ezekiel gave the correct answer.
O Lord God, Thou knowest.
Again, he said unto me, Prophesy upon these
bones, and say unto them, O ye dry
bones, hear the word of the Lord.
I believe those are the words that are
used in this song if they go around
singing and don't have any idea what they're
singing.
O ye dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones,
Behold, I will cause breath.
Now that word breath, we want to watch
that as we work our way through.
Because it's translated several different ways.
I will cause breath to enter into you,
and ye shall live.
Now the foundation for this whole overall thought
is in Genesis 2.7. When God created
Adam, He created him.
It's hard to say whether God created him
from dust or from, say, a lump of
earth.
The Hebrew word that's used could refer to
either one.
It's probably a little better to think that
God took, say, a lump of earth, say,
like clay, and molded the man, rather than
dust, so to speak.
Though it's translated dust, and that translation is
fine.
A lump of earth is also fine, so
you can study on that.
But God created the man, and then once
he was created, a man with flesh, blood,
and bones, he had no life.
Now how did God infuse life?
How did God bring the man, produce life
in the man?
And God breathed into man the breath of
life, and man became a living soul.
Now there is no record of God ever
breathing life into an animal.
And, of course, plant life operates, it has
life, but it's a little different than man
and animals.
Both man and animals have bodies.
They both have blood.
They have body and soul.
They both have life.
The life is in the blood.
What is that?
Leviticus 17, 11, I believe.
It's the soul that is in the blood.
You take the blood out of a person,
that person is dead.
The life is in the blood.
It's the blood producing a natural life for
man.
Now, God breathes into man the breath of
life, and that man becomes a living soul.
Here's Adam in his unfallen state.
There is nothing wrong with soul in an
unfallen state.
There is nothing wrong with body in an
unfallen state.
And spirit, of course.
Nothing wrong.
In other words, a man has body, soul,
and spirit.
And the only conclusion you can draw is
that in Genesis 2, 7, man, at that
point, receives something that the animal kingdom has
never possessed, and that is through God breathing
in, he received life, but he also received
a spirit.
Now, the word for breath and spirit are
the same in the Hebrew text.
That's what we're going to see in Ezekiel
37.
They're used interchangeably here, and several times it's
translated the wrong way.
A couple times it's translated wind.
But this is the great divide between man
and the animal kingdom.
Man and the animal kingdom both have body
and soul, but only man has spirit.
There's no record of God breathing into the
animal kingdom breath, though they had to receive
their life from God.
It's just not there.
Animals do not have spirits.
Now, this would present, of course the evolutionists
don't believe a word of it anyway, but
this is again the great divide relative to
evolution and non-evolution in that respect, relative
to evolution and what the Bible has to
say.
Of course, we know that in Scripture God
created man directly.
Evolution is not involved at all.
Some try to interpret along those lines out
of Genesis and say this is not actual
history.
It's the way God describes his evolutionary process.
Well, that's so much nonsense we don't need
to even talk about it.
But the great divide again is the thought
that there's no way man could evolve from
the animal kingdom.
Where did he get spirit?
Animals don't have spirits.
They have body and soul.
But man is body, soul, and spirit.
Man is a tri-human being as the
Godhead is a tri-human being.
Now, back to chapter 37.
I'm not sure where I left off.
I believe I read through verse 5.
Attention to breath.
That's where I was because I wanted to
go back and lay the foundation out of
Genesis concerning a first mentioned principle.
And that is life is imparted through breath.
You see, when Christ died he gave up
the spirit.
And then whether it's Hebrew or Greek the
word pneuma in the Greek and the word
ruai in the Hebrew they can be translated
spirit or breath.
Christ gave up his breath.
It's exhale, inhale.
Expire, inspire.
Expire is to die.
You breathe out.
I believe that's from the Latin.
That's what it has to do with.
Breathing out.
A person breathing out dies.
And that's what happened when Christ died.
That's what happens when anyone dies.
They breathe out.
Verse 6.
And I will lay sinews upon you, bring
up flesh upon you, cover you with skin,
and put, again, no, breath.
I'll put breath in you and you shall
live.
There's no life apart from God's breath relative
to man.
There's no life apart from breath in the
animal kingdom.
And somehow God has to be connected because
there's no life apart from God.
Again, there's no record of God breathing life
into the animal kingdom.
If we had such a thing, animals would
be body, soul, and spirit, it seems.
In verse 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.
And when I beheld, the sinews and flesh
came upon them, skin covered them, but there
was no breath in them.
That's a picture back in Genesis 2-7
of Adam after he was created, lifeless, without
breath.
I think I said that's a picture of.
Let's use a little bit different terminology.
We have the same thing.
Adam created, but without breath, dead.
These bones come together, sinews, flesh cover them,
skin covers them.
Without breath, it is like Adam before God
breathed into man the breath of life.
God has to breathe in too.
Alright, let's keep on reading and see what
happens.
In verse 9.
Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the
wind.
That's the same word translated breath back in
verse 8, it's the word ruach.
Prophesy unto the ruach.
I don't know how it should be translated.
It's talking about breath.
If you want to translate it spirit, breath,
even wind would be an acceptable translation.
That's probably why they did this.
Prophesy, son of man, and say to the
ruach.
Again, say to the breath.
Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these
slain.
Now that word winds is also ruach.
And breathe upon these slain, that they may
live.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and
breath came unto them, and they lived, and
stood upon their feet an exceeding great army.
Now it's about to tell you what this
is all about.
God has used a vision, and the vision
has to do with a valley of dry
bones, these bones coming together, being covered with
sinews, flesh, skin.
Then God breathing into them the breath of
life, and they stood upon their feet an
exceeding great army.
There's your picture.
Again, who is this?
A dead church?
Or what are we talking about?
We read this before.
We know what we're talking about.
All you need to do is go to
the context.
It's talking about Israel.
Israel.
Verse 11, Then he said unto me, Son
of man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel.
And we're going to find further in the
chapter not only the northern ten tribes, but
the southern two tribes.
The whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones are dried, our
hope is lost, we're cut off for our
parts.
That's what's being said out there today.
We were talking about it earlier.
We're talking about the church today.
The church replacing Israel.
If they don't talk about that, they seldom
talk about Israel.
They keep talking about the church.
Well, I remember something that Wilson said about
people talking about the church.
He said, I can understand that.
Because the church is made up of people
and all they're doing is talking about themselves.
And people like to do that.
Verse 12, Therefore prophesy and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my
people, I will open your graves, cause you
to come up out of your graves, and
I will bring you into the land of
Israel.
Now what is meant by graves?
Are we talking about literal graves?
Israelites that are dead?
Or are we talking about the Israelites driven
out among the nations?
It can only be both.
I had a Bible teacher when I first
started school in 58 in Chattanooga that was
very adamant on looking at graves here as
referring to the dead Israelites only.
But you keep reading and you find that
both the dead and the living are being
dealt with.
Before that, after this, we're dealing with the
whole house of Israel.
We're dealing with the Israelites who died in
the faith in the Old Testament.
We're dealing with Israelites who are alive at
the time Christ returns.
The whole house of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the
Lord when I have opened your graves, O
my people, brought you up out of your
graves, whether dead like Lazarus.
Lazarus would be a sign.
It's the seventh sign in John's Gospel.
It would point to the resurrection of dead
Israelites.
They'll be raised in bodies of flesh, blood,
and bone.
Now here's an interesting thing.
I started to talk about this.
Let me just digress for a little bit
here.
I started to talk about this a while
ago and I got off on something else.
What is wrong with a body of flesh,
blood, and bones?
Flesh is associated with sin today.
Why is it associated with sin?
Man was created in a body of flesh,
blood, and bones.
A natural body.
He was to live forever in that body.
And Gentile nations, the Israelites, will live forever
in bodies of flesh, blood, and bones.
There is nothing wrong with a body of
flesh, blood, and bones.
Let me put it this way.
There was nothing wrong with Adam's body and
Eve's bodies of flesh, blood, and bones before
the fall.
And there will be nothing wrong with bodies
of flesh, blood, and bones once man has
been redeemed, say within the Messianic era, once
you have redemption affecting body, soul, and spirit.
Now, what's wrong with flesh?
Well, I can look at every one of
you and tell you what's wrong with flesh.
Every one of you have clothes on.
Do you know what Adam and Eve were
clothed with before the fall?
They were clothed in the glory of God.
They lost that covering of glory.
And the word that's used for naked after
they lost that covering of glory is not
the same word that's used for naked before.
It's a different word.
The word that's used before they lost that,
I believe it's in chapter 2, has to
do with a person that, say, has an
inner garment on.
We might call it underwear today, but not
the outer garment, the outerwear.
And after they lost that covering of glory,
a different Hebrew word is used and it
has to do with total nakedness.
No inner garment, nothing.
And they tried to replace that covering with
fig leaves.
That's why they got the fig leaves together.
They tried to replace something that they knew
they had lost.
And man ever since has been trying to
cover himself.
You see, we don't run around naked.
Some people do.
My son and I were out in Jemez
one time years ago in New Mexico.
They have some warm springs there and we
wanted to sit down in these warm springs.
And we noticed that all the guys down
there were naked.
I didn't think much about it until I
got back to town and they told us
that we were in the middle of a
nudist colony.
Well, sometimes you run on to things like
that.
The people down there didn't care.
They just kind of accepted us and ignored
us.
And we ignored them and let it go.
But people, you need a covering.
Now out in that coming day, you see
there's something wrong with flesh today because there's
no covering.
But out before the fall, there was a
covering.
There was nothing wrong with flesh.
After man has been redeemed, body, soul, and
spirit again, there will be nothing wrong with
flesh.
Flesh can no longer be associated with sin
and death.
Now in verse 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, performed it, saith the Lord.
And I'm not going to read them.
I'm going to go ahead and bring this
to a close.
But in verses 15 through, it's down through
verse 22 at least, it's talking about two
sticks.
One has to do with the southern two
tribes, the other with the northern ten.
And both are referred to as the house
of Israel.
And that's somewhat strange because people tell us
today that only the northern tribes are referred
to as the house of Israel.
But if you read these verses, you'll find
that both are referred to as the house
of Israel.
They're going to become one in His hand.
That is, they're going to be joined.
There will no longer be any division within
the house of Israel.
In verse 22, I will make of them
one nation in the land.
Now what does the rest of that say?
In the valley?
I will make of them one nation upon
the mountains of Israel.
We're no longer in a valley.
The dry bones have come together.
The flesh, sinews, skin covering them.
Breath has entered into them.
It has to do with the whole house
of Israel.
The house of Israel brought together.
And they're made one nation, not in the
valley, but upon the mountains.
It's out in the coming kingdom.
A mountain signifies a kingdom.
In verse 24, David my servant shall be
king over them.
In verse 25, they shall dwell in the
land...
Let's just read the rest of the chapter
and just somewhat close with this.
In verse 25, they shall dwell in the
land that I have given unto Jacob my
servant.
We're in your...
Let me start over.
They shall dwell in the land that I
have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your
fathers have dwelt.
They shall dwell therein, even they, their children,
their children's children, forever.
And my servant, David, shall be their prince
forever.
Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace
with them.
God's going to make a new covenant with
the house of Israel.
We've read about that.
It shall be an everlasting covenant with them.
I'll place them, multiply them, set my sanctuary
in the midst of them forevermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them.
Yea, I will be their God.
They shall be my people.
And the Gentiles shall know that I, the
Lord, do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall
be in the midst of them forevermore.
Our Father, we're thankful that You've allowed us
to look into Your Word.
I would pray that we might have gleaned
things from Your Word that will be helpful
in our studies day by day.
For it's in Christ's name, amen.
They will have bodies of flesh and bone,
but the Spirit will be the life-giving,
animating principle from what I can gather in
Scripture.
Not blood.
It talks about that, yeah.
In 1 Corinthians 15.
In those last few verses that you read,
it keeps saying forever and everlasting.
Yeah, that's the word olam in the Hebrew.
It's the same as the word ionious in
the Greek.
There is no such thing as the word
eternal in Hebrew or Greek.
It's just for a long period of time,
and the Messianic era is in view.
And it will extend on into the ages
beyond.
But mainly the Messianic era is in view.
Let's call it the vision of the...
Let's call it Israel's coming restoration.
The other message was on the same thing,
but we'll give them different titles.
Well, I'm glad you all came up.
You kind of made our meetings here in
a way by coming up.