The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones (Ezekiel 37:1, NLT).
Never has a people dispersed from their homeland for 2,000 years returned. That is, until the Jews came back from countries around the world to become the nation of Israel.
In Ezekiel 37, there is a prophecy of a valley filled with dry bones. Ezekiel says that the Lord . . .
Led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out (Ezekiel 37:2).
Then the Lord asked Ezekiel . . .
Can these bones become living people again? (Ezekiel 37:3)
I’ve visited Israel at least six times. It’s an amazing country. There are three major cities in Israel – Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is an amazing cultural city, Haifa is industrial and scientific, and Jerusalem is the religious center.
Describing the three major cities of Israel, it’s been said, “Tel Aviv plays, Haifa pays, and Jerusalem prays.”
The Lord had Ezekiel speak to the valley of dry bones . . .
Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! (Ezekiel 37:4-5)
Ezekiel described what happened in his vision after he prophesied over the dry bones . . .
Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them (Ezekiel 37:8).
On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was decreed as an independent nation by Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion. On that same day — exactly 11 minutes after Ben-Gurion’s declaration — U.S. President Harry Truman issued a proclamation recognizing Israel as a legitimate Jewish state.
The modern state of Israel came alive in one day. Ezekiel’s prophecy came true 2,500 years after it was given.
And consider the accuracy of Ezekiel’s prophecies.
Israel was formed as a nation without a lot of Jews living in the land, as Ezekiel described flesh and bones without breath. But the prophecy continued when the Lord told Ezekiel . . .
Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again’” (Ezekial 37:9).
In 1948, 101,826 Jews returned; in 1949, 239,828 returned; in 1956, 56,330 returned – and the prophecy of the four winds bringing the Jewish people back to Israel continued. After the fall of communism, 199,516 returned to Israel, and in 1991 about 176,000 returned – many of them Russian speaking.
There are reports of about 40,000 Jews coming back to Israel from Ukraine in the last year and a half.
Through the centuries, with Jews dispersed throughout the world, each year after celebrating Passover, they said the phrase, “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Israel’s current population is about 10 million. The population in Israel, when Ezekial gave his dry bones prophecy was about 300,000.
Wow! Not only did the Lord return the Jews to Israel, but He increased their population about 34-fold as the breath of life has come into the dead bodies of Ezekiel’s prophecy in our lifetime!
Considering what I’ve just written, do we believe???
We must! Jesus is coming soon.