The verse opens a new message within the vision of the valley of dry bones, commanding two sticks for Judah and for Joseph or Ephraim to be joined as a sign that God will reunite scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed. The dry bones figure is the whole house of captive Israel, whose renewal requires turning from sin and receiving God's Spirit. The promise belongs to the conditional prophecy of Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, in which what God would do depended on Israel repenting, being ashamed of iniquity, and returning wholeheartedly in faith and obedience. Because Israel did not meet the conditions, the restoration was not fulfilled literally in every original detail, with only about forty thousand returning and the sanctuary of Ezekiel 37 to 48 never built because Christ fulfilled its sacrifices. It will be fulfilled in a broader and more glorious way to true Israel in Christ Jesus in the new heaven and new earth, where God dwells with His people forever. The chapter so presents a literal resurrection from opened graves by breath from the four winds, teaching immortality only through resurrection and not through an immortal soul, under Christ the second David as king of the second Israel by faith, Jews and Gentiles who believe.
Context and Symbols
The word came again as a further, new message from the Lord within the vision of the valley of dry bones. It was given around 587 B.C. to Ezekiel while living among the Jewish captives by the Chebar after Jerusalem had fallen. It belongs to his later prophecies of Israel's future restoration and glory in imagery drawn from the conditions of his own time.
The verse introduces the command to take two sticks as symbols of the two divisions of Israel and to join them together. The sticks stand for Judah and Ephraim, that is Israel, the ten tribes, Joseph. Joined, they are the sign of God's purpose to reunite scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed.
The chapter so opened promises a resurrection and the uniting of Israel's scattered hosts and kingdoms. Its figure of dry bones represents captive Israel, the whole house of Israel. Their renewal requires turning from sin and receiving God's Spirit, and their restoration is the return of God's people to their land as the whole nation, Judah and Ephraim.
Conditional Restoration Prophecy
Ezekiel 37:15 belongs to the conditional prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, in which what God would do depended on Israel yielding to Him, returning to Him and giving themselves wholly to Him, repenting and being ashamed of iniquity, turning from wickedness and putting away sin, and meeting Him in faith and obedience. It forms part of the chapter describing a resurrection and restoration that would have taken place if Israel had been faithful to God. Had she obeyed it would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail, but the blessings were based on conditions Israel did not meet, so now it will never be fulfilled literally in that original form.
What God was prepared to do if the people had obeyed and returned to Him wholeheartedly was to gather His scattered people, the scattered honest-hearted people from the nations, back to their own land to Israel and make them one nation under David's seed. He would have restored the faithful who had died and made them alive, raised those sleeping in Him, defeated their enemies and given victory over them, made Jerusalem a praise, dwelt among them in glory, built a greater sanctuary and temple in the glorious form shown to the prophet with the glory described later in Ezekiel, established them there, and given them far greater prosperity and power.
This union could have begun when Cyrus decreed the restoration of Israel and its temple, if the people had repented and put away sin and been ashamed of their iniquities. Because they did not heed God's call, did not truly repent, and did not meet the conditions, they were not reunited as a nation, only a small number returned and only about forty thousand returned from Babylon with only a small part of the promised glory, and the promised restoration in its fullness, including the resurrection described in the chapter, did not take place. Because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away sin, God could not fulfill to them the promise of the city, the restoration of the land, and the rebuilding of the temple in glorious form, the nation was eventually rejected and destroyed, and the promised sanctuary described in the book's closing chapters, in Ezekiel 37 to 48, was not built and will not be built, because Christ fulfilled the sacrifices that it would have represented.
The promises concerning true Israel will therefore be fulfilled in the future, though not in every detail as originally described and with no fulfillment before Christ's second advent. What would have been fulfilled in Israel's restoration from Babylon if the people had turned from sin and returned wholeheartedly to God, and what would have been fulfilled in Israel's day if the people had met the stated conditions, will because of their failure be fulfilled in the last days under different conditions, without the local conditions of Ezekiel's day, on a broader, stronger, and more glorious scale connected with Christ's second coming. He will more than make good all those precious promises to His Israel in Christ Jesus in the new heaven and the new earth, whose capital city is the New Jerusalem, to true Israel redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new with God's glorious sanctuary where saints remain forever. The chapter's promises also serve as a general, incomplete type of what God will do for His people at the second coming, while Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, will be punished in part in this world before and when Christ comes and in full at the end of the 1,000 years.
This gathering is not a national return of the Jews as such to Palestine now, nor the return of the ten lost tribes to their land in mortal life. The joining of the sticks of Judah and Joseph does not identify Joseph's stick with the American continent or Joseph Smith. The land belongs to Christ as Abraham's seed and to all who are in Him by faith as Abraham's seed and true Israel, and its fulfillment is when Abraham and all his seed together enter possession in the resurrection and hold it for an everlasting possession, which is impossible while death reigns. Christ gathers His people as individuals, those of Israel who believe and Gentiles who accept Him becoming one, so that the final Israel consists of all the saved who enter the holy city, Jews and Gentiles alike who prevail by faith as the other sheep brought into His fold. The wider context associated with Persia and a great power ruling in the north, which also speaks of God gathering His people from among the nations and bringing them to their own land, applies this gathering as a call for gospel missionaries to reach Persia and its surrounding regions.
Resurrection and True Israel
The chapter presents the resurrection as literal rebuilding and rising from the grave, with dry bones covered with sinews and flesh and skin, graves opened, and breath called from the four winds entering the slain so they live and stand as a great army and are brought into their own land. The vision describes life returning through breath entering the restored bodies, and the dead are shown as raised from their graves into the land of Israel. Man in his present state is mortal, and when the spirit or breath or life principle leaves the body the man dies and would never live again except by the grace of God through a Redeemer. Both the just and the unjust remain under the dominion of death till God again breathes into them the breath of life.
It does not describe an immortal soul or spirit entering the body, for the dead are not already living apart from the body, death and life are antithetical and mutually exclusive so no man can be both dead and alive at the same time, and the dead are dead and know not anything. Immortality comes only through resurrection, a hope already taught in the Old Testament. When God breathes again the dead shall live again, the righteous in spiritual and immortal bodies to live and reign forever with Christ, and the unjust to die again the second death from which there is no restoration. That resurrection power is found in the Word of God, by which those who say with Israel that their bones are dried and their hope is lost can take hold of God and His mighty power revealed there and be revived.
The prophecy shows the kingdom was not to appear immediately, because birth from the dead and change to immortality must first take place, which a teacher in Israel had reason to know. The verse introduces the prophecy of God's restored Israel as the reunion of spiritual Israel in the coming Messianic kingdom under Christ as My servant David, with the two sticks representing Judah and Ephraim, or Israel, united as God's people, having no fulfillment before Christ's second advent. The Israel and David of the prophecy must be read together under the same covenant, for the David promised as king and one shepherd over them is Christ, the second David of the new covenant, not the first David of the first covenant. Therefore the people over whom He reigns are the second Israel, Israel by faith, not the literal descendants of Jacob, since the first Israel and the reign of the first David belonged entirely to the first covenant while the second Israel and the second David belong under the new, and it is impossible to connect the reign of the second David with the first Israel.
The clearer New Testament revelation is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian. God's purpose remains the same, so true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new. Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, will be punished in part in this world before and when Christ comes and in full at the end of the 1,000 years.
The verse opens a new message within the vision of the valley of dry bones, commanding two sticks for Judah and for Joseph or Ephraim to be joined as a sign that God will reunite scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed. The dry bones figure is the whole house of captive Israel, whose renewal requires turning from sin and receiving God's Spirit. The promise belongs to the conditional prophecy of Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, in which what God would do depended on Israel repenting, being ashamed of iniquity, and returning wholeheartedly in faith and obedience. Because Israel did not meet the conditions, the restoration was not fulfilled literally in every original detail, with only about forty thousand returning and the sanctuary of Ezekiel 37 to 48 never built because Christ fulfilled its sacrifices. It will be fulfilled in a broader and more glorious way to true Israel in Christ Jesus in the new heaven and new earth, where God dwells with His people forever. The chapter so presents a literal resurrection from opened graves by breath from the four winds, teaching immortality only through resurrection and not through an immortal soul, under Christ the second David as king of the second Israel by faith, Jews and Gentiles who believe.
Context and Symbols
The word came again as a further, new message from the Lord within the vision of the valley of dry bones. It was given around 587 B.C. to Ezekiel while living among the Jewish captives by the Chebar after Jerusalem had fallen. It belongs to his later prophecies of Israel's future restoration and glory in imagery drawn from the conditions of his own time.
The verse introduces the command to take two sticks as symbols of the two divisions of Israel and to join them together. The sticks stand for Judah and Ephraim, that is Israel, the ten tribes, Joseph. Joined, they are the sign of God's purpose to reunite scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed.
The chapter so opened promises a resurrection and the uniting of Israel's scattered hosts and kingdoms. Its figure of dry bones represents captive Israel, the whole house of Israel. Their renewal requires turning from sin and receiving God's Spirit, and their restoration is the return of God's people to their land as the whole nation, Judah and Ephraim.
Conditional Restoration Prophecy
Ezekiel 37:15 belongs to the conditional prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, in which what God would do depended on Israel yielding to Him, returning to Him and giving themselves wholly to Him, repenting and being ashamed of iniquity, turning from wickedness and putting away sin, and meeting Him in faith and obedience. It forms part of the chapter describing a resurrection and restoration that would have taken place if Israel had been faithful to God. Had she obeyed it would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail, but the blessings were based on conditions Israel did not meet, so now it will never be fulfilled literally in that original form.
What God was prepared to do if the people had obeyed and returned to Him wholeheartedly was to gather His scattered people, the scattered honest-hearted people from the nations, back to their own land to Israel and make them one nation under David's seed. He would have restored the faithful who had died and made them alive, raised those sleeping in Him, defeated their enemies and given victory over them, made Jerusalem a praise, dwelt among them in glory, built a greater sanctuary and temple in the glorious form shown to the prophet with the glory described later in Ezekiel, established them there, and given them far greater prosperity and power.
This union could have begun when Cyrus decreed the restoration of Israel and its temple, if the people had repented and put away sin and been ashamed of their iniquities. Because they did not heed God's call, did not truly repent, and did not meet the conditions, they were not reunited as a nation, only a small number returned and only about forty thousand returned from Babylon with only a small part of the promised glory, and the promised restoration in its fullness, including the resurrection described in the chapter, did not take place. Because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away sin, God could not fulfill to them the promise of the city, the restoration of the land, and the rebuilding of the temple in glorious form, the nation was eventually rejected and destroyed, and the promised sanctuary described in the book's closing chapters, in Ezekiel 37 to 48, was not built and will not be built, because Christ fulfilled the sacrifices that it would have represented.
The promises concerning true Israel will therefore be fulfilled in the future, though not in every detail as originally described and with no fulfillment before Christ's second advent. What would have been fulfilled in Israel's restoration from Babylon if the people had turned from sin and returned wholeheartedly to God, and what would have been fulfilled in Israel's day if the people had met the stated conditions, will because of their failure be fulfilled in the last days under different conditions, without the local conditions of Ezekiel's day, on a broader, stronger, and more glorious scale connected with Christ's second coming. He will more than make good all those precious promises to His Israel in Christ Jesus in the new heaven and the new earth, whose capital city is the New Jerusalem, to true Israel redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new with God's glorious sanctuary where saints remain forever. The chapter's promises also serve as a general, incomplete type of what God will do for His people at the second coming, while Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, will be punished in part in this world before and when Christ comes and in full at the end of the 1,000 years.
This gathering is not a national return of the Jews as such to Palestine now, nor the return of the ten lost tribes to their land in mortal life. The joining of the sticks of Judah and Joseph does not identify Joseph's stick with the American continent or Joseph Smith. The land belongs to Christ as Abraham's seed and to all who are in Him by faith as Abraham's seed and true Israel, and its fulfillment is when Abraham and all his seed together enter possession in the resurrection and hold it for an everlasting possession, which is impossible while death reigns. Christ gathers His people as individuals, those of Israel who believe and Gentiles who accept Him becoming one, so that the final Israel consists of all the saved who enter the holy city, Jews and Gentiles alike who prevail by faith as the other sheep brought into His fold. The wider context associated with Persia and a great power ruling in the north, which also speaks of God gathering His people from among the nations and bringing them to their own land, applies this gathering as a call for gospel missionaries to reach Persia and its surrounding regions.
Resurrection and True Israel
The chapter presents the resurrection as literal rebuilding and rising from the grave, with dry bones covered with sinews and flesh and skin, graves opened, and breath called from the four winds entering the slain so they live and stand as a great army and are brought into their own land. The vision describes life returning through breath entering the restored bodies, and the dead are shown as raised from their graves into the land of Israel. Man in his present state is mortal, and when the spirit or breath or life principle leaves the body the man dies and would never live again except by the grace of God through a Redeemer. Both the just and the unjust remain under the dominion of death till God again breathes into them the breath of life.
It does not describe an immortal soul or spirit entering the body, for the dead are not already living apart from the body, death and life are antithetical and mutually exclusive so no man can be both dead and alive at the same time, and the dead are dead and know not anything. Immortality comes only through resurrection, a hope already taught in the Old Testament. When God breathes again the dead shall live again, the righteous in spiritual and immortal bodies to live and reign forever with Christ, and the unjust to die again the second death from which there is no restoration. That resurrection power is found in the Word of God, by which those who say with Israel that their bones are dried and their hope is lost can take hold of God and His mighty power revealed there and be revived.
The prophecy shows the kingdom was not to appear immediately, because birth from the dead and change to immortality must first take place, which a teacher in Israel had reason to know. The verse introduces the prophecy of God's restored Israel as the reunion of spiritual Israel in the coming Messianic kingdom under Christ as My servant David, with the two sticks representing Judah and Ephraim, or Israel, united as God's people, having no fulfillment before Christ's second advent. The Israel and David of the prophecy must be read together under the same covenant, for the David promised as king and one shepherd over them is Christ, the second David of the new covenant, not the first David of the first covenant. Therefore the people over whom He reigns are the second Israel, Israel by faith, not the literal descendants of Jacob, since the first Israel and the reign of the first David belonged entirely to the first covenant while the second Israel and the second David belong under the new, and it is impossible to connect the reign of the second David with the first Israel.
The clearer New Testament revelation is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian. God's purpose remains the same, so true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new. Gog and Magog, representing the northern nations, will be punished in part in this world before and when Christ comes and in full at the end of the 1,000 years.