EZEKIEL - CHAPTERS 37-39 THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
“THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL”
AND
THE RESTORATION OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL
(Ezekiel 37-39)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
As we come to the last sections of Ezekiel’s prophecy, the themes are distinct and different:
Chapter 34 emphasizes the rulers;
Chapter 35, the enemies;
Chapter 36, the nation of Israel converted;
Chapter 37, the Nation resurrected.
Chapters 38-39, the Land
Chapters 40-48, the Sanctuary.
Ezekiel 37 is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible. It is the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones and reveals the resurrection of the nation of Israel. It is amazing in our present study of Ezekiel that we are studying this chapter this week on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s restoration as a nation. I even tried to cover this last week, but was unable to do so. I feel we are On-Time with the Lord’s Time.
This chapter has to do with the natural Jew as well as the true Jew (Rom. 2: 28-29; 9: 6-8). Scripture often has a dualistic interpretation. As we discussed last week, the church is the Holy Nation (1 Peter 2:9) and the Israel of God. (Gal. 6:16) The Lord uses the nation of Israel as a stage to reveal to the entire world what He is doing in His Kingdom. This is also the restoration of the church and the raising up of the Army of the Lord!
Sue Baird’s Outline of this chapter is as follows:
1. 37: 1-4 – Valley of Bones
2. 37: 15-20 – Vision of Broken Rods One Nation = Mosaic
3. 37: 21-28 – Vow of Everlasting Covenant. One Shepherd = Davidic
This passage is part of a series of revelations received during the night to Ezekiel before the messenger came with news of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was to encourage the people and dispel the gloom of the people over the sad news. The main aim of this vision was to counteract the despair and the pessimism which had laid hold of the despondent nation (37:11) “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.”
This passage reveals how well that generation knew of the doctrine of Resurrection. (Isa. 25:8) “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord has spoken it.”
The other major thrust of this chapter is the reunion of the nation into one people.
The central figure in these closing prophecies of Ezekiel is “The Prince” – the Messiah, Jesus Christ, The Good Shepherd: 37: 24-25: “And 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. And 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.”
The bones represent the Israelites in Exile. They point to the church during the bondage and captivity of the Middle Ages, and also the whole creation in the captivity of the bondage of corruption. (Rom.:14-23) “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now”. We can liken this to the earthquakes, cyclones and severe weather we are presently experiencing on earth. (V. 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”.
We have the Gathering of a Nation dispersed and divided as well as the gathering and raising up, and the unitY of the Body of Christ.
The Pattern of this Restoration:
- 37:4: “O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord”. We must hear the Word of the Lord (His trumpet)
- 37:5: “I will cause breathe to enter into you, and you shall live.” We must experience the Holy Ghost Baptism and receive His enabling to praise Him.
- 37:6: “I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin” We must experience the covering of ministry (local church).
- 37:7: “As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.” We must experience the noise of praise and each find his place in the Body of Christ as a joint of supply.
- 37:9: Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy son of man, and I say to the wind, Thus says the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” We must experience the four operations of the Holy Ghost:
(a) NORTH WIND – His convicting power upon our sin. (Song 4:16)
(b) SOUTH WIND – His being the Comforter (Song 4:16; Jn. 14:26)
(c) EAST WIND – His dealings, trials, and tests. (Job. 1:19; Acts 27)
(d) WEST WIND – His blessings. (Luke 12:54) “And he said also the people, When you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway you say, There comes a shower; and so it is.”
This is a universal, world-wide move of the Spirit to touch the whole creation.
Those of us who have walked for many years with the Lord have experienced all four operations of the Holy Ghost. I know which ones I like the best.
- 37:10 – We must stand on our feet as His army. “the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, and exceeding great army.” We can compare this both to the great army of the nation of Israel and the great army of the Lord.
This operation was not done by Ezekiel’s Faith. This requires GOD’S FAITH (Gal. 2:20) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” There have been times in my life that what I walked through could only be done with God’s Faith. He stresses also that this resurrection of the bones was a result of the prophet’s obedience. We can say these bones represent the nation Israel and the whole church, the whole House of Israel. In the larger sense, this includes the O.T. saints; this is the principle of the Bones of Joseph being buried in Canaan’s land. (Heb. 11:39) “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
Bro. Bill Britton’s comments: “Breathe upon these Slain, that they may live…now we begin to get a clue of the condition of the whole church in the last days…the whole house of Israel…we cannot say that the sons of god are the whole house of Israel…there are other churches that are God’s people…they’re going to be in God’s great army…we talked about that with Gideon’s three hundred…there are different realms of 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold in God’s army…the fundamentalists are going to win more souls than they ever thought about winning…the Pentecostals are going to see more miracles, more of the manifestations of the Holy Ghost…but there is going to be a company that is going to rule and reign; they are going to be the ones who are speaking, even as this prophet is commanded here to speak…these bones were once alive…they were slain…every dead church in the world is dead because it was killed…every movement of God in time past was born in the fire of God…men laid their lives down…they were killed by the traditions of men.
All these disjointed bones are part of the structure…they hold the structure together, and make the structure strong…they are disjointed, all in different places…now they all didn’t become the same bone…so I don’t expect the whole house of Israel to become just like the House of Prayer. I believe that some other people have some functions that we do not have. I believe that they are important and I believe that God will use them… have noticed this in revival, when God’s Spirit is poured out, that the people start coming together. Back in the days of the Latter Rain revival some very strange thing happened. In 1949 and 1950, God was pouring out His spirit in a glorious way, in the so-called, “New Order of the Latter Rain,’ and we suddenly there were Oneness or Jesus Only preachers…and Trinity preachers…coming together and sitting on the same platform. Now that was a miracle! You never heard of anything in Pentecost like that...They never flowed together, but when revival came, they began to come together. They began to lay down their differences and find something greater in Jesus Christ!”
Beyond the obvious Union of the nation of Israel i.e. the people of God (Jn. 17), in the latter part of this chapter is seen the joining of the two sticks (the southern Kingdom of Judah and the northern Kingdom of Israel.
Jerusalem was in the Kingdom of Judah and represents the Davidic Covenant. We cam compare this to the coming together of the two Offices of the King and the Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Caleb was from the tribe of Judah and Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim, thus revealing the principle of the two witnesses. Judah was the tribe that provided the Kings of the land. Ephraim revealed the fruitfulness of priestly ministry. Joseph was also a fruitful bough. (Gen. 49)
This whole area was included in the State of Israel formed in 1948.
1948 – 1967, the West Bank was occupied and annexed to Jordan. Gaza was occupied by Egypt. In 1967, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were again occupied by Israel in the six-day war. In 1994, a Palestinian authority now governs territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Both the nation and Israel have come up out of her graves since 1948. There have been many moves of the Holy Ghost with times of refreshing upon the earth. The grave is a prison of earth or Adam’s flesh. It is an earthly box (Rom 8: 21-23). The Grave is “the sewer realm” or the lower realm. The serpent eats dust. Jesus Christ lived above all that (Jn. 14:30). There was nothing in Him that the serpent could eat. In the realm of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Most Holy Place, there will be a people who will break the appointment with death, and who will be liberated into the unlimited ministry of the Sons of God. God will consummate the ongoing change (Psa. 84:7; Rom. 1:17; 11 Cor. 3:18) and change our bodies.
Jacob was created but Israel was formed (Isa. 43:1)”But now thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and He that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name. You are mine.” The term Israel means one who prevails or overcomes (43: 10-12). This formation is also a transformation of the soul or the renewing of the mind. (Rom 12: 1-2). (Gal. 4:19). The important thing to remember is that these bones were raised up and formed as one Nation (1 Pet. 2: 9-10) - they were raised up together! (Eph. 2: 1-6) “Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved ;) and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
An in depth study of Joel 2:1-11 will reveal much about this dual army of the Lord. The valley of death becomes the valley of life. There will be the joining of the Old covenant saints with the New Covenant saints as exemplified in Boaz’s purchase of Naomi and Ruth.
21-28: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, where they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And 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: We are here talking about Israel and Judah…And 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. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant wit them; and I will place them and multiply the, and will set my sanctuary (Jesus Christ) in the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle (Jesus Christ) also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary (Jesus Christ) shall be in the midst of them evermore.”
Chapters 38 and 39 are one prophecy.
I will attempt to interpret literally and spiritually. They tell of a coming northern confederacy of nations about the Black and Caspian seas, with Persia and North Africa, who will invade the promised land after Israel’s restoration. These nations are Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Iran and North Africa (Libya and Ethiopia)
Gog was the ruler of the land of Magog. In Genesis 10:2, Magog, Mesheck, Tubal and Gomer are mentioned as the sons of Japheth and founders of the northern group of nations. Ez. 27: 13, Meshech and Tubal are mentioned as being sellers of slaves to Tyre, and in 32; 26 as being ancient bandit nations. Rosh is thought by some to mean Russia; by others the identification is regarded as uncertain. Meshech is though by most to mean Moscow or Muscovy, an ancient Russian name, or a people called Moschi spoken of in the Assyrian inscriptions as dwelling in the Caucasus. Tubal is through to be Tobolsk, a Siberian city. Gomer is thought to be Cimmerians, and Togarmah is through to be Armenia.
In the invasion of Gog into Israel is the earliest appearance of apocalyptic writing in the O.T. for this reason, Ezekiel is called “the father of apocalypse.” There is much conjecture over Gog. Historically the chief candidate is Gyges, King of Lydia in Asia Minor from 690-657 B.C., who was known as Gugu. Others think that Gog is a symbol for the Babylonian monarch, whose destruction is graphically portrayed. Others suggest Alexander the Great. If the passage is apocalyptic, the identity of Gog represents every force of evil that is marshaled against God. This is satan personified as the chief prince in this league of nations.
The traditional view of Gog is that Russia will invade Israel upon horses sometime during the Tribulation. Gog is the prince; Magog, his land. Russian and the northern powers have long been the persecutors of dispersed Israel along with the Islamic nations. It is congruous both with divine justice and with the covenants of God that destruction should fall in connection with the attempt to exterminate the remnant of Israel in Jerusalem. The entire prophecy belongs to the yet future day of the Lord. (Joe 1; 15) “Alas for the day! The day of the Lord is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” (Rev. 19:19) “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”
Metaphorically or spiritually the mountains of Israel refer to God’s end-time people and the Kingdom of God as well as the Nation of Israel. Each one of these demons are spirits that will be loosed on the earth in the latter days upon the sons of god so that these powers of darkness can be defeated. (Rom 16:20) “And the God of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” I do not see that these two interpretations are in opposition with each other. Now in the 21st Century we see the spirit of anti-christ moving across the earth through Islam. All of these nations have embraced this spirit. Even Russia with the spirit of communism i.e. the spirit of Russia is a government of destruction, cruelty, suspicion, oppressive and sets one against another. Persia (Iran) has the riches of oil. In all of these nations, terrorism, fear and deception are the powers and principalities. God is going to put a hook in the jaw of all these spirits and destroy them. God is going to bring these spirits to the Mountains of Israel (Kingdom of God) and destroy them.
B.B. mentions the land of unwalled cities looked more like the U.S.A. than Israel. Either way the Lord God in his fury and in His jealousy and in His fire shall defeat all of these devils. As long as we are walking with Jesus, we are going to be fine. “He is going to give the Church the victory…God is going to destroy those powers. They won’t destroy His sons! (B.B.)
Gog the Chief prince would also be the prince and power of the air (Eph. 2: 1-2) God will put a hook in the jaw of Leviathan. (38:4) These are coming against the Mountains of Israel, God’s Covenant People. (38:8) “After many days you shall be visited; in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.”
Some say that verse 9 alludes to an atomic holocaust. “You shall ascend and come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your bands, and many people with you.” The unwalled villages and the people at rest, dwelling safely project to Heb. 3-4 (38:11). Those who are uncovered will be a prey to these devils. They come out of the north (judgment) in great might and strength. (38:15)It is God who brings Gog into the land to destroy him! (38:17) “Thus says the Lord God Are you he of whom I have spoken in old time, by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them”
The great shaking of verse 19 can be found in Hag. 2 and Heb. 12. Verse 20 tells us that every wall will fall down to the ground! (Rev. 11; 15). The fire can be found in Obad. 17; Mal. 4: 1-6. This describes the operation and the ministry of the Sons of God to sweep away the lies that these spirits have fostered. God is going to deal with everything and sanctify Himself (23) Only then can he reveal His face to the earth and usher in the Temple (Glory of God) of chapters 40-48. All enemies are going under His feet.
I believe we can compare Gog and Magog with Revelation 20. All do not have this view. Some have this broken down to pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib. I don’t think anyone knows any more about it than I do which is very little.
- Gog - #1463 – Glob – “Of uncertain derivation; the name of some Israelite; also of some northern nation; elastic, stretched out extended, flat roof, plane top.
- Magog #4031 – a song of Japheth; also a barbarous northern region; region of Gog, from the upper, or north; elasticity, extreme extension, ample covering enlargement.
- Mesheck #4902 – a son of Japheth, and the people descended from him; perceptibility, perceptible cause, meditative conceptions, drawing out, deducting.”
- Tubal - #8422 – a postdiluvian patriarch and his posterity; diffusibility, diffusive motion, flowing forth or welling flowing copiously , leading, conduction, jubilation, bringing forth, shout of joy, triumphant song.”
- Persia - #6539 – an eastern country, including its inhabitants; cutting, cleaving, dividing, cloven-hoofed, a horse, a horseman, pure, splendid, Ayran, Iran.
- Ethiopia #3568 – Cush; the name of a son of Ham, and his descendants; burned faces, country of burning.”
- Libya #6316 – “Put, a son of Ham, also the name of his descendants or their region; land of the Lubim, dried, parched, thirsty.”
- Gomer #1586 – “Completion, Gomer, the name of a son of Japheth, and of his descendants; to end; organic accumulation of organized aggregation, full and complete, finished, perfected.”
- Togarmah - #8425 – “Togarmah, a son of Gomer and his posterity; universal centripetal force, centralizing energy, density, gravitation, precipitation, compactness, bony or hard, strong.”
Ezekiel 39: Gog will Fall (Verse 4) God’s judgment will be a Fire (verse 6). “I will send a fire Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord. This will happen in the Day of the Lord. (Verse 8) “Behold it is come, and it is done, says the Lord God; This is the day of which I have spoken.” The implements of warfare shall be burned for seven years, denoting a complete end to them. (V.9). “Hamon-Gog” means “the multitude of Gog, tumult of Gog.” (v. 11) These enemies of the Lord shall be buried (permanently removed) for seven moths (completion) so that the land can be fully cleansed (12). God will be glorified in His Day (13). The land shall be completely purged of Gog and his allies. (14-15). The name of the city was “Hamonah: which means host, multitude, noise or tumult, commotion of mind.” (16) the fowls shall come and eat the supper of the great God and reveals the negative side of the Day of the Lord as God’s sons in covenant with Him at His table, partake of His judgments. God will then set his Glory among the nations. (21) “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.” Then He can turn the captivity of His creation and have mercy on the WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. (25) “Therefore says the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WILL BE JEALOUS FOR MY HOLY NAME.” Neither will I hide my face any more from them. (23)
Next Week – the Temple - The Glory of God.
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, inc.
Scripture quotes from KJV. And text from P.P.T. by K.V and quotes from Bill Britton. Comments are my own.