Prophecy

Ezekiel 37 Dry Bones Resurrection of the House of Israel

by Mark A. Becker
09/09/26
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Ezekiel 37: Israel’s ‘Dry Bones’ Resurrection

by Mark A. Becker

Since history tends to repeat itself – especially Israeli history – it should come as no surprise that many prophecies in Scripture are blended in nature. With Israel’s continual cycle of rebellion against God and His Word, repentance toward God, and God’s faithfulness in saving Israel – coupled with Israel’s two historical dispersions and their end-time exile in the Great Tribulation – these prophecies often contain elements that can be blended and applied with both near to the prophet and prophetic future end-time fulfillments in view. Ezekiel 37:1-28 is no exception.

For an exhaustive examination of Ezekiel 37, we have broken down the chapter into two separate study articles:

Ezekiel 37: Israel’s ‘Dry Bones’ Resurrection

Ezekiel 37: Israel’s ‘Two Sticks Made One’ Kingdom

As is our custom, we will be studying Ezekiel 37:1-14 verse-by-verse, offering corroborating Scriptures and commentary that will be illustrated by our comprehension of eschatology, in an effort to illuminate the passages for a vividly expounded clarity and an enhanced understanding of what God, through the prophet, is conveying to the reader prophetically.

Underlined Scripture passages are my own emphasis.

Israel’s ‘Dry Bones’ Resurrection Prophecy

God, through Ezekiel, begins His Dry Bones prophecy.

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.” – Ezekiel 37:1-2

Ezekiel had many similar experiences in his prophetic ministry to the Israeli exiles in Babylonian captivity when “the hand of the Lord was upon [him]” and when he was “in the spirit of the Lord,” as he was here (Ezekiel 1:3, 3:14, 8:3, 11:24).

These bones “in the open valley,” as will be revealed, are the bones of the “whole house of Israel.” Yet, as per usual in Bible prophecy, and as we shall see, there are several allusions to other historical events to draw upon that tie in with these dry bones of the house of Israel that Ezekiel saw.

“And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.” – Ezekiel 37:3

This is always a good response when the Lord asks us if we know something, even when we think we may know the answer: “Lord, You know.”

In Ezekiel’s case, he knew that the answer to the question, humanly speaking, was no. Nevertheless, with God all things are possible. Though Ezekiel undoubtedly knew this, I am certain that Ezekiel, looking at these very dry bones in this open valley, was quite perplexed at the vision and what it all could mean. Hence his response, “O Lord God, though knowest.”

Many commentators have rightfully pointed out that there does seem to be a symbolic connection with Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy and Israel’s experience in the Nazi holocaust during World War II with the resulting state of Israel being reestablished in 1948. When one looks at the shocking and ghastly pictures and images that came out of the horrific death camps of the Nazi’s, one cannot help but to see the correlation.

Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy does, however, have much more to convey to the student of the Bible than most probably realize.

“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 37:4-6

The Lord “will cause breath to enter into” the dry bones that, as we shall see, will first acquire “sinews” and “flesh” and “with skin” that will “cover” them and they “shall live.” The order of this prophetic miracle is extremely important.

Most gloriously is that these dry bones “shall know that [the Lord God is] the Lord!”

“So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.” – Ezekiel 37:7-8

Just as the Lord said, when Ezekiel prophesied “the bones came together, bone to bone” with “the sinews and the flesh” coming upon the bones and with “skin” that covered them.

Most notably, “there was no breath [spirit] in them” -- yet.

The Hebrew word for “breath” is 3707 רוּחַ “rûaḥ,” and is defined in varying ways depending on context as Spirit or spirit, wind, breath, mind, vain, empty thing, vigor, courage, temper, anger, impatience, patience, disposition (of various kinds), unaccountable or uncontrollable impulse. In Ezekiel 37 alone, this word is translated in the KJV as spirit (Ezekiel 37:1, 14), breath (Ezekiel 37:5, 6, 8, 9, 10), and wind (three times in Ezekiel 37:9).

Many take this phrase, “but there was no breath in them,” and equate it to Israel coming back into her land as she became a nation again in 1948 without receiving Yeshua as Messiah and thus not acquiring the indwelling Holy Spirit as a united populace. There are no issues with this interpretation as a secondary application, for surely what we have witnessed in modern Israel with her people coming back to national life in a state of unbelief is apparent.

Praise the Lord, however, that all Israel will eventually be saved (Romans 11:26-27)!

Nevertheless, when Ezekiel 37:1-14 is taken together, the contextual juxtapose reveals the primary interpretive application that favors something of even more significance, though Israel coming to faith in Messiah Yeshua is certainly a miracle of God, to be sure.

“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” – Ezekiel 37:9-10

Our first observation is that the Lord says that these bones were of those who had been “slain.” This Hebrew word in the Qal form – 2026 הָרַג “hāraḡ,” meaning to kill, slay, destroy, ruin - indicates that these bones, at least the majority of them, were killed by others. No other people group in history have been killed, slayed, destroyed, and ruined as the people of Israel have. Israelis throughout her national past history and since the days of Jesus Christ up to today have been killed without mercy in numbers that stagger the imagination. Unfortunately, and dreadfully, this loathsome trend will continue to escalate until Christ comes back.

We should certainly keep this in mind going forward.

Fascinatingly, the Hebrew adverb for “exceeding” is 3966 מְאֹד “mᵊ'ōḏ” and it is actually written twice - “mᵊ'ōḏ mᵊ'ōḏ” - in the original text. This adverb, “mᵊ'ōḏ,” is defined as exceeding, exceedingly, much, muchness, very much, greatly, might, force, abundance. Stressing the adverb twice in the text gives the word twice as much force to the magnitude of this “great army” or “host”!

This is the same adverb that described God’s “very good” creation in Genesis 1:31. In The Miraculous Body of Messiah Jesus, we offered this observation regarding God’s “very good” creation:

God’s ‘Very Good’ Creation

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” – Genesis 1:31

The Hebrew for “it was very good” – or “it was good very” – is broken down as follows:

The Hebrew for “[it was] good” is 2896 ט֖וֹב “ṭō·wḇ” and can mean pleasant, agreeable, good, excellent, perfect, beautiful,  best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, fair word, be in favor. In the context of Genesis 1:31, excellent and perfect would be the idea behind this word.

The Hebrew word for “very” is 3966 מְאֹ֑ד “mə·’ōḏ” and can mean exceeding, exceedingly, greatly, very, diligently, especially, far, fast, good, louder and louder. In the context of Genesis 1:31, exceeding and exceedingly is the concept behind the word.  

Therefore, a better rendering in modern-day English might be “exceedingly perfect and excellent” or more literally “perfect and excellent, exceedingly!”    

The Hebrew for “[an] army” is 2428 חַיִל “ḥayil” which means, depending on context, strength, might, ability, efficiency, wealth, force, host, army, etc.

Many have suggested that this “exceedingly great army,” as the KJV renders it, refers to the amazing military Israel has today in modern Israel. Certainly, this can be a secondary allusory application, yet Israel in numbers of service men and women, though incredibly high per capita, are modest in comparison to most of the nations of the world. When it comes to a symbolically resurrected Israel as a vast and great “army” or “host” that will have risen from utter destruction and despair, we should note that from the time of the prophet Ezekiel in Babylonian captivity until the Roman destruction of Judah in 70-135 AD, there was never an Israeli military fighting force that could ever measure up to the description presented by God in these passages.

Nevertheless, since Israel’s reestablishment as a nation in 1948, Israel has often showed her unique prowess through her many military victories and the obvious hand of God moving on her behalf, as we are witnessing even today. However, her national acceptance of Messiah with the subsequent indwelling Holy Spirit has not occurred yet and her military numbers do not align with God’s prophetic concept behind the phrase of the house of Israel being “an exceeding great army” following the dry bones coming to life.

Should we take this passage as only symbolic of today’s Israel when much in the text does not align with what we see currently, both spiritually and physically? There seems to be no reason why we should.

There must be something else in view within Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy with the house of Israel becoming “an exceeding great army” following the breath of life entering their risen dry bones, sinews, flesh, and skin. The main premise, as the text conveys, is that of a very great host of people with “breath in them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army [host].”

We must, therefore, seek a literal interpretation, which is always the best method for any study of Scripture, especially and including Bible prophecy.

Remnant Israel That Survives the Tribulation at the Second Coming

Symbolically speaking, at the Second Coming of Christ, when all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26-27) in receiving Messiah as their Lord and Savior, remnant Israel will have acquired the indwelling Holy Spirit ready to fulfill the promises of God to be the head of the nations in the Messianic Kingdom. Still, their numbers will be quite small and would not qualify as “an exceeding great army [or host].”

Indeed, Israel’s redeemed throughout the world who survive the Tribulation will be a very small remnant from one of the smallest nations on Earth, population wise. As Jesus said…

“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” – Matthew 24:22

And as the Lord, through Isaiah and Zechariah, also said…

“Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” – Isaiah 24:6 [Isaiah 24: Darkest Before the Dawn]

“And it shall come to pass, that in all the land [Earth], saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” – Zechariah 13: 8-9 [Zechariah 13: A Contextual Study of Yeshua and Israel]

So, what is our answer?

The Literal Interpretation

The only future event where Israel will have “an exceeding great army [or host],” will be at the very event we just discussed: The Second Coming of Christ Jesus. But I thought we just dismissed this possibility? We did.

However, now we are taking into account, not only remnant Israel dispersed throughout the world that survives the Tribulation, but every Israeli who will have been literally brought back to life from the dead in their proper orders and will be those that will be included in “the armies of heaven” that come to Earth with Messiah Jesus (Revelation 19:14)!

This would include all of the Old Testament Israeli Saints, Israelites who believed in Messiah Yeshua in the church age (Israeli members of the bride of Christ), and the Israeli Saints who came to faith and died between the rapture and the end of the Tribulation. All of these Israeli Saints that will be resurrected in their proper orders, along with remnant Israel that survive the Tribulation (all of which will be saved by God’s grace through faith in Yeshua at this time), will collectively comprise “an exceeding great army [or host]” of the house of Israel, dedicated to God and their Messiah!

There is just no other time since Ezekiel penned this prophecy where this description by God that speaks of the house of Israel being “an exceeding great army [or host]” will occur, and a literal physical resurrection is essential to literally fulfill the entire prophecy of Israel’s ‘Dry Bones’ Resurrection.

We should examine this passage once more.

When highlighting the literal aspect and connection of a dead body coming to life in this passage, we should note the progression.

“So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.” – Ezekiel 37:7-8

The dead dry bones came together, bone to bone, and sinews and flesh came upon them and skin covered them all, but there was “no breath (or spirit) in them.”

“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” – Ezekiel 37:9-10

These dry bones, which are commonly the last of the human body to disintegrate in the grave, are essentially resurrected without life or the spirit/soul complex within them, represented by the breath. After the dead bodies are miraculously assembled together physically into novel bodies, then the breath – or the spirit/soul complexes – come into the bodies, giving the bodies life. Does this progression sound familiar?

The Resurrection/Rapture of the Bride of Christ

When the dead bodies of those who died in Christ come together and are raised into eternal glory in the resurrection of the body of Christ as taught by Paul in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament), the spirit/soul complex that resided in heaven upon death will be united with the already resurrected body in the resurrection/rapture of the church. Those spirit/soul complexes of those who had died in Christ – the church with both Israeli and Gentile believers – will be brought with our Lord from heaven to be reunited with their waiting resurrected bodies at the resurrection/rapture of the church.

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [dead], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first [the dead bodies will be raised and the spirit/soul complex of each individual will be united with their eternally glorified resurrected body]: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

This same process that will occur for the bride of Christ in the resurrection/rapture of the church – the initial phase of the First Resurrection (Revelation 20:4-5) - will obviously transpire for other believers, Jew and Gentile, in their proper orders, with our Ezekiel 37:1-14 passage focused specifically on the house of Israel’s collective resurrections.

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” – 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

Other Israelites who were not a part of the body of Christ, the church – those Israeli believers in the God of Israel who had died before Messiah came and offered Himself on the cross for the sins of the world, along with those who by God’s grace came to faith in Messiah Yeshua after the resurrection/rapture of the church through the end of the Tribulation and died – will be resurrected in their proper orders to eternal life. Of course, this also applies to Gentile believers as well, but our study is on the house of Israel.

Dreadfully and sorrowfully, many of those believing Israelis who will be resurrected in their proper orders died violent deaths at the hands of those that hated them, as history heartbreakingly confirms and attests. They were killed, slayed, destroyed, and ruined just for being Israelites and God’s beloved chosen people.

The connection between the process of the resurrection of Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy and the only resurrection that is clearly delineated in Scripture – the resurrection/rapture of the bride of Christ - cannot be missed!

The House of Israel in Distress and Hopelessness

“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

“Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.” – Psalm 141:7

God’s message takes a little detour as “the whole house of Israel,” in Ezekiel 37:11, illustrated by these dry bones, cry out in misery and hopelessness from the countless sorrowful occasions of Israel’s sufferings, anguish, exiles, and death at the hands of their wicked enemy perpetrators throughout her history – often due to their own rebellion against the Lord; but thanks be to God that this will one day come to an end with the Lord’s final restoration of His beloved people physically and spiritually.

The initial historical illustration of this verse would be Israel’s distress and hopelessness in Babylonian captivity for 70 years when Ezekiel prophesied. Subsequently, God allowed Judah to return to her homeland by the decree of the Lord’s prophetically named King Cyrus at the conclusion of their 70-year exile (Isaiah 44:28-45:1-7, Ezra 1:1-11).

The secondary historical depiction is the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah at the hands of the Romans in AD 70-135 for their national rejection of Messiah Yeshua, their subsequent dispersion from the Holy Land for 1,900 years into the nations of the world, and culminating in the horrendous atrocities of the holocaust at the hands of the Nazis in World War II when the people of Israel lost all hope and were in dire distress during Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Miraculously, following World War II, in 1948, Israel became a nation once again, with God’s divine fingerprints all over the events of her rebirth.

The future prophetic fulfillment will occur when Israel will be in dreadful distress and utter hopelessness from her final dispersion and exile into the nations of the world, with a remnant of Judah and Jerusalem escaping to the wilderness mountains of Petra, es Sela, and Mt. Seir, resulting from the Abomination of Desolation by the Antichrist at the midway point of the Tribulation, going on and through the Great Tribulation. “The whole house of Israel” who will survive the Great Tribulation will have certainly lost hope and be in distress when the Abomination of Desolation occurs and they flee the Promised Land, while others are sold into slavery (Joel 3:1-8) - “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off [destroyed] for our parts” - until they eventually come by God’s grace through faith in their once-rejected Messiah, just before Yeshua comes back to rescue and deliver them!

Many passages in the Tanakh speak of Messiah’s return to deliver His chosen people and the regathering of Israel back into her Promised Land following the Great Tribulation. Israel’s final restoration will occur after she finds that her “bones are dried, and [her] hope is lost: [and she is] cut off for [her] parts” in the Great Tribulation.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” – Isaiah 60:1

Yet, I also have come to recognize that there may be a hidden mystery within this verse that, perhaps, can be applied to the house of Israel’s resurrection.

All believers will have some kind of temporary spiritual body that will house our spirit/soul complex upon death as we await our resurrection in heaven. One could say that our spirit/soul complex “yearns” to be reunited with our everlasting glorious body; after all we are a triune creation of body, soul, and spirit.

Consider our verse once again with this in mind, and notice our suggested additional interpretive understanding. The Lord said to Ezekiel…

“… Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried [decaying/decayed in the grave], and our hope is lost [to be united with our bodies]: we are cut off for our parts [the members of our physical bodies].”

The whole house of Israel who died in faith, as with Gentile believers as well, will eagerly desire after death, though housed in temporary spiritual bodies in heaven, to be reunited with their own glorified and eternal bodies in their proper resurrection order.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven [or our new eternal glorified resurrected bodies created by the Creator from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ]…” – 2 Corinthians 5:1-2

Israel Resurrected from Their Graves

In the following verses, the Lord returns back and integrates the literal interpretive fulfillment of Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy with the symbolic.

“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, 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.” – Ezekiel 37:12-14

Lest anyone should miss the gravity of the message in this passage, the Lord uses the Hebrew word for “graves” – from 6913 קֶבֶר “qeḇer,” meaning grave, sepulcher, tomb, burying place - four times!

Here in Ezekiel 37:12-14, we get a fuller vivid picture with both aspects of a symbolic yet literal restorative revival of physical remnant Israel following the Lord’s Second Coming and a literal resurrection from the grave of believing Israelites to eternal life with both groups entering into the Messianic Kingdom in the Promised Land.

Symbolic Yet Literal Representation of Israel’s Physical Restoration for the Messianic Millennial Kingdom

The chosen people of God will have lost everything at the midway point of the Tribulation when the Abomination of Desolation occurs. Truly their hopelessness, destitution, and despair – symbolic of their “graves” - will be unequaled during the Great Tribulation. Praise the Lord, however, that those Israelites who survive the Great Tribulation will be physically and spiritually revived and restored by the Lord in the regeneration (Matthew 19:28) – symbolic of rising from their “graves” - to literally live throughout the duration of the Messianic Kingdom, exceeding even the long lives of the pre-Flood world.

Literal Representation of the Resurrection of Israel from the Grave to Eternal Life

God’s Dry Bones prophecy assures Israel – and by extension all believers – that those believing Israelites of every generation who have died will be resurrected to eternal life in their proper order; if a member of the bride of Christ, in the resurrection/rapture of the church, or if they were an Old Testament or Tribulation Saint, at the midway point of the Tribulation or at Christ’s Second Coming, respectively.

As God emphatically proclaimed…

“I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel… I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.”

When God says He “shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live,” He is speaking not only of the Holy Spirit that indwells believers when they are born-again, as remnant Israel will experience at the end of the Tribulation, but of the spirit of life that He imparts from His own Holy Spirit to each person at conception; that is, their being, the ghost in the machine, and the spirit within them that communicates and communes with God - their spirit/soul complex - the inner man, with his or her mind, will, understanding, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory, emotions, passions, conscience, etc.

The essence of who we are originates from God’s Holy Spirit at conception, and each and every one of us, as His crowning creations created in His own image, belong to Him!

“Then shall the dust [the dead body] return to the earth as it was: and the spirit [the spirit within a man or woman] shall return unto God who gave it.” – Ecclesiastes 12:7

Jesus, as the physical embodiment of the triune Godhead, is the Creator of life…

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men… That [He] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” – John 1:3-4, 9

“The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” – 1 Samuel 2:6

Our passage, in truth, is a literal resurrection for “the house of Israel” when God will “open [their] graves” in their proper orders, causing them “to come up out of [their] graves,” putting “[His] spirit in [them], and [they] shall live”! Then, when Messiah comes back to Earth with them in tow, He will “bring [them] into the land of Israel.”

“The house of Israel,” those who have died and are saved, safe, and secure in Messiah, will each take part in different phases of the First Resurrection in the last days, and they will be resurrected. And this is the promise within this passage from the Lord Almighty to His beloved chosen people, Israel!

Paul, when speaking of Israel’s overall national rejection of her Messiah which opened the way for the salvation of the Gentiles in greater numbers and that the Lord will never cast away His chosen people, connects God’s covenantal promises to bring her back to Himself with the resurrection itself in the last days events from the resurrection/rapture of the church through the end of the Tribulation.

“For if the casting away of them [Israel] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” – Romans 11:15

Ezekiel’s Dry Bones Prophecy Synopsis

Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy is a prime example of the numerous multifaceted blended prophecies found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and can best be understood in the following manner.

Near to the Prophet Fulfillment: Ezekiel was prophesying during the early years of Judah’s 70-year captivity in Babylon with the discouraged, downtrodden, and hopeless Jewish people being promised by God to revive them and regather His people back to their homeland. “Graves” in this context would be metaphorical in nature. However, both God’s Spirit within His people in Ezekiel 37:14 and “an exceeding great army [or host]” in Ezekiel 37:10 would not apply.

Future Fulfillment: The Israeli people were revived and many of them gathered back to their homeland following the Roman destruction and dispersion of the people of God for almost 1,900 years when Israel was reestablished May 14, 1948 following the Nazi holocaust. Yet again, however, “graves” in this context would be metaphorical in nature, and both God’s Spirit within His people in Ezekiel 37:14 and “an exceeding great army [or host]” in Ezekiel 37:10 would not apply.

Future Primary Application: Following the attempted genocide and exile of those Israelites who will escape to the wilderness mountains of Petra, es Sela, and Mt. Seir at the Abomination of Desolation (Matthew 24:15-22, Mark 13:14-20, Luke 21:20-24), with other Israelites sold into slavery (Joel 3:1-8), the nation of Israel will be revived and regathered to the Promised Land subsequent to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Second Coming (Matthew 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, Luke 21:27-28). Nevertheless, once again, “graves” in this context would be metaphorical in nature, and “an exceeding great army [or host]” in Ezekiel 37:10 would not apply. However, God’s Spirit within His people in Ezekiel 37:14 will literally be fulfilled (Zechariah 12:10) at the end of the Tribulation when all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:26-27)!

Literal Primary Fulfillment Interpretation: The entire passage, including Israel’s literal resurrection from the grave, should be united with our Future Primary Application. That is, not only will Jesus Christ have His holy angels bring back to the Promised Land the physical remnant of Israel that were scattered all over the world and endured the Great Tribulation in hopelessness and despair, with every surviving Israelite by God’s grace coming to saving faith in Messiah Yeshua and receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit, but with Messiah’s return from heaven will also come with Him every resurrected Israelite who ever died in faith! These would comprise all believing Israelites who died from the Patriarchs onward, along with those Israelites that were members of the bride of Christ in the church age, and including every Israeli Saint who came to faith in Yeshua following the resurrection/rapture of the church through the end of the Tribulation, all of whom will have been resurrected in their proper orders to live, rule, and reign as Priests and Kings with Christ in the Messianic Millennial Kingdom.

There will not be one believing Israelite in all of her history that will not be present at this glorious moment of time!

Taken all together, this is when all “the house of Israel” will have “the breath of life” along with the indwelling Holy Spirit, and will finally become “an exceeding great army [or host],” just as the Lord God promised in Ezekiel 37:1-14!!!

May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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➢    I am still taking questions for the Questions from the Body of Christ series. If you or someone you know has a question pertaining to the Word of God – theology, difficult passages, eschatology, etc. - I would really like to hear from you.

➢    To view my entire catalogue of articles, please visit Mark A. Becker’s Topical Article Catalog or my Home Page on FaithWriters.com.

➢    To be added to our Prophetic Update, please email to [email protected] and ask to be added to our mailing list.