StudyGrowKnow

Beyond the Valley of the Bones

June 6, 2011 at 8:12 PM Leave a comment

The process that God has used to begin to bring Israel back to life has been a long one, as far as humanity is concerned.  With God, not so much, since He is neither governed by time, or abides within it.

Today’s Israel has been a long in the making.  Since the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70, it took centuries for the situation to develop that would not only allow Israel to once again come back to life, but encourage Jewish people to begin resettling the Land they once possessed.

Of course, the world is not interested in this because they are more interested in simply having “peace” in the Middle East.  They live under the false delusion that if peace was gained in that area of the world, then this whole world would live under the banner of peaceful co-existence.  This is a pipe dream at best.  It will not happen until Jesus actually rules the world.

Does this mean we should not try?  Of course not, but it does mean that we should not presume to believe that God’s Word is not valid because we think we have a better way of doing things.

In chapter 37 of Ezekiel, God exhorted the prophet to prophesy over a valley filled with dead, dry bones.  These bones had once been alive and God was preparing to bring that back to life.  He had a process and that process is now coming to pass.

That should cause people to stop and wonder about God and His Word.  If this is exactly what has been happening in this world – Ezekiel 36-37 – then we are privileged to live in a generation that is seeing God’s Word come alive.  What an absolutely astounding privilege it is too!

It means that God’s Word is true.  It means that He is not finished with Israel.  It means that all the rest of the prophecies in His Word that have yet to find fulfillment will be fulfilled.  Unfortunately, along with this comes the strong delusion that God says He will send on those who continue to reject His Word (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:11).  Because they are not interested in the truth, God will keep them from it so that they will not even find it accidentally.

What we read in the previous verses of both chapters 36 and 37 of Ezekiel tell us that God is fully in charge.  He will put life back into a dead nation.  He will restore their fortunes.  He will exchange their hard heartedness for a heart that is open to Him and turned toward Him.  God will literally place His Spirit within that Remnant of Jewish people who will yearn to know Him and His truth.  This is exactly what He does with everyone who comes to Him seeking His truth and salvation.  These Jewish people are no different; only the timing.

To view – as many do today – this section of Ezekiel as referring to the Church does tremendous damage to the text.  The Church exists today.  Do you see that God is proving His holiness to the world through the Church?  I don’t.  This is not to say that the invisible Church lacks holiness, because it is holy according to Paul in various places throughout the New Testament (cf. Ephesians 2).

People wrongly believe that the Church needs to be purified today.  No, the Church is pure and it is based solely on the work of Jesus on the cross.  Just as His blood saves me from eternal death by washing me clean, His blood also cleanses each person who trusts in Him.  My sin – past, present, and future – is already forgiven and forgotten.  This does not mean I can be cavalier about my sin.  It means when I sin, I still need to confess it, agreeing with Him that it is in fact, sin.  That sin does not keep me from Him though, nor does it mar my eternal salvation.

Authentic Christians know that we are clean.  He promises that He will not remember our sin, (Isaiah 43:25).  Paul tells us that we are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies (cf. Ephesians 2).  These truths are difficult for us to appreciate, yet they are fact.

Authentic Christians are forgiven, cleansed from all sin, justified, and purified.  The true, invisible Church is made up of authentic Christians.  It is not made up of people who simply go to church, pray, sing hymns, or even study their Bibles.  The true Church consists only of people who have been washed in the blood of Jesus.  Those who merely profess to be Christians, but are not, have no part in Jesus.  They are not His, He does not know them, as they are not part of the true Church.

This is part of the problem today.  People constantly mistake the invisible Church with the visible church.  The visible church consists of people who are authentic believers, as well as those who are professing believers and have never had that true conversion.  They have never been born again, or born from above (John 3).  They may fully believe themselves to be authentic Christians, but without that new birth, they are not.

The world looks at the visible church today and scoffs.  They laugh because of the obvious hypocrisy that is rampant throughout the visible church.  However, this hypocrisy does not extend to the true Church that the Holy Spirit birthed on the day of Pentecost and continues to build.

It is because of the visible church that the world cannot see God.  They laugh and carry on because the visible church has little power to change anyone’s viewpoint.  It is the true Church that has the power to change because the Holy Spirit is building all authentic believers into a body that is fit to become the Bride for Jesus.

The folks who argue that the Church is the subject of Ezekiel 37 are wrong, in my opinion.  They believe then that it is the Church that will bring glory to God by forcing all the nations to recognize Him as God.  This is not happening folks and it is not happening because of the visible church, which is the only thing the world can see.  Because of it, the world is not impressed.

However, if God were to take a nation that He created and judged on many occasions throughout their history, and brought that dead nation back to life, the world would absolutely take notice.  The more God involves Himself in protecting His Land of Israel along with the people of Israel, the more the world will notice.  It doesn’t really matter what people think about Israel today, or the Land over there.  God has declared that the Land is His and for that reason alone, He and He alone will decide what happens to it.

Today, all eyes are on the Middle East and have been for decades.  The world waits with bated breath to learn what is going to happen next in that section of the world.  They are tuned to that frequency and wonder.  Unfortunately, they are tuned to the wrong frequency.  If they would simply open their Bibles and see things from God’s perspective, the entire situation in the Middle East would make far greater sense.

If God was not concerned about Israel, they would have fallen decades ago to enemy forces that surround her.  In fact, would she have actually even become a nation reborn in 1948?  It seems more than highly unlikely.  Yet, people continue to rebel against God’s plans and purposes in the Middle East.  They focus on Israel’s alleged human rights violations, ignoring the fact that God has another purpose in mind completely for what He is accomplishing in the Middle East.

As God’s plan for the Land and the nation of Israel continues to unfold, the world will be forced to notice.  Against all odds, the nation of Israel, though initially overcome by enemy forces in 1967, gained the upper hand and took more land than she had prior to the start of that Six-Day War.  Israel’s enemies were so convinced of their victory that they did not consider the fact that God was with Israel.

Was God with Israel because Jewish people are more loved than non-Jewish?  Not according to what we learn in Ezekiel.  God is very clear regarding the reasons He chose to bring Israel back from the dead, and His reasons have nothing to do with Israel per se, but with Himself.  This is the biggest reason why Israel should be supported.  It is the overarching reason why God does anything He sets His mind to, but with reference to Israel and the Middle East, there is only one reason He does anything.  It is for the sake of His holy Name.  That much is very clear and His Name will be glorified when the world sees what He will is doing and will do in that area of the world.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel gained the victory over her enemies because God is using Israel to gain the glory for Himself.  Since the world is so convinced that Israel has no right to exist in the Middle East, the fact that they won a decisive battle during the Six-Day War made many aware of the fact that something else that was going on there during that time.

Tiny Israel was able to defend herself against enemies more powerful than herself and gained more Land because of it.  How could that happen unless God was trying to prove something through Israel?

You can listen to Fred on his weekly program “Study-Grow-Know” on AM950 KAHI (www.kahi.com, until June 11th).  Starting July 1st, Fred will have his own page on OnePlace.com where his program will continue with new content added weekly.  He is also currently on Live365.com.

Fred has written over 24 books on a variety of theological and doctrinal subjects.  Visit his Web site at:  http://www.studygrowknow.com for more information, to purchase his books (which are also available on Amazon.com), or to donate to his tax-deductible ministry.

Entry filed under: 9/11, alienology, Atheism and religion, Communism, Demonic, dispensationalism, Eastern Mysticism, emergent church, Gun Control, Islam, Islamofascism, israel, Judaism, Life in America, new age movement, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Radical Islam, rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, Satanism, second coming, Sharia Law, Socialism, temple mount, ufology. Tags: god will fulfill his promises with Israel solely for the sake of his name, god will glorify his name through israel, six-dary war of 1967.