In this chapter of Ezekiel God promises to regather the people of Israel from around the world and bring them back into their own land, “And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD … And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land” (:14, 21). Ezekiel’s prophetic vision of the valley of dry bones represents the scattered Jews and the devastation of the Land of Israel. The Land would become barren because God’s people would be driven from it to live amongst “the heathen” nations (:21). This prophecy therefore reveals the restoration of Israel, no longer scattered, but reunited in an Israeli state, “Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (:12).
The prophecy finds a initial and partial fulfilment under Ezra and Nehemiah, but it will only be fully realised at the end of time when the Messiah sets up His Millennial Reign. The parable of the “two sticks”, speaking of the reuniting of both Israel and Judah as one nation in Israel, has never found complete fulfilment since so many of the Jews remained in Babylon even after the Captivity was over. Therefore this whole chapter concerning the restoration of Israel cannot come to fruition until “David” reigns in Jerusalem, “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” (:24-25). Since the reference cannot be referring to King David who was long dead by the time this prophecy was given, it can only be seen as a fulfilment of God’s promise to David, “Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel” (1 Kings 8:25). We know that the Lord Jesus Christ was a descendant of King David, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David … Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Matthew 1:1, Romans 1:3).
Before Israel’s Messiah can take His rightful place as King there must be both a land called Israel and a people to inhabit it. Though Satan failed to thwart Christ’s first coming as the Saviour of sinners, and the spiritual significance of it, he knows that the Messiah must reign as King in Jerusalem for a thousand years, therefore he has sought to hinder Christ’s Second Coming by destroying the Jews wherever and whenever possible. He hates the Jews and the Land. If he can destroy both then it is impossible for the Lord Jesus Christ to return.
After the destruction of the Land in 70 A.D. by the Romans and the subsequent dispersion of the Jews, Israel has either been desolate or controlled by the Arabs (later Moslems). Throughout the centuries since 70 A.D. Satan has raised up hatred against the Jews wherever they eventually settled. This hatred led to mass destruction of the Jewish people (ethnic cleansing) in all parts of Europe. Almost every nation on earth has a Jewish population that it has persecuted or driven out at some point. Especially in Europe the ill-treatment of Jews was often extreme. Some of the worst atrocities took place with Catholic countries, yet even in Protestant nations the Jews were downtrodden. For almost two thousand years the Jewish people have been displaced, faced crusaders, pogroms, and holocausts, all inspired by the devil to stop Christ’s return to earth.
It is very likely that Satan knew what was about to happen in Israel in 1948: if this is true then the Final Solution of Adolph Hitler was the main reason for World War Two. Though the world saw their own particular nations under threat on the physical level, the devil saw that his kingdom was fast coming to an end. Hitler may have been a premature Antichrist, used by Satan to establish his own 1,000 year Reich (reign). While it is right to remember the Holocaust of the Jews, we should not forget the devilish scheme behind it.
God promised that before the Messiah would come (the second time) that He would raise the Jews from their graves, “Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves” (Ezekiel 37:12-13). Because God’s word cannot fail to come true, it was impossible for the Jewish people or the Land of Israel to completely die out. In this prophecy we see a resurrection of His people and a restoration of their homeland. The intervening years between 70 A.D. and 1948 A.D. the hope of such a regathering was kept alive in their hearts. They would quote the oft used phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” to encourage this hope in each other.
Everything was (Satanically) in place to stop the Jews ever returning to their own land. The Jewish population of the world was greatly reduced and living in fear, the Moslems controlled the Land, and the Land itself had been renamed Palestine. After the second world war, when the Jews asked for a homeland, they were offered Uganda, but such a site would not fulfil God’s perfect will. What the world thought impossible happen in May 1948, the Jewish dream became a reality, and God’s word was proven faithful and true. Against all odds Israel became a nation again, “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” (Ezekiel 37:11). Since then, even against constant opposition, the Jews have been flowing into
Israel from almost every nation on earth, “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither 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” (:21-22).
There remains a final act in this chapter to be completed, that is, the Millennial Reign of the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not come until the moment the “times of the Gentiles” be fulfilled (Luke 21:24). We can be sure that He will come right on time just as with His first advent, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4). The first part of Jesus’ prophecy has come to pass, “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations”, the second part is being fulfilled, “and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles”, the “until” will continue up to the time the Lord comes again, “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”. As soon as these “times” come to an end Jerusalem will once again become “the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2). Then will all Israel walk in the light and knowledge of God, “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God … My tabernacle 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 shall be in the midst of them for evermore” (Ezekiel 37:23, 27-28), then “will all Israel be saved” (Romans 11:25-27).