Israel's Future, Pt. 2

July 8th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Ezekiel 37:5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, “Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.”

Illustrating His promise to Israel through Ezekiel in chapter 36, God showed Ezekiel in chapter 37 a valley full of dead, dry bones—bodies of the fallen Israelites. Having just revealed that Israel would be restored to her land in blessing under the leadership of her King, God reveals her current state: dead in sins and trespasses (cf. Eph. 2:1-5). As a nation, Israel was “dead”—expunged from her land, deprived of her king, and torn from her temple. God therefore gave her two signs (37:1-14 & vv. 15-28) through Ezekiel to illustrate her future restoration.

In Ezekiel 37:1-14, God led Ezekiel into a valley that was full of dry bones, telling him “These bones are the whole house of Israel” (v. 11), depicting the attitude of the Israelites at that time, for they claimed, “Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.” God then directed Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry, dead bones and proclaim that they would one day rise from their deadness and be vibrant as God’s people, causing them to “know that [Yahweh] is God” (v. 6). Ezekiel did as he was told, then he watched the dry bones come together with sinews, skin, and eventually breath. The formerly dry bones of the dead “came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (37:10). Then to this great army that stood before him, Yahweh commanded Ezekiel to speak to them, saying,

Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done it (37:12-14).

Though Israel’s condition at that time, dead to the world and without hope in the aftermath of their Babylonian exile, gave them no hope of restoration, God reinforced His commitment to do as He had promised—dating all the way back to His covenant with Abraham. But they needed to understand that their restoration depended on God alone. Yet the promise of God is not simply a physical restoration; it will be a spiritual renewal. That God will put His Spirit in Israel symbolized the Holy Spirit breathed into them—the new covenant promise (cf. 36:24-28). Notably, the Israelites living in Palestine today are not the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. That fulfillment is yet future, when God regathers believing Israelites to the land (Jer. 31:33; 33:14-16), when Christ returns to establish His kingdom (cf. Matt. 24:30-31; Rev. 19:5-21).

In Ezekiel 37:15-28, God grants Israel a second sign to visualize her future restoration—two sticks coming together as one in God’s hand. Following King Solomon’s death in 931 BC, the nation split—Israel to the north (sometimes referred to as Ephraim, the son of Joseph) and Judah to the south. Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria in 722 BC; Judah was taken into exile by Babylon in 597 and 586 BC. Yet these two nations would come together again as one, and God’s “servant David will be king over them… they will have one shepherd; and they will walk in [Yahweh’s] ordinances and keep [Yahweh’s] statutes and observe them” (37:24).

What will happen to Israel then? Ezekiel 37:25-27 says, “You will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Again it can be seen in v. 28 why God will do as He promised, for then “the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever” (v. 28). Clearly, this has yet to be fulfilled, for God is not yet recognized by Israel through Jesus Christ (their Messiah), and His sanctuary is not yet in Israel’s midst.

Food For Thought
Strange how some Bible students interpret these passages, saying that God has no plan for the nation of Israel—that every mention of Israel is really just a reference to Christ’s Church or somehow fulfilled spiritually in Christ. Strange how these interpreters interpret some passages in the Bible literally but arbitrarily interpret OT prophecies about Israel in a spiritual, non-literal sense. Truth is, God could not have made Himself more clear in what He promised to Israel as a literal nation and how He will fulfill those promises to the literal nation of Israel when they one day receive Jesus as their Messiah. For us today, this means that we cannot be anti-Semite, for God has an eternal plan for Jews, for Israel. We would do well to pray for their restoration and salvation, all the while setting ourselves against all those who oppose Israel. After all, Israel is God’s chosen people—the nation that gave us our Savior, Lord, and Messiah—Jesus.