PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 266

March 10, 2006

WHERE ISRAEL HAS BEEN IN PROPHECY! Part 2

WHERE JEWS AND GENTILES ARE AT PRESENT!

WHERE BOTH ARE HEADING IN PROPHECY!

I Closed Part 1 of this series with the following message: “Lord willing, in Part 2 we will begin to describe these body building stages that has led us to the present situation in Israel, described in Ezekiel 37:9,10.”

Ezekiel 37:9,10 – 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. [10] 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.

SIZE OF THE ISRAELI ARMED FORCES:

Army: 1.1 Million

State Armed Police: 400,000

Federal Security: 196,000

Border Security Force: 174,000

Central Reserve Police Force: 160,000

Air Force: 150,000

Navy and Coast Guard: 55,000

Home Guard: 63,000

Foreign: 118,000

Now, beginning Part 2!

When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “The Jewish Graveyard at Newport,” he concluded it with these lines:

“But ah! What once has been shall be no more! The groaning earth in travail and in pain brings forth its races, but does not restore, And the dead nations never rise again.”

Longfellow penned these words in 1852, at a time when it seemed impossible that the dead nation of Israel could ever rise again. Little did Longfellow realize that among the lifeless Jews scattered around the world there was to be thrown the eternal spark of life. It was the spark of rebirth kindled by the message of Theodor Herzl in 1896 – the message of “The Jewish State.” For more than 1800 years the chosen people of God, the dead nation of Israel, wandered as forsaken corpses in the great wilderness of the Gentile nations. But the same God, who allowed this punishment of a rejecting nation to occur, has now caused a dead nation to be resurrected from its Gentile graveyard. Longfellow was wrong; God has lifted up a scattered corpse into a living nation – the risen nation of Israel. When the Great Tribulation Period begins on this planet, both unbelieving Jew and Gentile will personally feel the wrath of Almighty God.

We closed Part 1 with Ezekiel 37:5, where he writes: “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:” This verse gives a preview of what God is going to do in the verses which follow. He is going to transform these dead bones into a living nation of flesh, blood, and finally breath. It is not to be done instantly, but rather in a series of stages, as one would perform in building a human body over a skeleton frame.

Verse 6 of Ezekiel 37 describes this building of a living human body (Israel) over her dead bones: “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.” “I will lay sinews upon you” refers to those tissues (such as nerve tissue) immediately touching the bones. “And will bring up flesh upon you” pictures all that exists between sinew and skin. “And cover you with skin” portrays the dermis, epidermis, and general structure we identify as skin. “And put breath in you” is a description of the process by which physical (not spiritual) life continues. After God brings a skeleton together, then covers it with a body, He puts breath in it for physical life among the Gentile nations of the world: “And put breath in you.” This is not the spiritual rebirth of Israel. This was her recognition of being a living physical nation by most of the Gentile nations. Her spiritual rebirth does not occur until “ye shall know that I am the LORD” comes to pass. This is the spiritual rebirth of the nation in that it follows her physical birth in time. It is the last link in a natural chain of nation rebuilding, which is characterized by the chronological sequence of bone, sinew, flesh, breath, physical life, and finally spiritual reconciliation with her God. This chronological sequence, prophesied some 2600 years ago, began in 1896, and is still continuing.

Verse 7 marks the beginning of the chronological sequence outlined in Verse 6: “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.” “There was a noise.” This was the noise heard round the world in 1896-97 as Jews rallied behind the thundering message of “The Jewish State,” which was delivered by Theodor Herzl. This message from Switzerland was soon echoed around the world, and the birth of Zionism sprang forth as the dry bones began to cry out: We want a homeland – a homeland in Israel. “And behold a shaking.” This was the shaking of the bones that brought them to life, and caused them to come together as a people under the British Protectorate of Palestine, which was established by the League of Nations Mandate in 1920.

Verse 8 of Ezekiel 37: “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.” This verse continues the building of flesh and blood bodies over the dry bones God has gathered together in the midst of the Gentile nations. “The sinews and the flesh came upon them” – By 1930 approximately 160,000 Jews had come home – Israel did not yet have the appearance of a nation, but it was developing the internal nucleus. “And the skin covered them from above” – By 1948 a breathless physical nation had grown as a body with the British Protectorate. The full body was there, but one thing was missing – “But there was no breath in them.” They were not recognized as a genuine, living nation. They were a group of people with no national breath.

Verse 9 renders God’s solution to the closing breath problem of verse 8: “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.” This is not God breathing spiritual rebirth into the Jewish nation – that comes later in verse 14. The four winds represent north, south, east, and west, and, as such, they portray the locations of all the nations of the world. Most of the nations of the world (United Nations) on May 14, 1948 breathed upon the dead body of Israel, under the direction of God, and Israel became a recognized, physically reborn nation.

Verse 10 shows the results of verse 9: “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” – Worldwide recognition (except for Arab nations) gives them physical life, and they stand on their own two feet. The fact that they have defeated the Arab nations around them in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 testifies they have been an exceeding great army.

Verse 11 describes the symbolism of verses 1 and 2: “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.” The bones are clearly identified as the entire nation of Israel. It paints a concise picture of a dead nation, without hope, scattered across the world in small parts, cut off from one another. This is a perfect picture of the descendants of Israel (Jacob) from about A.D. 135 until the twentieth century.

Verse 12 continues to explain the symbolism of verses 7 through 10: “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. This outlines the gradual drawing of Jews from out of their places in the Gentile world to their natural homeland – the land of Israel. This began over 100 years ago and is still continuing.

Lord willing, in Part 3 we will present the final aspect of God’s work – The spiritual rebirth of the nation of Israel.