Ezekiel’s Prophetic ‘Quadfecta’ (Part 2)

Chapter 37

 

1 Kings 11:1-13 records The Lord’s decision to divide the nation of Israel into two nations—His judgment for the noted sins of King Solomon. The Old Testament records several predictions that The Lord would, one day, reverse this division, and rejoin the 12 tribes of Jacob (Israel) as one unified nation. The most vivid of these predictions is in Ezekiel 37. In it, The Lord metaphorically depicts His plan via a vision of a valley of scattered, dry bones that represent Jacob’s scattered diaspora. Obeying The Lord’s progressive commands, the prophet spoke to the bones. They rattled, connected to form complete human skeletons, took on flesh and skin, and finally, received breath. The Lord calls them an exceedingly great army—the whole house of Israel.

 

There are various interpretations of this vision, including it refers to:

 

•  The re-birth of Israel as a nation on May 14, 1948,

•  Israel’s modern army—the Israel Defense Forces (IDF),

•  All deceased Jews who will be resurrected when The Messiah is revealed,

•  Only ‘righteous’ Jews, or

•  All Jews who will inhabit the greatly expanded Israel in the 5th age—the Millennial Reign age.

 

Confusions arise when we read this chapter out of context of (a) the rest of yet-fulfilled Bible prophecies, and (b) an understanding of the remaining 3 ages of history on this current version of Earth. Perhaps in an effort to minimize mis-interpretations, The Lord used another metaphor—two sticks tied together as one—to clarify the meaning of the vision for Ezekiel—and us. That depicted His iterative promise to re-unify the 12 tribes of Israel into one nation, reversing His earlier judgment that divided ancient Israel. 

 

This chapter signifies events in two ages of history—this current 3rd and the pending 5th ages. In vv. 7 and 8, the large group of standing corpses might best represent Israel today—a people who are largely not spiritually alive to The Lord as their Messiah. In vv. 9 and 10, that group becomes alive, representing Israel at the start of The Millennial Reign age. This signifies that, Israel is currently navigating a ‘pregnant pause period’ between these two ages, since, across The Bible, the ‘breath of life’ signifies being spiritually alive to God, through Jesus Christ, The Lord God. Clearly, that does not describe Israel today.

 

In v. 11, The Lord called the assembled, breathing group of people, ‘the whole house of Israel’. It is critical to intuit the accurate meaning of this expression in context of the iterative theme across Bible prophecies. Verse 17 reveals whole nation means unified nation, comprising people from all 12 tribes. No one today can discern those tribes since, for millennia, the Jewish diaspora has spread across every continent, and may have mixed with every people group across the world. Thus, the only assured time v. 17 will be fulfilled, will be at the start of The Millennial Reign age, AFTER The Lord’s promised purging of the apocalypse remnant of Jews worldwide. This purging promise echoes in Isaiah 1:25-27, Ezekiel 20:34-38, Amos 9:9-10, Zephaniah 3:8-13, Zechariah 13:8-9, and Malachi 3:2-3. Only Zechariah gives us insight into the quantitative aspect. Only a third will embrace The Lord as Messiah, and be qualified to enter into and enjoy the Millennial Reign age. I imagine many of those who will be disqualified, may will have received the mark of the beast on their bodies during the reign of the anti-Christ man. In vv. 24-25, The Lord promised to appoint King David to rule over the purged Jewish remnant. ^{1, 2}

 

With the above insights, it is safe to conclude:

 

•  The Lord’s strategic plan for humanity, and especially for all Jews, is like puzzle pieces’ packaged and preserved in 66 books of The Bible. Only by The Holy Spirit guiding The Mind of Christ within us, are we able to perceive, appreciate, and then align our lives and expectations to His whole plan.

•  From Heaven’s perspective, what happened in May 1948, was a seed sown—a distant pre-cursor towards general fulfillment of numerous regathering prophecies across The Bible, AND the eternal fulfilment of Exodus 19:6. 

•  History confirms each historical regathering of Jews to the promised land, was preceded by various types of purging. This purging pattern will reach its pen-ultimate climax just prior to the start of The Millennial Reign age, ensuring only post-apocalypse Jews who will embrace Jesus as Messiah will enjoy that age. Its ultimate climax will be incorporated in the final resurrection/rapture event depicted in Revelation 20:11-15. ³

 

Stay tuned for Part 3

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¹ Zephaniah 3:8-13 and Zechariah 13:8-9 reveal a pattern in which The Lord first judges secular people and nations, then He judges Jacob’s remnant. This first happened when He judged Egypt before the exodus, and later, He began to judge Jacob’s descendants in the wilderness. He will repeat that same sequence when He will judge all nations during the apocalypse, and afterward, He will judge all Jews who will have survived the apocalypse. The Lord is remarkably consistent!

² Most versions of The Bible mention David being appointed forever as a king over righteous Jews. The Young’s Literal Version uses the phrase, unto to the age—i.e., until the forever age. See: Forever or Until Forever? (Poem). Also, The Bible reveals David, along with all other 1st and 2nd ages saints, was resurrected with Jesus. Thus, he is currently an immortal being, and will return with The Lord and ALL of His immortal saints from across the first 4 ages of history. See: Missed Insights from Matthew (Series).

³ See: Pre-entry Purging Patterns (Series), Why May 1948 (Series), and Group Raptures – Types and Timings (Part 2).

The Sin→War Connection (Poem)

Across the world, we HATE war, but LOVE sin!

Yet we refuse to learn why wars upend!

Between those two, Heaven draws a straight line.

Yet its ‘dot-connecting Word’, we malign.

We seek higher education levels,

To achieve career success and laurels. 

Yet choose to not learn what really matters—

Those things on which our Creator majors.

Why May 1948? (Part 1)

See the series here

 

Have you wondered why The Lord allowed the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, long before His promised Millennial Reign? He had allowed the land, iteratively, ‘to vomit out’ (i.e., exile) Jacob’s descendants, just as He had instructed Moses to warn, if they fell into persistent sinfulness. They largely did, wanting to be, not special, but ‘just like everybody else’. Thus, out of their lands, they were vomited, iteratively. ¹

-then-the World Exile (2,670 years)

About 390 years after ancient Israel had been split into 2 nations (Israel--10 northern tribes; and Judah--2 southern tribes), The Lord severely judged the northern nation for their persistent, gross sinfulness. He dispatched Assyria to attack it repeatedly, and finally, to conquer and enslave its people. For millennia, they became ‘the 10 lost tribes of Israel’, scattered across the world. This was the longest of all the exiles experienced by Jacob’s descendants. What might that spiritually signify to you?

Why May 1948? (Part 2)

See the series here

 

In Missed Insights about Genesis 12:3 (Series), I note the majority of The Lord’s MASSIVE land grant to Abram and his descendants, has since been occupied, not by Jacob’s descendants, but by the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s first son. Jacob’s descendants were only able to capture a sliver of that massive land grant. Moreover, because of their lifestyles, The Lord allowed even that sliver of land to ‘vomit’ them out, iteratively, into protracted periods of exile. Rather than being His special, separated (i.e,, holy) people, they wanted to ‘be with, and just like everybody else’. Thus, The Lord allowed them to live their dream. Biblical and secular history attest their ’fall from His Grace’, created patterned opportunities for satan’s crew to persecute and oppress them via the reactions they would receive from people whom they wanted to be among and alike.

Why May 1948 (Part 3)

See the series here

 

Land Math

The following table summarizes the ‘yo-yo’ relationship Jacob’s descendants had with the sliver of the massive covenant land they and their ancestors had conquered from antiquity-to-today. 

Jacob’s descendants were only allowed to enjoy living in the land about 20 percent of the time from when Jacob was renamed Israel, to this current year, 2026. They spent about 80 percent of those 5,000+ years in various exiles, AWAY from the land because of their gross sinfulness—rejecting The Lord’s covenant lifestyles requirement. This 80/20 ratio reveals being 'in' the land was historically a rare privilege, presumably reserved for times of testing for new generations. It might also signify the severity of The Lord’s angst over their lifestyle choices.

Grace@Work!

See the Grace So Amazing (Series) here

Amazing Grace, oh, how SWEET the sound,

When God’s Grace abounds to me.
But when to my foes, His Grace abounds,

It is not amazing to me!

 

Does that pretty much summarize how you feel about The Lord’s amazing Grace? If so, don’t feel bad. It’s in our re-programmed DNA. You see, Adam and Eve were created perfectly to understand and appreciate The Lord’s Grace, and to exercise their FREE WILL about it. So were satan and every holy angel who rebelled against The Lord, and became devils and demons on Earth. Using the ‘free will avenue’, they tempted Eve, who nudged Adam to join their rebellion. You know ‘the rest of that story’— sin corrupted both the physical and spiritual nature of Adam and Eve—and all their seed, including us. That’s why the above stanza rhymes so clearly to us. ¹

A Failure to Imagine (Part 3)

See the series here

• Part 1 noted the church may be losing ground, spiritually, with substantial portions of The Lord’s 3rd age harvest already loss, and more may be at risk of loss.
• Part 2 noted that each age has stages and requires strategic adjustment.
• Therefore, the pertinent question is: how should believers think differently in the late-stage of this current age?

Imagine with me: 

 

You have just been given a remarkable, coveted reward for something extremely positive that you personally initiated, with great potential to expand beyond your and others’ wildest imaginations. But before hunkering down for the intense work and glory of the next stage, you decide to take a well-deserved, greatly extended VACATION! You selected a new destination, and have allowed yourself 6+ months to prepare. How would you prepare?

How much time, energy and other resources would you spend on:

IsraRan? (Part 2)

 See the series here

Let’s continue to consider whether the eastern border of the predicted greatly expanded Israel during The Millennial Reign age—the 5th age of our history, might include a substantial portion of Iran. (See: Human History Ages (Series)) Part 1 notes two opinions among Bible scholars on this matter. One view limits the borders to an invisible line up to/stopping at the Euphrates River. Another view incorporates the entire eastern Euphrates River basin, not just the western basin (drainage area). The eastern basin  includes a substantial portion of south-western Iran.

 

Which Lands Affected?

 

It is worth understanding which current-day land areas might be included in such a vast expansion of the millennial Israel. ChatGPT estimates the following:

Nations’ Insurance, Impudence, Imprudence Trap

The Iran war may illustrate this pattern!

 

Like individuals and companies, nations seek and establish various insurance mechanisms against potential losses and dangers. Thus, they organize militaries, building alliances, and devise elaborate governance strategies and tactics intended to guarantee their national security against external and internal attacks on their critical sectors. Such actions are common, and appear prudent to governments. Yet history repeatedly shows darker, flexible patterns, both within and between nations:

  • Nation’s insurance schemes may breed impudence that eventually produces imprudence.
  • Their Impudence may trigger insurance schemes that culminate in imprudent arrangements.

  • Their imprudence may provoke impudence (both internally and externally), that triggers demands for various types of insurance. ¹

The Biblical Pattern

A Failure to Imagine (Part 2)

See the series here

My reference to ‘majoring on the minors’ in Part 1 in no way intends to minimize the critical importance of evangelization. Rather, it is a call to imagine the transitions or stages within the ages of human history, and to strategically adjust and adapt our efforts accordingly. History proves global evangelization may well have been Heaven’s key strategic rationale for allowing the U.S. to rise to global power so rapidly and completely! But that task was only achieved well into this current 3rd age of human history, in the decades after the U.K. had 'passed the global hegemon baton' to the U.S. For more on this, see: Like Parent, Like Child (Series).

What might this suggest about how each age of human history might unfold? And what happens if we fail to imagine how those ages unfold?