Ezekiel was placed in the midst of a valley which was full of dry bones.
and as it turns out that it is a symbolic example of our spiritual condition today.

That's right! The watchmen,
those who have been strengthened by the continual consumption and feasting at the table of the Lord,
which is the Word of God,
have a part in bringing to life (spiritually) the whole house of Israel.

Though we are careful to recognize that it is totally the LORD's doing,
nevertheless, what a privilege and honor it is to serve Him in whatever capacity He so chooses to use us.

Are you familiar with what God's elect,
His watchmen, will be doing in the last days?
Yes, they will be teaching His Word,
but there also comes a time when they are to be delivered up.

Here it is in Christ's own words as recorded in the Gospel of Mark:

You see, it will be a very religious time for someone who claims to be our Lord will be standing in the holy place performing miracles in the sight of men and handing out free tickets for a ride in his shiny Rapturemobile.

How is this proclaiming of the gospel among ALL NATIONS going to be accomplished?

Is man going to do it, or is God going to do it?

Yes it does!

It has not come to pass yet, but it shall happen soon!

Has there ever been anything like it before?

Yes there has!

Remember what happened on Pentecost Day in Acts chapter 2?

Let's go there because this is important to understanding Ezekiel 37.

It is "the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field:" (Ex. 23:16).

Are you tilling ground and planting seeds in the field?

Shall we read again how the gospel is proclaimed to the world?
Mark 13:11 "...take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,
neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour,
that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."

Now, as these men of God were speaking "the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11),
which by the way every person present out of every nation present clearly heard spoken in his own language,
some were making false accusations against them of being drunk, etc.

But Peter stood up and said "No, these men are not drunk.

This is an example of what will happen in the last days
(which we just read about in Mark 13)."

Then Peter quoted His documentation from the book of the prophet Joel.

In other words, Peter spoke in the manner of "Thus saith the Lord GOD",
"here's what the Word of God says."

The sons and daughters of the final generation are prophesying (i.e. teaching, working in the field,
planting seeds for the harvest), and they SEE, which means to "Understand" visions.

What visions?

The visions of the prophets through whom Christ has foretold us all things!

The prophet Daniel was told to seal the vision and seal up his book until the time of the end when the wise would understand (SEE) them.

They now do!

And they now understand the "visions" Ezekiel saw too,
including the highly polished spectrum metal circular whirling vehicle which came out of the north sky,
let down its landing gear, and landed right in front of him!  #1164 & #1187

They also understand the dreams of Daniel, etc.,
even king Nebuchadnezzar's dreams! #5015

And the Word of God is being taught chapter by chapter and line by line by those sons and daughters,
the "children of the prophets" (Acts 3:25).

But as we just read,
there will come a time when the "WIND" comes rushing from heaven and the Holy Spirit is poured out on HIS servants and HIS handmaidens and they shall prophesy, to that WIND!

It happened back then for our benefit today,
so that we could SEE how Mark 13:11 shall come to pass.

Got the PICTURE?

Ezekiel was carried out and then set down (which also means "to dwell") in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.

Can you PICTURE this in your mind?

Can you see Ezekiel (picture yourself if you are a watchman) standing in a huge valley (actually it's a "plain" in Hebrew) surrounded by skeletons, "bones"!

Ezekiel has got to be thinking,
"I don't imagine I'm here for a fun vacation."

Notice that if you are a servant of the LORD,
an appointed watchman, and He has a job for you to do,

He can easily just take you by the hand and set you to work in the midst of the field!

 Or He could carry you to your job in the belly of big fish, like Jonah.

Attitude can be important, you know.

Do you?

Here's a good question,
"Why use "bones" to represent "people" when we can clearly SEE people?"

Because the bones represent a characteristic, a condition, of the people.

You see, though they are "physically alive" and walking around,
let's say Times Square, the people of the whole house of Israel are "spiritually dead",
a condition of the soul which you can't SEE with your flesh eyes.

But you can see a valley full of dead bones, can't you?

Let's continue.

So far we have learned that Ezekiel, who is a type of God's elect in the final generation,
was sent by God to dwell among his people,
the spiritually dead house of Israel,
in the last days just before the restoration of the Millennium which we have been discussing in these last few chapters.

We are actually going to SEE how that restoration begins and how God uses the ministry of the watchman to help bring it about.

Again, let there be no doubt,
lest any man should boast, it is the Lord GOD who does the restoring, not man.

This chapter will document that!

Oh, and look!
The bones are "very dry".

How is that?

Very dead and very dry indeed!

You know what the false shepherds are teaching if you've come this far with us in Ezekiel!

And so they have, for the famine is now great indeed,
and the valley is full of dry bones!

God knows!

That His business.

This is the prophesying (teaching) by the "children of the prophets" happening this very day, i.e. the fulfilling of Acts 2:17!

So Ezekiel did exactly as he was commanded by God,
without question or argument.

Teach, teach, teach!

Let see what results there are.

Ezekiel's out there in the heat of the dry bone field teaching his little heart out.

And he's rattled a lot of bones and they are beginning to come together.

Seems like things are going pretty good!

Better stop and check the harvest!

Thought they were looking pretty good, but they were still spiritually dead, huh?

They just don't quite get it, eternal life that is, i.e. His Spirit, His Word!

Let's do a current day reality check ourselves.

For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, consider now the whole house of Israel.

As His watchman, look now out over the valley of the dry bones and consider how many,
out of the many, many dry bones (vs. 2), have the "breath" in them!

How are we doing?

Consider all the true teaching of God's elect,
His watchmen, from 24 hour satellite, to internet, to radio, to local Bible studies, to one on one encounters!

Have the majority of the whole house of Israel been "sealed" with the living Word of God?

Hardly!

Do you know how many out of the whole house of Israel will be sealed before the 6th Trump sounds and the archangel Michael,
who is "holding back" Satan and his angels,
casts them out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-9) and the devil himself appears on earth,
in person,
claiming to be the Messiah?

Not very many.

When these four winds are released "all hell breaks loose" because the 6th Trump will have sounded (Rev. 9:13-15)!

Things change rapidly when this happens,
for the great apostasy spoken of by Paul in 2 Thes. 2 takes place and the whole world,
with the exception of God's very elect,
will bow and worship antichrist as if he were God.

Satan will claim that he is the Messiah returned and he will perform miracles in the sight of men to show that he really is!

It will be overwhelmingly convincing!

However, as it is documented in Rev. 9:5,
his personal appearance has been shortened to five months.

So Flight 666 departing from heaven and arriving on earth has been delayed due to ground work in the bone yard by the watchmen!

Let's return to Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 9,
where now these "four winds" are brought into the picture of Ezekiel's ministry.

Why?

Because when they are released and antichrist and his angels are here,
the example set forth in Acts chapter 2,
of the prophecy quoted from Joel in Acts 2:18 (above),
takes place and the "WIND" the Holy Spirit of God,
will "breath" and proclaim the gospel through His servants and His handmaidens upon the slain.

And do not forget the example set forth in Acts 2.
When the Holy Spirit speaks, not just the house of Israel will hear Him,
but all people of all nations who hear and watch the testimony and that which is spoken,
will hear and understand what is being said in their very own native language without the need of a translator.

An exceeding great Christian army!

I'm glad to see some more souls come to life!

For a minute there I thought only God's 7,000 very elect and the 144,000 of the house of Israel were going to make it through the great tribulation of antichrist and be part of the first resurrection.

Rev. 7:9-14 will document that there are multitudes and peoples of all nations come out the great tribulation.

In fact there is great hope for our brothers and sisters because our Father is in control and He loves them very much and His plan of the salvation and restoration of His people is really, really good!

What a loving Father we have.

Thus saith the LORD!

Have you ever given any thought to how it is that Christians sing in their hymnals about and say prayers unto "the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" and then turn right around and refer to them as Jews!

Think about this.

None of those three were Jews,
for Judah was a son of Jacob (see chart below).

Do you know that the words Hebrew, Israelite, and Judah (Jew) are NOT synonymous terms.

God's appointed watchmen,
those who have eaten the Scroll, the Word of God,
and digested it in their bellies,
do know the difference.

In fact, they are instructed to educate their people about those differences and so it is a very important "end times" job of the watchmen.

There is something so extremely important that our Father wants His watchman to continually teach it,
all their lives!

What is it?

It is the fact that the house of Judah IS NOT the house of Israel!

They are split into two houses!

Judah, along with their allotment of Levites and many from the tribe of Benjamin,
comprise the "House of Judah",
while Joseph, of whom the tribe of Ephraim was the largest,
along with the rest of the 10 northern tribes comprise the other house,
the "House of Israel".

There are two houses, two sticks, NOT ONE!

That's the WRONG ANSWER!

And the biggest problem is that most ministers and preachers will tell you exactly the same thing,
that the Jews are the same as the house of Israel, but they are "dead" wrong.

So much for their understanding of Bible prophecy, huh!

Check and make sure this action is not in violation of one the 57,002 environmental regulations in your township.

Next, take a permanent black Sharpie and write "Judah" on one of the sticks,
hand it to skeleton man*, and say, "Hold this up in your left hand a minute."

Take the other stick and write "Joseph" on it and tell your sinew challenged friend to hold this up in his right hand.

Now say to him/her,
"Are you holding one stick or two sticks?"

If he says, "Wow man, I don't know",
that means you are in a really arid section of town where the bones are becoming petrified, i.e. getting stoned.

Just say "Ok dude" and go repeat this process perhaps in the suburbs somewhere.

(This is a fairly close analogy to the teaching job of a watchman.)

Anyway, you've got the picture in your mind concerning the TWO sticks, not one stick, right?

For the less theatrical among us,
there is another way to use "sticks" to demonstrate that which God wants His watchmen to continually educate the dry bones about,
and that is simply to write on and hold up the two branches on the Family Tree, one for Judah and one for Joseph.

By the way, the star of the House of Israel has 5 points on it.
"5" in Biblical numerics means "grace",
as in "God shed His grace on thee!"
(See appendix 10 in the Companion Bible for the significance of numbers in scriptures.)

Let's continue with verse 17 where God now tells Ezekiel that once the two sticks have been shown to be two separate sticks,
demonstrate that they will be joined together and become just one stick.

This is prophecy and will happen at the restoration in the Millennium,
which begins at the 7th Trump, the return of Jesus Christ.

That is because they are two separate houses right now."

 Remember what we learned earlier?

It is the Lord GOD, not man, who will restore His people,
both houses you now know,
so that they and all the nations round about them
"Shall know that He is the LORD".

You stick to it!

Earlier, we learned that there is something very important that our Father wants His watchman to continually teach, all their lives!

And that something is who the lost tribes of the House of Israel really are.

They are NOT the same as the house of Judah.

They are TWO separate sticks, even two separate "branches" of the family tree.

It so clearly written in God's Word that Judah was only one of the twelve sons of Israel (the name God gave to Jacob),
so that while all Jews (of the tribe of Judah) are Israelites,
the majority of Israelites are NOT Jews.

It also clearly written and should be common knowledge among Christians that following Solomon's reign over the whole house of Israel (all 12 tribes) that the kingdom was split into TWO separate houses,
the northern 10 tribes retaining their name as the House of Israel and southern Judah along with Benjamin becoming known as the House of Judah.

Anyone who has a Bible with maps in the appendix can find a map showing these two separate houses.

So how is it that so many people think that the little nation in the Middle East is the whole house of Israel?

Let's just say it is a case of mistaken ID (Ignorance and Deception).

We have read many times already in this incredible Book of Ezekiel that both the house of Israel, i.e. the 10 northern tribes,
and later the southern house of Judah,
were to be taken captive and scattered among the nations,
and so they were.

God's Word always comes to pass exactly as it is written.

Even the early apostles knew where the tribes were scattered.

Have you ever noticed that the apostle James addresses his book specifically to those twelve tribes which were already scattered abroad?

What postal address did he use?

You should know.

His name of course was King James!
(Yes King James of the King James Bible)

Did you also know that the apostle Paul made it a point to tell us (twice) that he was not of Judah,
but that he was a Benjamite,
from the tribe of Benjamin.

Today they are called "Christians".

We also learned in our last study that God was going to gather His lost children from among those nations and bring them into a land of their own.

But our Father will go even one step further and He will soon rejoin the two separate "sticks" of the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

This will occur at Christ's second coming and Messiah shall forevermore be their King and their Shepherd.

There is even a calling out from among those tribes of Israel taking place right now,
in this final generation,
in preparation for that final restoration at Christ's coming.

In fact, even now at this late hour in the day,
they are being "sealed" in their foreheads [minds],
which is to say they are being educated with the pure truth and understanding from His Word.

If you do not understand this then you currently dwell in spiritual Babylon,
in which case the license plate on your tail reads,
from "The State of Confusion".

And when Israel and Judah are joined back together into that one stick,
it will be a time not only of restoration,
but of great cleansing.

God's people will see their shame and idolatrous ways when Christ returns and they will turn to Him of their own free will,
in great humbleness,
loathing the sins which they have committed and they will begin pouring out their love for Him and for what He has done for His children.

Her name is Queen Elizabeth.

What a glorious family reunion that will be!!

It is important to note that both the words "everlasting" and "evermore" are exactly the same word in Hebrew which means "eternally",
which is "from the beginning of time and continuing on without ending".

You see, His covenant is eternal!

Of course one must understand the beginning, the first earth age,
the time of spoken of by Paul in Eph. 1:4 which was "before the foundation of this world (earth age)",
called "the world that then was" by Peter in 2 Pet. 3.

For only with that understanding can the in-depth meaning of John 3:16 be understood.

You see, there has been no cessation of your life since your Father created your soul,
which was even before the earth was brought into being*.

Even Satan, who has been sentenced to die in the lake of fire,
is still alive at this present time and will be cast to this earth in the very near future (Rev. 12:7-9) and will claim to be the Messiah.

Here is the Greek word which should be translated "eternally",
meaning from the beginning, instead of "everlasting" in John 3:16.

Yes, Jesus Christ will be with His people in the sanctuary during the Millennium,
but eventually even the Father will come and tabernacle with His children.

For not just the House of Israel shall know Him,
but all people of all nations shall "know that He is the LORD".

He is so good to all of His children!

How can anyone not love Him for all that He has done?

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

is

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