CAN THESE BONES LIVE?

Part XXII

The Prophetic Sequence

by

Doug Krieger

“And He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 

“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God:  ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

“Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.  I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.  Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the Lord’” (Ezekiel 37:11-14).

We have entered into the greatest prophetic enigma of our time – CAN THESE BONES LIVE?  There is nothing, absolutely nothing as potently prophetic in its fulfillment, as glaring in its materiality, as stupefying to the historical senses as the rebirth of the modern State of Israel – and, I hasten to add – as disconcerting to both sinner and saint as the regathering of these people derisively or sanctimoniously entitled THE JEWS.  Opinions abound on this topic, to be sure . . .

THE DIASPORA – considered by Jew and Gentile alike a veritable “hissing” (Jeremiah 25:9, 18; 29:18) among the nations – outcasts – wandering throughout the world -  apparently accursed by Roman and religionist – vanquished, disbursed, alienated, despised, forsaken, bearing in their souls and bodies the appearance of generational suffering through persecution, blood-guilt, ghettoes, pogroms, inquisitions, holocaust and interminable war with the nations now gathered about her – THE JEWS defy common reason for their persistence, rational justification for their creation, and despite for their literal defiance – they are before the Gentile nations an affront, a contradiction, an anachronism and embarrassment - Jerusalem has become a “cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem . . . I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH are gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:2-3).

The people who invented CHUTZPAH epitomize its very meaning!  Today’s democracies recoil at Israel’s definition of democracy and accuse her of rank apartheid.  The nations of the world hold her accountable for the suffering of her Arab minorities; endlessly call for her censorship; reel in disgust at her contrivance as America’s lackey—not only in the Middle East, but throughout the world as Uncle Sam’s “gun for hire”—and accuse her of being the premiere obstacle for peace in the Middle East. 

“Israel’s superiority complex through any and all claims to CHOSENNESS – compounded by so-called Biblical mandate – only proves their utter contempt for multicultural acceptance, respect, and equity.  In sum:  THE JEWS ARE HYPOCRITES OF THE WORST ORDER!” . . . so damning are the charges against this people!

“How dare you insinuate that your God could gather such a disgusting race of contemptible ‘Christ killers’ while calling them the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy”—and don’t think for one moment that certain professing Christians and non-professing do not share in this defamation!  No, not for one moment!

“Don’t you realize that just because we Christians renounce the holocaust and confirm God’s ancient relationship with His ‘covenant people’ that this does NOT necessarily comport with Israeli aggression?  Again, how dare you imbibed in the absurdities of ‘blessing Israel’ at the expense of JUSTICE in the Middle East!  To the contrary—you who claim the eternal covenants of the Almighty demand an ever-expanding Zionist claim to this land . . . while the whole earth despises this impractical notion—you are shamefully and ignorantly engaged in a debilitating pursuit so esoteric, arrogant and extreme that you are about to bring down the wrath of the heathen upon every believer in Jesus!”

Excessive conjecture?  Not so—and far worse can be found among pundit and prophet throughout the globe.  The thought:  A wholly secularized, urbane, socialized specimen of rejection—aside from a smattering of eccentric religionists (especially the Ultra Orthodox)—now inhabit the Holy Land . . . and you call them God’s chosen?  Chosen for what?  Besides, most Jews that you know could care less about being chosen—to the contrary, they would just as soon that they weren’t!  This cultural “Larry-King-type-Jew” could care less about the “trite traditions” of Judah and would just as well prefer eating matzo balls in Manhattan!

And, what is even more preposterous and repugnant in the minds of some is the insane notion that Jews should rebuild their temple!  This harbinger of Armageddon is the last thing on earth welcomed by humankind and bespeaks of a spurious, even dangerous interpretation thankfully isolated amongst Christian fundamentalists and diseased thinking among a remnant of radical Jews and rank Zionist nationalists!  Even so, most upheavals rarely are caused by clear thinking masses but by a few committed folk—the crazies of the planet.

Why, let’s resuscitate Evangelist Oral Robert’s old revival tent next to the Grand Mosque of Mecca—now that’d be a blow for religious tolerance, if there ever were one.  Talk about a comparative handful of Islamic suicide bombers versus the frightening thought of myriads of Whirling Dervishes crazed out of their brains hurtling their bodies against the retaining walls of such a Third Temple!

Then to contemplate the terminus illogical that doing all of this “in the name of God” leads the whole lot of us into a raging conflagration:  GOG-MAGOG!  This has to be someone’s worst nightmare – a religious one at that. 

It is virtually impossible to think in benignly blatant terms and restrained hyperbole—when pondering the imponderable Jew – everything becomes oxymoronic to the uttermost.  Does anything fit within the confines of these consternations? 

Alas!  Either that sliver affixed to the eastern edge of the Mediterranean is a fluke of history, an accident of historic miscalculation . . . the monstrosity of Western invention or the grandiose scheme of Divine intervention into the affairs of humankind.  The parameters of Israel’s materiality leave us in a most disquieting perplexity—either one places both feet in heaven or hell but not one in heaven and hell!  Middle ground does not exist in the Middle East.  You’re either for us or against us, regardless if you wish to be for us or against us!  Moderates and Magog don’t even rhyme.  A skunkupine (a cross between a skunk and a porcupine) may have been seen by someone at the Brookings Institute but I can assure you it, like the jackalopes of Wyoming, do not exist except in the rarified diplomatic councils of the CFR, UN and most probably the EU – most of whom have lost their sense of smell and feeling.

The aforementioned derogations and insults contrived in the fertile imaginations of worldly masses against what is perceived as the recalcitrant and enigmatic Jew are only matched by nations in proximity—for if Israel should be “wiped off the map” as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggests – need we conjecture the likelihood of the skunkupine any further?

“Today, it has been proved that the Zionists are not opposed only to Islam and the Muslims.  They are opposed to humanity as a whole.  They want to dominate the entire world.  They would even sacrifice the Western regimes for their own sake.  I have said it in Tehran, and I say it again here—Stop supporting these corrupt people. …The rage of the Muslim peoples may soon reach the point of explosion.”  (July 13, 2006, Iranian News Channel)

“He (Ahmadinejad) also warned the ‘great powers’ against supporting the ‘crimes of the Zionist regime’ [since] the continuation of these crimes and of the support [for them] will fan the flames of Muslim rage, which will annihilate them all.”  (July 14, 2006, Iranian News Channel )

“They have no boundaries, limits or taboos when it comes to killing human beings.  Who are they?  Where did they come from? Are they human beings?  ‘They are like cattle, nay, more misguided.’ A bunch of bloodthirsty barbarians.  Next to them, all the criminals of the world seem righteous.” (August 3, 2006. Iranian News Channel)

This collage of contagion parallels the Hitlerian diatribes against the Jews of Europe – Alas!  The annihilations of Haman live!   Why are these – in the main – having escaped the gas chambers and furnaces of Hitler’s nightmare – escapees from the north and from the uttermost parts of the globe – held in such contempt, surrounded by such implacable hatred, jealousy, envy and despite?     

What drives the nations of the earth – from pre and post-Christian Europe to the calamities of Islamic revolution throughout the 10/40 corridor – to so hate this tortured people in their search for survival awash in a sea of endless hostility?  Here is angst which can only be described as supernaturally induced, convoluted in its logic, demonic in its depth, outrageous in its origins . . .

“Why do the Gentiles rage and the people plot a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Messiah, saying ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.’  He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision” (Psalm 2:1-4).

The theme of this ANOINTED – this Messiah – and the people over whom He shall rule are so closely identified in Hebrew literature and Scripture – especially apocalyptic – that the two are symbiotically inseparable:  Without the Messiah, there is no people – without the people, no Messiah.

“Thus says the Lord God:  ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations (i.e., “the stick of Joseph” – the ten tribes of the north or Israel; and “the stick of Judah” – the two tribes of the “south” – Judah and Benjamin – Ezekiel 37:19), nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again . . . then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.  David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.  Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever” (Ezekiel 37:21-22, 23b, 24-25)

And, to substantiate this “messianic scenario” A COVENANT OF PEACE will be established:

“Moreover I will make (lit. cut) a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.  My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore”’ (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

There you have it:  I will be their God; they shall be My people; I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore; they will dwell in the land I promised them and My servant David shall be their prince forever!

That’s awfully literal – and, though many would torture these Scriptures through hyperbolic symbolism – disenfranchising these much-maligned children of Israel – even to the point of declaring THE JEWS as a bastardized race of mongrels who’ve stolen the true “Israel of God” banner by mingling in their DNA with the nations round about – will not delimit the claim of today’s Israelites who, in point of fact, continue to enrage the nations and are incessantly reminded of their tortured past as the offscouring and outcasts of the earth—and this despite their obvious and abundant contributions to humanity!

And while they are so stereotyped and stigmatized – especially condemned for their tenacious declarations of chosenness and of their Biblical claims to Messianic prominence – especially relative to the Gentile nations who will THROUGH ISRAEL “know that I the Lord sanctify Israel” – this does not compute with the immediate vision of Ezekiel of a Valley of Dry Bones which were VERY DRY (Ezekiel 37:2).

A goodly number of clear-thinking Protestants, evangelicals, Catholics and some Orthodox Christians believe in “the hope of Israel” and some type of conclusion involving Israel of the flesh at the close of this age; however, they are appalled at how VERY DRY these bones really are.  Friend – THEY ARE VERY DRY!  And, they are bones – like as in NO LIFE IN THEM!  So, God Almighty asks us all:  CAN THESE BONES LIVE?  And in frustration you, like Ezekiel, may respond:  “O Lord God, You know!” That’s what I call prophetic diplomacy – a sort of “God only knows” cop out, though most probably Ezekiel really didn’t know.

Notwithstanding the actions of “Secular Zionism”:  “Surely, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.  I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6).

And that’s what constitutes Israel as a member of the TWO WITNESSES within the confines of the 70th Week of Daniel:  THE TWO OLIVE TREES (Israel) and THE TWO LAMPSTANDS (the Church).  You say, “Not so, brother – Israel is in total unbelief” (i.e., they “don’t believe in Jesus”) – “so how can they be one of the Two Witnesses?” 

Listen how Israel is a WITNESS to the nations of Him Who keeps covenant forevermore:

“So I scattered them among the nations (Gentiles), and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.  When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’  ‘But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.  Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God:  ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.  And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.  For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.  Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.  Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:19-28).

It is abundantly clear that through these people scattered among the Gentiles – the nations – that He will, for His own Name sake, regather them into their land of promise; that He will cleanse them; that He will enliven their lifeless frame and place His Divine Spirit within them and cause them to walk in His statutes and literally do them.  This is a DIVINE INITIATIVE!  Frankly, Israel’s unbelief and VERY DRY condition enables the Almighty to all the more display His glory and majesty in doing the impossible!

This is not something fabricated by the “secular Jew” who could care less about divine matters, except for its “cultural significance.”  The struggle between the religious and secular in Israel today is endless, but most certainly, any concept of a Messiah yet to come, is exceedingly limited to the most religious and then void of any and all claims to divinity in that God amongst the Jews would never condescend to such an expression.

That said, it is not the prerogative of the modern-day Israelite or, for that matter, Jews still “scattered among the nations” to refrain from being a “light to the Gentiles” – for the passages found in Isaiah (42, 49, 53, 54, 60, 61, 62, 66) are so interwoven through the poetic pen under divine inspiration as to purposefully blur the people of Israel with the suffering servant, the light to the Gentiles as both the people and the prince who is to come as the Redeemer of Israel.  When the enraged nations on that day gather against Jerusalem they “know not” that they “gather against the Lord and against His Messiah!”

How can one read the pages of Isaiah 60-66 and not see that the salvation afforded Israel is altogether bound up in the Messiah and their identification with their Deliverer is so intertwined with their own destiny and identification that the two have become inseparable!

It is for these reasons that Israel’s testimony to the Gentiles is unequivocal.  Their incredible, even Herculean struggle to regather in the midst of Holocaust or to abandon the prosperity of friendly and affluent nations, and then to survive and thrive in a sea of animosity, rancor and hatred, provides the divine suspicion that the aforementioned fulfillments of the prophets have been confirmed, and confirmed with clamor and overt declaration.

Therefore, from this vantage the Almighty has secured before the Gentile World Powers the unmistakable imprint of His Own incursions into the final affairs of these same powers whose image King Nebuchadnezzar saw upon the Plains of Shinar.  In particular it is that Colossus of Gentile Might which evolved from the head of gold (Babylon), to the arms of silver (Persia) to the mid-section of brass (Greece), to the legs of iron (Rome); and finally to the feet of iron and clay (the final expression of all Gentile World Power in the Latter Days) which will display its wrath and fury against the Almighty’s WITNESS OF ISRAEL – Israel’s very existence declares the Almighty’s incursion into the kingdoms of this world – her materiality defies the Image; is an affront to the Great City, Babylon; and, heralds the Messianic Kingdom of the world to come.

Yes, very dry – but altogether positioned to inflict the most fatal blow against the Kosmokrator – the “Ruler of this World”. 

We have discussed how that the pending and final edition to the Arab-Israeli War and its ultimate seven-fold climax in the Oracle of Damascus will be the precursor to the infamous Treaty with Hell and Death – wherein the Prince of the Covenant shall with subterfuge and cunning orchestrate the enforcement of an already preexisting defense pact with Israel to guarantee their security “once and for all.”  Likewise, and it seems altogether fitting because of the archetype of Antiochus IV, that this prototype of the Antichrist to come, the Prince of the Covenant, would encourage the rebuilding of the sanctuary in troublesome times.  Thus, the commencement of Daniel’s 70th Week will have ensued. 

Notwithstanding this falsehood, this spurious peace and commencement to the unveiling of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, the Lawless One – the initial stirrings, yea outpourings of spiritual revivals shall sweep the immediate nations surrounding Israel – “In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.  He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; he will not respect what his fingers have made, nor the wooden images nor the incense altars” (Isaiah 17:7-8).  Yes, prior to the Latter Day Prince of the Covenant’s deceit, shall the Son of Man thrust in His sickle to reap earth’s final harvest:

“And I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud sat One like the son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.   And another angel came out of the temple; crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on he cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’  So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped” (Revelation 14:14-16).

Undoubtedly, Israel’s survival from the climax of “the war” mentioned in Daniel 9:26b (“till the end of the war”) will be an immense opportunity and witness to the Gentiles – multitudes will be reaped into the Kingdom.

The TWO WITNESSES – and our focus is upon Israel, but with the Church’s fervent testimony in parallel – will, by the Spirit of God, unleash the most awesome and powerful testimony the world has ever witnessed.  This will precipitate an additional struggle – no doubt inspired with the principalities and powers of Gog and Magog to descend upon Israel in all their fury—for the aforementioned Scriptures recorded and recited in Ezekiel 34-37 now find Israel “in the land” and vulnerable for an attack, for they will “dwell in unwalled villages” at the time of Gog-Magog’s assault.

Once again, Israel is miraculously delivered:

“And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands.  Then they shall know that I am the Lord.  So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore.  Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:6-7).

Again, “Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel” – does not this speak of revival and awareness of the Almighty’s dealings and intervention?  Absolutely!

The Gog-Magog conflagration of Ezekiel 38:1-39:16 is not the conflict spoken of in Zechariah 9 and Isaiah 17-18 (i.e., the Oracle or Burden of Damascus); nor is Ezekiel 39:17-20 speaking of the Gog-Magog War but of the final conflict itself:  The Battle of Armageddon and the final judgment of the Almighty (Revelation 14:17-20; 19:17-21) against the political forces of the Great City—please read these aforementioned Scriptures and note their striking comparisons.

Hence, three conflicts:  The Burden of Damascus – and subsequent revival; the Gog-Magog War – and subsequent revival; and the Battle of Armageddon – a singular display of divine retribution meted out AFTER Revelation 14:14-16 and the final reaping of the harvest by the Son of Man BEFORE that conflict. These verses in Revelation 14:14-16 not only speak of final revival during the 70th Week of Daniel but of RAPTURE and deliverance prior to the Wrath of the Lamb – the Wrath of God (Revelation 14:19) and before the “supper of the Great God” (Revelation 19:17) or as Ezekiel terms it:  My sacrificial meal (Ezekiel 39:17).

The “clothing in sackcloth” by the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:3) for one-thousand two hundred and sixty days is a divine call to repentance and is intimately connected to the aforementioned revivals. 

The contrast between light and darkness at the close of this age – coupled with insidious deception – will be staggering.  Israel, a Witness to the Nations, and the Church, the Witness to Principalities and Powers in heavenly places – and both determined under the Unction of the Holy One in calling all to repentance and faith in undefiled commitment to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

If you look at the VERY DRY BONES you will not survive your skepticism and disbelief – but if you look to Him Whose breath – Whose Spirit – shall enliven the regathered of Israel – then, think it not a strange thing that the God of Resurrection is still in the business of doing just that!

Israel’s preparation in and of itself is a Witness to the Gentiles – her ingathering – even her disbelief – why?  Because her survival from the “end of the war” – from the Gog-Magog conflagration and even her time of “Jacob’s Trouble” (Daniel 12:1) - her persecution, along with that of the Church (for “the dragon was enraged with the woman; and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God (Israel) and have the testimony of Jesus (the Church)” – Revelation 12:17) – and her miraculous preservation as the Woman of Revelation 12:14-16 (inclusive of both Israel and the Church) – both clearly testify to Israel’s preparation in the coming of Messiah and ipso facto overtly testify to the Gentile World Powers that the reign of the Anti-Christ/Beast is challenged and ultimately destroyed!

Some have inquired whether or not there are signs of spiritual awakening among the Jews of Israel?  Perhaps this is a sign of the times as well – the “budding of the fig tree?”  There is in Israel today – and I speak from experience – a most remarkable awakening among certain Israeli Jews who view their return to Israel as a fulfillment of the prophets and are preparing themselves for the coming of the Messiah – and, as well, preparing their hearts before the Almighty for the End of Days.  These, I believe, are signs of true revival and blessings for the nations – precursors to Joel’s visions of mass revival and awakening throughout the earth.

We of the household of faith are being called forth, even now, in this, the Church’s most prophetic hour—just as Israel has and is being called to stand on that day as testimony to the unfaltering love and mercy of our Father.

Therefore . . .

“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:  ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’  Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable . . . now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! . . . for if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:26-29, 12, 15).

Indeed, for the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout – all eyes shall see Him – and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and survive shall be raptured with them in the cloud – this is life from the dead, this is the resurrection, and all Israel shall be saved!  (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Luke 21:25-28; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 11:11-13; Romans 11:26).

Yes, Lord, You know these bones can live . . .